Opinion:
¶ “I Saw What Climate Change Hell Looks Like. Now I’m Joining The Global Climate Strike. You Should Too” • I thought it was snow. Soft white flakes dissolved into my coffee. With the other students on the cafe patio, I looked to the sky for an explanation. It was not snow. It was the Thomas fire, the largest fire on record in California history. [Los Angeles Times]
Students demonstrate (Filip Singer | EPA-EFE | REX)
¶ “Leading US Businesses Sow Distributed Wind Energy, Reap Control” • Three US DOE reports contain an interesting detail. Uilities still account for the largest share of distributed wind energy, but commercial and industrial users are catching up. Large wind power users could become a major force in the renewable energy transition. [CleanTechnica]
Science and Technology:
¶ “How Climate Crisis Is Accelerating The Global Spread Of Deadly Dengue Fever” • Explosive outbreaks of dengue fever have rapidly spread in countries across Asia, killing more than 1,000 people, infecting hundreds of thousands and straining hospitals packed with sick families. Bangladesh is having the worst outbreak it has ever seen. [CNN]
Treating dengue fever (Nicolas Asfour | AFP | Getty Images)
¶ “Study Of Ancient Climate Suggests Warming Could Accelerate As CO₂ Levels Rise” • Researchers at two universities in the US used a state-of-the-art climate model to successfully simulate the extreme warming of the Early Eocene Period. They found that the rate of warming increased dramatically as carbon dioxide levels rose. [UANews]
¶ “Vegetarian Diets Not Always The Most Climate-Friendly, Researchers Say” • Scientists found that diets in which meat, fish, or dairy products were consumed only once a day would leave less of a footprint on climate change and water supplies than a vegetarian diet including milk and eggs, in 95% of countries they analysed. [Good Food]
Good food (Supplied photo)
World:
¶ “China Still Planning New Coal Power Projects: Environmental Groups” • China’s total planned coal-fired power projects now stand at 226.2 GW, the highest in the world and more than twice the amount of new capacity on the books in India, according to data published by German environmental organization Urgewald and thirty other groups. [CNA]
¶ “Investors Turn Up The Heat On Companies Over Climate Change” • A group of 515 investors managing assets worth $35 trillion are sending a message to governments and companies: Do more to fight climate change. They urged policymakers to act with the “utmost urgency” to comply with the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. [CNN]
Coal-burning power plant (George Frey | Getty Images)
¶ “Decentralised Renewable Energy Can Ensure Round-The-Clock Power Supply: Report” • Decentralized renewable energy can ensure round-the-clock, reliable and quality energy supply through clean energy sources to most customers, according to a report by Clean Energy Access Network, a non-government organisation based in Delhi. [ETEnergyworld.com]
¶ “NT Backs Massive Solar Push To Reach Zero Emissions Target” • The Labor government of Australia’s Northern Territory unveiled a comprehensive and firmly science-informed plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050. It has a focus on the territory’s massive advantage in solar – “the cheapest form of new electricity generation.” [RenewEconomy]
Solar roof in Darwin, NT
¶ “Renewable Energy Could Cut Electricity Rates By 30%” • Heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, high financing costs, and uncompetitive market structures have helped make electricity prices in the Philippines among the highest in Southeast Asia, a report of a global research institute says. Switching to renewables could save 30%. [BusinessWorld Online]
¶ “GE To Supply World’s Biggest Battery For South Australia Solar River Project” • GE Renewable Energy will build what has been touted as “one of the largest” grid-connected batteries in the world. If the 200-MW Solar River Project in South Australia were built today, it would be the world’s biggest, according to our calculations. [RenewEconomy]
GE battery
¶ “Fukushima Disaster: Nuclear Executives Found Not Guilty” • More than eight years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese court has cleared three former executives of the firm operating the plant of professional negligence. It was the only criminal case to arise out of the disaster, which was the worst since Chernobyl in 1986. [BBC]
US:
¶ “Greta Thunberg Has A Suggestion For Congress On How To Take Real Action On The Climate Crisis” • Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg appeared in front of Congress before a hearing on climate change, just days after she met with former President Barack Obama. She said, “I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists.” [CNN]
Greta Thunberg (Alex Wong | Getty Images)
¶ “California Vows To Fight Trump Administration To Keep Higher Car Emission Standards” • Sacramento has vowed to fight Washington’s attempt to remove the state’s higher car emission standards. “It’s about the oil industry, period, full stop. It’s not about the car manufacturers, … it’s not about our economy,” Governor Gavin Newsom said. [KGO-TV]
¶ “US Utility-Scale Solar Pipeline Tops 37.9 GW” • The US solar industry now boasts the largest pipeline of utility-scale solar projects in history with a record 37.9 GW of contracted solar, according to the latest figures, in the US Solar Market Insight Report from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Solar Energy Industries Association. [CleanTechnica]
Have a wonderfully uplifting day.
geoharvey 