Opinion:
¶ “Australians Voted For Stronger Action On Climate Change. Will They Get It?” • Australia’s new prime minister mentioned the words “climate change” four times within two minutes of his maiden international speech. But experts say it won’t be easy to turn around a coal-powered ship that has been chugging in the wrong direction for years. [CNN]
Outback (Meg Jerrard, Unsplash)
¶ “Limits On Renewables ‘Will Keep UK Energy Bills Higher This Winter’” • Consumers will face higher energy bills than necessary next winter because of a decision by the government to limit new renewable energy generation. It is called a “missed opportunity” by the renewables industry, and “outdated thinking” by a green campaign group. [The Guardian]
Science and Technology:
¶ “Elon Musk, Alphabet, And Joe Biden (USA) Are Just A Few Investing Billions Into Carbon Removal” • As the world shifts toward clean energy in its automobiles and its energy generation tactics, experts say there’s still a lot of work to do to ensure global temperatures don’t keep rising. One costly but effective solution is carbon removal technology. [CleanTechnica]
Climeworks direct air capture plant (Photo by Climeworks)
World:
¶ “Mining Giant Pleads Guilty To UK Bribery Charges” • A subsidiary of Glencore, the mining and commodities trading giant, has pleaded guilty in a London court to seven counts of bribery. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office said it had exposed “profit-driven bribery and corruption” by Glencore Energy UK’s oil operations in five African nations. [BBC]
¶ “Vancouver Requires Gas Stations And Parking Lots Without EV Chargers To Pay $10,000 Per Year” • Vancouver’s city council approved a $10,000 annual fee for gas stations and commercial parking lots that don’t install EV chargers by January 2025. To be compliant, Gas stations must have at least one DC fast charger, and parking lots will need to have four. [CleanTechnica]
Vancouver (Mike Benna, Unsplash)
¶ “Powering Australia Under New Leadership” • For ten years, Australian states and territories have had to go it alone in the transition to renewables. Now it looks like they will have federal support for powering Australia in a clean manner. Just in time, too, as the eastern grid struggles to add more renewables and coal-fired power stations retire early. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “India’s Hindustan Salts Tenders 1 GW Of Solar Capacity” • A government-owned company has floated a tender inviting developers to set up and operate a 1-GW solar power project in the western state of Gujarat. Hindustan Salts will provide 5,000 acres of land to the successful developers and charge them an annual rent. [CleanTechnica]
Rural Gujarat (sambit nayak, Unsplash)
¶ “ReNew Power Signs Deal For ₹50,000 Crore Renewables And Storage Project In Karnataka” • ReNew Power has signed an agreement with the Indian state of Karnataka to invest ₹50,000 crore ($6.5 billion) over seven years. Ministers are authorizing contracts for about 12 GW of new renewable capacity, to start construction this year. [pv magazine India]
¶ “Italy Introduces Domestic Renewable Energy To The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy Plan” • Italy formally backed a plan to allow farmers to sell renewable energy to European power grids, following talks between Italian Agricultural Minister Stefano Patuanelli and European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. [China.org]
PVs in the Po Valley (Rosapicci, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Europe’s Bold New Energy Plan Will Need Wartime-Like Planning To Meet Goals, Rystad Says” • Rystad Energy, Norway’s energy intelligence group, said analysis indicates the European Commission’s cost estimate may fall short of objectives, as the plan will require at least €1 trillion ($1.07 trillion) in investment to meet its renewables objective. [Offshore Energy]
US:
¶ “Blue Bird Will Manufacture Electric Medium Duty Trucks And Vans” • A school bus is basically a truck chassis with a passenger compartment bolted on. So it should come as no surprise that Blue Bird, which currently manufactures electric school buses, is preparing to start producing medium duty Class 5 and Class 6 electric trucks. [CleanTechnica]
Blue Bird chassis (Image courtesy of Blue Bird)
¶ “Doerr Donation Will Create A Much Needed Climate School At Stanford” • Stanford University has been given a $1.1 billion endowment to fund a sustainability and climate school. The gift, by John and Ann Doerr, is the largest ever to establish a new school at a university. The Doerr donation supports climate change research and scholarship. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Middletown Taps Into Renewable Energy Program” • Ampion Renewable Energy is a community solar company connecting Middletown residents to a clean-energy subscription service from a hyper-local solar farm. When they subscribe, they receive a credit on their utility bill for the power that’s been generated into the system. [Spectrum News]
Middletown, New York (Daniel Case, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “Tesla To Texas: Help Us Help You” • Tesla is pushing Texas for changes to its energy market rules so anyone with solar panels or battery storage could sell excess power back to the grid. The company wants residential owners to be able to participate in the market, including, of course, owners of the Tesla residential products, like its Powerwall. [Protocol]
¶ “Plans For Palisades Nuclear Plant Have Decommissioning Over 19 Years” • The Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan has shut down. Following the removal of used fuel from the reactor, the facility will be turned over to Holtec International, which will take over the facility to decontaminate and decommission, a task that could take nearly 20 years. [WWMT]
Have a politely ecstatic day.
geoharvey 