Fire Earth

Earth is fighting to stay alive. Mass dieoffs, triggered by anthropogenic assault and fallout of planetary defense systems offsetting the impact, could begin anytime!

Archive for the ‘electricity’ Category

U.S. power plant explosion kills 50*

Posted by feww on February 8, 2010

Nature Defaults on Supplying Man-made Power, Again?

*Up to 50 feared dead  with ‘bodies everywhere’ as Connecticut power plant explodes

The explosion leaves another 250 workers injured, with at least four of them in critical condition.


An aerial view of the Kleen Energy Systems plant, where an explosion may have killed up to 50 people, injuring another 250 others. Photo: AP/Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright.

The blast occurred at a gas-fired power station in Middletown, Connecticut. At least 5 people were confirmed dead, but a spokesman at Middletown’s Middlesex hospital, said: “The reports vary from a few, several, to possibly as many as 50 dead.

“They are in the process of search and rescue.”

The shock wave caused by the explosion at the plant, located on the Connecticut River, was felt about 50km (~30 miles) away, according to various reports quoting witnesses, and was initially thought to be an earthquake. One witness said he could see “bodies everywhere,” while others said more victims could be buried in rubble.

The new 620Mw gas-fired power plant in Middletown would have been one of the largest in Connecticut, due to go online on June 1. The college town of Middletown is about 50km (30 miles) south of Connecticut state capital, Hartford.

In Murphy’s law has no time vector! posted on November 12, 2009, Fire-Earth moderators said:

The US, EU countries, China, Japan and other energy dinosaurs WILL experience similar disruptions…

And the Moderators amended Murphy’s Law:

If more things can go wrong they will go wrong about now!

Related Links:

Posted in Connecticut River, electricity, Middletown power plant, Murphy’s law, power plant | Tagged: , , , , | 5 Comments »

Coal Is Deadly

Posted by feww on February 16, 2009

**PLEASE FORWARD THIS INVITATION OUT ON ALL LISTSERVS, MYSPACES … —EVERYWHERE!!**

THE APPALACHIAN BIOREGION NEEDS YOU!

MOUNTAIN JUSTICE SUMMER 2009 CAMP OUT MAY 16 – 22

HEARWOOD REGIONAL CAMP 2009 MAY 22 – 25

COAL IS DIRTY, DANGEROUS AND DEPLETING!

Y’all are formally invited to the 5th annual Mountain Justice Summer camp where activist and organizers come from all over to learn, educate, refresh and party to celebrate a summer of resistance to the pernicious process know as strip mining.

Join us! at this years camp in beautiful Harlan County Kentucky at Camp Blanton. You will be surrounded by old growth forest—and the heart of the resistance movement against the destruction of the magnificent ancient majestic mountains which surround you.

The end of the Mountain Justice camp kicks off the start of the Annual Heartwood Forest Council Camp May 22-25th. After a week of learning how to defend the most ancient mountains in the world stay and at the same place learn about defense of its forest!

Join us! as this camp kicks off the now annual summer campaign of resistance in the Appalachia bioregion to protect some of the oldest watersheds on earth. Come join us as we celebrate 5 years of continuous non stop resistance to the forces that would lay waste to our land and the people which belong to it.

Join us as we seek to take advantage of the changing political climate to create the pressure and visible resistance that will make it possible to capitalize on that climate.

After 5 years of resistance Mountain Justice now is at the cusp of making gains dreamed of during the darkest days of the Bush presidency. Now the agency heads are no longer from the industry they are supposed to regulate. Now agencies are being captured back from the industries that owned them up to now. Now is the time for us to take back the losses of the Bush years.

We are going to stop strip mining for coal with YOUR HELP. Come and help us forge a new energy future. Coal is a 19th century technology that hired a 20th century PR firm but this year we will rock the national with the truth that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN COAL!

Our planet is tied to the same crossroads as our species. As climate change becomes more damaging, as we gasp in cities dying deaths of slow asphyxiation from coal pollution as and entire community is wiped out by the toxic ash byproduct of this 19th century technology now is when we weigh in and make our choice.

Help us forge a new energy policy for our mountains, the planet the people which inhabit it. Now is the time, distance, speed and place where if we push back hard enough we can not only take back what was done during the Bush years—we can push forward into a new cleaner future.

Coal is dirty, dangerous and depleting is our message. Come join us to play, sing, learn and prepare to make a new path for our species. We need you now more than ever before because now is the time. We need writers, filmers, teachers, lawyers, artist, fishermen, 4 wheeler enthusiasts. If you have any skill—and are willing to work hard for the mountains of Appalachia we need you!

Help us preserve the most valuable resource of all—our highland watersheds. If you think the wars for oil are bloody—wait till you see the wars for water. Appalachia is the Saudi Arabia of WATER and it is that resource which the future is going to be most grateful when we end strip mining and the resulting annihilation of highland watersheds.

Please come prepared to camp—more importantly come with respect and a willingness to learn and work. We have fun—but this camp is a huge tool in the resistance and it’s a tool we need to do what its designed for—making strip mine corporations a living hell. We need people that are autonomous and can take care of themselves. You are coming into the Appalachian Mountains with a distinct culture which you will do fine with if you just come with respect.

If your even curious goto our website at mountainjustice.org and see what we are about. At the very least at the end of the week you will leave with new friendships, new knowledge and perhaps some new skills to help in the fight.

So join us! Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Aunts and Uncles students and teachers. We need an entire broad range of experience and have everything ranging from tent space to comfortable indoor lodge space and a massive kitchen. You will be comfortable, well fed, entertained and will walk away with an entire skill set.

Y’all come!

