Opinion:
¶ “The 1977 Climate Memo That Could Have Changed The Course Of History” • The Guardian has revealed the existence of a climate memo written for president Jimmy Carter in 1977 by Frank Press, his chief science adviser. It bore the rather ominous title “Release of Fossil CO₂ and the Possibility of a Catastrophic Climate Change.” [CleanTechnica]
Jimmy Carter (National Archives & Records Administration)
Science and Technology:
¶ “New Additives To Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells Boost Efficiency, Stability” • Scientists at the US DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory demonstrated a perovskite cell that overcomes problems with stability and improves efficiency. The new cell, a tandem design with two layers of perovskites, measured a 25.5% efficiency. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Satellite Spots World’s ‘Largest’ Methane Leak In A Russian Coal Mine” • The Raspadskya Mine in Kemerovo region in remote part of southern Russia is spewing out huge amounts of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, in what is described as the “biggest” such leak ever detected from a single facility. The leak was found by a GHGSat satellite. [CNN]
Methane leak (GHGSat image)
¶ “Rich Nations Accused Of ‘Betrayal’ At Bonn Talks” • Climate talks in Bonn headed into their final day with rich nations accused of betraying the developing world. Poorer countries say that at COP26 they were promised that their key demand on loss and damage would be honored this year, but instead the issue has been side-lined by the US and EU. [BBC]
¶ “Germany Accuses Russian Gas Giant Of Pushing Energy Prices Up” • Germany accused Russian state-controlled Gazprom of trying to push up energy prices by sharply reducing supplies. Gazprom said it was limiting the amount of gas to Germany to do maintenance on the Nord Stream pipeline, but the German economy minister said it was a political act. [BBC]
Retired offshore oil rigs (Ben Wicks, Unsplash)
¶ “Bloomberg Thinks Volkswagen Could Sell More EVs Than Tesla By 2024” • Bloomberg Intelligence thinks that Volkswagen could sell more EVs than Tesla by 2024, but that even if this does happen, Tesla will still be a key leader in the industry. One thing that seems sure is that both companies will be key leaders with EVs for quite some time. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “ROI Open For Tasmania Renewable Energy Industry” • The Tasmanian Government released an energy plan, and a Register of Interest to facilitate new energy opportunities across the state is now open. The plan is to put downward pressure on energy prices, increase the supply of reliable and affordable power, and bolster Tasmania’s economy. [Energy Magazine]
Tasmanian farm (Patrick McGregor, Unsplash)
¶ “Mekong Delta Eyes Rapid Development Of Renewable Energy” • The Mekong Delta will need to optimize its natural conditions to develop renewable energy and attract investment in the sector to mitigate the impacts of climate change, experts have said. The region has a lot of potential for renewables like wind, solar and biomass. [EIN News]
¶ “Wind Industry Urges ‘Greater Policy Ambition’” • The Global Wind Energy Coalition for COP27 has called for greater policy ambition and volumes made available to scale up to 390 GW of annual wind energy installations by 2030. On Global Wind Day the coalition is calling for the scale-up in line with a net zero trajectory. [reNews]
Work on a wind turbine (Global Wind Energy Coalition)
¶ “Renewable Power Inks 561-MW Swedish Wind Connection” • Renewable Power Capital signed a grid connection deal with Eon paving the way for up to 561 MW of new wind capacity in the Solleftea and Kramfors municipalities in Sweden. The parties agreed on the costs and the schedule for the grid connection of four wind power projects. [reNews]
¶ “US Awaits ‘Constructive’ Response From Tehran On Nuclear Deal” • The US said it awaits a constructive response from Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal without “extraneous” issues, a possible reference to Iran’s demand its Revolutionary Guards be dropped from a US terrorism list. The 2015 deal was abandoned by Donald Trump. [The Algemeiner]
Tehran (Sajad Nori, Unsplash)
US:
¶ “Federal Watchdog Found Oil And Gas Company Likely Defrauded Government” • A federal watchdog found that the Interior Department’s safety and enforcement branch was for years unaware that an oil and gas company regularly vented and flared a potent planet-warming gas at levels exceeding Interior Department requirements. [CNN]
¶ “Scientists Saw Yellowstone’s ‘Unprecedented’ Flooding Coming” • Scientists predicted more frequent events like this week’s flash flooding in the Yellowstone area. Just last year, one report on the future of Yellowstone concluded the climate crisis would lead to more rainfall and rapid snowmelt due to extreme spring and summer warmth. [CNN]
Road destroyed by erosion (National Park Service image)
¶ “Environmental Groups Sue Biden Administration To Block 3,500 Oil And Gas Drilling Permits” • Three environmental law groups sued the Biden administration in an attempt to block over 3,500 permit applications from energy companies to drill for oil and gas on public lands. They say issuing the permits would violate several federal laws. [CNN]
¶ “Engineers Develop Cybersecurity Tools To Protect Solar, Wind Power On The Grid” • Solar panels and wind turbines, now projected to produce 44% of America’s electricity by 2050, present cybersecurity challenges. They have sensors, controllers, actuators or inverters that are directly or indirectly connected to the internet. [Iowa State University]
Have a particularly jolly day.
geoharvey 