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-- a _kt75 | note   Tweet  _download: server 1 Big is beautiful? [1] – The solutions for sustainable water management/alternative energy generation by means of water dams are multifarious and range from very small hydro power projects to largest scale dam solutions. Currently, there seems to be a certain tendency towards the latter option in particular in developing and emerging countries. In this context, the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam and the Congolese Grand Inga Dam represent the most known examples of large scale water dams. A widely discussed key question however is: comply such gigantic structures with the idea of sustainable development? What are the implications associated with the construction of such facilities and how efficient (from an economic point of view) are they? Are there any geo-political consequences and in case of what type of are they? In order to address some of the above questions and to provide for a better understanding of the issue of sustainabl

-- a _kt75 | reprint   Tweet Summary: Global GHG emissions continue to rise and a steady and logical shift towards the emerging countries (e.g. BRICS) is notable. That will be one of the key reasons will the recent Obama plan as well as the Germany led 'Energiewende' will fail, i.e. won't hardly result in any lowering of global warming effects. Reprint: Greenhouse gas emissions worldwide rose by 1.4 percent last year, setting a new record, according to data released Monday. The findings, from the International Energy Agency (IEA), come just weeks after scientists in Hawaii recorded carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere higher than 400 parts per million, another modern record. The data suggests that the globe could warm well more than the two degrees Celsius that climate scientists have set as an acceptable level by the end of this century, a target towards which international negotiations are currently working. “Climate change has quite frankly slipped to the back bur

-- a _kt75 | reprint     Tweet ■ Case Ethiopia - Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Ethiopia has refused to halt work on a controversial giant dam across the river Nile that Egypt fears will severely curb its water supply. The refusal came after the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, promised to "defend each drop of Nile water with our blood" and other senior Egyptian politicians called for the dam's destruction. A spokesman for the Ethiopian prime minister said on Tuesday that Morsi's speech was irresponsible and that the project would proceed as planned. "Nothing is going to stop the Renaissance Dam. Not a threat will stop it," Getachew Reda said via telephone. "None of the concerns the Egyptian politicians are making are supported by science. Some of them border on what I would characterise as fortune-telling." Ethiopia hopes its Grand Renaissance dam – which will cost more than $4.3bn (£2.8bn) – will form Africa's largest hydropower p

-- a _kt75 | reprint compilation     Tweet Shaun New berr y, AngloGold Ashanti vice-president of strategic project design and spokesman for collaborative research group the Technology Innovation Consortium (TIC), says all the gold miners are facing the same challenges that the TIC is addressing. These are how to mine deeper and particularly make advances in safety and productivity. At the moment, conventional SA deep-level mining uses hand-held drills to bore holes into the rock for the insertion of explosives. Also, the necessity of making tunnels wide enough to accommodate people and equipment causes significant dilution of grade, sometimes halving it, or worse. About 40% of an ore body has to be left behind as safety pillars to reduce seismic risks. The TIC is investigating mechanical rock-breaking techniques called continuous reef boring, which would be considerably safer and more efficient than hand-held drilling. It is looking at ways of improving extraction ratios

-- a _kt75 | reprint     Tweet In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life's end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air, and lungs. Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium, and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry's green credibility. Solar modules have an expected lifespan of at least 20 years so most have not yet reached the end of their useful lives. But now, before a significant number of dead panels pile up, is the perfect ti

-- a _kt75 | reprint    Follow @_kt75 Key Points ■ Since 1975, Turkey’s extensive dam and hydropower construction has reportedly reduced water flows into Iraq and Syria by approximately 80 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. ■ Approximately 90 per cent of the water flow in the Euphrates and 50 per cent in the Tigris originate in Turkey. ■ Low flow rates in Iraq have allowed salt water to infiltrate nearly 150km inland from the Persian Gulf. ■ Lack of international agreement is hampering progress on a deal between Turkey, Iraq and Syria. ■ Turkey has accused Iraq of poor water management practices, which, it says, are exacerbating Iraq’s water crisis. Tensions between these countries remain high because of the issue of water management. Summary The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, originating in Turkey and cutting through both Syria and Iraq, have experienced drastic reductions in water flows in recent years due, primarily, to Turkish hydro-engineering and regional droughts. Thi

-- a _kt75 | reprint    A recent Bloomberg press release got wide coverage with its claim that wind power is now cheaper than coal. But a new report from the OECD shows that when you cover the full cost to the grid, variable renewables like wind don’t add up as favourably. It is often claimed that introducing variable renewable energy resources such as solar and wind into the electricity network comes with some extra cost penalties, due to “system effects”. These system effects include intermittent electricity access, network congestion, instability, environmental impacts, and security of supply. Now a new report from the OECD titled System Effects of Low-Carbon Electricity Systems gives some hard dollar values for these additional imposts. The OECD work focuses on nuclear power, coal, gas, and renewables such as wind and solar. Their conclusion is that grid-level system costs can have significant impacts on the total cost of delivered electricity for some power-generatio

-- a _kt75 | reprint    Iran, pummeled by years of international sanctions, has had two energy goals. First, to preserve its dwindling international hydrocarbon market share, increasingly battered by years of U.S. and UN sanctions designed to slow down and halt its civilian nuclear energy program, which Washington and Tel Aviv have long insisted masks a covert program to develop a nuclear weapons program. The second, much less reported in the foreign press, is to diversify its indigenous energy infrastructure, so as to preserve its hydrocarbon assets for the long term. In pursuit of the latter goal, Iran is ramping up its hydroelectric program. Iran currently has 23 operational hydropower plants, with a combined electricity generating capacity of 8.2 gigawatts, 14 percent of the nation’s total generating capacity of 58.5 gigawatts. A further 4.8 gigawatts of capacity is under construction, with 12.7 gigawatts of hydro capacity is either undergoing feasibility study or in t