The Earth Is Hotter Than We Thought

I think there are probably quite a lot of ramifications to this news for climateers to consider which I’m too tired to think of. Over to the talkshop massive:

The core of the Earth is nearly 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought, making it as fiery as the surface of the sun.

Following new experiments, scientists have established that the core temperature is 6,000 C, much higher than the previous estimate of 5,000.

Using X-rays to probe into the behaviour of iron crystals, putting samples of iron under extreme pressure, researchers were able to examine how iron crystals melt and form.

The new tests, using one of the world’s most intense sources of X-rays located at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, the research team were able to re-create the same pressure at the core.

[co-mod:
Here is much better copy, the original press release PDF here  http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/2209.htm
--Tim]

Germany Forced to Cancel Climate Programs — SPIEGEL ONLINE

This article on Spiegel Online is surprising for a German publisher.

Seems to be claiming German is in fiscal trouble and is dumping some holy cows.

“Berlin can’t afford many of its renewable energy programs.”

Then goes on “As prices for carbon emissions continue to languish, Berlin is planning to cancel some key subsidy programs aimed at increasing reliance on renewable energies. Germany and other European countries seem uninterested in fixing the problem.” (my bold)

h/t to Little Churchill at Roger Helmer’s blog

Breaking: EDF get go ahead for new nukes at Hinkley

That’ll please the no dash for gas protestors then…
HT to Roger Harrabin for this tweet:

Davey says 69% of DECC budget being spent on #nuclear clean-up. Promises that #Hinkley strike price will include clean-up costs.

— roger harrabin (@RHarrabin) March 19, 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1066793/hinkley-point-nuclear-plant-given-go-ahead

A new  nuclear plant will be built at Hinkley Point in Somerset after Energy Secretary Ed Davey granted planning permission.

The development of Hinkley Point C by French energy company EDF is a boost for the nuclear industry following a series of setbacks in plans to construct a new fleet of reactors in the UK, which ministers say are needed to cut carbon and keep the lights on.

NASA: Solar Wind Energy Source Discovered

Hat tip to Paul Vaughan [and A C Osborn on comments], who spotted this interesting new article at NASA’s website:

March 8, 2013: Using data from an aging NASA spacecraft, researchers have found signs of an energy source in the solar wind that has caught the attention of fusion researchers. NASA will be able to test the theory later this decade when it sends a new probe into the sun for a closer look.

The discovery was made by a group of astronomers trying to solve a decades-old mystery: What heats and accelerates the solar wind?

The solar wind is a hot and fast flow of magnetized gas that streams away from the sun’s upper atmosphere.  It is made of hydrogen and helium ions with a sprinkling of heavier elements.  Researchers liken it to the steam from a pot of water boiling on a stove; the sun is literally boiling itself away.

“But,” says Adam Szabo of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, “solar wind does something that steam in your kitchen never does.  As steam rises from a pot, it slows and cools.  As solar wind leaves the sun, it accelerates, tripling in speed as it passes through the corona. Furthermore, something inside the solar wind continues to add heat even as it blows into the cold of space.”

Finding that “something” has been a goal of researchers for decades.  In the 1970s and 80s, observations by two German/US Helios spacecraft set the stage for early theories, which usually included some mixture of plasma instabilities, magnetohydrodynamic waves, and turbulent heating.  Narrowing down the possibilities was a challenge. The answer, it turns out, has been hiding in a dataset from one of NASA’s oldest active spacecraft, a solar probe named Wind.

Money and nuclear ban don’t mix, Danes look ready to open pockets

NFZ in the US, photo credit takomabibelot
click image for details

A few years ago massive Greenland gained some autonomy from it’s tiny owning state Denmark, shortly after that prospecting for Uranium was allowed. Now the problems moves on to allowing exploitation of the world’s (maybe) fifth largest reserve of uranium.

But the Danes are petty, declare what they don’t have is not allowed, so there.

Psst… look… want some?

