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Mini dams: Alpine torrents sacrificed to produce energy
Mini dams: Alpine torrents sacrificed to produce energyReporterre - March 01, 2024
The deployment of small hydroelectric plants on Alpine torrents is growing according to data collected by Reporterre. Many mayors are delighted but biodiversity is a problem.
It was believed that the Alpine rivers were already well corseted with dams and turbines. But the rush for blue gold continues in the mountains, at the risk of causing irreversible damage to the last wild waterways of the Alps. “There has been a shift over the last twenty years,” says David Doucente, fish engineer for the Hautes-Alpes fishermen’s federation. Until the 2000s, there were a few hydroelectric power stations in the Alps, but these projects were supervised by EDF with measured developments. Since then, many private operators have filed applications and we have started to notice overexploitation of the waterways. »
Neither state services nor the professional union France Hydro Electricité have precise figures on this deployment. Their inventory had, however, already been carried out by a study engineer in 2021 in the departments of Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Alpes-Maritimes and Hautes-Alpes. As part of his dissertation written in the EcoFlows laboratory at the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRAe), Nils Dumarski listed the power plants installed since 1900 whose power is less than 10 kilowatts. Of the 000 hydroelectric dams recorded, 323 were erected between 124 and 2000, while only 2020 were built between 116 and 1950. “The pace of installation of micro hydroelectric power plants in the four departments studied is accelerating, particularly since the 2000s. “This dynamic is particularly important above 2000 meters,” he notes.
An increase that is corroborated by Reporterre data. Thanks to the national register of electricity production and storage installations, we have identified 347 small active dams in the Alps, of which at least 167 have been created or renovated over the last twenty years.
The State is banking on hydroelectricity
This deployment is explained by the State's desire to increase hydroelectricity in its energy mix. To achieve this, EDF has purchased its production at a preferential rate since 2007. Since 2016, France has also been conducting calls for tenders for the operation of new small hydroelectric power plants, which guaranteed the winners additional remuneration. These financial incentives have promoted the professionalization of the sector and the multiplication of projects.
Alas, most French rivers are “already widely exploited and present few additional opportunities in the long term,” underlines the Energy Futures 2050 report from the high-voltage electricity transmission network manager RTE.
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Check that your Linky meter calculates your consumption correctly
Check that your Linky meter calculates your consumption correctlyJacob's Ladder - Feb 24, 2024
Electricity bill too high? Check that your Linky meter calculates your consumption correctly.
Are you paying more for electricity than you consume? Your Linky meter may be incorrectly connected. Here are two simple methods for identifying potential anomalies.
The energy crisis is pushing individuals to be more and more attentive to their electricity bill. Their major concern? Determine how to reduce their consumption to reduce the amount to pay. But be careful, the effort will be in vain if the meter is incorrectly connected and you are billed for your neighbor's consumption.
The origin of this problem essentially comes from the installation of the meter by Enedis technicians or their subcontractors. In six years, between 2015 and 2021, they installed 35 million new smart meters. A massive deployment which could have caused errors. Unlike its disk-based predecessors, the new Enedis meter requires, once the cables are connected, to be programmed with the Delivery Point (PDL) corresponding to the correct housing. It happened that the technicians reversed two programmings by injecting the customer's PDL into the neighbor's meter. If most of these installation errors could be detected and corrected quickly, it is possible to check that the electricity billed to you is indeed that consumed.
The first thing to do to ensure a good connection is to read your PDL (also called PRM, for Measurement Reference Point) on the Linky screen:
On your Linky meter, press the + button and scroll through the information until you see “PRM number”. This 14-digit number is unique and identifies a delivery point to the distribution network.
Then, on your invoice, look for this number, usually in the box on the left. It must be strictly identical to that of your meter.
In addition to the PDL/PRM, you can check the serial number of the meter. The latter, also 14 digits, is physically printed on the counter above the screen.
You must also be able to find it on your invoice. The consistency of this information guarantees that you will be billed on the consumption recorded by the device.
An additional method to check that Linky is supplying your home and only it, consists of cutting off the power supply and checking the absence of power recorded by the measuring device. To do this, scroll through the Linky information until you see “THEN APP SOUTIR” (for apparent power drawn). If you consume electricity at the same time, the value on the screen is non-zero and fluctuates depending on which devices are turned on. Then cut off the power supply to your home by lowering the lever of your subscriber circuit breaker. On the Linky screen, the power drawn must drop to zero. If this is not the case, your meter is incorrectly connected.
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Puy-du-Dôme, guinea pig for the first electrical power limitation test
Puy-du-Dôme, guinea pig for the first electrical power limitation testFrance Evening - Jan 05, 2024
It had been on the boards for three months, in people's minds for a long time. On December 30, 2023, a decree allowing experimentation with electric power limitation was published in the Official Journal. For the moment, it is the department of Puy-du-Dôme which will be the only guinea pig.
