Opinion:
¶ “Is The UK’s Green Plan Enough To Halt Climate Change?” • The government of the UK set out a number of plans aiming to put the country on course to achieve its climate goals. Funding for green cars, an end to gas boilers, and tree-planting are some of the key announcements. They’re a remarkable achievement, but are they enough? [BBC]
Stormy sea (Carl Jorgensen, Unsplash)
¶ “How trading CO₂ could save the climate” • Proponents of a global carbon market say it could greatly reduce the world’s carbon emissions. Critics say that giving polluters the option to pay for their emissions is not the answer. One flaw in the plan can be seen in the number of trees planted for carbon offsets that burned in the Bootleg Fire last summer. [BBC]
¶ “Don’t Buy Another Gas Car!” • Maybe you normally let your cars run five years, ten years, or longer before you replace them. However, when the time comes to replace your car, don’t buy another gas car! The car companies are increasingly making EVs. Within 10 years, we will look on gas cars like we now look on film cameras and tube TVs. [CleanTechnica]
Rivian pickup (Rivian image)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Report Warns Of Climate Change’s ‘Code Red’ Impact On Health” • A report in the medical journal The Lancet predicts that droughts will hurt food production, rising temperatures will encourage the spread of dangerous pathogens such as malaria and cholera, and current climate trends indicate a “code red” for future health. [CNN]
¶ “Study Shows Recycled Lithium Batteries As Good As Newly Mined Lithium Batteries” • There’s a new study out that found that recycled lithium-ion batteries are as good as and even better than new batteries made with newly mined materials. The study showed that recycled NMC111 cathodes actually are superior in both rate and cycle performance. [CleanTechnica]
EV battery factory (Image courtesy of Volkswagen)
World:
¶ “Document Leak Reveals Nations Lobbying To Change Key Climate Report” • Leaked documents seen by BBC News show countries are trying to change a crucial scientific report on how to tackle climate change. Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia are among countries asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels. [BBC]
¶ “Foxconn Intends To Become A Global EV Manufacturer” • Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company best known for making iPhones for Apple, held a splashy corporate event to announce that it plans to introduce three electric vehicles shortly – a sedan, an SUV, and a bus. The cars will be based on an EV skateboard it showed last year. [CleanTechnica]
Foxcon Model C (Foxcon image)
¶ “Indian Solar – Exciting News Out Of One Of The World’s Largest Economies” • The last three months showed a surge in solar installations in India. After a dip in 2020 due to Covid, solar installations quadrupled. At this rate, coal-fired power could peak in 2024 and the increased solar generation could satisfy India’s increasing thirst for energy. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Instead Of A Coal Mine, This Alberta Mountain May Now Become A ‘Green Energy Complex'” • Montem Resources gave up a plan to develop an open-pit coal mine on Tent Mountain. It has a new proposal to use the mountain for pumped-hydro energy storage, powered by nearby wind turbines, along with a green hydrogen production facility. [CBC.ca]
Tent Mountain in southwestern Alberta (Montem Resources)
¶ “Spain To Phase Out Coal, Nuclear And Oil-Fired Plants By 2035” • Spain is on track to phase out nuclear, coal, and oil-fired plants by 2035. Spain had 7.1 GW of nuclear power in 2020 and will phase it out from 2027 to 2035. In 2020, the country closed seven coal plants with a total capacity of 3.95 GW and aims to phase out all coal by 2025. [Energy Live News]
¶ “Rio Tinto Outlines 6-GW Australia Renewables Plan” • Global mining giant Rio Tinto has outlined plans to decarbonize some of its Australian operations by using wind and solar power. The company expects to spend around A$7.5 billion (€4.8 billion, $5.6 billion) in direct capital expenditure decarbonizing Rio Tinto’s assets from 2022 to 2030. [reNews]
Wind farm (Yeyo Salas, Unsplash)
US:
¶ “Tesla Reports Record Q3 Earnings” • Tesla announced its third-quarter 2021 earnings, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, another record was broken. Tesla had $1.3 billion of operating cash flow for Q3. It also paid its debts, as Elon Musk recently replied to one of our articles. That amount was a total of $1.5 billion this quarter. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Leeward Picks Up 110-MW Californian PPA” • Valley Clean Energy and Leeward Renewable Energy entered into a 15-year solar-plus-storage PPA on energy from Leeward’s 72-MW solar and 36-MW battery storage Willow Springs 3 facility in Kern County, California. The Willow Springs 3 project will supply electricity to VCE by the end of 2023. [reNews]
Solar array (Chelsea, Unsplash)
¶ “Grassley Calls On Biden To Support Renewable Energy Industry” • Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called on President Biden to support renewable energy as green manufacturing jobs are now leaving Iowa. In a letter, Grassley asks the President to do everything in his power to ensure workers are not hurt by federal policies moving forward. [Senator Chuck Grassley]
¶ “This Alaskan Air Base Will Host Experimental Mini Nuclear Reactor” • The Air Force announced that it has picked Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska to host a new small nuclear reactor in a pilot program. The US military and the DOE have been increasingly looking into micro-reactor designs as possible ways to meet ever-growing electricity demands. [The Drive]
Have an unqualifiedly magnificent day.
geoharvey 