Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

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[Tadasuke]

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Nvidia’s AI-powered supercomputers advance nuclear fusion research

https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/30/nvid ... -research/

The most powerful supercomputers on the planet are used to perform all manner of complex operations. Increasingly, they are used to enable artificial intelligence for research that could one day impact billions of people.

The world’s fastest and most powerful high-performance computing (HPC) supercomputers are front and center at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) which runs from May 29 to June 2 in Hamburg, Germany. As part of the ISC event, Nvidia will provide insight about its latest HPC systems and the use cases they enable.

“HPC plus AI is really the transformational tool of scientific computing,” Dion Harris, lead technical product marketing manager for accelerated computing, said in a media briefing ahead of ISC. “We talk about exascale AI because we do believe that this is going to be one of the key pivotal tools to drive scientific innovation and any data center that’s building a supercomputer needs to understand how their system will perform from an AI standpoint.”

[weatheriscool]

Biden looking to address oil refinery capacity, White House adviser says
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden is looking at ways to bring in more oil supplies amid rising energy costs, including working to address oil refinery capacity, White House economic adviser Cecelia Rouse said on Friday.

"He is looking for what he can do administratively, whether that's working with oil companies and refineries asking them, 'We recognize your back capacity challenges - what can we do to help you maintain your refining capacity and bring more oil online?'" Rouse, chair of the White House Council on Economic Advisers, said in an interview with CNN.

The White House is considering proposals that would tax oil and gas windfall profits, a U.S. official said last week. Rouse, asked about that tax and possibly lifting some China tariffs, confirmed that all options remained on the table.

"We want to do so in a way that is strategic and benefits the U.S. workers, U.S. businesses, U.S. economy writ large, but that is certainly on the table," she said.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ar-AAYjddA

[weatheriscool]

EPA to give $60M to 12 states to help curb water pollution
Source: AP

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government said Friday that it will distribute $60 million among 12 states that have waterways that flow into the Mississippi River to help them control farm runoff and other pollution that contribute to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The money comes from the infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in November, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

Radhika Fox, EPA assistant administrator for water, made the announcement with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig in Des Moines.

“The Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico watershed is an iconic ecosystem that millions of Americans depend on for drinking water, agriculture, recreation and economic development and it is essential that we reduce nutrient pollution that harms water quality,” Fox said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-missis ... 2c1f34411a

[wjfox]

Experts doubt Polish government’s plans to have nuclear by 2033

5:45
By Bartosz Sieniawski

The government’s plan to have its first nuclear plant by 2033 as part of the six reactors it aims to have in operation by 2043 is too ambitious, experts have said.

Poland, which relies heavily on fossil fuels and has no nuclear plants for commercial use, announced in August 2020 it would have six nuclear reactors in operation in the Baltic municipality of Choczewo in the north.

With the climate crisis and the need to become independent from Russian fuel, the government is now eager to build a nuclear power plant as soon as possible, with its representatives assuring that the first plant will be built as planned.

However, some energy experts, including the deputy editor-in-chief of Energetyka24.com, Jakub Wiech, question their optimism.

In an interview with Onet.pl, Wiech said 2033 was an “unrealistic deadline”. According to him, building such a highly specialised facility in a country where no other is standing will not be easy, and there will be delays. It may also be problematic to get the parts that are key to the power plant’s functionality, he added.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy ... r-by-2033/

[caltrek]

Twitter Data and Six Distinct Environmental Personas
by Charlotte H Chang,Paul R Armsworth,Yuta J Masuda
First published May 31, 2022

Abstract::

(ESA Journal) Effective digital environmental communication is integral to galvanizing public support for conservation in the age of social media. Environmental advocates require messaging strategies suited to social media platforms, including ways to identify, target, and mobilize distinct audiences. Here, we provide – to the best of our knowledge – the first systematic characterization of environmental personas on social media. Beginning with 1 million environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) followers on Twitter, of which 500,000 users met data quality criteria, we identified six personas that differ in their expression of 21 environmental issues. General consistency in the proportional composition of personas was detected across 14 countries with sufficiently large samples. Within the US, although the six personas varied in their mean political ideology, we did not observe that the personas split along political party lines. Our results pave the way for environmental advocates – including NGOs, public agencies, and researchers – to use audience segmentation methods like the methods discussed here to target and tailor messages to distinct constituencies at high speed and at large scale.

