Carbon Capture in Australia

There was a report on the Radio 4 farming program the other day stating the the offset industry are buying up Welsh farms in order to plant trees. Some in Wales are now warning that this will destroy communities and jobs (no/few jobs for 30 years while the trees are growing) and the large areas of countryside could end up with a monoculture crop.

But highly likely to be the fastest growing trees for commercial reasons.

Sounds as though it could be a bit like what happened to the Flow Country back in the 1980's.

Try planting some Leylandii for a low hedge :)

Christ rodders is a total wanker. Unless all trees grow at exactly the same rate, there is, by definition, a fastest growing tree.

It's all relative. Some grow fast than others.

The latest from Katherine skewers the idea that interconnectors let us use Norway as a battery to buffer renewable intermittency.

I thought there was some 'unease' about the amount of surplus Danish wind that Norway were expected to store in their hydro?

What I thought was horrific was the green-pleasing quote from National Grid:

?Norway will basically act as Europe?s battery. When we?ve got high renewables, we?ll send it to Norway and they?ll use that power, or they?ll use it to pump water and store the energy in the hydro power stations. And then when we need power in the UK, the power will flow back from Norway to the UK,?

? Duncan Burt, Chief Sustainability Officer, National Grid

The CEGB used to anchor its publicity in fact. When the Scandanavians claimed acid rain from UK power stations was damaging its forests, CEGB measurements and (for its day) quite advanced modelling showed the main culprit was German industry.

In the recent past, Norway had very little pumped storage. Why would it have, when mother nature does all the 'heavy lifting', clothing the mountains with snow and rain, to fill the reservoirs? No need to pump.

And Norway is getting very enthusiastic about electric vehicles.

And Icelink seems to have gone quiet. No surprise there then.

Talking to someone who was in the CEGB at the time, and involved in the measurements, much of the pollution was coming across the Atlantic from a vast steel works in Canada

When you think about reforestation, bamboo may not be the first thing that comes to mind. And it?s true, bamboo isn?t technically a tree ? but planting and cultivating it is no less beneficial for people and the environment. Indeed, as the fastest growing grass on the planet, bamboo has incredible potential as a sustainable resource. Its woody stem makes it very tree-like, yet it also has unique properties. That's why one of our projects involves planting bamboo.

Lifted from a Bamboo article.

Don't Denmark and Sweden have such nan arrangement?

When the Danes have a surplus of wind electricity, they sell it cheap to Sweden because it's a surplus no-one wants. When Denmark need to import electricity when the wind doesn't blow, they buy it from Sweden - but because it's in demand, the electricity is expensive. Only a lunatic would operate such a system.

That would be an act of war, though, and at the very least the countries at the ends of each link would stop buying Russian gas. It's not a monopoly supplier.

Next time you go to Hong Kong, have a close look at what they use for the scaffolding when building skyscrapers.

Yep - Bamboo!

An interesting feature of some HK buildings are "Dragon Holes" and I'm not joking!

He's right.

as would invading Ukraine. And if Putin did that, he wouldn't be too fussed about cutting cables, especially if we were unable to prove who cut them.

at great economic cost to themselves. We don't buy much Russian gas anyway, a few percent AIUI. It's mainland Europe that would suffer, and may well still do so if things turn nasty.

Except that's "a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing"

There is also a fastest growing species, on average.

Alder willow and poplar are some of the fastest growing hardwoods Also IIRC eucalyptus in arid places.

Spruce is about the fastest growing evergreen

Rod speed is slower than an oak tree in full shade.