EkoNews
What Hapened on the Environmental Agenda? November 2022
You can listen to our "Eco-List-November'22" list on Spotify while reading monthly econews!
Politics
Climate Change Performance Index: Turkey is in 47th place among 59 country!
27th of United Nations Climate Change Conference took place in Egypt. In the conference, Climate Change Performance Index which includes the 59 countries emitting the most greenhouse gases worldwide was published. According to the report, Turkey fell 6 places in the Climate Change Performance Index, falling down to 47th place. Countries such as Chile, Morocco and India entered the top 10.
Turkey took 49th place in energy consumption, losing the advantage of low energy consumption day by day when compared to the other countries. Following Russia, the worst country at climate policies, Turkey fell 6 places to 47th place.
Sea of the Marmara Island: A Net Graveyard
Last year, a cooperation protocol for the ‘Ghost Net Hunting Marmara’ project signed between Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality, Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry and ÇOMU Rectorate. Since last September, cleaning of the seas from the ghost nets have been working for a year with the coordinate of ÇOMU Faculty Member of Marine Sciences and Technology Prof. Dr. Adnan Ayaz under the protocol.
Pointing out to the net they removed from Hayırsız Ada a day before, Prof. Dr. Ayaz continued:
“The next day, when we went to lift the net again, although there was no living thing on the net the day before, when we went on the 2nd day, a 'lipsose' fish of approximately 2.5 kg, from the scorpion species, was entangled in the net, blinded, had no scales left on his tail fin, and was in a position to die in one night. I didn’t notice at first but there was another lipsose fish on the net. Probably was the mate of the lipsose fish that got stuck. Weighting about 2.5 kg. Ran away when it saw us. With that being we understood that these nets are still working under the water. We know that this net was there for 5 years. We also saved the lipsose fish which stuck before lifting this net. Later on we removed an extension net on the shore which has been lost for about 10 years. With no yarn fiber left, becoming completely petrified. We came across to a dead scorpionfish on the net. So the net has been there for 10 years and still functioning. We seen that the nets in this area needs to be removed urgently. I call out to those who love the sea from here. Diving is not an easy job. We are ready to work but we need support.”
World's Biggest Wind Turbine Power Plant In the past few years China, making huge invesments on “sustainable energy”, planning on building the “world’s biggest wind turbine power plant” with planned in a capacity that can meet all the annual energy needs of Norway. The “giant energy farm” that going to be build to the Taiwan Strait offshore, which is on the on the southeast coast of the country, is planned to have a 43.3 gigawatt yearly energy production. It is pointed out that the energy farm designed to be built 75 kilometers off Chaozhou, a coastal city in China's Guangdong province, is going to be around 10km long and have thousands of special production giant turbines.
The facility is designed to work for a longer period of time compared to other energy farms thanks to the windy location of Taiwan Strait, and its going to produce energy for 12 hours a day (about 43 to 49 percent)
While the work on the facility is scheduled to begin before 2025, it will also surpass the title of 'the world's largest wind power plant' which currently held by Jiuquan Wind Power Plant with an annual capacity of 20 gigawatts located in northern China.
How much power is China's this new wind turbine power plant going to produce?
Wind power plant will produce more than 40 gigawatts of electricity per year. One gigawatt means one billion watt and in order to produce one gigawatt energy there needs to be approximately 3 million solar panels. One gigawatt of energy can light 100 million LED lamps or can provide electricity to 300 thousand houses on Europe. With another saying, this facility of China’s going to have a capacity of lighting 4.3 billion LED lamps or providing electricity to 13 million households.
Currently Norway providing more than 99 percent of it’s energy need from hydroelectric power plants with a power generation capacity of 31 gigawatts. This number is way more lower than China’s new wind turbine facility’s capacity.
Life
Black-Necked Pheasant Pigeon After 140 Years
Researchers were delighted to observe the black-necked pheasant pigeon, a rare bird that was last seen 140 years ago, in Papua New Guinea.
Undocumented by scientists since 1882, the bird is said to be occasionally spotted by local hunters. John Mittermeier, one of the leaders of the discovery, stated that this observation was almost as valuable as finding a unicorn. He also described it as a moment of his life as a conservationist and birdwatcher that he had dreamed of.
7 out of 10 Young People Worried About the Climate Crisis
Research by the eco-grocery initiative Modern Milkman revealed the thoughts and concerns of young populations about the climate crisis and the environment. More than two-thirds of children aged 7 to 12 are concerned about climate change. Anxiety and stress related to the state of the planet are increasing and leaving young people especially vulnerable.
While 20% of the children who participated in the survey expressed the urgency of their concerns with plastic pollution, another 20% feared their rising temperatures.
Despite these concerns, the young population's belief that they have the power to change this is one of the positive results of the research.
Fight with Climate Crisis: Cities
Many European cities have started to implement adaptation strategies to fight climate change. The analysis study carried out by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) determined the transparency and action of cities in terms of climate adaptation.
In this study, cities such as Athens, Barcelona, Bærum, Malmö, Madrid, Oslo, Paris, Florence and Braga entered the A list by looking at many criteria such as emission reduction and renewable energy targets. The CDP analysis shows that List A cities have three times more mitigation and adaptation measures than other cities.
Athens, for example, has installed solar energy systems in 50 schools to meet 110 percent of its energy needs.
Paris plans to renovate one million homes by 2050. As part of the city's "circular economy move", half of local construction sites will be "zero waste landfills" by 2030.
Business
COP27 Sponsor Coca-Cola ranks first in the Plastic Pollutants List for the 5th time!
The world's worst plastic pollutants have been announced, and Coca-Cola has topped the list for the fifth time in a row. Considering the food and beverage company's sponsorship of COP27 held in Egypt, this situation was considered embarrassing in the world press.
Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free From Plastic, explained that governments are forcing companies to invest in alternative product distribution systems that push reuse and eliminate the problem.
Environmental Improvement with Water Pollution Penalties
In the UK, the Environment Agency has concluded 56 cases against water and sewer companies since 2015. The companies were fined over £141m. Most of them belonged to a company called Southern Water, which received a record £90m fine last year. The government said the pollution penalties imposed on water companies would be used for environmental improvements in the UK, rather than being passed on to the Treasury. Campaigners argue that fines for water pollution should be used to directly support the environment that is the victim of damage. Much of the fine was due to a company called Southern Water, which received a record £90m fine last year.
Google & ENGIE Collaboration: An AI-Based Wind Energy Solution
French energy company ENGIE and technology giant Google announced that they have agreed to undertake a 12-year 100 MW enterprise power purchase agreement to support Scotland's Moray West offshore wind development project. With this cooperation, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based wind energy solution will be developed.
As part of this deal, ENGIE will provide Google with more than 5 TWh of green energy from Moray West, an approximately 900 MW offshore wind farm project that will begin generating power from 2025. Moray West is part of the portfolio developed by Ocean Winds, a 50/50 percent joint venture of EDPR Renewables and ENGIE dedicated to offshore wind projects.
References:
https://www.birgun.net/haber/marmara-adasi-nda-deniz-dibi-ag-mezarligi-haline-geldi-402309
https://tr.euronews.com/green/2022/10/28/cin-dunyanin-en-buyuk-ruzgar-turbini-santralini-insa-edecek
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