Tag: sustainability

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Nuclear energy’s biggest selling point WAS running 365 days of the year, wind or no wind but heat and drought have changed all that – what does our Junior Energy Minister have to say now?

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, yesterday, the above and: One of nuclear energy’s biggest selling points is its claims of reliability. “Nuclear energy is the only large-scale power source that can be tapped in even the most extreme weather conditions, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” boasts the American energy company Constellation. “Nuclear power plants are very reliable, and can run for many months without interruption, providing large amounts of clean electricity, regardless of the time of day, the weather, or the … Continue reading Nuclear energy’s biggest selling point WAS running 365 days of the year, wind or no wind but heat and drought have changed all that – what does our Junior Energy Minister have to say now?

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Oil, Renewables and Data Centres

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 There is something very revealing about the way Scotland’s resources are discussed and pumped into our living rooms via our television screens. During the 2014 independence referendum, North Sea oil was presented as nothing but a risk to everyone living in Scotland. We were warned about falling production, volatile prices and the dangers of over-relying on oil revenues. Alistair Darling described relying on oil as “gambling with our children’s future.” On Sky News, June 2014, Gordon Brown ‘England’s Lord … Continue reading Oil, Renewables and Data Centres

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Glasgow Labour care little for the people of Glasgow as their latest polluting beast of an incinerator, which the SNP Government would disallow today, upwind of a giant hospital, comes online

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The massive incinerator, called the South Clyde Energy Centre, positioned deliberately directly upwind and a short distance from Glasgow’s biggest hospital. Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The above facility is, of course, an incinerator. Located directly upwind of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to add to the current concerns regarding raw sewage ponds close to it. The new South Clyde Energy Centre due west of the QEUH to get the very most of the pollution into the wards. No comparable hospital in the World faces such threat. With this massive incinerator, … Continue reading Glasgow Labour care little for the people of Glasgow as their latest polluting beast of an incinerator, which the SNP Government would disallow today, upwind of a giant hospital, comes online

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Data centres need huge amounts of water for cooling? Easily solved in Scotland, put them near-shore in any of our 31 460 lochs

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___________________________________________________________ Help Talking-up Scotland keep going. Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: MR JW ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 ___________________________________________________________ From the Scottish Greens a few days ago: Every proposed hyperscale data centre in Scotland must face a full environmental impact assessment, the Scottish Greens have said. The call follows the Scottish Government’s decision to require assessments for proposed developments in Edinburgh and at Auchtertool in Fife. Ministers have introduced a new requirement for councils to notify them about data centre applications exceeding 50 megawatts. However, there is still no requirement for environmental assessments to be conducted as standard across Scotland. This … Continue reading Data centres need huge amounts of water for cooling? Easily solved in Scotland, put them near-shore in any of our 31 460 lochs

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Scotland producing ‘only’ FIVE times as much gas as it consumes – how could we survive on our own?

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From the Guardian today: The penny is dropping in government. Britain, even in rapid energy transition mode, will still need a lot of gas in the years ahead – and needs to know how the gas will arrive. It could hardly be otherwise when there are 24m households with a gas connection, largely for heating, and the pace of heat pumps adoption is miserable. Last year gas comprised about a third of the UK’s overall energy needs. Though annual consumption is in decline, the days of peak use during a bleak midwinter can still be as high as ever. The … Continue reading Scotland producing ‘only’ FIVE times as much gas as it consumes – how could we survive on our own?

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Glasgow’s ‘super-hospital directly downwind of another massive waste treatment plant approved by Scottish Labour in 2012

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The new South Clyde Energy Centre due west of the QEUH to get the very most of the pollution into the wards. No comparable hospital in the World faces such threat. With this massive incinerator, approved by the Labour-run council in 2012, the QEUH will be exposed to even greater threat than it already faces. By Joe Murray The South Clyde Energy Centre (SCWC) an Energy from Waste (EfW) Incinerator being built at North Cardonald in Glasgow is sited around 500 metres and directly upwind of the Queen Elizabeth University and Sick Children’s Hospitals (or the Southern General as locals … Continue reading Glasgow’s ‘super-hospital directly downwind of another massive waste treatment plant approved by Scottish Labour in 2012

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Sludge leaks, spills, and fails to be contained so build your super-hospital further away

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Once more, deep thanks to our friend who shared this ‘sludge’ with us. From: Olden, R. (2016) Sludge. Cultural Geographies, 23(4), pp. 715719. (doi:10.1177/1474474016630966) We are standing over the inlet of Shieldhall Wastewater Treatment Works where the rush of stuff banished to an underworld of sewers and culverts spews from a protruding pipe to meet the light of day once again: the sewage and wastewater of half a million people….Here at Shieldhall, Scotland’s largest wastewater treatment works, the task is to separate water from waste. Wastewater runs a course which sees it filtered, settled, dredged and then metabolised by nitrifying … Continue reading Sludge leaks, spills, and fails to be contained so build your super-hospital further away

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New transmission infrastructure in Scotland is primarily required to transmit surplus electricity across the border into England and the wider Great Britain system

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to where it is consumed, mainly Central Scotland and England. BBC Scotland’s insert into BBC Breakfast makes the above explicit claim that new pylons and infrastructure are needed to ‘shift’ energy from the north to central Scotland. Notably the full BBC Scotland report online does not make the above claim. Another Reporting Scotland special? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rn42jp7d6o Is the claim, additional to their full online report, true? No. Why? In Scotland: Electricity consumption has declined substantially over the past two decades. Total consumption in Scotland was 21.7 TWh in 2024 — down 26.6% from the 2005–2007 baseline average of 29.3 TWh. Domestic … Continue reading New transmission infrastructure in Scotland is primarily required to transmit surplus electricity across the border into England and the wider Great Britain system

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The Edinburgh Tourist Levy to raise £50m a year, to build 472 new houses for locals and more city centre police officers

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Reader Arty Hetty has been hearing rumours from elements stirring against the Tourist Levy: ‘Far as I know Edinburgh council are introducing a tourist tax, with the proceeds apparently going to be used to build houses for workers from outwith Scotland, not for services for the residents that are impacted by tourism…needs more investigation but that’s what I saw reported recently.’  stewartb (with added comment below from Legerwood) responding to these rumours: How does it stack up against what the Council is stating? There is an abundance of information on the Levy and what has already been agreed in terms of its … Continue reading The Edinburgh Tourist Levy to raise £50m a year, to build 472 new houses for locals and more city centre police officers

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UK Government’s own levelised ‘full lifetime’ cost analysis – new nuclear is nearly three times more expensive than onshore wind and more than double offshore wind

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From Nuclear and offshore wind energy comparison information: EIR release – Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, published today: Information requested All internal briefings, analysis and minutes/notes from meetings, comparing nuclear energy and offshore wind energy, from the last three months. Response Some of the information you requested is available from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy Publication. The publication provides estimates of the size of the UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy, including turnover and employment. Data is available for nuclear, and offshore energy. The latest publication … Continue reading UK Government’s own levelised ‘full lifetime’ cost analysis – new nuclear is nearly three times more expensive than onshore wind and more than double offshore wind