Opinion:
¶ “Scott Pruitt’s Misleading Senate Testimony: Will ‘Alternative Science’ Replace Real Science at EPA?” • Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s pick to head the US Environmental Protection Agency, is misrepresenting the scientific data clearly showing that the earth’s atmosphere is warming. He said he believes that global warming is in a “hiatus.” [Energy Collective]
Earth, from a NOAA weather satellite (Photo: NOAA / NASA)
Science and Technology:
¶ Friday’s temperatures very near the North Pole are about 50° F warmer than normal, according to a temperature analysis by NOAA. The warmth is being funneled toward the North Pole as winds converged winds between a monster storm in the North Atlantic and a giant area of high pressure over northern Europe. [Washington Post] (Thanks to Tad Montgomery)
World:
¶ In the Philippines, the Cebu Provincial Board has urged all electric cooperatives in the province to consider the use of renewable energy as an alternative source of power. The board cited language of an act that encourages exploring the use of renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, and ocean energy. [Philippine Star]
Addressing the challenge of climate change, energy
security and access to energy (Philstar.com / File)
¶ More than 20 Australian large renewable energy projects are already under construction or will start this year, delivering an unprecedented program of works. It will create almost 3000 direct jobs and generate more than $5 billion of investment, according to new analysis from the Clean Energy Council released on Sunday. [Daily Liberal]
¶ Bangladesh is betting on coal to support its quickly growing economy, even as other countries in Asia try to shift away from the dirty fuel amid a pollution crisis. The government hopes coal use will jump from 2% to over 50% of the Bangladesh’s electricity supply by 2022, with 23,000 MW of new coal powered plants in the pipeline. [Scroll.in]
Protesting coal in Bangladesh (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
¶ Higashi-Matsushima City was one of the areas worst-hit by the tsunami that killed some 18,000 people on March 11, 2011. It is moving entire neighborhoods to higher ground, maintaining peoples’ ties to each other. It has a 2-km no-build zone along the shoreline. And it is turning to renewable sources for its electric power. [Japan Today]
¶ Sri Lanka has opened its first hybrid power plant in Eluvathivu Island in Jaffna. The plant has a capacity of 60 KW and generates electricity using wind, solar and diesel. It had financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank and the Ceylon Electricity Board for the project, which cost 187 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.87 million). [ETEnergyworld.com]
Wind and solar power
¶ The Ceylon Electricity Board secured funding from the Asian Development Bank for a 100-MW wind farm in the north-western district of Mannar. Tenders to build it are expected to be floated within two months. The Mannar location could be able to generate 375 MW of wind power, and private capital could the rest. [The Island.lk]
¶ Europe’s top utilities are planning to invest tens of billions of euros over the next three years to catch up with the green energy revolution. The rise of solar and wind power has increased the need for intelligent IT systems that can balance out demand and supply swings while meeting energy needs and carbon emissions targets. [Gulf Times]
US:
¶ Fixing leaks from natural gas lines, capping power-plant emissions, and providing incentives for switching to electric vehicles are among new aims for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. New regulations target especially the energy and transportation sectors to reduce emissions by 7.2% over the next three years. [Eagle-Tribune]
¶ Recently, one of the largest construction cranes on the planet gently hoisted a 750-ton steam generator into place for a new reactor at the VC Summer Nuclear Station. The heavy lifting isn’t over. It could be just beginning for the $14 billion project, with unanswered questions about Westinghouse, the reactor designer. [Charleston Post Courier]
Huge crane at the VC Summer nuclear plant
¶ ISO New England agreed to buy only half of the electricity for 12 months of 2020 and 2021 from the proposed 900-MW Burrillville fossil-fuel power plant in Rhode Island. While some say this points to a lack of need for the plant, the developer interpreted the news to mean the power plant will be most needed after 2020. [ecoRI news]
¶ A group of American students, one as young as nine, is suing President Trump over the US government’s climate-change policy that they claim puts their future in jeopardy. His policies have his administration opposed to an overwhelming majority of scientists who say use of fossil fuels is causing destructive climate change. [The Independent]
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