Opinion:
¶ “How To Bring More Clean Energy Into Our Homes” • What if you could help combat climate change from your home without lifting a finger, and reduce your climate emissions to zero? RMI released a blueprint for how regulators, policymakers, utilities, and solutions providers can support every American in bringing clean energy home. [CleanTechnica]
Home (Scott Webb, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Introducing The Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator” • An initiative of the US DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is to catalyze development of cybersecurity solutions for the clean energy grid. The Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator will bring together energy experts, asset owners, and innovators in a new way. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “The Cost Of Renewables Continues To Plummet” • According to a new report from the Institute of New Economic Thinking at the University of Oxford, previous estimates about how quickly the price of renewables will fall have consistently underestimated reality. (We think they are pointing fingers at the International Energy Agency here.) [CleanTechnica]
Graphic on cost (INET image)
¶ “EV Battery Pack Costs In 2021 – 87% Lower Than In 2008” • The EV market has transformed immensely in the past dozen years. Most of the change results from dropping battery prices. With lower battery prices, some EV models have more range for the same price, and many models are on the market with a competitive prices and specs. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Porsche Mission R Previews Electric Cayman” • The Porsche Misson R is a design concept for a future all-electric racer that could compete in a separate racing series much like the Carrera Cup. The Mission R’s 80-kWh battery pack is mounted behind the driver, where the engine and transmission normally go in a race car, to maintain a low silhouette. [CleanTechnica]
Porsche Mission R (Image courtesy of Porsche)
¶ “Decaying Supertanker With Over A Million Barrels Of Oil Could Explode” • The New Yorker published an alarming article about a supertanker, four times the size of the Exxon Valdez, that literally is fossil fuel bomb that could explode and kill millions. The vessel, converted for floating-storage-and-off-loading, is stranded in a Yemeni war zone. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Accelerate Renewables To Reduce Power Costs” • The Front-Loading Net Zero report says that electricity production costs could be reduced by up to 50% by 2050 if countries and states adopt 100% renewable systems faster than currently planned. The renewable energy would be mainly wind and solar photovoltaic, backed up by energy storage systems. [reNews]
Solar plus storage hybrid system (Wärtsilä image)
¶ “Iraq Seeks 7.5 GW Of Renewable Power As It Inks 2-GW Deal With UAE’s Masdar” • Iraq is seeking to develop 7.5 GW of renewable power, the country’s oil minister said, as OPEC’s second-biggest producer signs a 2-GW agreement with UAE’s clean energy firm Masdar. In the initial phase of the deal, 1 GW will be developed within Iraq. [S&P Global]
¶ “Japanese Real Estate Firm Launches Renewables Partnership In The UK” • Kajima entered the UK renewable energy market through a partnership with the Low Carbon Alliance Limited. They launched a joint venture and renewable energy platform, Taiyo Power & Storage Limited, to develop solar energy and storage projects. [Power Engineering International]
Solar array (RWE image)
¶ “RWE Greek Joint Venture Targets 2 GW Of Solar” • RWE Renewables has formed a joint venture in Greece with power utility PPC. The joint venture will help accelerate the Greek energy transition by developing large-scale solar projects. The initial solar project pipeline will be 2 GW, consisting of projects that are in various stages of development. [reNews]
US:
¶ “High Natural Gas Prices Will Hurt Low-Income Americans This Winter” • Prices for natural gas, the most common way to heat homes, are at their highest level in the last seven years. If it’s a cold winter, prices could go even higher. For struggling families and low-income Americans, the cost will make heat a necessity they can no longer afford. [CNN]
¶ “New Tesla Megapack Factory Will Create 1,000 To 2,000 Jobs” • Tesla will reportedly bring 1,000 jobs to the San Joaquin County area of California with its new Megafactory. The plan for later on includes an additional 1,000 jobs. Tesla is sold out of Megapacks through the end of next year, and the new factory will help Tesla meet the high demand. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Megapacks (Tesla image)
¶ “General Motors, GE Renewable Energy To Develop Materials Supply Chain To Support EVs” • GM and GE Renewable Energy announced signing a non-binding MOU to evaluate ways to improve supplies of heavy and light rare earth materials and magnets, copper, and electrical steel used for making of EVs and renewable energy equipment. [Autobody News]
¶ “Westerlo Passes Renewable-Energy Laws” • In New York state, the Westerlo Town Board unanimously passed three renewable energy laws, two weeks after it approved the town’s first codified comprehensive plan. The laws cover windpower, solar facilities, and grid-scale battery systems. The state’s goal is 100% renewable energy by 2040. [The Altamont Enterprise]
NY 32 near Westerlo, New York (Daniel Case, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “Ex-CEO Who Oversaw Doomed Nuclear Project To Be Sentenced” • The executive who oversaw a $9 billion plan to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina is getting ready to go to prison, over four years after he announced the project had failed. He has already paid $5 million in restitution. He agreed with prosecutors to a two-year prison term. [USNews.com]
¶ “Concrete Cracking At Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant Building” • It’s a form of concrete degradation sometimes called concrete cancer and one nuclear watch dog group says several structures at Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant have it. Plant officials and the NRC recently found that the situation in the control and diesel generator building is gradually getting worse. [MSN]
Have a magnificently charming day.
geoharvey 