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Post by amadain on Apr 28, 2012 4:20:01 GMT 3
I'm not sure I understand you. Kenya has 0 nuclear power plants, Germany has 17. How is Kenya way ahead of Germany?
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Post by tnk on Apr 28, 2012 7:23:40 GMT 3
Kenyans Patriots and Non-Patriots, More than 8,000 people have been displaced and 36 killed as heavy rains wreak havoc across the country. www.nation.co.ke/News/8000+displaced+in+floods+mayhem+/-/1056/1394002/-/ot8w8e/-/index.htmlWhy are we burning midnight oil on something that has not killed as many people as our rain? In Chernobyl 'only two people were killed in the initial explosions, the United Nations atomic agency says that 28 rescue workers died of radiation sickness in the first three months after the accident' In Kenya if road accidents that 'Police blamed the jam on blocked drainage and poor driving habits' kill 3,000 per year in 10 years that is 30,000 Kenyans dead and statistics. In 20 years 60,000 Kenyans dead! In Ukraine for the last 25 years 'According to Ukrainian official figures, more than 25,000 of the cleanup workers, known as “liquidators” from then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have died since the disaster.' So what is the joke? Rain or Nuclear? podp this line of argument would be illogical to follow the nuclear rector will not make the rains and associated hazards disappear or the road accidents to decrease. these will still be there, but in addition we create a new avenue to kill more citizens in the event of a nuclear accident the point is however made that there are other events causing deaths that need to be addressed. i think safety concerns around nuclear plants are justified and the committee needs to address it comprehensively knowing full well that the country lacks capacity to handle disasters
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Post by Onyango Oloo on Apr 28, 2012 8:57:55 GMT 3
Mr Moderator 1. If you go to "modify profile", then you can change the display name 2. I changed my display name yesterday, then today, when i logged in, i used my new display name as my username and i couldn't log in...so i was thinking may be yesterday i changed my password inadvertently.... if at all you can be able to see password, you will know that i didn't change the password. when i received the confirmation, i discovered that my username remains the same and the password is unchanged..... Any further explanation you need? may be you should also clarify if it is illegal to change username!!! As for deleting my own posts, i have done that before! whenever i discover a spelling or grammatical mistake, i correct it and delete the old post. I usually do that even before anyone has commended on it....more questions? ? My Friend:No need to be so aggressive. Wahenga walinena:
Usishindane na ndovu kunyia.I am the Administrator of Jukwaa. It is my duty to seek clarifications from members when I deem this appropriate. I have tried to be civil and polite. Notice that in my first message to you I stressed I wanted to hear from you before I jumped to any conclusions. For now, I will let your unnecessary outburst pass. A minor point: when you change your handle midstream, you confuse members- especially if you do so without notice. You should know that I rarely ask questions out of the blue. Onyango Oloo Jukwaa Administrator
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Post by barmasaiengkeiyo on Apr 28, 2012 10:45:14 GMT 3
Mr OO.....next time i want to change my handle, i will put in a 7 days notice..... lets get back to work!
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Post by merlin on Apr 28, 2012 16:49:24 GMT 3
Nuclear power
I am maybe late in the discussion though it is going on for a long time.
The discussion is first of all about energy and secondary about nuclear power. Kenya has ample resources to generate electrical power such as geo thermo, wind, solar, coal and now also oil. Therefore there is no preference for nuclear power.
Developing nuclear power would be to our advantage if we were a leading innovating nation in nuclear energy with the possibility of exporting our nuclear technology to other countries. Another advantage would be if we were aiming to become a major world power developing a nuclear weapon arsenal.
However we have none of these and have to import the basic technology just to run a nuclear power plant which seems to be a waste of money and resources while the advanced countries are heavily investing in alternative energy generation.
We should stop this nuclear development plan as it makes no sense for Kenya. We should look to our unique energy resources and become a leader in one of these such as geo thermo or solar energy.
What about lining one of the many craters with mirrors to catch solar energy focussing it on a steam generation plant to run classical electrical generators?
