HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

I've heard about Orkney quite a lot, I think it must simply be an innovation hub.

That I can think off the top of my head:

- Orbital marine, making tidal turbine https://twitter.com/Orbitalmarine

- Their grid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXe1hBvlylw

- Their Hydrogen facilities, using extra renewable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rybpaqhg5Qg

There's a Fully Charged episode on Youtube that looked into this. Hammer's Hill Wind Farm on Orkney paid off their installation and construction CO2 debt in the first 45 days of operation. Despite there being 500 tons of concrete and steel in each base.

https://youtu.be/FXe1hBvlylw?t=87

⬐ illys

The problem of the "pay back" is that the CO2 they emit is still in the air: the mill does not absorb CO2.

In addition there are different ways to compute a "pay back":

- you may compare the e-kWh production and the fossil-kWh spent to build... Certainly pointless but useful to display short "pay back" durations.

- you may compare your electricity production with the production of the nearby fossil-plant that you pretend to avoid... More realistic, but your project will have different "pay back" depending on the neighborhood you consider (immediate neighbor, regional mix, national mix...).

I can understand such computations in the transition stage where we are, but in the end, each project should be considered for its own [electricity production]/[fossil emissions] ratio across its construction and lifespan.

⬐ NeedMoreTea

As we can't go from polluting forms of generation to more neutral sources without building and replacing... Yet it's still worth doing if that will produce lower emissions going forward compared to simply carrying on with the local coal or gas plant.

Doesn't imply this is merely greenwashing, just a small step on route to zero emissions. Where I want to see more significant and far-reaching progress.

To the general point I agree. I'd far prefer to see full impact required for each project, and overall, as well as labelling showing impact of the things we buy - food, consumer goods, vehicles etc, including all those hidden externalities.

The island of Orkney is also doing similar, and is used as some kind of test site for the tech I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXe1hBvlylw

It has wind power, sea water sourced heat pumps, a little bit of solar, a test rig for underwater wave power, batteries that are used to relieve the peaks on energy transmission to the mainland and projects to increase electric car uptake to soak up excess energy production.