“Government leaning toward allowing uranium mining in Greenland”

–The Copenhagen Post

mining.com have another take

Hayes vs Davey: The Coalition energy showdown shapes up

Cracks are appearing in the the Coalition UK government over energy policy. Energy minister Lib-Dem Ed Davey is furious over statements made to the Daily Mail by junior minister John Hayes concerning wind farms:

A furious coalition row erupted today after a junior Tory minister declared that the relentless march of onshore wind farms is at an end.

Insisting ‘enough is enough’, energy minister John Hayes said turbines had been ‘peppered around the country’ with little or no regard for local opinion.

He said existing sites and those in the pipeline would be enough to meet green commitments with no need for more.

‘Even if a minority of what’s in the system is built we are going to reach our 2020 target,’ he said. ‘I’m saying enough is enough.’

But at an early-morning showdown with his boss – Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey – Mr Hayes was told he does not decide government policy.

Jonathan Porrit: Repositioning the Climate Change Debate

Last night the Leeds Sceptical Climateers (Ian, Susan and myself) attended a panel discussion given by the Earth Sciences department at Leeds University’s beautiful Clothworkers Centenary Hall.

Topping the bill was Jonathan Porrit, the veteran alternative energy and environmental campaigner. Also speaking were “the two Andy’s”, as Porrit referred to them, Professor Andrew Gouldson, and Professor Andrew Shepherd. Their three topics were:   ‘innovation in a low carbon future’, ‘should climate change really be a priority in an age of austerity?’ and ‘is global sea level rise the threat we imagine it to be?’.

Andrew McKillop: Russian “expert​ise” in nuclear wast​e management​

Alexander Yemelyanenkov, Russia Now
02 Jul 2012

Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy giant, is to apply for a licence in the
hope of winning contracts to build power stations in North Wales and
Gloucestershire.

The state atomic energy corporation, is holding consultations over
its possible involvement in the British nuclear programme, according to
deputy director general Kirill Komarov. He was speaking on the sidelines of
Atomexpo-2012, a nuclear power trade fair in Moscow, attended by 1,300
company heads and specialists from 53 countries.

RUSSIAN WASTE MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE
The Norwegian environmental group Bellona Fondation reported in August
that Russia has admitted that it dumped 19 radioactive ships plus 14
nuclear reactors – some of them containing fissible material – into the
ocean:

Andrew McKillop: Europe’s Climate Energy Fixation Moves On

Europe’s Climate Energy Fixation Moves On

Andrew McKillop

Günther Oettinger in a pensive pose contemplates Europe’s energy future.

Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt, July 16, the European Commissioner for energy, Gunther Oettinger claimed it was now urgent and rational for the Union to add “another 20% target” to the three 20-20-20 energy targets for 2020, enshrined in the December 2008 climate-energy package. This would be a goal of 20% of the European Union’s GDP coming from industrial activities, but due to rampant de-industrialisation, the present industrial share is well below 20%, and falling.

The energy targets are a planned 20% hike in energy efficiency, a 20% cut in CO2 emissions (both of these from variable base years with variable ways of measuring the goals), and attaining a 20% share of renewable energy in European power production by 2020 – which can be interpreted as the upstream primary energy needed to produce electricity, or only the downstream final delivered electricity.

Doubt over finances hits Brit nuclear renewal plans

Story from Bloomberg: H/T Andrew McKillop

Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power generator, said it’s seeking partners to help finance new nuclear plants in the U.K. after debt swelled.

“We are considering the possibility of opening a little more the capital of these projects by finding a partner,” Senior Executive Vice President of Finance Thomas Piquemal said today on a conference call. “We are considering a better means to finance them and the best way to attract partners.”

EDF is studying building two new reactors at Hinkley Point in southwest England and a further two at its Sizewell site in eastern England. The decision to seek partners follows a 19 percent jump in debt in the first half and comes four months after German utilities EON AG and RWE AG (RWE) scrapped a British project, saying they couldn’t justify the capital expenditure.