Swiss vote in referendum on gradual nuclear phaseout

Swiss voters have gone to the polls in a referendum on the government's plan to move from nuclear power to renewables. Preliminary results suggest that a majority favors the plan, which critics claim is too expensive.

Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2017

Switzerland held a referendum on Sunday on the government's planned transition from the nuclear power provided by the country's aging reactors to renewable energy sources.

Provisional results suggested that a majority of voters supported the shift, with 58 percent voting in favor of the referendum. Final results are expected to be published by late afternoon.

 Most voters had already cast their ballots by post over the past weeks.

The Swiss government decided to gradually phase out nuclear power after the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, where there were three nuclear meltdowns at a plant after a tsunami caused by an earthquake. Berlin took a similar step after the disaster by announcing the phaseout of nuclear power in Germany.

Switzerland's so-called Energy Strategy 2050, spearheaded by Energy Minister Doris Leuthard, who is also the current Swiss president, involves decommissioning Switzerland's five reactors as they reach the end of their safe operational lifespan. Currently, they produce around a third of the country's electricity.

The Fukushima disaster caused several countries, including Germany,
to rethink nuclear energy

More renewables, more efficiency

Although the plan does not lay down a clear timetable for phasing out the plants, it does envisage increasing reliance on hydraulic power and solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy sources, as well as reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency.

Its targets are ambitious, with the aim being to cut the average energy consumption per person per year by 43 percent by 2035 as compared with levels in 2000.

Last year, Swiss voters rejected a call to accelerate the decommissioning of the plants, a move that would have seen three of the five reactors closing this year.

'Cold shower' claim

The government's energy strategy is supported by the Swiss parliament, with the exception of the country's largest political party, the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP), which called for Sunday's referendum.

The government says more insulation
will cut costs

The SVP has criticized the plan, saying it would cost up to 3,200 Swiss francs (2,934 euros, $3,288) per four-person household per year in additional energy costs and taxes. The government rejects the claim, estimating the additional cost per household will be at 40 Swiss francs more per year.

SVP politicians also maintain that the plan will threaten the country's energy supply, with campaign posters claiming that Swiss citizens would have to have "cold showers" despite paying more.

They have also voiced concerns that additional solar panels and wind turbines could "disfigure" the country's famous natural landscape.

Related Articles:

Japan orders shutdown of two nuclear reactors over safety fears
Japan ends nuclear shutdown sparked by Fukushima crisis

Japan court blocks restarting of two nuclear reactors

Japan pushes ahead with plans to reopen nuclear reactors
Japan prepares to mark three years since devastating quake


"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Norway to boost climate change defences of 'doomsday' seed vault

Yahoo – AFP, May 21, 2017

Norway plans to better protect a seed storage vault designed to protect the
world's crops from disaster, after soaring temperatures caused water to leak 
(AFP Photo/Larsen, Hakon Mosvold)

Stockholm (AFP) - Norway on Saturday said it would boost protection of a seed storage vault designed to protect the world's crops from disaster, after soaring temperatures caused water to leak into its entrance.

Situated deep inside a mountain on a remote Arctic island in a Norwegian archipelago, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, dubbed the "doomsday" vault, is the largest of its kind and can store up to 2.5 billion seeds.

Freezing temperatures inside the vault keep the seeds, sealed in packages and stored on shelves, usable for a long period of time. Permafrost and thick rock should guarantee the seeds are frozen and secured for centuries.

But in October 2016, the warmest year on record, melting permafrost caused water to leak about 15 metres (49 feet) into the entrance of a 100-metre tunnel inside the vault.

No damage was caused to the seeds and they remain safe inside the vault at the required storage temperature of -18 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

But the vault's managers are now constructing a waterproof wall inside for additional protection, a Norwegian government spokeswoman told AFP, adding all heat sources would also be removed from inside the vault.

"It's not good to have unnecessary heat inside" if water is coming in and permafrost is melting, Hege Njaa Aschim said.

