REFERENCES - Chapter 9 - The New Desert Economy

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These are the references related to the CHAPTER 9: The New Desert Economy section in the book.

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As Mentioned In The Book

What Is Great About The Desert?

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oil-discovered-saudi-arabia/
On March 3, 1938, an American-owned oil well in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, drilled into what would soon be identified as the largest source of petroleum in the world.

https://hourglassnow.com/when-were-solar-panels-invented/
They are becoming more popular every day, but when were solar panels invented? The first to discover the voltaic effect was French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel, in 1839. The first photovoltaic cell was created in 1883 by scientist Charles Fritts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdSwzpYuu1A
These 300-Year-Old Dutch Windmills Are Still Spinning Today | National Geographic

https://www.smart-energy.com/industry-sectors/energy-grid-management/the-different-types-of-energy-storage-and-their-opportunities/
A wide array of different types of energy storage options are available for use in the energy sector and more are emerging as the technology becomes a key component in the energy systems of the future worldwide.

What Are The Clean Energy Sources?

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58954530
Climate change: How do we know it is happening and caused by humans?

https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-electricity-has-dropped-89-in-10-years
To curb our climate crisis, we need to end our dependence on fossil fuels and power the world with renewables. That may have seemed far-fetched a decade ago given the cost of installing wind and solar at the time, but the price of renewables has been falling fast. In 10 years, the price of solar electricity dropped 89%, and the price of onshore wind dropped 70%.

https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/sakaka-solar-project/
Sakaka solar project is a 300MW photovoltaic (PV) solar farm developed on a 6km² site near Sakaka, in the Al Jouf province of Saudi Arabia. It is the first utility-scale solar power project in Saudi Arabia.

Solar And Wind

Energy Farms

https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-will-upend-agriculture-here-are-five-technologies-that-could-help-b854770f
In soaking humidity or searing heat, growers in over 40 countries are farming produce in high-tech containers made by the Boston company Freight Farms. Leafy greens like lettuce and kale, and roots like turnips and radish grow in specially designed vertical rows, lit with LEDs, and monitored closely for nutrition, water acidity, temperature, and more, according to David Harris, the company’s director of crop research and development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat
Cultured meat (also known by other names) is meat produced by culturing animal cells in vitro. It is a form of cellular agriculture.

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/food-made-cultured-animal-cells
The ability to take a small number of cells from living animals and grow them in a controlled environment to create food made from cultured animal cells is an emerging area of food science. Advancements in cell culture technology are enabling food developers to use cells obtained from livestock, poultry, seafood, or other animals in the production of food.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/solar-energy-supply-chain-depends-on-region-where-china-is-accused-of-genocide-11618147228
Champions of the accelerating push for solar energy around the world are confronting a previously overlooked challenge: The industry’s supply chains are heavily reliant on Xinjiang, a Chinese region the U.S. government and others say is the scene of genocide against local ethnic minorities including the mostly Muslim Uyghur inhabitants … About half the world’s supply of polysilicon, an essential ingredient in most solar panels, comes from this part of northwestern China, where human-rights groups and U.S. officials say China runs a sprawling network of internment camps that the U.S. says have held more than 1 million Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group.

Energy Corridors

https://www.jns.org/six-years-after-completion-israels-border-fence-with-egypt-has-transformed-the-south/
(January 11, 2019 / JNS) This time six years ago, Israel completed its high-tech border fence with Egypt, marking the start of a transformation in the situation along this restive frontier.

Small-Scale Installations

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/09/01/why-egypts-plans-for-solar-power-are-left-in-the-shade
Experience from Egypt in convincing its citizens of the merits of installing their own solar power.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/these-hydropanels-attach-to-homes-just-like-solar-panels-and-they-create-fresh-drinking-water-out-of-thin-air/ar-AA16nobp
These ‘hydropanels’ attach to homes just like solar panels — and they create fresh drinking water out of thin air ... “Hydropanels,” created by the Arizona-based company SOURCE, can do just that. The high-tech panels use the sun to extract moisture from the air, providing safe drinking water for many of the places around the world that need it most.

Hydrogen

https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/hydrogen-clean-flexible-energy-carrier
Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element on earth—it consists of only one proton and one electron. Hydrogen can store and deliver usable energy, but it doesn’t typically exist by itself in nature and must be produced from compounds that contain it.