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Post by Onyango Oloo on Apr 28, 2012 17:08:20 GMT 3
Mr OO.....next time i want to change my handle, i will put in a 7 days notice..... lets get back to work! Kenyan Patriot:Stay away from the sarcasm. But if you insist on being abrasive, please do not blame me. Onyango Oloo Jukwaa Administrator
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Post by barmasaiengkeiyo on Apr 28, 2012 20:09:52 GMT 3
OO...how am i being abrasive??? it is you who is abrasive and threatening me....why would i blame you anyway?
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Post by Onyango Oloo on Apr 28, 2012 21:16:44 GMT 3
OO...how am i being abrasive??? it is you who is abrasive and threatening me....why would i blame you anyway? Kenyan Patriot:Sometimes actions speak louder than words. My last on this. Onyango Oloo Jukwaa Administrator
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Post by kasuku on Apr 28, 2012 21:51:44 GMT 3
Remember last year when Germany decided to speed up its phasing out of nuclear power and switch to clean energy and everyone (not in the clean energy industry) got freaked out about how German electricity prices would rise and the country would just start importing electricity from France’s nuclear power plants?
Well, as I just wrote, it seems pretty clear that solar photovoltaics are bringing down the cost of electricity in Germany. Additionally, German electricity exports to France have been increasing!
“Because France has so much nuclear power, the country has an inordinate number of electric heating systems. And because France has not added on enough additional capacity over the past decade, the country’s current nuclear plants are starting to have trouble meeting demand, especially when it gets very cold in the winter,” Craig Morris of Renewables International writes.
And, with relatively sunny skies above, guess who’s coming to the rescue—good old solar power from Germany.
“As a result, power exports from Germany to France reached 4 to 5 gigawatts – the equivalent of around four nuclear power plants – last Friday morning according to German journalist Bernward Janzing. It was not exactly a time of low consumption in Germany either at 70 gigawatts around noon on Friday, but Janzing nonetheless reports that the grid operators said everything was under control, and the country’s emergency reserves were not being tapped. On the contrary, he reports that a spokesperson for transit grid operator Amprion told him that ‘photovoltaics in southern Germany is currently helping us a lot.’”
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/15C8N)
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Post by jakaswanga on Apr 29, 2012 18:48:08 GMT 3
solar plant dl LARGE SOLAR PARK IN GERMANY An example. Podp, Kasuku,Comparing the intensity and and effective sunlight/radiation hours per day in Germany and Kenya. Can you advice me of the Gigawattage an equivalent park as the above in Germany would produce in Kenya, and what % it would be of the current Kenyan electro-grid production. Assuming every house in Kenya were to be fitted with the effective maximum surface area coverage of Solar Panels, how much electricity would by produced. {a reasonable estimate}. And what would be the approximate initial cost? Building massive solar parks as in Germany, Spain and Oaklahoma: has there been a study [to the best of your knowledge] of their applicability in the tropical Kenya, and the maximum units of electricity we could expect from it [at current technological levels of PVCs]? [like what surface area of land would be needed for panels, that could provide enough electricity to say, Kisumu city today? I am actually for Nuclear energy. What unnerves me is: when your local munispality can not even manage clean public toilets, how on earth would they manage nuclear waste? If your local hospital does not even have diabetis testing equipment, what do you want with a Fukushima or Chernobyl in your neighbourhood?
