Opinion:
¶ “Gloomy Prospects in IEA’s Latest World Energy Outlook” • None of the scenarios in the latest International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook show renewables growing fast enough to meet global climate goals. Under current policies, said the IEA, the world would see major increases in energy-related carbon emissions. [Greentech Media]
Coal-burning power plant in China
¶ “Fossil Fuel Companies Spend Next to Nothing on Renewable Energy” • ExxonMobil ads tout their research in clean fuels. But like other fossil fuel companies, ExxonMobil wraps itself in a cloak of environmental activism while continuing to poison every man, woman, and child with the pollution created by its business activities. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Scottish Wind Delivers Equivalent of 98% of Country’s October Electricity Demand” • New figures publicized by WWF Scotland on Monday revealed that wind energy generated the equivalent of 98% of the country’s electricity demand in October, or enough electricity to power nearly 5 million homes across the country. [CleanTechnica]
Scottish wind turbines (Ruhrfisch, Wikimedia Commons)
¶ “Energy Storage Is a $1.2 Trillion Investment Opportunity Globally and Is Soaring in the UK” • Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that the world energy storage market will attract $1.2 trillion in investment and grow to 942 GW by 2040, while in the UK the current pipeline already sits at an impressive 6,874 MW. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Volkswagen Claims It Will Build 50 Million Electric Cars Using Its MEB Chassis” • Volkswagen head Herbert Diess boasts that his company will build 50 million EVs in coming years and that some of them will cost half as much as Tesla’s. There is talk of VW planning to introduce a sub-compact SUV-style EV retailing for $21,000. [CleanTechnica]
Volkswagen ID Crozz
¶ “Commonwealth Bank Signs up to Be 100% Renewable by 2030” • Commonwealth Bank of Australia will get the majority of its power from renewables by next year and has pledged to go completely green by 2030, as part of a push towards embracing a low-carbon future. It will buy power from the Sapphire wind farm. [The Australian Financial Review]
¶ “Big Oil Spent Only 1.3% of Capital Expenditure on Green Energy in 2018” • The world’s largest oil companies spent just 1.3% of their annual budgets on climate change initiatives, a report found. Environmental research charity CDP studied the top 24 publicly listed firms, including oil giants Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP. [The New Economy]
Oil rig
¶ “EU Parliament Approves Energy Efficiency, Renewable Targets” • The European Parliament has approved new targets to increase the use of renewables and improve energy efficiency. At least 32% of the EU’s energy use must come from renewable sources by 2030, and energy efficiency must be increased by 32.5%. [Energy Live News]
¶ “Spain Targets 100% Renewable Power by 2050” • Spain’s government has published a new draft climate plan that targets a 100% renewable energy electricity system by 2050. Its goals outstrip those adopted by the EU. The plan includes a ban on new gas and oil exploration. An intermediate goal for 2030 is to have 70% renewable sources. [EURACTIV]
Spanish wind turbines (Shutterstock image)
¶ “IAEA Urges Rapid Decision on Treated Water at Fukushima” • A team of nuclear experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Japan on Tuesday to make a rapid decision on what to do with treated water containing low toxicity radioactive tritium that is accumulating at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. [Japan Today]
US:
¶ “Sunnova Launches Solar-Plus-Battery Storage Service in Texas” • One of the leading residential solar-plus-storage services in the US, Sunnova, announced that it was expanding its offerings in the Lone Star State, as it makes its SunSafe solar-plus-batter storage offering available to homeowners in its home state of Texas. [CleanTechnica]
Solar installation (Sunnova image)
¶ “Rising Seas Threaten Hundreds of Thousands of Homes as Building Continues in At-Risk Areas” • Some 386,000 US homes are likely to be at risk of regular flooding by 2050 because of sea-level rise from climate change, under a scenario of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions, according to analysis by Zillow and Climate Central. [MarketWatch]
¶ “Vail Resorts Taps Ørsted Onshore” • Ørsted subsidiary Lincoln Clean Energy is to supply leisure and hospitality company Vail Resorts with electricity from the 230-MW Plum Creek wind farm in Nebraska under a virtual power purchase agreement covering 12 years. The deal is for delivery of 310,000 MWh per year of electricity. [reNEWS]
Wind turbines (Lincoln Clean Energy image)
¶ “Solar Advocates Target Nevada Mines” • A trifecta of solar advocates, the Nature Conservancy, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the Nevada Mining Association, is targeting Nevada’s closed mines for new solar projects or other renewables to help the state meet its new 50% renewable energy portfolio standard by 2030. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “MidAmerican Energy to Launch Energy Storage Pilot Project” • MidAmerican Energy Company announced plans to install a battery energy storage system in Knoxville, enabling a utility to store electricity for later use. It will have 4 MWh of storage capacity, enough to power about 900 average Iowa homes for four hours. [Windpower Engineering]
Have a victoriously jubilant day.
geoharvey 