Green Hydrogen Generation

https://www.engadget.com/clean-hydrogen-fuel-split-seawater-214042411.html
“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100 per cent efficiency, to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyser,” said Professor Shizhang Qiao, the team’s co-lead. Seawater typically needs to be purified before electrolysis splits it into hydrogen and oxygen. The team says its results, using cobalt oxide with chromium oxide on its surface as the catalyst, had similar performance to a standard process of applying platinum and iridium catalysts to highly purified and deionized water.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-biomass-gasification
Biomass gasification is a mature technology pathway that uses a controlled process involving heat, steam, and oxygen to convert biomass to hydrogen and other products, without combustion. Because growing biomass removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the net carbon emissions of this method can be low, especially if coupled with carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the long term. Gasification plants for biofuels are being built and operated, and can provide best practices and lessons learned for hydrogen production. The U.S. Department of Energy anticipates that biomass gasification could be deployed in the near-term timeframe.

Hydrogen For The Power Grid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaking_power_plant
Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just “peakers,” are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity.[1] Because they supply power only occasionally, the power supplied commands a much higher price per kilowatt hour than base load power. Peak load power plants are dispatched in combination with base load power plants,[citation needed] which supply a dependable and consistent amount of electricity, to meet the minimum demand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load-following_power_plant
A load-following power plant, regarded as producing mid-merit or mid-priced electricity, is a power plant that adjusts its power output as demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day. Load-following plants are typically in between base load and peaking power plants in efficiency, speed of start-up and shut-down, construction cost, cost of electricity and capacity factor ... Hydrogen based fuel cell power plants are perfect load-following power plants like emergency DG sets or battery storage systems. They can be run from zero to full load within few minutes. As the transportation of hydrogen to the far away industrial consumers is costly, the surplus hydrogen produced as byproduct from various chemical plants are used for power generation by the fuel cell power plants. Also they do not cause air and water pollution. In fact they clean the ambient air by extracting PM2.5 particulates and also generate pure water for drinking and industrial applications.

https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/hanwhas-groundbreaking-power-plant-shows-how-hydrogen-can-fuel-a-circular-economy/
The Daesan hydrogen-fuel-cell power plant produces electricity using waste hydrogen from Hanwha Total Petrochemical. The synergy between Hanwha Energy’s hydrogen-fuel-cell power plant and Hanwha Total Petrochemical is a prime example of the circular economy in action, wherein the consumption of precious resources is reduced through the reuse and recycling.

Hydrogen For Transportation

https://blog.ballard.com/fuel-cell-price-drop
The cost of fuel cell vehicles has been falling dramatically for years. And it will continue to drop within the next decade and beyond.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-pipelines
One possibility for rapidly expanding the hydrogen delivery infrastructure is to adapt part of the natural gas delivery infrastructure to accommodate hydrogen. Converting natural gas pipelines to carry a blend of natural gas and hydrogen (up to about 15% hydrogen) may require only modest modifications to the pipeline.3 Converting existing natural gas pipelines to deliver pure hydrogen may require more substantial modifications. Current research and analyses are examining both approaches.

Hydrogen For Waste Management

https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2023/04/20/lancaster-clean-energy-hydrogen-projects.html
The city in northern Los Angeles County has already attracted four hydrogen facility projects, developed by Element Resources, Heliogen, SGH2 and Hitachi Zosen Inova.

https://www.sgh2energy.com/worlds-largest-green-hydrogen-project-to-launch-in-california
The plant will feature SGH2’s pioneering technology, which uses recycled mixed paper waste to produce “greener than green” hydrogen that reduces carbon emissions by two to three times more than green hydrogen produced using electrolysis and renewable energy, and is five to seven times cheaper. SGH2 green hydrogen is cost competitive with “gray” hydrogen produced from fossil fuels like natural gas, which comprises the majority of hydrogen used in the United States.

Hydrogen For The Home, Or Not!

https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-hydrogen-and-fuel-cells
Fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction and can use different fuels. When using hydrogen as the fuel, they emit only water and heat. As long as there is a constant source of fuel and oxygen, fuel cells will continue to generate power.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/natural-gas-and-the-environment.php
Burning natural gas for energy results in fewer emissions of nearly all types of air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) than burning coal or petroleum products to produce an equal amount of energy. About 117 pounds of CO2 are produced per million British thermal units (MMBtu) equivalent of natural gas compared with more than 200 pounds of CO2 per MMBtu of coal and more than 160 pounds per MMBtu of distillate fuel oil. The clean burning properties of natural gas have contributed to increased natural gas use for electricity generation and as a transportation fuel for fleet vehicles in the United States.