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Post by tnk on Apr 29, 2012 19:19:40 GMT 3
I am actually for Nuclear energy. What unnerves me is: when your local munispality can not even manage clean public toilets, how on earth would they manage nuclear waste? If your local hospital does not even have diabetis testing equipment, what do you want with a Fukushima or Chernobyl in your neighbourhood? that right there, is the main issue. i totally follow podp and like yourself think nuclear energy may potentially aid our industrialization but the reality is that, 1) most of the early adopters of this technology are right now backing or rather phasing out this technology and replacing with other forms of sustainable/renewable energy systems 2) if we cannot efficiently handle simple public services, what makes us think we'll handle nuclear energy any different the fact of the matter is that there can be no safety guarantee, but even worse is that we presently have no capacity for disaster management
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Post by podp on Apr 29, 2012 22:29:45 GMT 3
Jakaswanga, Germany and Japan are way beyond most of us (rest of the world) in technology prowess and dedication. The case you site as an example, ' Each panel produces 150 watts of energy. The plant cost €22 million ($26.5 million) to build and is capable of generating five megawatts of electricity.' A 1,000 MW plant would cost $ 5,300 million giving a much cheaper sum than a similar capacity nuclear power plant! What has not happened is that there is no true tested facility giving that much electricity from solar. But we can be the Guinea pigs and abandon all to try it. The only question is 'Is that Prudent?' If you take the wind mills (only 6 as of now) in Ngong each has a design capacity of 850 kW. Hence Kenya now generates less than 6 MW of its electricity from wind. The Germany design is 1,500 kW. If those six windmills were German designs we would be generating 9 MW. Texas leads the U.S. in wind power production, and this wind farm tops the capacity record of 735.5 megawatts set by another West Texas farm southwest of Abilene see www.cbsnews.com/2100-503023_162-5358287.htmlA more serious country was China, last year, it added 18,928 MW of wind power capacity. The country with the next most added was the U.S. with 5,115 MW added. In total, China has 44,733 MW installed, while the U.S. (2nd again) has 40,180 MW installed. Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12ze7) and see cleantechnica.com/2011/06/01/china-wind-power-blowing-up-in-2011-as-expected/According to the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce, total output of solar PV panels is likely to top 35 GW in China in 2011, while global demand is only around 20 GW in the year. In 2012, the global output capacity is to reach 80 GW, of which more than 50 per cent are to be produced by China, according to estimates by Joint Research Centre with European Commission. see marketinfoguide.com/2012/01/05/overcapacity-triggers-restructuring-chinas-solar-pv-industry/So the sky for Kenya is the limit if you wish to deal in solar as there is overcapacity as concerns production. Please consult the Least Cost Power Development Plan for an idea of current situation and future plans at www.erc.go.ke/erc/LCPDP%202011%20-%202030.pdfLast time I was in Frankfurt, Germany at the main train station (Bahnhof) just less than 200 m away were joints (Karumaindo style along Moi Avenue but dirtier) and populated by miraa chewing East Africans and some Congolese and Naija brerthren, I would have been as scared of you about nuclear but we all know every house has a toilet and when a visitor comes its not the kitchen or the toilet that is emphasized. Kenya is not going to add nuclear tomorrow (May 1st 2012) but probably ten years from today (2022) and preparations have to start now and yesterday. Also we can add more solar, wind, hydro, coal, gas, etc. all in concurrence not one in favor of the other.
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Post by OtishOtish on Apr 29, 2012 23:12:06 GMT 3
Last time I was in Frankfurt, Germany at the main train station (Bahnhof) just less than 200 m away were joints (Karumaindo style along Moi Avenue but dirtier) and populated by miraa chewing East Africans and some Congolese and Naija brerthren ... Interesting. Very interesting. Africans are making a mess in Germany? But Germany can still manage its nuclear power plants? Well, then! An odd line of argument, but there we have it. Interesting that Africa is not already way ahead in the development of solar power. Kenya will not have solar power in "probably ten years from today"; the current "debate" is just an opportunity for some motor-mouths to eat. Unlike Jakaswanga, I am not even worried about the obvious fact that we can't properly maintain even a dog-kennel: Kenya has no money for such things, and no group of sane people will lend it money for foolish dreams. My prediction: by the end of the year, this nuclear-power thing will already be forgotten. So, who will get to enjoy Africa's sunlight? An idea of the answer: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/27/solar-power-sahara-europe-alok-jhaMaybe we can get nuclear technoloy in return. Buy those second-hand nuclear power plants that countries like Germany will be getting rid of .... Kazi iendelee. Vision 2030. Vision 3020.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2012 23:27:52 GMT 3
APRIL 26, 2012
The Limerick Incident Wasn't an "EPPI"
Relax, It’s Just a Run-of-the-Mill Nuke Spill
by DAVE LINDORFF
A little over a month ago, back on March 19, at 3:00 in the morning, the Limerick Nuclear Power Station, which runs two aging GE nuclear reactors along the Schuylkill River west of Philadelphia, had an accident. As much as 15,000 gallons of reactor water contaminated with five times the official safe limit of radioactive Tritium as well as an unknown amount of other dangerous isotopes from the reactor’s fission process blew off a manhole cover and ran out of a large pipe, flowing into a streambed and on into the river from which Philadelphia and a number of smaller towns draw their municipal water supplies.