"We have to listen to climate experts (and) we are prepared to do anything to protect the seed vault," she added.

A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost in Longyearbyen, Norway, is filled with 

samples of the world's most important seeds in case food crops are wiped out 

by a catastrophe (AFP Photo/JACQUELINE PIETSCH)

The vault currently stores more than 880,000 seed samples from nearly every country in the world, including food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea and sorghum from Africa and Asia.

It also protects European and South American varieties of aubergine, lettuce, barley and potatoes.

"The water that leaked in had turned into ice... we had it removed," Aschim said. Norwegian authorities are "taking this very seriously" and "following it continuously," she added.

There are 1,700 gene banks around the world that safeguard collections of food crops and many of these are exposed to natural disasters and wars, according to the independent Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The Svalbard vault was opened in 2008 with the aim to provide a "fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters," the organisation says on its website.

"It is the final back up," it adds.

Each country that deposits the seeds into the vault have control and access to their own material.

Related Article:

Five Years and Counting: New Book Warns of a Polar Shift on December 21, 2012

Geothermal heat for Westland greenhouse region near The Hague

DutchNews, May 11, 2017

Work on boring a four-kilometer-deep shaft below the Westland greenhouse growing region near The Hague has begun, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday. 

The pilot Trias Westland boring tower will be operative in September but it will be December before the first geothermal heat will be pumped up to serve the vast flower and vegetable growing greenhouses in the area. The heat comes in the form of water heated to 140 degrees. 

The €50m pilot project will be twice the size of other geothermal heating plants in the Netherlands. Trias Westland director Marco van Soerland said geothermal projects are much more expensive than solar panels as a heat source. 

It remains uncertain whether the project will succeed, Van Soerland said. The Westland auction as well as 43 growers have committed to buying the geothermal heat which, if succesfull, is expected to provide between 10% and 20% of annual heating needs. 

Van Soerland said that green energy is increasingly important. ‘Growers, whether they be in flowers or vegetables, have clients who demand sustainable products.’ The projected lifetime of a geothermal shaft is 15 years.

Largest Dutch wind farm is open, 85 kilometres off the coast

DutchNews, May 8, 2017

Photo: Gemini Windpark 

The Netherlands’ biggest wind farm – 85 kilometres off the cost of Groningen – will be formally opened on Monday afternoon, broadcaster NOS said. 

The Gemini wind farm comprises 150 wind turbines and will generate enough electricity for 785,000 households. Work on the wind farm began in 2015 and the project has cost €2.8bn to complete. 

The Netherlands already has three other offshore wind farms, generating combined power of almost 360 megawatts. The Gemini project produces 600 megawatts a year. 

The cabinet has given the green light to developers for five more offshore wind farms in the coming years. The government hopes 16% of Dutch energy needs are produced by sustainable means by 2023.

Dutch open 'world's largest offshore' wind farm https://t.co/jjGVkiBS9i pic.twitter.com/RULZJ9gov0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 9, 2017

Related Article:

Dutch grid operator moves forward with North Sea wind plan

Illustration: Tennet website

Stratospheric solar plane makes first test flight

Yahoo – AFP, May 5, 2017

Raphael Domjan, who initiated the SolarStratos project, shakes hands with pilot
Damian Hischier after the first test flight in Payerne, Switzerland (AFP Photo/
Fabrice COFFRINI)

Payerne (Switzerland) (AFP) - The first solar plane aimed at reaching the stratosphere made an initial low-altitude test flight over Switzerland Friday.

The SolarStratos, a super-light, sleek, white two-seater aircraft with long wings covered with solar panels, took off from Payerne at 8:00 am (0600 GMT), according to an AFP photographer at the airbase in western Switzerland.

"The maiden flight of the prototype ... went off without a hitch," the SolarStratos team said in a statement.

Pilot Damian Hischier took the craft for a seven-minute test flight, reaching an altitude of 300 metres (nearly 1,000 feet), it said.

