Science and Technology:
¶ “Pivotal Battery Discovery Could Impact Transportation And The Grid: Overcoming Performance Decline” • One of the more promising candidates for new battery technology is sodium-ion. It is attractive in part because of sodium is so cheap, but battery performance declines rapidly. Researchers have found a cause of that problem, and a possible solution. [CleanTechnica]
Lithium ion batteries (Image from Argonne Laboratory)
¶ “Duration Of Utility-Scale Batteries Depends On How They’re Used” • The US Energy Information Administration’s Annual Electric Generator Report contains information on how energy storage is used by utilities. Utility-scale battery storage will primarily be used in two ways: serving grid applications and allowing electricity load shifting. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Moving Our Farms to Better Areas Could Help the Climate – But Should We Do It?” • Moving cropland to ‘better’ locations and allowing the old fields to move back to a natural state could decrease the carbon footprint of agriculture, a study shows. But it doesn’t account for different intensities of agriculture or social and cultural consequences. [The Wire Science]
Work in a field (aboodi vesakaran, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Nigeria – Where President Buhari Had To Say Sorry For A Power Cut” • A national scarcity of fuel coincided with the collapse of the national power grid that plunged parts of major cities across Nigeria, including Lagos and Abuja, into darkness for days on end. Even wealthy people with their own generators were in the dark. [BBC]
¶ “Video: Inside Look At Tesla’s Giga Berlin” • YouTuber StuffmasterBen has shared a four-minute video from inside Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin. Set against the backdrop of some energizing music, a drone provides a bird’s eye view of the factory from above and then flies inside, showing the factory’s machines making machines. [CleanTechnica]
Inside look at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin (Screenshot)
¶ “CSIRO Releases Electricity Roadmap To Guide Australia’s Transition To Renewables” • When it comes to Australia’s renewable energy transition, the cost of renewable energy is no longer the challenge. The new challenge, the CSIRO says, is how to best integrate renewables into our existing electricity grid. The CCSIRO has a roadmap for that. [Energy Matters]
¶ “Plugin And Electric Car Market Reaches 8.4% In Italy – Dacia Spring #1” • The race of Italy’s electric car market shows signs of fatigue, as 2022 started off with mixed results. While other EU countries still saw exponential rises in January consistent with the exuberance of year-end, the same was not completely true in the continent’s fourth largest car market. [CleanTechnica]
Dacia Spring
¶ “PM Instructs To Remove Barriers To Renewable Energy Use” • Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed Anusha Pelpita, Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Policies and Plan Implementation, to take immediate action to remove obstacles to the use of renewable energy as a solution to the power crisis. [ColomboPage]
¶ “Mersey Tidal Project Could Be The Renewable Energy Answer The North Needs” • The Russian invasion in Ukraine is causing rising energy bills in the UK. A project in the River Mersey in Liverpool could be the energy source we need to become more self-reliant, reports the Liverpool Echo. Tidal power is more secure and a sustainable source of energy. [Cheshire Live]
River Mersey (Mitchell Orr, Unsplash)
¶ “India To Build Fleet Of 10 Nuclear Plants, Work On First Station To Begin In 2023” • India plans to build ten nuclear reactors in ‘fleet mode’ over the next three years, starting with a 700 MW nuclear plant in Karnataka slated in 2023. Building ten nuclear power reactors at once is expected to save costs and reduce construction time. [Republic World]
¶ “Russia Reported Firing At Kharkiv Nuclear Research Facility” • Russian forces are firing at a nuclear research facility in the city of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian parliament said in a Twitter post on Saturday. “It is currently impossible to estimate the extent of damage due to hostilities that do not stop in the area of the nuclear installation.” [The Jerusalem Post]
Demonstration in Poland (Eugene Tkachenko, Unsplash)
US:
¶ “Shocking Poll: Tesla Owners Want Tesla To Have A Presence In Connecticut” • The Hartford Business Journal held a poll asking whether or not Tesla and other car companies should be allowed to sell directly to consumers in Connecticut. The majority of votes said “No.” Most votes said that if you want to buy a Tesla, you should to do it in some other state. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Climate Change Is Turning California’s Wildfire Season Into Wildfire Year” • There is no wildfire season any more. Like pay phones, typewriters, and VCRs, a wildfire “season” is a thing of the past. We are seeing serious wildfires in the West throughout the year. Earlier spring and drier weather mean that vegetation has more time to dry out. [CleanTechnica]
Fighting a fire (Joe Bradshaw, Bureau of Land Management)
¶ “White City Wood-Fire Power Plant To Repurpose Wood, Trees Burned In Past Wildfires” • Oregon’s White City power plant is using wood scorched in wildfires to make renewable energy and biochar, a form of carbon used as a soil supplement. The plant supplies 20,000 homes with energy and produces 50,000 cubic yards of biochar annually. [KTVL]
¶ “Offshore Wind Development Blows Closer To Reality In California” • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is tasked with regulating off-shore energy development, is planning its first lease auction for California’s first offshore wind farms for the fall of 2022. This starts a new drive for offshore renewable energy for the state. [National Law Review]
Have a singularly uplifting day.
geoharvey 
Leave a Reply