Opinion:
¶ “Prediction For 2022: Plant-Based Foods Will Surge” • A whole new range of consumers has discovered plant-based items, and selections can be appealing. So, let’s make a prediction for 2022: Plant-based foods will not only transcend their current path leading to mainstream acceptance – they’ll become preferred, for lots of reasons. [CleanTechnica]
Impossible™ burger (Image provided by Impossible™)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Scientist Says Climate Change Worsened Colorado Fire” • The destruction from a rare winter wildfire that ravaged towns in Colorado is believed by scientists to have been made worse by climate change. Swings in weather meant a lot of grass grew with heavy spring rains, then drought hit making all the grass into fuel for a wildfire. [Yahoo News UK]
World:
¶ “VinFast Delivers First Electric Cars To Customers In Vietnam” • VinFast, the Vietnamese automaker, has begun delivering its first battery-electric SUV – the VF-34 – to customers in its home market. The company already offers a full line of conventional automobiles in Asia, but the company does not plan to introduce the VF-34 in foreign markets. [CleanTechnica]
Vinfast VF-34 (Image courtesy of VinFast)
¶ “Polestar Plans To Be Bigger Than Porsche” • Polestar, the EV specialty brand of Volvo Cars, wants to outsell Porsche. It will release three battery EVs in the next three years, hoping to attract customers away from Porsche’s Cayenne, Macan, Panamera, and Taycan models. Polestar’s goal is to sell 290,000 cars by 2025, ten times its sales in 2021. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Morocco’s Al Boraq Trains To Start Using Clean Energy” • Morocco’s National Railways Office (ONCF) has announced that its Al Boraq lines of high speed trains will start using renewable energy, as part of the ONCF’s plan to transition to cleaner energy sources. The goal is to eventually cover all the ONCF’s operations with renewable energy. [Morocco World News]
Al Boraq high speed train (hakzelf, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Iran To Add 10 GW To Renewable Energy Capacity” • The Iranian Energy Ministry and a number of private contractors signed memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the construction of renewable power plants to generate 10 GW of electricity across the country. A recent call for proposals had 90 GW of submissions. [Modern Diplomacy]
¶ “VINCI Acquires Energy Business Of ACS For $5.5 Billion” • VINCI has concluded the previously announced acquisition of ACS energy business, Cobra IS, which comprises a 15-GW renewables pipeline, for a final purchase price of $5.5 billion (€4.9 billion). The projects are in the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America. [Power Technology]
Solar array (VINCI image)
¶ “Germany And Austria Charge Against EC Draft For “Green Investment” In Nuclear And Gas Projects” • The Government of Austria and officials of the German Social Democratic Party, the core of the Government coalition in Germany, said they would file a complaint if the draft proposal to include nuclear and gas as green energy goes ahead. [CVBJ Biz]
¶ “Spain Rejects EU’s ‘Green’ Label For Nuclear And Natural Gas Energy” • The Spanish government has rejected the European Commission’s plans to include nuclear energy and natural gas in the EU’s classification table of green energies. Spain’s Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, said the plan is a “step backwards.” [The Local – Spain’s]
Central nuclear Vandellòs II (Jorge Franganillo, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
China:
¶ “It’s A Green Hydrogen Drop In The Bucket, But It Could Still Make A Splash” • While skepticism abounds over sustainable hydrogen, some leading energy players seem willing to give it a whirl. Sinopec plans to have a proposed green hydrogen pilot project up and running by 2023. It will produce 20,000 tons of green hydrogen per year. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “XPeng Delivered Almost 100,000 Vehicles In 2021” • XPeng is a mere 7 years old, and it put its first vehicle, the XPeng G3, on sale in December, 2018. Now, just a few years after launching its first vehicle, XPeng has wrapped up a year of sales totaling almost 100,000. In 2021, XPeng delivered 98,155 smart EVs, a 263% year-over-year increase. [CleanTechnica]
XPeng P5 (courtesy of XPeng)
¶ “World’s Largest Floating PV Plant Goes Online In China” • Huaneng Power International has completed the world’s largest floating PV project, a 320-MW facility in Dezhou, in China’s Shandong province. It deployed the floating array in two stages on a reservoir near Huaneng Power’s 2.65-GW Dezhou thermal power station. [PV Magazine]
US:
¶ “Tesla Delivered Over 300,000 EVs In Q4 2021 And Almost A Million In 2021” • Tesla announced another record quarter for vehicle deliveries, for a record-breaking year. In Q4 of 2021, Tesla delivered 308,000 vehicles, putting its total deliveries for 2021 at 936,000. And its two new gigafactories in Berlin and Austin aren’t even online yet. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Gigafactory 1 (Smnt, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Eolus Sells 120-MW US Battery” • Eolus has secured an agreement with Aypa Power for the sale of the Cald battery storage project in Los Angeles. The battery energy storage system will have a capacity of up to 120 MW. It is currently in its development stage and commercial operation is anticipated during the course of 2024. [reNews]
¶ “Midwest Lags, Though Madison And Minneapolis Shine In National Clean Energy Policy Ranking” • An analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy of 100 major cities revealed that many cities cannot show they are on track to meet their own greenhouse gas reduction goals. Only a few cities in the Midwest stand out. [Wausau Pilot & Review]
Have an unfashionably opulent day.
geoharvey 