No public announcement of this spill was made at the time, so the public in those communities had no idea that it had occurred, and water system operators had no opportunity to shut down their intakes from the river. There was no report about the spill in Philadelphia’s two daily newspapers or on local news programs.
Only weeks later, after the regional office of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was finally sent an official report by Exelon, the owner of the plant, did a public notice get posted on the NRC’s website, after which some excellent reporting on the incident was done by Evan Brandt, a reporter for a local paper called The Pottstown Mercury.
We contacted the NRC regional office with oversight over Limerick and were told that Exelon had only reported the incident to state authorities — the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). A call to the DEP elicited a response that the state agency, now in the hands of a Republican governor who has shown open distain for environmental concerns ranging from nuclear waste to regulation of natural gas fracking chemicals, that it did not feel it was necessary to issue any public report on the spill. “Exelon assured us that it was not an EPPI incident,” explained DEP regional office spokeswoman Deborah Fries.
“What’s an EPPI?” she was asked. “It’s an Event of Potential Public Interest,” Fries replied.
In other words, Exelon and the state’s DEP and PEMA officials, meeting behind closed doors, agreed that the spilling of up to 15,000 gallons of radioactive isotope-laced reactor water into a river that supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people was not an event of “potential public interest,” and so they didn’t make it public, thus insuring that it would not become a matter of public interest, or even of public knowledge! The logic is impeccable, though the NRC subsequently protested that Exelon should have reported the incident to the commission, which would automatically have posted it on its website as public notice of a spill.
But it gets worse. Mercury reporter Brandt discovered that one reason Exelon was able to claim initially that the spill of reactor water into the river was no big deal, and to avoid publicly announcing it, was that it was a “permitted discharge.” Even the NRC report on the incident, when it was finally posted three weeks late, said that the spill had merely been waste water that had “overflowed during a scheduled and permitted radiological release.”
The idea that the Limerick nuclear generating plant is “routinely discharging” nuclear waste into the Schuylkill River and that this is permitted by the NRC, and that by extension this is being done by all the nuclear generating plants across the nation, will no doubt come as a big surprise to most Americans, including those who live downstream and downwind of these plants (because it turns out that there are also permitted regular releases of radioactive gas by these other facilities). But that’s the truth.
As Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC’s Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Office, explains, “Periodically, to clean their cooling tower water pipes, the operator will have a ‘blow-down’ where they pump a lot of clean water through the system to push out collected sediment. When they do that, whey are allowed to add some reactor water to it. This is an acceptable method, well within federal safety levels” for radio isotopes. Sheehan explained that while the concentration of Tritium and other radioactive elements in the 15,000-gallon reactor waste-water tank would have exceeded federal safety levels for release into the environment, by first diluting it with all the water being used for the cooling tower “blowdown” process, and then dumping the resulting water into the large river, it would all be diluted to below federal safety levels.
“It’s nothing we would try to disguise,” said Sheehan.
Maybe, but then why was this dumping process being done by Exelon at the peculiar time of 3 a.m., and why was Exelon so anxious to avoid having to report it?
Lewis Cuthbert, a retired schools superintendent who lives with his wife Donna in the shadow of the Limerick cooling towers, has been a critic of the plant and its owners for 15 years. He says, “I don’t believe the NRC or Exelon have ever before said that the plant ‘routinely’ releases nuclear waste into the environment.”
Cuthbert suggests such releases might help explain why the incidence of childhood cancers around the vicinity of the Limerick plant are “92% higher than normal” according to research he and Donna Cuthbert have done.
Coincidentally or not, the Philadelphia Water Department announced that on April 4, traces of the radioisotope Iodine 131, a short-lived alpha-emitter produced as a fission byproduct in nuclear reactors, had been found in the city’s water supply. Though the Queen Lane Reservoir where the I-131 contamination was found draws its water from the nearby Schuylkill River, no mention was made of the Limerick Generating Station as a possible source of the contamination. Instead, the two possible sources suggested were the Fukushima accident in Japan, and medical facilities in the region that use I-131 for medical tests (though in the later instance, such materials would end up in the sewer system, not the water system!). At the time of the finding, the PWD would not even have known that Limerick had had a spill in the Schuylkill only days earlier, much less that the nuke plant has been routinely releasing reactor wastewater into the river for years.