In a nutshell:
• We analyzed environmentally engaged constituents on Twitter, with an initial sample totaling 1.3 billion tweets from 1 million individual users following prominent environmental nongovernmental organizations on the platform
• Focusing on approximately 500,000 users satisfying inclusion criteria, we identified six personas with distinct patterns of environmental expression and writing styles
• The personas were bipartisan and did not divide around polarized issues such as belief in anthropogenic climate change
• Although the distribution of personas was broadly consistent across countries, it varied regionally within the US
• Social media data can identify messengers for distinct audience segments who share expression patterns, with promise for accelerating mobilization in the digital age

The “six personas” identified and further discussed are as follows:

1. Technocrats (5.9%)
2. Stewards (30.2%)
3. Climate Concerned (8.5%)
4. Generalists (37.6%)
5. Smart Alecks (13.3%)
6. Reserved (4.5%)

Read more here: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wile ... /fee.2510

[weatheriscool]

Court rejects Trump-era EPA finding that weed killer safe
Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a Trump administration finding that the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup does not pose a serious health risk and is “not likely” to cause cancer in humans.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reexamine its 2020 finding that glyphosate did not pose a health risk for people exposed to it by any means — on farms, yards or roadsides or as residue left on food crops.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world. Pharmaceutical giant Bayer, which acquired the herbicide's original producer Monsanto in 2018, is facing thousands of claims from people who say Roundup exposure caused their cancer.

Roundup will remain available for sale. According to an agency spokesman, EPA officials are reviewing the 54-page ruling “and will decide next steps.″ The Supreme Court is also considering whether to hear an appeal from Bayer that could shut down thousands of lawsuits on the cancer claims.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/court-reject ... 59195.html

[weatheriscool]

Coal train derails in Kansas… Massive spill…
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/c ... ive-spill/

[weatheriscool]

Russian energy supplier Gazprom reduces gas supply to Italy, France cut off
https://amp-dw-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v ... a-62166098

"Italy's energy firm Eni said on Friday that Russian energy giant Gazprom was reducing its gas supplies to Italy by 50%."

Gazprom reduces gas supplies to Italy, France cut off

U.N says as long as the whops continue to provide free air conditioning and feed our negroes, we are fine with it, plenty more negros coming across the Med.:

[caltrek]

India’s Russian Coal Buying Spikes as Traders Offer Steep Discounts
June 18, 2022

Introduction:

(The Indian Express) India’s purchases of Russian coal have spiked in recent weeks despite global sanctions on Moscow, as traders offer discounts of up to 30%, according to two trade sources and data reviewed by Reuters.

Russia, facing severe Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, warned the European Union in April against sweeping sanctions on coal, saying they would backfire as the fuel would be redirected to other markets.

India has refrained from condemning Russia, with which it has longstanding political and security ties, while calling for an end to violence in Ukraine. New Delhi defends its purchases of Russian goods as part of an effort to diversify supplies and argues a sudden halt would jack up world prices and hurt its consumers.

U.S. officials have told India there is no ban on energy imports from Russia but they do not want to see a “rapid acceleration”.

Yet as European importers shun trade with Moscow, Indian buyers are lapping up huge quantities of Russian coal despite high freight costs.

Read more here: https://indianexpress.com/article/indi ... -7977461/

[Xyls]

Germany fires up coal plants to avert gas shortage as Russia cuts supply

https://www.ft.com/content/f662a412-9eb ... de5ff622e2

But Germany won't keep their nuclear plants, open. No way better to pollute the environment even more then do the sensible thing.

