Opinion:
¶ “Ford CEO Jim Farley On The F-150 Lightning And The EV Revolution” • Ford says its F-150 Lightning will disrupt the automobile business in the same way the Model T did back in 1908. Is that an idle boast? To find out, The Verge sent Nilay Patel to interview Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company. Here is a condensed version of that story. [CleanTechnica]
Ford F-150 Lightning (Image courtesy of Ford)
¶ “Ford F-150 Lightning – Bold Move Or Too Little Too Late?” • One thing we can see from the range of headlines about the F-150 Lightning is that there is a lot of misinformation and controversy about electric vehicles swirling about because, for whatever reason, many industry actors have done a really poor job of educating consumers. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Settled Enough: Climate Science, Skepticism, And Prudence” • The body of climate science has survived extraordinary vetting and yielded conclusions recognized by competent climate scientists around the world as true beyond any reasonable doubt. The possibility that they are true is too great to ignore with any level of prudence. [The Hill]
Fire in Tasmania (Matt Palmer, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “The Reason Wild Forests Beat Plantations” • Scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the UK warned that tree planting was often being presented as an easy answer to the climate crisis, and a way out for businesses to mitigate their carbon emissions. But it was not as simple as it seemed. Natural forest regeneration may be a better alternative. [BBC]
¶ “Create A 3D, Holistic View Of Earth – Help Address, Mitigate Climate Change” • NASA will design a new set of Earth-focused missions to provide key information to guide efforts on climate change, disaster mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. They will create a 3D view of Earth, from bedrock to atmosphere. [ScienceDaily]
Imaging weather (NASA rendering)
¶ “Dartmouth Study Finds Renewable Energy Upgrades Make Grid More Resilient” • A Dartmouth study found for the first time that renewable energy upgrades will make the nation’s power grid more resilient. A grid was modeled with innovations, including distributed generation and energy storage. One lesson is “Buy local.” [New Hampshire Public Radio]
World:
¶ “Explosion At Australian Power Station Leaves Thousands Without Electricity” • Hundreds of thousands of people across the Australian state of Queensland were left without electricity after an explosion and fire at a power station. Energy companies are now scrambling to restore power while local officials have warned of traffic chaos. [BBC]
Substation (ETA+, Unsplash)
¶ “The North Sea Green Energy Can Possibly Overtake Oil And Gas By 2030” • The UK’s offshore wind sector is the world’s biggest and will support up to 90,000 jobs by 2030, under a new contract with the government to support a quadrupling of wind power production. It could provide nearly half of the jobs in the UK’s offshore energy industry. [Nature World News]
¶ “James Fisher Renewables Nets Offshore Wind UXO Survey Gig In France” • James Fisher Renewables has been selected by the French grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Electricité to identify unexploded ordnance along the export cable routes for the Fécamp offshore wind project. The 18-km cablewill be buried at depths of 5 to 35 meters. [Offshore Engineer]
Offshore wind farm (James Fisher Renewables image)
¶ “Tata Power ‘Goes Big On Renewable Energy’, Expects 10x Growth Of Sector In 5-7 Years” • “Tata Power is going very big on renewables,” Praveer Sinha, the company’s managing director and CEO, told CNBC-TV18. Sinha is confident of the space becoming the “very biggest” and asserted that it will grow very fast in the next four-five years. [CNBCTV18]
¶ “Forth Ports Plans £40 Million Offshore Upgrade For Leith” • Forth Ports has unveiled proposals for the creation of Scotland’s largest renewable energy hub on a 175-acre site at the Port of Leith. A £40 million investment will be used to create a riverside marine berth capable of accommodating the world’s largest offshore wind installation vessels. [reNEWS]
Offshore wind turbines (Insung Yoon, Unsplash)
US:
¶ “Biden Bolsters Extreme Weather Preparation Funding During FEMA Visit” • President Joe Biden announced his administration would invest $1 billion in extreme weather preparation ahead of hurricane season. The president said the new funding would prepare the US for the upcoming hurricane and fire seasons across the country. [CNN]
¶ “Ford And UAW: Why Unions Are Threatened By The EV Transition, Want Battery Plant Work” • Various outlets report that Ford and UAW are at odds over battery production. Ford and SK Innovation, plan to build several plants to produce batteries for Ford’s EVs, and they aren’t sure that they want the plants to use union labor. [CleanTechnica]
Battery factory (Image courtesy of Volkswagen)
¶ “New Mexico’s Oil And Gas Regions Could Become Leaders In Hydrogen Power, Members of Congress Say” • As the federal government sought to shift toward less-carbon-intense forms of energy, New Mexico’s Democrat members of congress appealed to the US DOE to focus efforts to develop hydrogen power in their state. [Carlsbad Current-Argus]
¶ “Ohio Bills Would Let Township Boards Block Wind And Solar Power” • An Ohio Senate committee is set to take up a proposal that would give townships unprecedented control over wind and solar siting. The bill would prevent companies from applying to build wind or solar projects unless the township has an “energy development district.” [Energy News Network]
Have a remarkably wonderful day.
geoharvey 