May 29, 2013

E.ON starts work on 288MW offshore wind farm (Germany)

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/05/29/EON-starts-work-on-288MW-offshore-wind-farm/UPI-32231369829921/

German utility company E.ON said it started laying down special containers to support foundations for a new wind farm off the northern German coast.

E.ON said it started preparation for the construction of the 288-megawatt Amrumbank West offshore wind farm, to be northwest of German archipelago Heligoland.

E.ON said it was deploying a special type of sand bag made from geotextiles that would prevent seabed erosion from around the foundations of the turbines.

"Separating the scour protection from the installation of the foundations has significant logistical advantages and helps to further reduce the cost of offshore wind energy," the company said in a statement. "E.ON's aim is to reduce the construction and operating cost of offshore wind farms by 40 percent by 2015."

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May 14, 2013

Wind, Solar, & Natural Gas Up In Europe — Coal & Nuclear Down

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/13/wind-solar-natural-gas-up-in-europe-coal-nuclear-down/

Following up on the report I just published regarding EPIA’s 2012–2017 European and global solar PV report, below are some really interesting charts I wanted to highlight. Basically, they show that solar PV, wind power, and natural gas capacity has grown substantially in the EU while coal, nuclear, and oil capacity has fallen.

In other words, despite what some may have you think, increasing of solar and wind power in the EU has not been leading to a surge in coal power capacity due to the nuclear phaseouts taking place in several countries. Rather, coal power capacity has also declined. The only fossil fuel that saw an increase in capacity in 2012 was natural gas.

If you look at 2011 statistics, you can see that coal power capacity also increased (along with solar, wind, and natural gas) as nuclear power capacity dropped. However, with such power plants taking a long time to permit, build, and connect to the grid, this was really due to years of work preceding Fukushima and the strong nuclear phaseout plans that resulted from that.

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February 2, 2013

British gangs use flare guns now because they can’t find real ones

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/01/british-gangs-use-flare-guns-now-because-they-cant-find-real-ones/

After the U.K. endured a series of mass shootings, including one that targeted children, it passed some very tough gun control legislation in 1997. The effect, reported on today by The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola, has been staggering. Here are eight of the big takeaways, possible learning opportunities as the U.S. considers its own gun law changes:

1) Bad guys have a hard time getting guns: Criminals have resorted to using “archaic flintlock pistols” and “retrofitted flare guns.” There’s been one mass shooting in 15 years. This despite the adage, “When guns are illegal, only criminals will possess them.”

2) Fewer illegal guns: Faiola reports that, according to ballistics studies, “Most gun crime in Britain can be traced back to less than 1,000 illegal weapons still in circulation.”

3) Fewer gun deaths: Someone in England or Wales is about 3 percent as likely to be killed by a gun as an American. There were 59 gun deaths there last year. The U.S. annual gun death rate has hovered around 10,000 for years.

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and bookmarked for future reference.

yup

January 5, 2013

Best DU thread evah!!!!!1111

and bookmarked