----

Germany's Greens:

Shut down great source of 0 emissions energy (nuclear), due to anti-nuclear extremism. Cause German C02 emissions to surge.

So eco-friendly!

[weatheriscool]

Germany will fire up coal plants again in an effort to save natural gas.
Source: New York Times

BERLIN — Germany will restart coal-fired power plants in order to conserve natural gas, the country’s economy minister announced on Sunday, amid concerns about a looming supply shortage after Russia cut gas deliveries to Europe this week.

The move was part of a series of measures, including new incentives for companies to burn less natural gas, announced by Germany as Europe takes steps to deal with reduced energy supplies from Russia.

Since European countries imposed sanctions to punish Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia has responded by cutting off gas supplies to several European countries. Last week, the Russian energy giant Gazprom also reduced flows through the Nord

,,,snip...

“The situation is serious,” Robert Habeck, the economy minister who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, said in a statement on Sunday, laying out the steps that would be taken to ensure that more gas is available to divert into storage so the country has enough to get through the winter. They include bringing back online coal-fired power plants that had been drawn down to reduce carbon emissions, although the statement did not specify how many plants would be affected.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/worl ... lants.html

Awesome. They all need to be fired up and we also need to drill big time.

[wjfox]

Awesome. They all need to be fired up and we also need to drill big time.

This is borderline trolling. Unless you are being sarcastic.

Europe is going through a massive and devastating heatwave right now, such events will get worse and worse in the future, and you think we need to dramatically boost carbon emissions?

Also, it's bizarre that you post hundreds and hundreds of news stories, articles, and studies, clearly showing the impacts of climate change, and yet you're simultaneously a massive supporter of fossil fuels. Just totally bizarre.

[weatheriscool]

Awesome. They all need to be fired up and we also need to drill big time.

This is borderline trolling. Unless you are being sarcastic.

Europe is going through a massive and devastating heatwave right now, such events will get worse and worse in the future, and you think we need to dramatically boost carbon emissions?

Also, it's bizarre that you post hundreds and hundreds of news stories, articles, and studies, clearly showing the impacts of climate change, and yet you're simultaneously a massive supporter of fossil fuels. Just totally bizarre.

I am a supporter of low humane prices that don't hurt the poor and which I am disabled. It must be nice to be rich as you're to afford 10 dollar gas and two thousand dollar rent/month. It is called being heartless and cruel. I realize that we need to do something, but we have carbon capture that if developed would allow us to continue to be humane instead of just focusing on the rich(even if they're green!). We also have nuclear, hydro, and yes wind and solar that we could slowly expand. What we really need to do is to invest in fusion and get that online. Maybe we should stop going to war for two fucking months and invest in a few hundred billion dollars/euro/or what ever forcing it over the edge so we can finally do something about climate change and fucking not destroy the lives of hundreds of millions of human beings. We can have our cake in eat it too. If we ever wish to be the species that controls our climate, goes to the stars and generally can improve ourselves maybe we should fucking act like it?

[weatheriscool]

Last month, China imported more Russian crude oil than ever before
Source: WaPo

China’s imports of Russian crude oil hit a record in May, as Chinese buyers take advantage of discounted prices after Beijing’s pledge to continue normal economic ties with Moscow despite the geopolitical fallout over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

A year-over-year rise of 55 percent in May, to 8.42 million metric tons, meant Russian imports overtook those from Saudi Arabia to become China’s largest single source of crude for the month, according to data from Chinese customs released on Friday. In April, Saudi oil accounted for 21 percent of China’s total imports, compared with 15 percent for Russian-sourced fuel, according to an analysis from Cinda Securities.

Over the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, China became the world’s leading buyer of Russian fossil fuels, as many Western nations cut back on purchases to impose economic costs on the Kremlin for invading.

The recent increase in imports is a reversal of a period of low purchases immediately after Russia invaded, when Chinese buyers remained cautious about the risks of being sanctioned.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... l-exports/

[Time_Traveller]

Britain’s largest butterfly at risk as fungal pathogens kill food source

Wed 22 Jun 2022



Britain’s largest butterfly may be at risk from fungal pathogens that have caused a drastic die-back of the rare plant on which its caterpillars feed.