https://www.loginstep.co/
Although relatively small amounts are released, it has a high “global warming potential” (310 times that of carbon dioxide). Nitrous oxide also damages the ozone layer, thus reducing the protection offered from harmful UV sun rays. At normal environmental concentrations, nitrous oxide is not harmful to humans ... The main effect of breathing in raised levels of nitrogen dioxide is the increased likelihood of respiratory problems. Nitrogen dioxide inflames the lining of the lungs, and it can reduce immunity to lung infections. This can cause problems such as wheezing, coughing, colds, flu and bronchitis.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/l-a-is-shutting-down-its-largest-gas-plant-and-replacing-it-with-an-experimental-hydrogen-project/ar-AA17gpii
In public comments before the vote, critics from groups including Communities for a Better Environment, Pacoima Beautiful and the Sierra Club noted that although hydrogen doesn’t produce planet-warming carbon emissions when burned, it does generate lung-damaging nitrogen oxide pollution — much more than gas, at least using current technology.

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-do-we-generate-electricity/hydrogen
Hydrogen is interesting because it has the potential to be stored for long periods. Currently battery storage is only a short-term option. There’s also the benefit of being able to transport it along existing infrastructure, though this is also not without its challenges.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_stove
Early electric stoves had resistive heating coils which heated iron hotplates, on top of which the pots were placed. Eventually, composite heating elements were introduced, with the resistive wires encased in hollow metal tubes packed with magnesite. These tubes, arranged in a spiral, support the cookware directly ...In the 1970s, glass-ceramic cooktops started to appear. Glass-ceramic has very low thermal conductivity and a near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion, but allows infrared radiation to pass very well. Electrical heating coils or halogen lamps are used as heating elements. Because of its physical characteristics, the cooktop heats more quickly, less afterheat remains, and only the plate heats up while the adjacent surface remains cool. These cooktops have a smooth surface and are thus easier to clean, but are markedly more expensive ... A third technology is the induction stove, which also has a smooth glass-ceramic surface. Only ferromagnetic cookware works with induction stoves, which heat by dint of electromagnetic induction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_heating
Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes ...As of 2017, global solar hot water (SHW) thermal capacity is 472 GW and the market is dominated by China, the United States and Turkey.[3] Barbados, Austria, Cyprus, Israel and Greece are the leading countries by capacity per person

https://www.mistersparky.com/expert-tips/general-electrical/use-your-home-electrical-wiring-for-internet-con/
Today, you have access to products like powerline adapters, which use your existing wiring as a data connector.

https://mrelectric.com/blog/recognizing-the-dangers-of-utility-poles
Electricity is an important part of our everyday lives, but it’s also extremely dangerous. If you have a utility pole near your home, keep your distance.

https://www.cleanegroup.org/hydrogen-hype-in-the-air/
The thinking behind these proposals is that, in some undefined future, natural gas plants could be converted into 100% H2 combustion plants, ending reliance on gas for power generation. Blending H2 over time at increasingly higher levels into gas plants seems to be the industry’s plan to keep gas plants running and pipeline infrastructure in place for the next few decades, testing the impact of these experiments over time with the public … Burning H2 does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. That is good news for the climate... The bad news is that H2 combustion can produce dangerously high levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx)

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/12/14/can-hydrogen-replace-natural-gas-looking-at-the-numbers/
Natural gas is about 8.5 times as dense as hydrogen, and dense gases are easier (more energy efficient) to move than less dense ones.

Nuclear Energy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents
As of 2014, there have been more than 100 serious nuclear accidents and incidents from the use of nuclear power. Fifty-seven accidents or severe incidents have occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and about 60% of all nuclear-related accidents/severe incidents have occurred in the USA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_meltdown
A nuclear meltdown (core meltdown, core melt accident, meltdown or partial core melt) is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term nuclear meltdown is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It has been defined to mean the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor, however, and is in common usage a reference to the core’s either complete or partial collapse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The term SMR refers to the size, capacity and modular construction only, not to the reactor type and the nuclear process which is applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power
Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle—including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. One advantage of thorium fuel is its low weaponization potential; it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233/232 and plutonium-238 isotopes that are largely consumed in thorium reactors.