Meanwhile, Exelon is working hard to play down the issue of its dumping of contaminated reactor water into the heavily populated Philadelphia area’s waterways and air. “Limerick Generating Station’s procedures and guidelines allow for water releases to be performed routinely within strict state and federal environmental guidelines and oversight,” said Limerick Plant spokeswoman Dana Melia. “During a release, mildly radioactive water is pre-mixed with hundreds of thousands of gallons of non-radioactive water from Limerick’s cooling towers before it is pumped through a network of pipes to the Schuylkill River. Radiation and flow monitoring at the river’s edge ensure that all releases are performed in accordance with the station’s water use permit and that no releases exceed stringent radiological or environmental limits.” She added, “It is important to point out that most of the limited amount of spilled water ended up where it was originally intended to go – in the river. The rest evaporated.” (Well, not really. Some water, and the Tritium atoms in the water molecules, may evaporate, but elements like radioactive Iodine, Cesium, Potassium, Strontium or Cobalt do not.)
Melia declined to state how often such “routine” authorized releases occur.
She claimed that Exelon regularly monitors radiation levels around the plant to assure that there are no hazardous levels of radioactivity, but there is reason to doubt that those measurements are reliable. On April 23, an article in Global Security Newswire reported that an April 19 internal audit of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s national radiation monitoring network had found many of the EPA’s 124 monitoring stations to be either broken or in such poor maintenance that they were not working over the past year. The audit found that one in five of the monitors were broken, and that 50% of those sampled that were functioning had not had their filters changed in at least 130 days, making them ineffective. EPA policy, the auditor noted, calls for filter replacement twice a week.
Exelon, the EPA and other agencies, including Philly’s water company also routinely downgrade the risks of isotope releases and contamination of air and ground water by conflating beta radiation of the type detected by geiger counters with the presence of alpha-particle-emitting isotopes. The truth is that there is really no “safe level” of something like radioactive Iodine, Cobalt, Cesium or Strontium. Such chemicals tend to gravitate to certain organs in the body, where they sit and irradiate surrounding tissue with large, relatively slow-moving alpha particles which can eventually cause cancer in those cells.
Word that plants like Limerick (which features the exact same flawed GE plant design as the exploded, melted-down reactors in Fukushima), are “routinely” releasing wastes into the environment could complicate plans by Exelon and other operators to avoid having to decommission their aging facilities, and to receive 20-year license renewals to continue operating them.www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/26/relax-its-just-a-run-of-the-mill-nuke-spill/
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Post by podp on Apr 30, 2012 16:45:26 GMT 3
www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=700&nr=8&menu=23RIO + 20 on Energy Planning Access to affordable energy is crucial for the implementation of development goals including the Millennium Development Goals (MSGs). In turn, decisions on energy choices have considerable influence on the socio-economic development in a country or region. An inappropriate combination of energy choices or an exclusive focus on supply without due regard of demand side issues and efficiency can cause major stresses and challenges of social, economic or environmental nature and may compromise progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Designing balanced demand and supply energy strategies that would ensure compatibility with sustainability requires a comprehensive assessment of all the energy options by taking into account their technical, economic and environmental aspects and evaluation of trade-offs between the conflicting factors. Expertise to undertake such an exercise is often lacking in developing countries. This training course will help bridge that gap and will contribute to capacity building in developing countries for comprehensive energy system planning. It is intended for enhancing the skills of energy analysts/planners in developing countries to identify and assess the linkages between energy choices and sustainable development, evaluate and compare energy options in term of their technical, economic and environmental aspects and design alternative energy strategies and assess their consequences for sustainable development.
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fyi
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Post by fyi on Apr 30, 2012 17:58:38 GMT 3
okhunyanye, I have been following this thread for a while and I think its time I speak out. Look at serious parastatals like kengen, gdc, KPA, UNiversities, Kenya Power, KNH, KMTC etc..who heads them? politicians/lawyers? Again look at other countries, and check whether politicians/ lawyer head the high level technical institutes. My younger brother happens to have worked with this highly professional Kenyan Scientist at the UN. He speaks so highly of him in the sense that he does not entertain nonsense to non performing individuals. He tackles issues head on without fear or favor. I think the main reason why he is being accused falsely of the above allegations is because the jobless vultures want him out of the project so that they eat. otherwise a serious person will ask questions regarding the unknown staff in the project. Doesn't that really hit home the real aspect of corruption? nepotism?