"The group will now study the test flight results before scheduling a longer flight at higher altitude," the statement added.

Eventually, the plane is expected to be able to fly at an altitude of 25,000 metres (82,000 feet), an impossible feat using a propulsion-driven aircraft.

Swiss adventurer Raphael Domjan, who is behind the project, aims to take the plane on its first stratospheric flight next year.

Harness potential

"We must continue to work hard to learn how to harness the potential of this solar-powered treasure," he said Friday.

"We want to demonstrate that with current technology, it is possible to go beyond what fossil fuels offer."

The SolarStratos is 8.5 metres long, with long wings covered with 22 square metres (237 square feet) of solar panels, which are meant to provide it with 24 hours of autonomous flying time.

The plane weighs just 450 kilos (992 pounds).

Domjan, who in 2012 became the first person to sail around the world in a fully solar-powered boat, is aiming to go on a five-hour mission into the stratosphere: two hours up and three hours back.

The stratosphere lies above Earth's lowest atmospheric layer, called the troposphere.

At middle latitudes, the stratosphere runs from a lower boundary of about 10,000 metres to an upper boundary of about 50,000 metres.

Until now, reaching the stratosphere has required large quantities of energy or helium.

Reaching an altitude of 25,000 metres will pose huge technical and human challenges, SolarStratos points out on its website.

The plane and pilot will also be subject to temperatures as low as -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), it said.

And for weight reasons, the aircraft will not be pressurised, forcing Domjan to wear a spacesuit, meaning he will not be able to get out of the plane using a parachute in the case of an emergency, SolarStratos said.

The project comes after two of Domjan's compatriots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, completed the first-ever round-the-globe trip in a solar plane last July, in a bid to showcase the possibilities for the future of renewable energy.

Related Article:

Solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 lands in Ohio in latest US stage of record-breaking journey

Dutch firm to help build world’s biggest tidal energy plant

DutchNews, May 4, 2017

Artists impression of the bridge
via Struckton.com

Utrecht-based construction group Strukton has won a contract to build a floating bridge which will form part of a tidal energy plant in Indonesia, said to be the biggest tidal energy generation scheme in the world. 

The 800-meter-long bridge will cross the Larantuka Straight near Oost-Flores. The  plant will have initial capacity of 10 to 23 megawatts, and will provide power to 100,000 people in the region. At a later stage, capacity will be extended to between 90 and 115 MW and generate power for half a million people. 

Strukton will work on the first stage of the project over the next two years with Dutch investment company DEC. Costs are projected at $200m. The total project will take five years to complete at a cost of more than $550m, the Telegraaf said.

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Students claim breakthrough with biodegradable car

DutchNews, May 1, 2017

The Lina, built from flax fibre panels, takes shape.

 A team of students at Eindhoven University have built the world’s first fully biodegradable car using flax fibres. 

‘It’s the first car in the world that can be completely recycled,’ said team member Loes van der Beuken. The students are applying the finishing touches to the car by May 8 ready for its inspection by the vehicle licensing agency RDW. They then hope to begin road trials.

 ‘Flax has an extremely resilient structure,’ Van der Beukentold NOS. ‘If you overlay it at different angles you can make panels that stand comparison with carbon fibre and aluminium, which are used extensively in regular car production.’ 

The project has won support from TomTom’s Traffic Solutions division. Its president, Carlo van de Weijer, said: ‘Yesterday’s stupid idea is tomorrow’s breakthrough. They’ve thought of something that would never have occurred to me.’ 

The lightweight materials used in the Lina’s construction have the added benefit of reducing its fuel consumption, but the effect is cancelled out by the greater energy needed to produce the car. The Lina has an electric motor and can carry four people. 

Van de Weijer said the project was promising but it was unlikely to be rolling off factory production lines in the near future. ‘Manufacturers tend to be reticent with these sorts of experiments in house. But I’m sure they will be keeping a close eye on what the students are doing.’