https://askinglot.com/what-waste-does-nuclear-fusion-produce
Fusion on the other hand does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. A fusion reactor produces helium, which is an inert gas. It also produces and consumes tritium within the plant in a closed circuit. Tritium is radioactive (a beta emitter) but its half life is short … Why is fusion so hard? On Earth it is very difficult to start nuclear fusion reactions that release more energy than is needed to start the reaction. The reason is that fusion reactions only happen at high temperature and pressure, like in the Sun, because both nuclei have a positive charge, and positive repels positive … What are the benefits of nuclear fusion? Advantages of Fusion Clean. Fusion produces zero greenhouse gas emissions, emitting only helium as exhaust. Safe. Fusion energy is inherently safe, with zero possibility of a meltdown scenario and no long lived waste. Abundant. There is enough fusion fuel to power the planet for hundreds of millions of years. On Demand. How clean is nuclear fusion? Proponents of nuclear fusion see it is as a clean and virtually limitless energy source that could power the future. That’s nearly seven times hotter than the sun’s core and the temperature at which hydrogen atoms can begin to fuse into helium … What are the chances of a nuclear power plant exploding? Based on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and the number of nuclear meltdowns that have occurred, scientists have calculated that such events may occur once every 10 to 20 years (based on the current number of reactors) — some 200 times more often than estimated in the past.

Modern Nuclear

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technology/bill-gates-says-new-project-is-a-nuclear-breakthrough/ar-AA1aNy6Q
Gates noted the big difference between the Natrium plant and conventional nuclear plants is that the Natrium plant uses liquid sodium to cool its reactor. Unlike the traditional coolant — water — the liquid sodium can absorb far more heat from the reactor without increasing in pressure, reducing the risk of an explosion. It also continues to cool even if the plant loses power.

Nuclear Atomity

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/atomity
Atomity as in smallness.

https://mag.solarfeeds.com/solar-power-vs-nuclear-power/
From all these comparisons, one can say that the clear winner is solar power. This is because, as what the comparisons have shown us, solar projects can be built in substantially less time and at a much lower cost than a single nuclear project. Even when accounting for capacity built and energy produced from a nuclear facility, large-scale solar farms remain much less expensive and quicker to bring online than nuclear power plants. And so, it is safe to assume that as governments are planning for the next century of power generation, utility-scale solar easily beats nuclear as the leading source of carbon-free power.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2021/02/22/georgia-power-covid-plant-vogtle.html
Covid-19 continues to cause delays and drive up costs for Georgia Power’s expansion of Plant Vogtle.

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/economic-aspects/economics-of-nuclear-power.aspx
Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run. In many places, nuclear energy is competitive with fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation. Waste disposal and decommissioning costs are usually fully included in the operating costs. If the social, health and environmental costs of fossil fuels are also taken into account, the competitiveness of nuclear power is improved.

https://climatenexus.org/climate-news-archive/nuclear-energy-us-expensive-source-competing-cheap-gas-renewables/
The United States generates about one fifth of its electricity from nuclear power, making it the country’s largest low-emissions energy source. The national rate of nuclear power consumption has remained relatively constant since around 1990. Since 2013, six nuclear plants have closed in the U.S. and have been replaced mainly by natural gas and some wind, solar and energy efficiency measures. Now stakeholders are deciding whether or not nuclear energy is a necessity in the nation’s current and future power grid. While some government-sponsored research finds that nuclear energy is necessary to cut carbon dioxide emissions, other research shows that the world can achieve its climate goals by completely transitioning from fossil fuels and nuclear to wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor#Economics
A key driver of interest in SMRs is the claimed economies of scale in production, due to volume manufacture in an offsite factory. Some studies instead find the capital cost of SMRs to be equivalent to larger reactors.[49] Substantial capital is needed to construct the factory - ameliorating that cost requires significant volume, estimated to be 40–70 units

Wind Opposition

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-intense-lobster-fueled-fight-over-america-s-first-floating-wind-farm/ar-BB1eUFFR
The Department of Energy has estimated that the U.S. has the potential to get 2,000 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind turbines, which it notes is double the annual total of all electricity used in the country annually. The research found parts of the Gulf of Maine are among patches of ocean with the greatest wind potential... Distributed energy is unlikely to meet the nation’s entire demand, though. An NREL working paper found that rooftop solar could supply around 40% for U.S. demand. When it comes to large renewable power installations, Goldstein predicted that hammering out ways to lower emissions with wind is key to keeping the ocean intact.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tourism-manufacturing-fight-wind-power-natural-gas-europe-11672682789
“No one can live so close to a wind farm,” Ms. Martin said. Critics say the turbines are a blight on the landscape, make noise and cast shadows. “Probably my business, my way of life, will disappear,” Ms. Martin said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/minke-is-pictured-dead-on-sandbar-as-lawmakers-call-for-ban-on-offshore-wind-turbines/ar-AA1aTGSo
It is the latest in a large number of whale deaths along the east coast of the United States. Huge offshore wind turbines are currently under construction off the New Jersey coast, and others are planned for New York, sparking concerns they may be interfering with the animals’ sonar. Since December, at least 32 whales of different species have been found dead on east coast beaches from Massachusetts down to Florida, a large number of which were found along the Jersey shore. Environmental groups have been adamant that the number of deaths is linked directly to the construction of offshore wind farms.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-reduction-act-backlash-clean-energy-wind-solar-f3d4d900
Ballooning size of wind and solar projects draws local ire as they march closer to populated areas.