Some individuals have seen it coming as big as a house for years. The Linky meters allow Enedis to have access to all consumption data, but also and above all to remotely control the electrical power supplied, it is (again) rural France which will pay the price for a country which hurt its production.
Between sobriety and energy efficiency, for more than a year the government has been trying as best it can to make the French responsible for meeting the country's energy needs. On paper, many measures have already been taken to force companies to consume less, but not all of them are respected.
So we need to find another idea to tighten the screw... Enedis!
As explained in article 1 of the decree, "residential customers connected to the public electricity distribution network, with a power less than or equal to 36 kVA and equipped with a metering device" may be subject to "a limitation measure temporary power". As Le Figaro reports, they will have "at least 3 kilovolt-amperes (kVA) left, enough to light a light bulb, an electric heater and recharge a smartphone", and "the duration of this limitation will not exceed two consecutive hours".
For the moment, only the department of Puy-du-Dôme is affected by this experiment. “Participants will be informed by Enedis at least three weeks before the experiment, by postal mail. They will be informed again of the day and the precise time slot 5 days before, by email, SMS or postal mail,” specifies the Ministry of Transition energy. And to add, consolingly: "They will receive a bonus of 10 euros for the 2 hours concerned. Those refusing to participate can report to Enedis to have been removed from the experiment."
Some see it as another step towards full power of the State.
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Electric car: more than half of buyers regret
Electric car: more than half of buyers regretEquality and Reconciliation - August 08, 2023
A new study, conducted by the Danish startup Monta, specializing in the management of charging stations, shows that more than one in two owners of an electric vehicle would regret their purchase.
It is thus 54% of respondents, owners of electric cars, who say they regret their choice. […]
The major problem comes from the opacity surrounding the network of charging stations. EV owners complain in particular about the total lack of transparency regarding charging prices.
Things aren't going to work out either. Indeed, since August 1, 2023, electricity prices in France have undergone a substantial increase of 10% as part of the gradual end of the tariff shield.
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10% more increase in electricity prices
10% more increase in electricity pricesInsolentiae – Jul 20, 2023
Another increase in electricity has just been announced.
In total, since 2021, the regulated electricity tariff, on which some 23 million customers depend, will have increased by 31%.
This 10% increase, mechanically, will affect inflation on the rise.
As was predictable, French policy is still the same.
It is an iterative process. Higher inflation for longer but less strong than the countries where it was the strongest, since we "calibrate" the increases.
In the end, there will be no gift for the French on energy prices, and the government has come to nothing with the Germans who refuse to review the energy market in Europe and the setting of price rules.
As a result, we have the cheapest electricity in Europe for which we have to pay a high price.
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Sun: Powerful coronal mass ejection
Sun: Powerful coronal mass ejectionEel under rock - March 16, 2023
Earth just avoided one of the fastest coronal mass ejections ever observed.
A powerful coronal mass ejection could damage power transmission grids and bring down the internet if directed at Earth.
At the end of the day on Monday March 13, the Sun emitted a coronal mass ejection (CME) at a speed of at least 3 kilometers per second, perhaps the fastest ever recorded. The expelled particles reached Earth orbit in less than a day. Had they hit Earth, the results could have been catastrophic, but luckily the EMC was pointing almost directly away from it. However, the explosion reminds us that next time we may not be so lucky.
Although originating from the far side of the Sun, the event appears to have caused a minor radiation storm on Earth. A smaller and much slower EMC, which was expected to graze Earth on Saturday, may also have contributed. EMCs can influence each other, one clearing the way for charged particles from another. Spaceweather.com predicts shortwave radio outages for aircraft flying over the poles.
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Enedis finally admits that the Linky meter is not mandatory
Enedis finally admits that the Linky meter is not mandatoryPolitis - Jan 08, 2023
Households that refuse the Linky meter will not pay 5 euros per month… and will escape arbitrary power cuts.
On Thursday, December 15, Agence France presse (AFP) broadcast a dispatch titled "Electricity: the reading of paying meters from January 1 for certain customers not equipped with Linky" and whose content was taken up by many media and Web sites. However, even if what the AFP wrote is not formally false, the fact is that most people who have seen this information pass have been misinformed.
Indeed, people who have been resisting the invasion of fluorescent green smart meters since 2015 just have to self-read their consumption on the website of the electricity distributor Enedis, or by telephone, to escape at least until in 2025 to currently choppy billing to intimidate them.
It should be noted that this is indeed a simple invoice, among the many others appearing in the catalog of Enedis services, and in no case a fine: the 4 million households still equipped with ordinary meters are not outlaw.
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The entourloupe of energy saving certificates
The entourloupe of energy saving certificatesAge to do - Jan 06, 2023
Thank you for the bicycle boost and My free bulbs, but the financing of the energy transition by energy saving certificates raises questions in democratic matters.
We are too few to know the operation of this device, managed by companies, which we finance each year to the tune of several billion euros.