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Post by jakaswanga on May 2, 2012 19:21:22 GMT 3
Jakaswanga, Germany and Japan are way beyond most of us (rest of the world) in technology prowess and dedication. The case you site as an example, ' Each panel produces 150 watts of energy. The plant cost €22 million ($26.5 million) to build and is capable of generating five megawatts of electricity.' A 1,000 MW plant would cost $ 5,300 million giving a much cheaper sum than a similar capacity nuclear power plant! What has not happened is that there is no true tested facility giving that much electricity from solar. But we can be the Guinea pigs and abandon all to try it. The only question is 'Is that Prudent?' If you take the wind mills (only 6 as of now) in Ngong each has a design capacity of 850 kW. Hence Kenya now generates less than 6 MW of its electricity from wind. The Germany design is 1,500 kW. If those six windmills were German designs we would be generating 9 MW. Texas leads the U.S. in wind power production, and this wind farm tops the capacity record of 735.5 megawatts set by another West Texas farm southwest of Abilene see www.cbsnews.com/2100-503023_162-5358287.htmlA more serious country was China, last year, it added 18,928 MW of wind power capacity. The country with the next most added was the U.S. with 5,115 MW added. In total, China has 44,733 MW installed, while the U.S. (2nd again) has 40,180 MW installed. Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12ze7) and see cleantechnica.com/2011/06/01/china-wind-power-blowing-up-in-2011-as-expected/According to the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce, total output of solar PV panels is likely to top 35 GW in China in 2011, while global demand is only around 20 GW in the year. In 2012, the global output capacity is to reach 80 GW, of which more than 50 per cent are to be produced by China, according to estimates by Joint Research Centre with European Commission. see marketinfoguide.com/2012/01/05/overcapacity-triggers-restructuring-chinas-solar-pv-industry/So the sky for Kenya is the limit if you wish to deal in solar as there is overcapacity as concerns production. Please consult the Least Cost Power Development Plan for an idea of current situation and future plans at www.erc.go.ke/erc/LCPDP%202011%20-%202030.pdfLast time I was in Frankfurt, Germany at the main train station (Bahnhof) just less than 200 m away were joints (Karumaindo style along Moi Avenue but dirtier) and populated by miraa chewing East Africans and some Congolese and Naija brerthren, I would have been as scared of you about nuclear but we all know every house has a toilet and when a visitor comes its not the kitchen or the toilet that is emphasized. Kenya is not going to add nuclear tomorrow (May 1st 2012) but probably ten years from today (2022) and preparations have to start now and yesterday. Also we can add more solar, wind, hydro, coal, gas, etc. all in concurrence not one in favor of the other. Podp,I have informed myself Kariba Dam in Zambia vouches for 1,300MW. That is less than Cabora Bassa's 2000 MW and Inga II's 1500 MW. Jinja Falls or Nalubale comes in at 180 MW, and Seven Forks at 543 MW. From this I want to surmise that a 3000 MW power-supply would be adequate for Kenya in the next 5-10 years. Now, I am still working on some of those homework papers you gave me , but what I really want to arrive at are the following: What is the maximum realisable solar Mega-Wattage for Kenya? What is the maximum Mega-Watts from Wind-Turbines we can produce? And then estimate the deficit which a reactor will have to pump up. So have an idea of how many reactors anyway. Reading some more on the Super Euro Solar plant in Spain from the link by Otishotish [ gaurdian.co.uk], I was pleasantly surprised at how fast, if the will is there, such a solar plant can be operational! [Far shorter than a dam or a nuclear reactor]. NB: Tekeze dam in Tigray, 300 MW comes at $400m. At Mojave desert california, the solar project has 1,2 million panels and produces 420 MW. (I can't find the costs!) But I am being informed the initial cost of the solar infrastructure is huge. And there are arguments about land and the enviroment, all that surface area coverd in panels! Maybe this one holds for dams too!] If we harness all the energy sources available, perhaps we wont need more than a few nuclear reactors.www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2011/feb/11/spain-solar-towers
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Post by kasuku on May 2, 2012 20:42:01 GMT 3
As space to build solar Towers and Wind turbines: Take an example of a Solar Plant in Germany generating 10mw of power used 57 mono and polycrystalline Solar panels take up to 32 hectares. The Solar panels provide enough clean electricity to power around 3,000 homes (maybe in Kenya 5000 and even in rural much more homes as Kenyans don’t need so much Power like in Europe?)
And cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 10,000 tones. The Whole project cost Germany 40 million Euro. That cost will not be as high for Kenya. And not to forget, this prices are only high now, in a decade they will be lower….the more solar is used the cheaper it is.
On the other hand, countries who seriously want to go with Solar energy could build own Solar Factories to make the costs much less. The costs is much less than Kenya needs annually to buy crude oil. All a country like Kenya needs is to buy a license from a Solar Panel institute to produce own Panels. Take the example if UAE:
Until now, only one country goes in the direction to cover the energy demand by building photovoltaic factories: The UAE United Arab Emirates are building with production technology of Applied Materials 630 MW photovoltaic yearly production.
For 4,6 million inhabitants are this 146 Watt photovoltaic per year and inhabitant. 146 Watt per year and inhabitant would be at 6.8 billion humans the demanded 1000 GW yearly photovoltaic production to deal with Peak-Oil, Peak-natural gas, Peak-Uranium and the and the climate disaster
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Post by podp on May 2, 2012 23:35:43 GMT 3
www.centralbank.go.ke/forex/diaspora_remit.aspxCommentary on Remittances for March 2012 Mr. Charles Gitari Koori, Director Research Department The Central Bank of Kenya conducts a survey on remittance inflows every month from the formal channels that include commercial banks and other permitted international remittances service providers in Kenya. In March 2012, remittances to Kenya amounted to US$ 106.4 million, or 48.7 percent higher than the level recorded in March 2011 and 2.14 percent higher than inflows recorded in February 2012. The average remittances inflow in the year to March 2012 amounted to US$ 82.9 million up from US$ 57.9 million recorded in the year to March 2011. The 12-month cumulative average remittances flow sustained an upward trend from the second half of 2010 (Table 1 and Chart 1). The increased remittances are attributed to among others: Improvement in data collection techniques and proper classification of remittances by some commercial banks. Aggressive outreach to the Diaspora to invest in Government's Savings Development and Infrastructure bonds through these formal channels. Increased competition among money transfer service providers that reduced transaction charges.
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Post by kasuku on May 3, 2012 0:17:07 GMT 3
The Kenya Diaspora can seriously think of Investing in Kenya renewable energy. They could help make Kenya a new Technology rich country through renewable energy.
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Post by OtishOtish on May 3, 2012 2:02:22 GMT 3
The Kenya Diaspora can seriously think of Investing in Kenya renewable energy. They could help make Kenya a new Technology rich country through renewable energy. That depends on what you mean by "invest". If you mean invest by domo-domo, then, sure, why not. If you mean invest as most capitalists would understand it, then there is this equation that would deter most: Investment+Kenya = Eating. This nuclear dream is just that---a dream. Some of us are not even worried about safety, maintenance, and so forth, for the simple reason that there will be no nuclear plant in Kenya. What bothers us is the eating, paid for by the taxpayer, in consultancies, feasibility studies, and so on and so forth. Remember how Kenya was going to get into the car-manufacturing business? A little story: I live in an old house, one of whose main attractions, when I moved in, was that it had its original wood-burning fireplaces and chimneys. I quickly realized that, after spending quite a bit on logs, that the only positive side to that was looking at the fires. As far as heating, the heat went up the chimney, and the smoke came into the house. With log after log consumed. Three years on, I stopped being cheap and had the fireplaces "moderned-up"---those super-efficient, glass-screen things that only require a few logs an evening and also provide heat and something to look at. Saved me quite a bit in the long run. Why is this relevant, you ask? That is a perfectly good question, and I have a perfectly good answer: Take a look at where most Kenyans live, what their main energy source, and what source does to the environment. I have had some conversations with capable Kenyans in the right fields---I know they are capable because they told me so over many drinks---about coming up with, say, a super-efficient jiiko. Then a few months later we had some more drinks. Then some more assurances about capability. Then we talked about who was getting into State House. Then a few months later we had some more drinks, while enjoying said fireplace, then some more assurances about capability. Then dot dot dot. Which brings to mind the Rural Electrification program: Did anybody do well with that? Last I heard in my "area" some guy had eaten the money for the transformers. So, we were told, by the eaters, we would have to raise money for replacements. And give it to them. The cables and poles also disappeared. Back to the jiiko and the candles. Same old, same old. Not to worry, though. This time nuclear power is coming. Kazi iendelee. Vision 2030. Vision 3020.