Nuclear Atomicity

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/02/20/texas-blackout-of-2021-was-primarily-a-human-failure/
The world’s Energy Capital, Houston, just suffered one of the greatest energy failures in America with 4.4 million people left to face arctic temperatures with no heat, no light, little food, and freezing water lines. All of this is happening amid a pandemic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis
In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major power crisis, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11, 13–17, and 15–20. The storms triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, some for several days. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis.

https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=TX
In 2021, Texas produced about 26% of all U.S. wind-powered electricity generation, leading the nation for the 16th year in a row. Wind power surpassed the state’s nuclear generation for the first time in 2014 and exceeded coal-fired generation for the first time in 2019.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2021/03/04/the-texas-catastrophic-blackout-lessons-for-the-developing-countries/
For energy policy makers around the world, the lessons of the Texas debacle will be a warning sign in their own planning for power grid reliability and resilience to adverse events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID
In computer science, ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequence of database operations that satisfies the ACID properties (which can be perceived as a single logical operation on the data) is called a transaction. For example, a transfer of funds from one bank account to another, even involving multiple changes such as debiting one account and crediting another, is a single transaction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomicity_(database_systems)
An atomic transaction is an indivisible and irreducible series of database operations such that either all occurs, or nothing occurs. A guarantee of atomicity prevents updates to the database occurring only partially, which can cause greater problems than rejecting the whole series outright. As a consequence, the transaction cannot be observed to be in progress by another database client. At one moment in time, it has not yet happened, and at the next it has already occurred in whole (or nothing happened if the transaction was cancelled in progress).

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nuclear-power-energy-waste-safety-cost-reactors-solar-wind-coal-oil-11636497781
Driving through the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, I see what John Denver called our “mountain mama” covered with grotesque windmills that spoil the majestic natural views. Visiting family in North Dakota, I see farmland stretching for miles sacrificed to windmills. From California to Florida, we see thousands of acres of open land covered with solar panels. Every solar panel and windmill must be connected to the grid via thousands of miles of additional power lines.

Dust Storms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Middle_East_storms
The 2020 Middle East storms happened on 12 March 2020 and the following days, bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms, floods, and sandstorms, to northern Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, State of Palestine and Iraq. They are sometimes called “The Dragon” or the “Dragon storms” (...), a name which arose in social media.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g297555-i9225-k5146050-Sand_storms-Sharm_El_Sheikh_South_Sinai_Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html
Tourist experiences in sand storms.

Dust Storms impact on wind renewables

https://phys.org/news/2019-01-erosion-turbine-blades-artificial-intelligence.html
The erosion of materials used in wind turbine blades due to the effect of weather conditions is a problem that applies to the whole wind energy sector.

https://www.lenntech.com/abstracts/1671/effect-of-dust-on-the-performance-of-wind-turbines.html
An experimental investigation on the effect of blade surface roughness, due to dust accumulation, on the performance of wind turbines was performed. The development of the energy generating costs of wind turbines directly depends on the wind turbine output, which depends upon the characteristics of the turbine blades and their surface roughness. An important operating requirement that relates to a wind turbines airfoils are its ability to perform when the smoothness of its surface has been degraded by the dust.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/how-do-wind-turbines-survive-severe-storms
You would think that during hurricane season, more wind means more energy, right? It only works that way up to a point. Wind turbines need to protect themselves just as communities do during tropical storms and hurricanes.

Dust Storms impact on solar renewables

https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/focus-areas/environment/SDS
Dust can impact on the output of solar power plants, especially those that rely on direct solar radiation. Dust deposits on solar panels are a main concern of plants operators. Keeping the solar collectors dust-free to prevent particles from blocking incoming radiation requires time and labour.