900 bikes repaired in less than 000 months (6): the “bike boost” scheme is a hit. It must be said that it is quite simple to take advantage of this "voucher" of 1 euros to have your bike repaired. All you have to do is go to a bicycle dealer with your bike, your ID and your smartphone (50), and presto! Faced with the success of the operation launched on May 2, the government announced that it would triple the dedicated envelope, bringing it to 11 million euros. In September, he again announced an extension of 60 million euros. In December, the device is extended until March 20, and the envelope increased to 31 million euros. It's no longer an envelope, it's a suitcase!
But where does the money come from? Is the government showing political courage by redirecting public spending in favor of cycling? No way. It is the end consumers of energy, that is to say you and me, who pay for the bicycle boost, each time we fill up or turn on our radiator. The trick has a name: the system of energy saving certificates. A formidable "thingy" specially created to finance the policy of controlling energy consumption. We will try later to explain in detail the operation of this gas plant, but for the moment, it is enough to present the principle in its large widths to understand the maneuver. To reduce the energy consumption of individuals (3), the State requires energy sellers (EDF, Engie, Total, petrol stations, etc.) to financially encourage consumers to invest in energy efficiency. To do this, energy sellers will simply pay part of household investments: bike repair to avoid having to take the car, attic insulation to not push the heating, etc. Example with the “bike boost”: six energy suppliers, including Total and Auchan Energies, contribute to a fund. It is with this fund that the bicycle dealers are paid for the repair of the bicycles.
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Northern Hemisphere snow cover reaches highest level in 56 years
Northern Hemisphere snow cover reaches highest level in 56 yearsDigital Dawn - 05 Dec 2022
The global warming ? Northern Hemisphere snow cover hits highest level in 56 years.
The COP27 conference on climate change ended last month. World leaders flew in private jets to Egypt to discuss how fossil fuels are rapidly heating the planet to the point of no return, with humanity doomed if crucial climate change policies climate change were not implemented. But while alarmist leaders were meeting in the desert, November snowfall in the northern hemisphere exceeded the average for the past fifty years.
NOAA and Rutgers University have released new data showing snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has reached the highest level since measurements began in 1967 and is currently above the 56-year average.
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Switzerland wants to ban electric vehicles to avoid power outages
Digital Dawn - 04 Dec 2022
Switzerland could limit the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in the event of a power shortage this winter, as part of a new four-step plan to prevent blackouts and blackouts.
To ensure energy security this winter, Switzerland could become the first country to limit the driving and use of EVs, German daily Der Spiegel reports, citing multiple media outlets on Switzerland's four-step action plan to avoid power outages.
Driving EVs could be banned in Switzerland, except for "absolutely necessary journeys", according to the third stage of the energy saving plans. The country is also planning for a stricter speed limit on highways in the recently proposed action plan, which has yet to be adopted.
Switzerland generally imports electricity from France and Germany to meet all of its electricity needs, but this year the supply from its neighbors is limited.
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Endgame in Ukraine: Putin's Battle Plan
Endgame in Ukraine: Putin's Battle PlanInternational Network - Nov 29, 2022
Another day of large-scale missile attacks on Ukraine's crippled energy infrastructure has plunged much of the country into darkness.
The relentless attacks - which continued through the night and into the early hours of the morning - have intensified dramatically as Russian combat troops continue to join their units along the perimeter in preparation for a major winter offensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin waited patiently for the Zelensky regime to realize the gravity of its situation and press for bilateral negotiations. But the Ukrainian president stubbornly rejected diplomacy at all times, preferring to fight to the end. He is fully supported in this decision by his supporters in Washington, who see in this conflict an opportunity to weaken Russia so that it cannot obstruct American plans for a “pivot” towards Asia. Ukraine's transformation into a freezing, uninhabitable wasteland is largely the result of Washington's voracious geopolitical ambitions.
“Previous attacks had limited distribution capacity to around 50% of demand. Controlled blackouts for several hours a day provided some power for a few hours to most parts of the country. Today's attack created a much bigger problem. Not only the distribution networks were attacked, but also the elements that connect Ukraine's electricity production facilities to the distribution network. The four Ukrainian nuclear power plants and their 15 reactors are now in shutdown mode. kyiv and most other cities in Ukraine no longer have electricity. »
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Zombie apocalypse
International Network - Nov 26, 2022
It's been a few years since I thought about what would happen in the Paris region if we were completely deprived of electricity for more than three days.
Well, the twelve million inhabitants of the region would have to be evacuated. Because no electricity means no running water, no petrol in service stations (tanks are buried, and pumps are electric), supermarkets (3 days reserve) not supplied, hospitals ditto etc After three days maximum, you have to start living on your reserves, or else have a well-stocked base somewhere, and the means to get there.
No telephone (cell towers run on electricity), no internet, no TV or radio either, except shortwave radio, but who has a shortwave radio? I tell you not to panic. Zombie apocalypse live.
However, the worst is not always certain. Rather, I see an economic collapse, less dramatic but with the same end result.
