Opinion:
¶ “Indian Point Is Closing, But Clean Energy Is Here To Stay” • New York will mark a milestone in the state’s energy landscape when the Indian Point nuclear power plant, just north of New York City, permanently closes this week. The plant has a history of operational, safety, and environmental problems. The state is rapidly building renewable energy. [NRDC]
Indian Point nuclear plant (Peretz Partensky, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Renewable Energy Is Suddenly Startlingly Cheap” • If you want real hope, the best place to look may be a little noted report from the London-based think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative. Solar and windpower can supply the world with 100 times its demand, using less of the surface than fossil fuels do. And the price is startlingly low. [The New Yorker]
¶ “Are Electric Pickup Trucks A Waste Of Valuable Resources?” • Here at CleanTechnica, we favor EVs, but we would be less than honest if we said huge electric pickup trucks with mega-MW of capacity don’t add some harmful emissions to the environment. But any EV is a good thing if it replaces a similar gasoline or diesel powered vehicle. [CleanTechnica]
Ford F-150 electric truck (Ford image)
Science and Technology:
¶ “A Very Simple Hybrid That Rivals The Cleanliness Of EVs Is Possible” • The Koenigsegg Gemera has two rear electric motors (one for each wheel) that run off the car’s battery pack. A very exotic 3-cylinder, twin-turbo, internal combustion engine with no valvetrain powers the front wheels without a transmission. The whole is very clean. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Tesla Model 3 New #1 In Hot European Market, And Plugin Vehicles Get 16% Market Share!” • The European plugin passenger vehicle market continues to rise, scoring over 227,000 registrations in March (up 169% year-over-year) and putting last month’s plugin vehicle share of the broader passenger vehicle market at 16% share. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model 3 (Image courtesy of Tesla)
¶ “BayWa Oz Solar Farm Hits First Power Milestone” • German developer BayWa RE confirmed its 106-MW Yatpool solar farm in northern Victoria is now connected to the grid. Construction at the site, which has 350,000 solar PV panels, was completed in late 2019 after a 10-month build, but connection to the grid was delayed by complications. [reNEWS]
¶ “RWE To Supply VW With German Solar” • RWE Supply & Trading will source electricity from Germany’s largest subsidy-free solar park from 2022 onwards and supply it to automaker VW under a 10 year power purchase agreement. The solar plant, operated by German asset manager Luxcara in Tramm-Gothen, is to be completed this year. [reNEWS]
¶ “GWEC Predicts Millions Of New Wind Jobs By 2026” • New analysis by the Global Wind Energy Council shows that 3.3 million windpower jobs can be created globally over the next five years due to major industry expansion. The figure includes direct jobs in both onshore and offshore wind, and covers the entire value chain of the sector. [reNEWS]
US:
¶ “Senate Votes To Restore Obama-Era Rule Limiting Methane Leaks” • The Senate voted to restore an Obama-era rule that cracked down on methane emissions from oil and gas industries as the Biden administration looks to combat climate change. The vote was 52-42. Three Republican Senators joined Democrats to approve the resolution. [CNN]
Natural gas well (Antandrus, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “Attention, Climate-Aware Investors! Help Has Arrived” • A Chicago-based investment firm, Morningstar, has released a 31-page report that assesses the landscape of climate-aware investment products. Climate-aware funds are those open-end funds and exchange-traded funds that have a branded, climate-related mandate. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “In A World Of Ever-Larger Trucks, Alpha’s Wolf Stands Out From The Pack” • Alpha Motor Company announced the Wolf+, an extended cab version of its Wolf EV truck. But what most sets these trucks aside is that they’re similar in size to the small trucks that were sold until the 90s. In a world of ever bigger trucks, they stand out from the pack. [CleanTechnica]
Wolf+ electric truck (Screenshot)
¶ “Auto And Traffic Safety Are The Focus Of 4 New US Senate Bills” • Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Edward Markey (D-MA) reintroduced a set of 4 bills designed to automotive and traffic safety. The bills cover auto manufacturing reporting standards, the speed of auto recalls, distracted driving rules, and seat back integrity. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Wind Power A Smaller Contributor To Texas Electricity Crisis Than Initially Estimated, ERCOT Analysis Shows” • An updated analysis of February’s Texas power crisis by experts at ERCOT shows that lost wind generation played a small part of problems that blacked out much of the state during a lengthy period of severe cold weather. [The Texas Tribune]
Wind turbines in Texas (Leaflet, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “New York State Launches Fifth Large-Scale Renewables Solicitation” • The state of New York has launched its fifth annual solicitation for large-scale renewable projects to accelerate clean energy development and fight climate change. The solicitation, its largest land-based procurement, calls for about 4.5 million MWh per year. [PV Magazine]
¶ “Duke Energy Sees Renewable Energy Growing To 23% By 2030” • Duke Energy says it expects to triple the amount of renewable energy it produces by 2030. That’s among the goals in the Charlotte-based company’s recently released annual sustainability report. It is to increase the share of renewables from 7% today to 23% by 2030. [WFAE]
Have a punctiliously copacetic day.
geoharvey 
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