New Nuclear Economy

https://joebiden.com/9-key-elements-of-joe-bidens-plan-for-a-clean-energy-revolution/
Biden will set a target of reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035, creating incentives for deep retrofits that combine appliance electrification, efficiency, and on-site clean power generation.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2020/08/17/what-will-a-biden-harris-administration-do-for-nuclear-energy/
Nuclear has always been a national asset, and now it’s suffering from hostile regional forces and a fractured Nation unable to make important national decisions … That said, there has been some recent political and legislative movement on nuclear energy, including passage of the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, Lifting of the Prohibition on Nuclear Funding, adoption of the Democrat’s America’s Newest Climate Plan that includes nuclear, and DOE’s funding of the Advancing Nuclear Research initiative and the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project … The fact that Joe Biden has a $2 trillion climate plan that includes nuclear power means that things might actually move forward when he is elected – depending on what happens with the Senate … In particular, Biden’s plan calls for development of small modular reactors, specifically because SMRs are ideal for load-following or backing up wind, even better than natural gas … Many are questioning how much Biden’s VP choice, Kamala Harris, supports his plan for nuclear. In one of the few insights into her thoughts on the subject, when she was asked “Do you support the use of nuclear energy?” she answered, “Yes, temporarily while we increase investment into cleaner renewable alternatives.” … Surveys of attitudes towards nuclear power indicate a general favorability of all age groups, but males aged 18-34 have the highest approval at 73%.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/10/national/nuclear-energy-industry-lacks-new-talent-fukushima-fallout-turns-off-graduates/
But Kakitani may be a rare breed in Japan, where nuclear businesses have seen a serious shortage of new talent since the March 11, 2011, meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. “It seems that the nuclear power industry has lost much of its popularity because it is seen as in decline and is suffering a negative image from having to decommission crippled reactors,” said Kakitani, 24, who majors in nuclear engineering.

https://www.designnews.com/shortage-nuclear-scientists
Currently, the average age of a nuclear scientist is 47 years old, and there are less and less students entering the nuclear field every year. What is the reason for this drop in interest? Most scientists would agree that the country as a whole lost interest in nuclear technology after the Cold War ended. Due to the retirement rate (8 percent every year) and the lack of students coming in, we will see a steep drop in the amount of nuclear engineers.

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/fukushima-disaster-didnt-scare-world-nuclear-power
Still, it prompted Taiwan and some countries in Western Europe to move more quickly to phase out nuclear energy. Belgium and Germany sped up plans to shut down their nuclear reactors, and Italians voted overwhelmingly against rebuilding their nuclear sector.

https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2021/02/03/kerry-saves-the-debate/
But late in November the former Secretary of State and now United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate said two things about climate that are extremely sensible and also somewhat courageous in the current, uh, climate. First, he endorsed nuclear power because of its emissions profile and second, he said he used to be against nuclear but has changed his mind. “Given this challenge we face today, and given the progress of fourth-generation nuclear, go for it. No other alternative. Zero emissions.” Which creates a more promising basis for discussion than most of what is being said on the subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-environmentalism
Anti-environmentalism is a movement that favors loose environmental regulation in favor of economic benefits and opposes strict environmental regulation aimed at preserving nature and the planet. Anti-environmentalists seek to persuade the public that environmental policy impacts society negatively. The movement’s goals include to counter the effects of environmental ideology and movements, to redirect and diminish public concern about the environment, to discredit left-leaning environmentalists, and to persuade politicians against increased environmental regulation.

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/small-modular-reactors-a-challenge-for-spent-fuel-management
Globally, there are about 50 SMR designs and concepts at different stages of development. Three SMR plants are in advanced stages of construction or commissioning in Argentina, China and Russia, which are all scheduled to start operation between 2019 and 2022.

https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/nuclear-waste-pilesscientists-seek-best/98/i12
The US does not reprocess its fuel. Instead, reactor engineers submerge the assemblies in on-site pools for a few years until the fuel cools and the radioactivity starts to fall. Then they transfer the fuel-rod assemblies to stainless-steel canisters, which are welded shut and packed inside reinforced concrete silos. And there the spent fuel sits for now, accumulating in so-called dry casks above ground at or near power plants, because the US has no permanent repository for this waste. And the fuel keeps accumulating. About 20% of the electricity in the US comes from 96 commercial nuclear reactors, according to the US Energy Information Administration. And roughly every 2 years, each plant replaces about one-third of its fuel with fresh fuel. The radioactive material in the casks is a controlled solid, not an unruly liquid-sludge combo that’s leaking into the ground and warrants vitrification, as is the case for the material in the Hanford tanks. Experts consider dry-cask storage safe in the short term. But because the spent-fuel containers sit in limbo, many of them will remain where they are for decades longer than originally intended.

