Technology, Solar and Green Myths.
I am happy to say technology has finally become advanced enough for me to be able to dictate this blog on voice typing. Up until recently, I have had to struggle on ponderously with my two fingers, my accent having foiled every effort of my computer to capture what I dictated. Oh yes, it made an effort, but the result was always gobbledygook. I personally do not believe that I have a very strong Scottish accent, despite this, I often felt like those two Scottish guys stuck in a voice-motivated lift. It is not only me that thought my strong Scottish accent had been diluted as many times on visiting Scotland, I would be asked what part of England I came from. I know I had certainly lost some of my accent which now includes a sort of Rhodesian twang. At my age, I think Portugal will not influence my accent, who knows? I suppose my poor spoken English does not enhance the challenges of my accent.
“No matter how you think your accent sounds, it will not be as others hear it.” - Peter McSporran from experience
I wonder if the computer now understands me as it can hear the joy in my voice on hearing Nicola Sturgeon resigned today. Two great events in one day.
“Any leader that flourishes by means of creating division will surely leave no legacy for their people. Nicola Sturgeon will be proof of this.” - Peter McSporran
My only surprise is she did not invade England as a distraction to her waning popularity, she tried everything else.
When we first moved to Portugal we had a good look at using solar energy to replace some of our electricity. After all, Portugal is blessed with more than its fair share of bright sunny days even through most of winter. Today it is bright sunshine and 20°C in the middle of February. We have had one slightly cloudy day in the last few weeks. On arrival in Portugal six years ago, the cost of solar was prohibitive. Rozanne and I quickly worked out that it would take fifteen years for us to recover the capital cost on our electricity tariff savings. At that time it would not have improved our property value. Not so now with solar being compulsory on every new house build. Then no benefit to be had other than perhaps improving our mythical carbon footprint.
One of our neighbours recently upgraded his solar system and informed us that EDP, one of the electricity utility providers, would install the panels for us at a much more reasonable cost. We were not using this particular provider as we had found an alternate source of cheaper power a couple of years ago. We have been amiss by sticking too long with them while new customers at EDP are now getting cheaper power than us.
“Any supplier that becomes complacent in retaining your custom will reward you by offering little benefit for this loyalty. At worst they will even increase the charges for their services or product while offering a lower price to potential new customers. All my farming life I found this to be true.”- Peter McSporran
We are fortunate to have alternate electricity service providers in competition here in Portugal which helps reduce the cost and improve services. Following an assessment which indicated a much more attractive payback period, now reduced to 3 years. Rising energy costs along with improved technology have also made it a lot more attractive. Even more enticing was that the utility company would provide a 3-year interest-free loan for the purchase of the panels installed gratis or at least within the panel price. Of course, nothing is for free.
We hear so much about wind and solar energy but I believe until they find a means to store that energy, we will still be relying on fossil fuels. Hydro is so attractive, unfortunately, many countries including those in wet Western Europe just do not have the water resources in situ where storage and generation of large quantities of electricity are possible. We did not inquire about battery storage for the excess electricity we would generate notwithstanding what we were planning to install basically what we were using on a daily basis excluding night. Naturally, the sun doesn't work at night so if we want power at night we would somehow have to store it. No different to industrial users. The technician who visited us said that battery storage was still too expensive. Although that is a factor, more importantly, they were concerned about the means of disposal for obsolete batteries. This is something that has always worried me. At present, I believe there is no viable method to recycle EV (electric vehicle) batteries. It appears even those car batteries for EVs are not only manufactured in China but it is that same country that offers most of the present world capabilities to recycle. No surprises there, the best they can do is a few hundred thousand tonnes per annum against the seven million EVs (3.5 million tonnes of batteries) produced per annum. More trouble on our green horizon.
Although all the talk is about lithium, I decided I would have a look at what quantities of raw materials are required to manufacture a car battery or a battery large enough to ensure access to power in your house when either the wind or the sun cannot provide an adequate supply. Your house battery would be about half the weight of your EV battery which can weigh up to five hundred kilograms. We keep hearing how finite lithium is but what surprised me was that most of the other metals including cobalt and nickel may well be even more finite than lithium. The quantities required of these metals are also much greater. Yes, much of the lithium in the world is sourced from Africa, including cobalt and nickel. Once again, Africa will be plundered for its raw materials which will be loaded onto ships, the majority of which will sail to China, where jobs and wealth will be created with little benefit to the producing nations. That is other than to a few politicians. I hear lithium mines are popping up illegally all over Zimbabwe, no worries about ESG (Environmental, social and governance), no worries. It is someone else's land. No worries, the ownership is foreign. One of the biggest complaints regarding colonialism is the fact that colonials stripped the countries of their raw materials to be processed far from their origin. This is where the real value was added at the same time as creating jobs. Let someone else mine the ore, less need to worry about health and safety, let alone working conditions. It would appear that this Green Revolution is foisting on us a repetition of this once again. I do not hear the green lobbyists' outcry on the degradation and exploitation of the land, and people providing these materials for their feel-good policies being enacted. Bloody hypocrites!
“The first challenge for researchers is to reduce the amounts of metals that need to be mined for EV batteries. Amounts vary depending on the battery type and model of vehicle, but a single car lithium-ion battery pack (of a type known as NMC532) could contain around 8 kg of lithium, 35 kg of nickel, 20 kg of manganese and 14 kg of cobalt.” - Argonne National Laboratory.
