Opinion:
¶ “Clean Cars Minnesota: A Win For Public Health, Innovation, And The Environment” • A Minnesota administrative law judge ruled the state can proceed to finalize new clean car standards. The rules will increase the availability and number of clean car models. They also protect people’s health. It’s time for legislators to stop blocking them. [CleanTechnica]
Ford Mustang Mach-E GT (Image courtesy of Ford)
¶ “Europe Needs Over 30 Battery Gigafactories By 2025” • Many people are switching to all electric vehicles before price parity is reached for safety and low cost of ownership. With price parity, the market for vehicles with a tailpipe will almost vanish, faster than the legacy car managers’ worst nightmares. But that means lots of batteries are needed. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Does Nuclear Power Really Keep The Lights On?” • The nuclear industry is fond of telling us the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow. But things are a bit more complicated than that. Advances in renewable energy and storage mean that baseload power provided by nuclear reactors is no longer needed. [MSN]
Nuclear plant (Frédéric Paulussen, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Vestas V150 Wind Turbines Surpass Major Milestone: 5 GW In Orders” • Vestas, which designs, manufactures, installs, and services onshore and offshore wind turbines worldwide, scored a huge win in Brazil recently with a 212-MW order. That order means that Vestas is surpassing 5 GW in total order intakes of its V150-4.2 MW turbines. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “VW ID. Buzz With Level 4 Autonomy Scheduled To Begin Real-World Testing This Year” • Illustrations showing the VW ID. Buzz equipped with self-driving hardware have been around the internet for some months. This week the company released more details about its plans to tap the mobility-as-a-service market with that particular vehicle. [CleanTechnica]
VW ID. Buzz (Image courtesy Volkswagen)
¶ “TIM Strikes Deal With ERG For Renewable Energy” • ERG, through its subsidiary ERG Power Generation, and TIM, leading Group in Italy and Brazil in the ICT sector, through its subsidiary Telenergia, have signed a ten-year corporate Power Purchase Agreement for the supply of 3.4 TWh of green energy for the period 2022-2031. [Total Telecom]
US:
¶ “US West Likely To Have Tough 2021 Due To Drought” • US officials expect climate-fueled heat and drought to drive a fire season in the West at least as bad as last year. Projections are so bad that hatcheries in Northern California are trucking salmon to the ocean instead of releasing them into dangerously low rivers with unsafely warm waters. [CleanTechnica]
California (Vladimir Kudinov, Unsplash)
¶ “Pipeline Company Shut Down Its Own Pipeline, Paid Ransom” • The ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline did not actually affect its operations, but made the company afraid it wouldn’t be able to figure out how much to bill its customers, according to a CNN report. So it shut down, causing fuel panic in the Southeast, and paid ransom. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Hyundai Commits To $7.4 Billion Program To Build Electric Cars In US” • The Biden administration is proposing an array of policy measures to encourage the sale of electric cars in the US, provided they are built in the US by American workers. Hyundai Group responded with an announcement that it plans to invest $7.4 billion in the US by 2025. [CleanTechnica]
Hyundai EV (Hyundai image)
¶ “Clean Energy Advocates Say Industry Will Slow If Lawmakers Fail To Increase Renewable Energy Goals” • Pennsylvania is set to meet its renewable energy goals, as utilities will meet the final goal of buying 8% of their electricity from renewable sources, with 0.5% coming from solar, by May 31. A slowdown will cost investments and jobs. [StateImpact – NPR]
¶ “Ravenswood Generating Station On Track To Become A Renewable Energy Hub” • Ravenswood Generating Station could be home to renewable energy transported from upstate New York by 2026, its owner announced. The proposed Catskills Renewable Program would supplying an estimated 15% of New York City’s energy. [Queens Daily Eagle]
Ravenswood Generating Station (King of Hearts, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Report: Transmission Tax Credit Could Unlock 30 GW Of Renewables, Spur Over $15 Billion In Private Capital” • Enabling a transmission investment tax credit could spur $15.3 billion in private capital investment, enable an additional 30 GW of renewables energy capacity and create 650,000 “good paying jobs,” in the near term, a report says. [Utility Dive]
¶ “EPA Issues First Climate Update Since 2016” • The five years since the EPA last updated its climate-science scorecard have been five of the six hottest years on record, in which California has endured three of its five most destructive wildfires. Now, the EPA published new data showing in greater detail how climate change is affecting the US. [NWI Times]
Have a radically nifty day.
geoharvey 
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