Mountain Justice

Information Services

(MJIS)

mountainjusticesummer.org

Posted in Appalachian Mountains, CLEAN COAL, Clean Water Act, coal burning plants, electricity | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Images of the day: Legacy of deadly storms

Posted by feww on January 26, 2009

Spain’s storm-related death toll rose to 12, including four children


People look at waves crashing against the seawall in the northern Spanish city of Llanes January 24, 2009. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso (SPAIN). Image may be subject to copyright.

Spain Fire
A column of smoke rise from a forest fire between La Nucia and Finestrat, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009. Three urbanizations in La Nucia had to be evacuated after winds blew down a high-tension power pylon and started a fire in a forested area. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz). Image may be subject to copyright.

In France, some 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) of rail were affected by the storm.

Related Links:

Posted in electricity, forest fire, France, power blackout, Valencia | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Radioactive Leak at TEPCO Unit Near Tokyo

Posted by feww on May 8, 2008

TEPCO Leak Caused by Earthquake?

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the world’s biggest private electric power company, discovered a small leakage of radioactive water within one of its nuclear units north of Tokyo on Thursday.

The utility has not ruled out whether a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 that shook the area early Thursday morning had caused the leakage of contaminated water.

The leak, TEPCO said, had “no environmental impact” outside of the nuclear power plant.

A map of Japan showing Thursday’s magnitude 6.7 earthquake’s epicenter north of Tokyo (Photo: AFP) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice. The quake was one of a series of strong quakes that hit in the Pacific Ocean off Ibaraki prefecture, about 100 km northeast of Tokyo.

Related Links:

Posted in electricity, energy, environment, health, nuclear power, radioactive leak | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Mining Sets Off Earthquake in Germany

Posted by feww on February 24, 2008

Strongest regional quake on record

An earthquake caused by coal mining shook the Saarland region of Germany on the French border Saturday. Measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale, the earthquake caused damage to buildings and cut off the electricity supply to the area. Original report

See Also:

Earthquake shakes up German coal mining

Posted in coal mining, dirty energy, earthquake, electricity, germany, Human-enhanced natural catastrophes, Human-induced natural catastrophes | 1 Comment »

How Do You Say ‘Duck-n-Cover’ in Finnish?

Posted by feww on January 20, 2008

World’s Most Powerful Nuclear Power Plant Under Construction at Olkiluoto [At least 2 years behind schedule; US$1.5billion over budget!]

Finland’s Prime Minister recently declared: “I don’t see that nuclear plants can be a global answer [to climate change.]” He added: “It can not be the only answer.”

Is he pained, frustrated and bitter because just a few days ago his country’s biggest power plant had a reactor scram [rapid emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor] due to the “wrong” type of ice blocking the cooling system inflow (see below)? OR does he whine and lament because Finland’s Olkiluoto 3, their fifth nuke plant, is at least 2 years behind schedule and about 22 percent, €700million (~ US$1billion), over budget (and that doesn’t include the cost of decommissioning)?

Production cost of electricity from the 1600MW Olkiluoto 3 plant? Take a guess, any figure higher than US$4,000/kW could do. [That would be pure speculation, of course!]

TVO Press Release 5 January, 2008

[quote] Production break at the Olkiluoto 2 unit

The Olkiluoto power plant unit OL2 had a reactor scram this morning when frazil ice at the sea water intake screens weakened sea water flow. Warm water is circulated to the intake channel to melt down frazil ice. During the production break also other prepair work will be done at the unit and the unit is expected to be reconnected to the main grid on Sunday.

The incident did not have any safety or environmental impacts.

For further information, please, contact:

Mr Mikko Kosonen, Senior Vice President, Production,
tel. + 358 50 358 9266.
[unquote]

Related Links:

[Updated January 20, 2008]

Posted in economic, electricity, energy, environment, environmentally friendly, Finland, health, nuclear energy, politics, reactor scram | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Kill the World to Save the World!

Posted by feww on December 6, 2007

Is google trying the save the world by creating more energy pollution?

Google announced it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fund companies developing clean-energy technology to generate electricity from renewable energy below the price of coal.

solving-the-world-s-problems.jpg

“We’re busy assembling our own internal research and development group and hiring a team of engineers and energy experts tasked with building 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. Google’s R&D effort will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas.” Google said.

One headline went over the top even by google standards declaring, “Spending Google’s money on conscientious causes” (!)

Larry Brilliant of google.org bewailed, “There are thousands of suicides in southern India because the farmer is unable to keep up with the effects on (his) land from salt water. This is a real phenomenon all over the world, and we have to treat it with the respect and the urgency that it demands; not as another fad or another kind of media event. This is real. … we have two founders who are so impassioned about this…”

Ironically, the world energy demand in the past 12 months increased by at least 10.1EJ (EJ = billion gigajoules) and most probably by as much as 24EJ (~ 760gigawatt) compared with previous period, a demand that is 321 to 760 folds higher than google’s targeted 1 gigawatt capacity. Google is producing additional energy; it is not keeping the coal in the ground! Google’s energy ‘needs’ both present and future can be met by existing generators, without the need to build more power stations.

This begs the question: Is google trying the save the world by producing more energy pollution?

Google is a glorified advertising agency [about 95 percent of its income comes from advertising,] and its interest in renewable energy is motivated by commercial reasons and profit alone. Perhaps the best testimony to google’s true intentions is the extravagant lifestyle of its founders who fly around in a private Boeing 767-200 jet that usually carries up to 180 passengers. To suggest that google’s founders are “so impassioned about this…” is misleading and disingenuous even by their duplicitous standards.

An Excerpt from: The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

“The key to preventing mass species extinction and preserving human cultures is one of creating the opportunity for humans to evolve at very low rates of energy (and material) consumption.”

http://edro.wordpress.com/energy-dinosaurs/

Posted in electricity, energy, environment, Google, killing the world | Leave a Comment »