Opinion:
¶ “‘Stranded assets’: Will efforts to counter warming render energy reserves worthless?” by Alex Morales. Former vice president Al Gore likens today’s fossil fuels to the subprime mortgages that triggered the global credit crisis. Their value “is based on an assumption every bit as absurd,” specifically the notion that all known oil, gas and coal will be consumed. [Washington Post]
Science and Technology:
¶ An efficient method to harvest low-grade waste heat as electricity may be possible using reversible ammonia batteries. Low-grade waste heat is an artifact of many energy-generating methods. In the winter, waste heat in cars is diverted to run the vehicle heating system, but in the summer, that same waste heat is lost. [Science Daily]
¶ SheerWind recently announced new technology that integrates three turbines in a row or series and increases the electrical power output for a single tower. SheerWind’s Invelox system is a large funnel that captures, concentrates, and accelerates wind before delivering it to turbines safely and efficiently located at ground level. [Windpower Engineering]
¶ Conventional natural gas is still a fossil fuel with significant carbon emissions that need to be contained. However, there is renewable natural gas, which can be blended into the natural gas supply. There is a wide variety of technologies and feedstocks that can be used to produce renewable natural gas at competitive costs. [Breaking Energy]
World:
¶ China had set itself a target to install 14 GW solar PV this year. However, due to delays and postponements in projects, the country does not seem to have enough time at hand to pursue it. Japan, on the other hand, has poured over $30 billion to tap solar power in a single year, despite having a lack of large amounts of available land. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The South African utility has announced stage three loadshedding. Doug Kuni, a former managing director of the South African Independent Power Producers Association, said that all South Africans can do about the current electricity situation is to buy candles and a generator, as the country’s power system had never been in such a bad state. [MyBroadband]
¶ In an astonishing, virtually unpublicized, reversal, China, which burns more coal than the rest of the world put together, has announced it will cap its use within six years. Even more surprisingly there are signs that it is already declining, way ahead of schedule, as the country undergoes a largely unrecognised green revolution. [Telegraph.co.uk]
¶ In a recent development, the Church of England has urged BP plc and Royal Dutch Shell plc to cut carbon emission levels and invest more in renewable energy. Two church funds, with a combined value of nearly $12 billion plan to file shareholder resolutions on climatic change in the next four weeks. [Royal Dutch Shell plc .com]
¶ At the UN climate talks, Friends of the Earth International activists urged the participating nations to start building clean, sustainable, community-based energy solutions. The benefits of community-owned renewable energy solutions include reduced CO2 emissions, reduced consumption, stronger communities, and jobs. [eNews Park Forest]
¶ On Friday the Finnish parliament voted for a nuclear power project with 115 in favour, compared to 74 against. The location for the plant is in Pyhäjoki, just 150 kilometres from Swedish municipalities such as Luleå, Piteå and Skellefteå. A group of Swedish anti-nuclear activists has told The Local they will continue to fight against it. [The Local.se]
US:
¶ Volvo Trucks North America’s New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Va., is now carbon neutral thanks to a switch to renewable fuels to produce power. The assembly plant uses landfill gas to generate electric power and replaces fossil fuels that produced over 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide last year. [Truckinginfo]
¶ For the longest time in Tallahassee, criticism regarding Florida’s Public Service Commission had been relegated to Democrats, environmental activist groups and editorial writers at Florida dailies, but its membership is growing larger by the day. Conservatives for Energy Freedom is becoming active in the state. [SaintPetersBlog]
¶ Few challenges facing California’s policymakers are more complex than dramatically reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. But regulators will soon consider one of the more straightforward solutions: increasing the state’s renewable energy mandate, which is is already one of the highest in the nation. [The Desert Sun]
¶ The carbon pollution from five coal plants could be eliminated in North Carolina if wind power is developed off the North Carolina coast, according to a new analysis by Environment North Carolina Research and Policy Center. The report comes right as Congress considers whether to renew tax credits critical to wind development. [The Maritime Executive]
¶ Elon Musk’s so-called gigafactory may soon become an existential threat to the 100-year-old utility business model. The facility will also churn out stationary battery packs that can be paired with rooftop solar panels to store power. Already, a second company led by Musk, SolarCity Corp, is packaging solar panels and batteries. [Businessweek]
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