Nuclear Energy - Taiwan Semiconductor

https://www.wsj.com/articles/honda-to-close-u-s-factories-for-a-week-over-supply-issues-11615954099
Semiconductors have been in short supply for months after makers of smartphones, PCs, tablets and TVs underestimated expectations during the pandemic, before ramping up orders that caught chip manufacturers unprepared.

https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/tsmc/1539-a-brief-history-of-tsmc/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSMC
History about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Nuclear Energy - Solar cost

https://news.mit.edu/2018/explaining-dropping-solar-cost-1120
Researchers uncover the factors that have caused photovoltaic module costs to drop by 99 percent.

https://news.energysage.com/the-history-and-invention-of-solar-panel-technology/
With the way the cost of solar has plummeted in the past decade, it’s easy to forget that going solar had a completely different meaning even just 15 years ago. Let’s go back a few centuries to the origins of solar PV and explore the history of solar energy and silicon solar technology.

Nuclear Energy - China

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-nuclearpower-idUSKCN1UD0W9
China has started building its first small modular reactor (SMR) project on the island province of Hainan, the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Thursday, as part of the country’s efforts to diversify its nuclear sector.

Nuclear Energy - Issues

https://www.dw.com/en/nuclear-climate-mycle-schneider-renewables-fukushima/a-56712368
And if we’re talking about the construction of new power plants, then nuclear power is simply excluded. Not just because it is the most expensive form of electricity generation today, but, above all, because it takes a long time to build reactors. In other words, every euro invested in new nuclear power plants makes the climate crisis worse because now this money cannot be used to invest in efficient climate protection options.

https://antinuclear.net/2021/03/12/small-modular-reactors-not-the-solution-says-german-nuclear-authority-reneweconomy/
Renew Economy 12th March 2021, Using a large fleet of small modular reactors (SMR) to secure climate neutral electricity supply in the future – as proposed by billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates – poses many unsolved problems and security risks, two researcher assessments commissioned by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) have found according to a report by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). SMR proponents claim that, once produced in bulk, these small plants are cheaper and safer thanks to advanced reactor designs and can be operated with converted short-lived radioactive materials, solving the waste problem. But the two reports, seen by SZ, conclude that SMR “carry enormous risks with regard to the proliferation of weapons-grade materials and will probably never be as cheap as their advocates claim,” Michael Bauchmüller writes. The paper by the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) found that in order to replace the 400 or so large reactors today, “many thousands to tens of thousands of SMR plants” would have to be built. But this raises questions for proliferation, the spread of dangerous nuclear material.

Nuclear Energy - Waste Management

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/small-modular-reactors-a-challenge-for-spent-fuel-management
Countries that are new to nuclear power should carefully consider spent fuel management and establish a relevant infrastructure as they work on introducing nuclear energy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository
For the ten years after 2015 it is estimated to cost taxpayers $24 billion in payments from the Judgment Fund. The Judgment Fund is not subject to budget rules and allows Congress to ignore the nuclear waste issue since payments therefrom do not have any impact on yearly spending for other programs … By 2008, Yucca Mountain was one of the most studied pieces of geology in the world; between geologic studies and materials science the United States had invested US$9 billion on the project.

https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-we-just-incinerate-burn-nuclear-waste-What-would-be-the-side-effects
It’s just all around a bad idea.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/destroying-nuclear-waste-to-create-clean-energy-it-can-be-done
If not for long-term radioactive waste, then nuclear power would be the ultimate “green” energy. The alternative to uranium is thorium, a radioactive ore whose natural decay is responsible for half of our geothermal energy, which we think of as “green energy.” More than 20 years of research at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), the birthplace of the internet and where Higgs boson was discovered, demonstrate that thorium could become a radically disruptive source of clean energy providing bountiful electricity any place and at any time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power
Use thorium instead of uranium.

https://technology.inquirer.net/1375/desert-site-said-ideal-for-nuclear-waste-disposal
Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Sinai desert geology

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/region/44672/earthquakes/south-sinai.html
Latest quakes in or near South Sinai, Egypt.

https://www.academia.edu/26889557/Fossil_Water_under_the_Sinai_Negev_Peninsula
By studying the water issuing from springs and wells scattered across the Sinai and the Negev deserts, hydrogeologists have identified a great aquifer formed during the last glacial age SINAI-NEGEV PENINSULA shares geological, structural and stratigraphic similarities with both Asia and Africa, from which it separated about two million years ago. The similarities between the peninsula and northern Africa, where a vast quantity of water lies under the Sahara, suggest that a huge aquifer also lies under the Sinai-Negev deserts.