The swallowtail is only found breeding at 16 sites in Britain, all on the Norfolk Broads, where milk parsley grows. But last summer more than 90% of the milk parsley plants at one of its breeding sites wilted and died, preventing the plant from setting seed. If milk parsley disappears, the unique subspecies of the swallowtail found in Britain will become extinct.

The “milk parsley droop”, which may be caused by a known fungal pathogen combining in a novel way with another pathogen, was spotted on Wheatfen nature reserve near Norwich. Nature reserve managers across the Broads are now on high alert for signs of the disease spreading this year, with the wilt typically taking hold in July and August.

Mark Collins, the chair of the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust, said: “This is not an unknown pathogen but it has knocked the milk parsley population at Wheatfen by six. These pathogens are subject to the natural population dynamics and in a normal wild situation this wouldn’t be a problem because the swallowtail and the milk parsley would be in other places but there are only 16 swallowtail breeding sites left and these spots are increasingly isolated in a very agricultural landscape. We are worried.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ood-source

[weatheriscool]

Biden calls for three-month federal gas tax "holiday"

UPDATED ON: JUNE 22, 2022 / 11:09 AM / CBS/AP

Washington — President Joe Biden called on Congress Wednesday to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months — an idea that's intended to ease financial pressures at the pump, but that also reveals the political toxicity of high gas prices in an election year.

He is also urging states to suspend their own gas taxes or provide similar relief, the White House said.

The White House said in a release, "The price of gas is up dramatically around the world, and by almost $2 per gallon in America, since (Russian President Vladimir) Putin began amassing troops on the border of Ukraine."

{snip}

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gax-tax-ho ... -congress/

[weatheriscool]

Despite improvements, China's air remains unsafe
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-china-air-unsafe.html
by Saima Sidik, American Geophysical Union

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone exposure are major public health problems in China. Although useful, atmospheric models used to analyze these and other air quality concerns over the years are expensive to run, limiting how often researchers can use them.

Published in GeoHealth, new results from Conibear et al worked around this limitation by training machine learning algorithms to find associations between the inputs and outputs of atmospheric models. The researchers then used the algorithms to analyze emission levels and the origins of those emissions from 2010 to 2020.

They found that efforts to reduce PM2.5 emissions are working in China. Average PM2.5 levels across the country have dropped from their peak of 52.8 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3) in 2012 to 33.5 mg/m3 in 2020. The change brings PM2.5 levels from about 10 times above the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline to about seven times the guideline. The authors discovered that the biggest drops in PM2.5 generation occurred in the industrial and residential sectors. Improvements in transportation, agriculture, and power generation also played small roles.

Although PM2.5 levels appear to have reached a peak in 2012 and then declined—a trend supported by on-the-ground observations—the situation with ozone is a bit more complicated. The researchers' models suggest that ozone levels have dropped since 2015, but on-the-ground measurements show a sharp increase. This discrepancy may be the result of imperfections in simulations, according to the authors.

[Time_Traveller]

Island of wet wipes has 'changed the course of the Thames' as government considers ban

Friday 24 June 2022

An island the size of two tennis courts has "changed the course" of the River Thames - and it's made from wet wipes.

Campaigners regularly comb through the muck on the riverbank near Hammersmith Bridge, where they find up to 150 wet wipes per square metre.

The UK uses 11 billion of the "disposable" products every year, according to Labour MP Fleur Anderson, causing untold problems for the environment and wreaking havoc on plumbing to the tune of £100m in blockages.

The government is considering a ban on wet wipes, but Ms Anderson wants the issue resolved faster, and has tabled legislation to bring it about.

It comes after Boots pledged to stop selling all wet wipes containing plastic by the end of the year.

https://news.sky.com/story/island-of-we ... n-12639847

[wjfox]