Opinion:
¶ “Andrew Forrest Calls Out Hydrogen Greenwashing In Australia” • The Australian government is patting itself on the back for its “green” achievements after sending off a ship full hydrogen to Japan. It was made using electricity from coal and fracked gas. And they are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $20,000 a minute. [CleanTechnica]
Shipment of hydrogen (Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain image)
Science and Technology:
¶ “How Birds Are Adapting To Climate Crisis” • A study of birds that died in collisions with skyscrapers in Chicago shows that North American migratory birds appear to be shrinking in response to climate change. Importantly, those with bigger brains, relative to their body size, are not shrinking as much as their smaller-brained counterparts. [CNN]
World:
¶ “Amazon Deforestation: Record High Destruction Of Trees In January” • The number of trees cut down in January in the Brazilian Amazon far exceeded deforestation for January of last year, according to government satellite data. The area destroyed was five times larger than 2021, the highest January total since records began in 2015. [BBC]
Amazon rainforest (Neil Palmer, CIAT, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Fracking: UK’s Only Shale Gas Wells To Be Sealed And Abandoned” • The only two shale gas wells in the UK are to be abandoned after the industry regulator ordered them sealed. The Lancashire wells have not been used since 2019 after test drilling was suspended due to earth tremors and the government halted shale gas extraction in England. [BBC]
¶ “Glut Of Solar Panels In 2025” • Rethink Energy predicts that there will be a surge of polysilicon production capacity coming online in the next two years, leading to a glut of solar panels by 2025. The solar panel production capacity is expected to exceed 1,000 GW per year by 2030. The initial wave of manufacturing facilities is to come in 2025. [CleanTechnica]
Rooftop solar systems (Mischa Frankl, Unsplash)
¶ “India To Replace Diesel With Renewables In Agricultural Sector” • Federal power minister R K Singh said India will replace diesel with renewable energy to achieve zero diesel use in the agricultural sector by 2024. Singh laid emphasis on the need for a state-specific agency dedicated to energy conservation and efficiency. [Macau Business]
¶ “Offshore Wind Farm Gets Go-Ahead Amid ‘Pressing Need’ For Renewable Energy” • UK Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has approved Vattenfall’s 1.8-GW Norfolk Vanguard wind farm off the Norfolk coast, ruling that the need for renewable energy outweighs concern over the “substantial harm arising from landscape and visual issues.” [Yahoo News UK]
Offshore wind farm (Zoltan Tasi, Unsplash)
US:
¶ “Trump-Appointed Judge Bars Biden Administration From Using Key Climate Metric” • A district judge in the Western District of Louisiana issued an injunction that prevents the Biden administration from using what’s known as the “social cost of carbon” in decisions around oil and gas drilling on public land or in rules that govern fossil fuel emissions. [CNN]
¶ “Ohio Can Lead The Electric Vehicle And Clean Energy Economy” • Driven primarily by projected EV demand, the global lithium-ion battery industry and its supply chain have committed more than $600 billion in funding towards launching new EV models. A report highlights the advantages Ohio has for attracting investment. [CleanTechnica]
Ohio EV manufacturing (Image courtesy of Lordstown)
¶ “US DOE Aims $2.91 Billion At EV Batteries And Energy Storage” • The US DOE is letting loose with a new round of $2.91 billion in funding for a soup-to-nuts overhaul of the lithium supply chain for EV batteries and other energy storage systems. It has more reasons to do this than just to help save the planet from catastrophic climate change. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Mother Of All Agrivoltaics Projects Will Link Solar Canopies, Irrigation Canals” • One example of how farming combines with solar PVs is the Turlock Irrigation District in California, which just announced a new agrivoltaics project that could give the state multiple gigawatts of solar power, by outfitting irrigation canals with solar panels. [CleanTechnica]
Irrigation canal (Courtesy of Turlock Irrigation District)
¶ “PG&E Customers Receive 93% Of Their Electricity From Greenhouse Gas-Free Resources” • PG&E estimates that 50% of its customers’ electricity in 2021 came from eligible-renewable resources including biopower, geothermal, small hydroelectric, solar, and wind power. The figure is 93% when nuclear and large hydroelectric power are included. [Yahoo Finance]
¶ “Duke Energy Plans To Exit All Coal, Double Renewables” • Duke Energy Corp intends to close all of its coal plants by 2035 and more than double its renewable capacity by 2030 as part of a massive clean energy push. Duke expects to spend over $130 billion in the next decade on projects and investments, 80% of which will go toward cleaner sources. [E&E News]
Photovoltaic panels (Gabriel, Unsplash)
¶ “Energy Department Invests $6 Billion Into Nuclear Energy Program, Including 4 Nuclear Locations In Virginia” • The DOE announced a $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program to support US nuclear reactors. According to the DOE, nuclear power now provides 52% of the nation’s carbon-free electricity. (The figure shows the DOE is not using its own latest data.) [WAVY.com]
¶ “IG: ‘Fraudulent’ Parts At US Nuclear Plants Pose Safety Risk” • A report by the NRC Inspector General says that “counterfeit, fraudulent, and suspect items” believed to be in US reactors “present nuclear safety and security concerns that could have serious consequences for nuclear power plant equipment required to perform a safety function.” [E&E News]
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