Nuclear Waste

https://www.statista.com/statistics/267158/number-of-nuclear-reactors-in-operation-by-country/
Jan 27, 2021 - Currently, there are 440 nuclear reactors in operation in some 30 countries around the world.

https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/nuclear-reprocessing-dangerous-dirty-and-expensive
Reprocessing is a series of chemical operations that separates plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste contained in the used (or “spent”) fuel from nuclear power reactors. The separated plutonium can be used to fuel reactors, but also to make nuclear weapons. In the late 1970’s, the United States decided on nuclear non-proliferation grounds not to reprocess spent fuel from U.S. power reactors, but instead to directly dispose of it in a deep underground geologic repository where it would remain isolated from the environment for at least tens of thousands of years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_flask
The “INF” acronym stands for “Irradiated Nuclear Fuel” though the classification also covers “plutonium and high-level waste” cargoes. In order to receive these classifications, vessels must meet a range of structural and safety standards. Vessels used for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel are typically purpose built and are commonly referred to as Nuclear Fuel Carriers.

What Is Great About The New Desert Economy?

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-have-a-coastline-on-the-mediterranean-sea.html
Twenty-two countries currently call the Mediterranean Coast home, making it all the more impressive that each nation has cultivated distinctive personalities and histories.

Renewable recycling

https://www.solar.com/learn/can-solar-panels-be-recycled/
Retired solar panels used to become e-waste in landfills – a remarkably ungreen end to an environmentally friendly life. In recent years, encouragement from the solar industry and technological advancements have fostered the development of recycling programs for panels past their prime.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills
Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills. Companies are searching for ways to deal with the tens of thousands of blades that have reached the end of their lives.

https://www.optimistdaily.com/2020/12/new-wind-turbine-blades-could-be-recycled-at-the-end-of-their-life/
With an eye to accelerating the rapid growth of both onshore and offshore wind power around the world, a team of researchers has recently developed a wind turbine blade that’s not only cheaper than conventional ones but also easier to recycle.

Green Digital Age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_crisis
Climate crisis is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. This term and the term climate emergency have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity and the planet, and to urge aggressive climate change mitigation.

https://www.economist.com/business/2023/01/01/can-the-north-sea-become-europes-new-economic-powerhouse
The continent’s most turbulent body of water is finding fresh uses.

Is There An Egyptian Seller’s Remorse?

https://www.inss.org.il/publication/sinai-isis/
In the past few months, Wilayat Sinai (the Sinai Province), which is the Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate in Egypt, carried out two unconventional attacks. On November 19, 2020 it blew up (yet once more) a pipeline that carries natural gas from Israel to Egypt and on July 21 it attacked an Egyptian military base in the area of Rabaa in Sinai.

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/04/egypt-sisi-inaugurate-sinai-projects-economy-coronavirus.html
Days before the projects opened, local media outlets were busy talking about the controversial articles published in Al-Masry Al-Youm, written by founder Salah Diab under the pseudonym “Newton.” Diab had proposed the isolation of Sinai from Egypt and allowing it to select its own ruler as a free industrial zone not subject to Egyptian laws.

https://egyptoil-gas.com/news/egypt-announces-new-oil-discovery-in-sinai/
4th July 2019 - Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) has achieved a new oil discovery in the Abu Rudeis concession area in Sinai, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/50/1201/407655/AlAhram-Weekly/Egypt/Bringing-the-Sinai-peninsula-closer.aspx
Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 (COS 2018), launched on 9 February that year, marked a turning point in the war against terrorism. Two weeks later, on 25 February, the government launched another comprehensive project — Edict 107/2018 — establishing a national committee for the development of Sinai. According to the decree, LE600 billion was earmarked for the implementation of 994 development projects, most of which have already been completed or are nearing completion. As many them are infrastructural and economic projects with a national dimension, they have not only altered the face of Sinai but also linked the peninsula closer to the Nile Valley. Other projects targeted education, healthcare, social services, as well as job creation and fostering small to mid-size income generating enterprises. These projects struck a balance between the character of Sinai society and culture and the general composition of Egyptian society.

https://en.eipss-eg.org/an-economic-reading-of-sinai-development/
At the end of February 2018, Al-Sisi announced what he called a “comprehensive plan” for the development of the region through a series of projects in accordance with the Strategic Plan of Urban Development-2052 and the Strategy of Sustainable Development-2030.

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/68900/N-Sinai-governor-inaugurates-water-desalination-station-in-Arish
North Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadiel Shousha inaugurated a water desalination station in the Masaed district of Arish as part of the governorate’s celebrations of Sinai Liberation Day, at total costs of EGP 68.5 million.

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/49224/Morsi-offered-to-have-Palestinians-settled-in-Sinai-Abbas
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the ousted president Mohamed Morsi had offered the Palestinians a piece of the Sinai Peninsula during his rule. Abbas’ statements came during a speech he delivered at the National council’s 23rd session held on Monday at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.