The next thing is let's just not think about the cost of these minerals in the manufacture of EV batteries, more importantly about how much this will inflate the cost of other more necessary daily or critically required appliances. Not just in the house, but in medical appliances and manufacturing industries. Nickel is used extensively, especially for stainless steel which we use in everyday life, while cobalt has risen from about $11,800 to $29,000 in the past two years. Lithium has increased ninefold in the same period. They say it will drop back. Do finite resources do that in a demand-driven market? Adam Smith may have had a different view.
Do not forget that an electric car requires approximately the equivalent of fifty percent of your annual electricity usage in the home.
The Greenies are more than happy to tell you of the non-too-specific benefits of introducing electric cars, not the impact on the cost of living for the individual or the increase of the manufacturing costs to existing essential appliances and transport systems.
“The ‘Net Zero’ target is the biggest contributor to the cost of living increases for many people in this world, especially what is termed the developed world.” - Peter McSporran
Nor have the Greenies found a solution of storing the energy generated by wind or solar. Until that is solved, every country will need the capacity to alternatively generate its equal when they fail to produce. A huge duplication of capital costs to generate the same amount of required power. Oops. Another thing. They say how cheap it is to generate power through wind without telling you that the wind turbines have a working life of only some twenty-five years compared to at least forty for thermal, fifty for nuclear and one hundred years for hydro. Subsidies have sustained wind and solar, will they be available for replacement or will it be down to the consumer? I am a dumb farmer and am therefore struggling to understand the political urgency to get to zero emissions, a myth anyway, within the next thirty years. That is a blink of an eye in energy terms. Do not start me on this other myth of planting a few trees to offset our individual carbon footprints. That is like saying if a rapist uses a condom, it is not a crime. The carbon, like the crime, remains.
Sibling High Achievers.
I have said very little about my brothers and sisters other than mentioning their arrival. As I have previously said, I had two full sisters both now deceased, one as an infant. She was called Maureen and I have only a vague recollection of her crawling on the lounge floor.
Morag, my oldest sister, although pressed to leave home for boarding school or some relation, somehow resisted and ended up growing up on Mull, attending senior school in Tobermory after attending Gruline Primary School. I do not think Tobermory school years went as far as ‘O’ levels, thus probably requiring her to attend Oban High School which she did not do. Morag ended up being taught hairdressing in one of the leading salons in Glasgow where she met her future husband Lindsay who at that time was studying engineering. When he returned to Zimbabwe, she followed him to get married, hence my journey to that country representing my father at their wedding as he was deemed too ill to travel. Morag and Lindsay remained in Africa with Lindsay beginning his career as a tea estate engineer with Tanganda Tea Co. A company I was to become a director of many years later. Lindsay did not enjoy the war, and after a close shave decided to leave Rhodesia for South Africa and the Transkei where he worked on tea once more. In 1983, they moved to Malawi where Lindsay worked for Eastern Produce, eventually becoming the senior engineer for them in Malawi. Morag, as an expatriate’s wife, was not allowed to work, so that was the end of her career, although she plied her trade in doing the hair of friends and neighbours. For their retirement, they invested in a small banana farm in South Africa but unfortunately, she did not live to reach Lindsay’s retirement succumbing to cancer after a prolonged battle just like our mother. Lindsay has since sold the farm and has recently moved to Scotland, despite the weather which he loathes. He is a braver man than me.
In 1983 I learned of my half-sister Mandy who I went to see for the first time that year. Mandy at that time was in journalism having already obtained a degree from Dundee University. One of her roles when I first met her was being a radio presenter for Radio Tay. Over the years Mandy has developed as a business leader having owned her own business, specifically mentoring companies facing challenges, and holding senior positions in a multitude of companies. She is presently the founder and Executive Chair of BRIM (Business Resilience International Management). Before founding BRIM in 2019, Mandy was the Chief Executive of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre for over nine years, working in direct partnership with the new Scottish single police force, and the Scottish government. She previously chaired the Cyber Expert Group, the network of trusted security partners and was the only independent board member of the Scottish Crime Campus, she furthermore sat on the Serious Organised Crime Force. She was recently presented with an honourary doctorate from Invertay University. Mandy, unlike me, has recently become a grandparent. In her spare time, she likes to paint having exhibited some of her art and recently found friendship with a fisherman which has improved her status in my eyes. Mandy is a real achiever.
Archie, I knew from birth. I would only see him in school holidays. When he was old enough to play soccer with me at an early age, he was much more skilled at that sport than me being a burly rugby player. He did a short spell at Ardvreck School in Perthshire before returning to Oban for senior school. From there to Edinburgh to study law, where he excelled even writing an academic legal textbook before graduating. On occasion, he would write a letter to me in Latin which I would consign unread to the bin. He is now a King's Council, has three children and lives with his partner, also a lawyer. Archie, I think is most like my father. Does not suffer fools, is of sober habit, very diligent and only speaks when he needs to although he hides a ready sense of humour which is a delight when allowed to show itself. He has also conquered all of the Munros.
Finally, there is Fiona. Like Mandy she is also skilled in art, having studied at the Glasgow School of Art, also publishing a book prior to graduating. During her studies there, she damaged her eye making art difficult and on leaving, joined Christie’s where she met her partner, in business and life, Gordon Foster. Gordon, you may know from his appearances on the Antiques Roadshow. They now live in a beautiful home plying their trade in antiques, extremely successful and well respected in their chosen profession. Once again she has achieved much in her life.
It can be seen my half-siblings are all high achievers, much more staid than me but all of whom tolerate me as their ‘uncouth’ older brother. I am glad I am in their hearts and they in mine.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
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