Opinion:
¶ “Canada, O Canada, Thy Electric Bus Investments Are So Beautiful!” • Some of my favorite things to report on are electric bus orders, so news out of Canada made me want to sing from a mountaintop. Canada is putting $2.75 billion into electrifying public transition over the next 5 years, and that includes buying 5,000 electric buses. [CleanTechnica]
Electric bus (Image courtesy of Lion Electric)
¶ “Transforming The US Power Sector In The Decisive Decade – Cutting Carbon While Keeping The Lights On” • Addressing climate change requires rapid, economy-wide decarbonization in this decade to limit cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. The power sector can use technologies that are available, scalable, and low-cost today. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “USPS Cannot Afford To Not Go Electric” • The US Postal Service has just awarded the contract to replace up to 165,000 of their aging delivery fleet to a company that will produce mostly gas-fueled trucks. According to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, just 10% will be electric. Unfortunately, the USPS cannot afford not to go electric. [CleanTechnica]
Grumman LLV (Austin102, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Climbing Without A Map: Japan’s Nuclear Clean-Up Has No End In Sight” • The work at Fukushima Daiichi ranks as the most expensive and dangerous nuclear cleanup ever attempted. Ten years in, an army of engineers, scientists, and 5,000 workers are still mapping out a project many expect will not be completed in their lifetime. [marketscreener.com]
Science and Technology:
¶ “The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Plan To Capture CO₂” • When it starts operationing, Carbon Engineering’s prototype direct air capture plant will scrub a tonne of CO₂ from the air every year. To stop climate change, we have to remove CO₂ from the air faster than we put it in. Carbon Engineering estimates the cost at $94 per tonne. We emit 34 billion tonnes per year. [BBC]
Carbon Engineering pilot plant (Carbon Engineering image)
¶ “Mapping The Best Places To Plant Trees” • Reforestation could help to combat climate change, but whether and where to plant trees is a complex choice with many conflicting factors. To deal with this problem, researchers reporting in the journal One Earth have created the Reforestation Hub, an interactive map of the US reforestation opportunities. [EurekAlert]
¶ “Sunreef’s New All-Electric Catamaran Blends Solar And Wind Energy For Unlimited Range” • Sunreef Yachts is building what it claims will be “the world’s most advanced sustainable luxury catamaran.” It can harness and store renewable energy, and it can sail silently emissions-free for days on end. In fact, the yard says it has infinite range. [Robb Report]
Sunreef catamaran (Sunreef Yachts image)
World:
¶ “Diess Says Nein To Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars And Trucks” • A lot of people think using hydrogen to power cars and trucks is a good idea. But Herbert Diess, chairman of the board for the Volkswagen Group, says that is not realistic. “You won’t see any hydrogen usage in cars. Not even in 10 years, because the physics behind it are so unreasonable.” [CleanTechnica]
¶ “BYD Tang’s Norway Specs, Electric Trash Trucks, And Electric Bus Orders” • Among EV producers during this past decade, BYD has probably been #1, especially if you roll in all of the electric buses and electric trucks it has sold. In the past couple of weeks, BYD has put out some particularly interesting updates. I’ll roll through four of them. [CleanTechnica]
Electric trash truck (Image courtesy of BYD)
¶ “Austria Post Selects Mobility House To Manage 100% Electric Vehicle Fleet” • Austria Post has a goal of using 100% EVs by 2030. It already owns the largest fleet of electric vehicles in Austria. It has 2,400 charging stations and will add more. In need of a charging network manager, it chose the ChargePilot system from The Mobility House. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Mt Athos Monastic Community to Use 100% Renewable Energy” • Greece’s ancient monastic community of Mt. Athos, which is home to approximately 2,000 Orthodox monks, will soon begin receiving its electricity from solar panels, according to an announcement from Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the Governor of Central Greece. [Greek Reporter]
Mt Athos Monastery (Fingalo, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
¶ “Nissan Plans 20-MW Solar Extension At Sunderland Plant” • Nissan has announced plans for a major expansion to renewable energy generation at its Sunderland plant in the UK. The plant already has 12 MW of wind turbines and PVs. The 20-MW PV extension would be enough to power production of every LEAF sold in Europe with renewables. [Energy Digital]
US:
¶ “US DOE Launches Design And Construction Of $75 Million Grid Energy Storage Research Facility” • The DOE announced that design and construction of the Grid Storage Launchpad has begun. The new $75 million facility will be located in Richland, Washington. It will boost renewable energy and long-duration, low-cost grid energy storage. [CleanTechnica]
Grid Storage Launchpad (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
¶ “Thanks To Community Choice Aggregation, Customers Get A $1,000 E-Bike Voucher Offer” • In California, Sonoma Clean Power hooks up ratepayers with more renewable energy than their regular utility provides. Now SCP is going a good deal further and hooking up some of its ratepayers with free $1,000 vouchers for e-bikes. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Vallejo Powering Up For MCE Renewable Energy Option In April” • Residents of Vallejo, California, are moving ever-closer to a renewable-energy choice on their power bills beginning in April. Everyone will automatically be enrolled in Marin Clean Energy unless they “opt out.” Those in can choose green energy levels of 60% or 100%. [Vallejo Times-Herald]
Have an invigoratingly refreshing day.
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