China – sunshine hours

China Placing A Global Bet On Coal

Published on May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 by sunshinehours11 Comment

China dupes the world.

China, known as the world’s biggest polluter, has been taking dramatic steps to clean up and fight climate change.

Sort of.

So why is it also building hundreds of coal-fired power plants in other countries?

Money. And so it can keep conning the suckers.

China’s overseas ventures include hundreds of electric power plants that burn coal, which is a significant emitter of the carbon scientifically linked to climate change. Edward Cunningham, a specialist on China and its energy markets at Harvard University, tells NPR that China is building or planning more than 300 coal plants in places as widely spread as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines.

…

For many years, four huge electric power plants burned coal within the capital city, Beijing, contributing to the city’s choking smog. But within the past four years, all four stopped burning coal.

A visit by NPR on Saturday to one of the plants, the Huaneng Beijing thermal power station, showed that it now burns natural gas

Probably NG from coal gasification which has produces a lot more CO2 for the whole process.

Rest of article here.

Global CO2 2015 vs 1950

Published on October 10, 2017October 10, 2017 by sunshinehours11 Comment

1950: USA 43% of global CO2

2015: USA 14% of global CO2

China Caused Two Thirds of Growth in CO2 Since 1990

Published on November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

China’s CO2 production went from 2.4 gt to 10.5 gt. An 8.1 gt increase

Global CO2 production went from 22.5 gt to 35.7 gt. A 12.2 gt increase.

Maybe sending all those jobs to China was not a good thing.

CO2 production 1990 to 2014:

Daily death counts of persons 65 years of age and older in Beijing

Published on June 22, 2016June 22, 2016 by sunshinehours11 Comment

I came across a new paper trying to claim that increased temperatures caused by global warming will kill more “old people” in Beijing.

In the supplementary data they posted the graph of daily mortality.

First thing I noticed is that deaths peak in January and bottom out in the summer.

Yes there are some summertime spikes. But it appears that something like 60 more people die per day die in January than in July.

It seems to me that if winters are warmer, lives will be saved.

US Senate Considering Albedo Modification Geoengineering Proposal

Published on April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 by sunshinehours12 Comments

The US Senate is considering an “Albedo Modification Geoengineering Proposal”.

Budgetmakers in the U.S. Senate want the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the possibility of making Earth reflect more sunlight into space to fight global warming. Earth’s reflectivity is known as its albedo, and the request to study “albedo modification” comes in the details of a proposed spending bill passed by the Senate appropriations committee to fund DOE, the Army Corps of Engineers, and related agencies for fiscal year 2017, which begins 1 October. The bill does not specify how much money should be spent on the research.

In a surprise move, 200 companies in China decided to bid on the contract. Most of their plans involved reopening all the coal power plants President Obama has shut down.

UHV – Ultra High Voltage Transmission

Published on April 16, 2016April 16, 2016 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

China is building a network of Ultra High Voltage power lines to move electricity long distances. They even have plans to build UHV lines to Germany so they can sell the Germans cheap electricity generated by coal.

“There are 2300 new coal plants with 1400GW of capacity planned worldwide”

“China’s proposed investment in long-distance, ultra-high voltage power transmission lines will pave the way for power exports from China to as far away as Germany.”

While UHV has been used in Russia and other counties in the past, China is perfecting it. The US grid, for example, operates at 500kv or lower.

UHV allows the transmission of very large amounts of electricity with more efficiency. What are the advantages of UHV?

Increased Transmission Capacity: A single 1000 kV UHV-AC circuit can transmit +/-5 GW, approximately 5 times the maximum transmission capacity of a 500 kV AC line. An 800 kV UHV-DC transmission line is even more efficient, with a capacity to transmit 6.4 GW.

Extended Transmission Distance: A 1000 kV UHV-AC line will economically transmit power distances of up to 2,000 km (1240 miles), more than twice as far as a typical 500 kV AC line . An 800 kV UHV-DC power line can economically transmit power over distances of up to 3,000 km (1,860 miles).

Reduced Transmission Losses: If the conductor cross-sectional area and transmission power are held constant, the resistance losses of a 1000 kV UHV-AC line is 25% that of the 500-kV AC power line. The resistance loss of an 800 kV UHV-DC transmission line is an even more remarkable 39% of typical line power erosion.

Reduced Costs: The cost per unit of transmission capacity of 1000 kV UHV-AC and 800 kV UHV-DC transmission is about 75% of 500 kV AC costs.

Reduced Land Requirements: A 1000 kV UHV-AC line power line saves 50% to 66% of the corridor area that a 500 kV AC line would require. An 800 kV UHV-DC line would save 23% of the corridor area required by a 500 kV DC line.

China: 1,000 More Coal Power Plants Exporting Power All The Way To Germany

Published on April 9, 2016April 9, 2016 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

1,000 more coal power plants for China. And then power exports all the way to Germany.

Coal!!!!

China’s proposed investments in long-distance, ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission lines will pave the way for power exports as far as Germany, the head of the national power grid said on Tuesday as he launched an initiative for cross-border power connections

Exporting power to central Asia and beyond falls into China’s “one belt, one road” ambitions to export industrial overcapacity and engineering expertise as it faces slowing growth at home. The plan would allow enormous hydropower dams, coal-fired power plants and wind farms in frontier regions such as Xinjiang to sell into higher-priced markets overseas. The “belt” refers to the land route from Asia to Europe, while the “road”, curiously, refers to the sea route via the Indian Ocean.

Talk of exporting power is a reversal for China, which as recently as 2004 suffered rolling blackouts across its manufacturing heartland. But huge investments in power in the decade since, and the construction of a number of dams, nuclear reactors and coal-fired plants due to begin operating in the next 10 years, mean the country faces a growing surplus.

Liu Zhenya, chairman of State Grid, told reporters that wind and thermal power produced in Xinjiang could reach Germany at half the current cost of electricity there. “There are so many resources, but no market. We need to find it externally.”