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Post by kasuku on May 3, 2012 12:21:01 GMT 3
The Kenya Diaspora can seriously think of Investing in Kenya renewable energy. They could help make Kenya a new Technology rich country through renewable energy. That depends on what you mean by "invest". If you mean invest by domo-domo, then, sure, why not. If you mean invest as most capitalists would understand it, then there is this equation that would deter most: Investment+Kenya = Eating. Kazi iendelee. Vision 2030. Vision 3020. Nuclear doesn't fit there (nuclear is destructive energy) Invest in renewable energy: Solar Energy Wind Energy Geothermal Energy Bioenergy Hydropower Ocean Energy
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Post by podp on May 3, 2012 15:25:54 GMT 3
Kasuku, Please stop misleading us. Nuclear energy can be used for dual purposes i.e. military (destructive) and peaceful (constructive) e.g. electricity generation, medical (diagnostic as in nuclear medicine and therapeutic as in radiotherapy for cancer), industrial (non destructive testing) etc. Did you know if you are in Europe you can settle in Chernobyl? So rather than displace KAMATUSA guys with buying them a Pajero for some land you can settle in Chernobyl! That way you will never become an IDP a few years after the pajero has become a junk and you have invested in the land 'cleverly or cunningly' acquired. www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Most_Chernobyl_towns_fit_for_habitation_2504121.htmlUkraine is making plans to rebuild civil society in the areas affected by the Chernobyl accident, as the man responsible for the Exclusion Zone announces most of the affected towns could be resettled. And finally when it comes to investors it is the business sense that ensures correct decisions are made not some blanket denunciations! If you are in Obamaland the deal below may interest you and you can buy shares in it. Why do you discourage us from making similar deals, dear Kasuku? www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Further_interest_in_Summer_stake-2504124.htmlAn Ohio-based public power supplier is now interested in taking a minority interest in Santee Cooper's share of the two new reactors under construction at the VC Summer plant in South Carolina. A wholesale electricity supplier in Mississippi is already discussing buying into the new units.
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Post by kasuku on May 3, 2012 15:39:52 GMT 3
I missed this news. This is the way to go... Nigerian solar module factory targets off-grid installations
November, 2011: The Nigerian National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has partnered with an unnamed foreign company to establish a 7.5 MW solar module factory that will produce photovoltaic panels for small-scale off-grid installations throughout Nigeria.
The modules will be used to power residences, street and traffic lights, water pumps and telecommunication booster stations, among other things. NASENI revealed that it intends to eventually build a solar cell factory and that it plans to some day produce solar panels using locally grown silicon ingots. ... Source: National Agency for Science and Engineering Infraestructure;
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Post by kasuku on May 3, 2012 15:43:00 GMT 3
Photovoltaic Projects on rented roofs or Land is an income source for everyone too.
Gujarat to launch rooftop PV programs in five additional cities
May, 2012: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting the Indian state of Gujarat to replicate in five cities a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) project first launched in Gandhinagar.
Gujarat and the IFC will roll out the project in the cities of Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara after developing a policy framework based on experience gained in Gandhinagar. Under the Gandhinagar Photovoltaic Rooftop Program (GPRP), Azure Power India and SunEdison will each install 2.5 MW of PV capacity on rented rooftops across the city. Participating individuals and small businesses will receive a portion of the revenues generated by the PV system on their roof, but they will not be able to use any of the electricity produced by the installation.
The projects, which will be funded through public-private partnerships, will be managed by the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) and Gujarat Power Corp. Ltd. The two state-supported organizations will select developers through a global competitive bidding process. … Source: International Finance Corporation; Summary: PHOTON
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