Opinion:
¶ “Biden Administration’s 5-Year Offshore Oil & Gas Plan Is ‘Lose-Lose'” • The US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed 11 potential offshore leases for oil and gas companies in waters in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly Alaska for the period from 2023 through 2028. There is a period of 90 days for comment. [CleanTechnica]
Offshore oil platform (tom jervis, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Why Is Sunny Singapore Not Covered With Rooftop Solar Panels?” • Rising fuel prices and other costs of living have delivered a stark reminder of how reliant we are on oil and gas, making the transition to renewable energy even more urgent. However, Singapore authorities are quite confident that they can achieve the transition. [CNA]
Science and Technology:
¶ “How Heatwaves Are Creating A Pollen Crisis” • Even with adequate water, heat can damage pollen and prevent fertilisation in many crops, including canola, corn, peanuts, and rice. For this reason, many farmers aim for crops to bloom before the heat of summer. But the crops are being exposed to higher temperatures earlier, in a changing climate. [BBC]
Bee on a sunflower (Christoph Polatzky, Unsplash)
¶ “Hydrogen Reality Check: We Need Hydrogen – But Not For Everything” • In theory, hydrogen can be used to decarbonize almost every sector. But the fact that it can be used, doesn’t mean it should. There are other tools in the decarbonization toolbox. Hydrogen should be used where direct electrification and energy efficiency are not possible. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Solar Scientists Explore How To Make PVs Even Greener” • How do we reduce the carbon impact of a green technology? It is a question NREL researchers Hope Wikoff, Samantha Reese, and Matthew Reese tackle in their paper in Joule, “Embodied Energy and Carbon from the Manufacture of Cadmium Telluride and Silicon Photovoltaics.” [CleanTechnica]
PV array (Werner Slocum, NREL)
World:
¶ “Sri Lanka Energy Minister Warns Petrol Stocks About To Run Dry” • Sri Lanka’s energy minister has issued a stark warning over the country’s fuel stocks. On Sunday, Kanchana Wijesekera said the nation only had enough petrol left for less than a day under regular demand. He also said its next petrol shipment was not due for more than two weeks. [BBC]
¶ “Geely RADAR Revealed – Will A Volvo Pickup Follow?” • If Geely is going to be as big as it wants to be, Volvo is going to need a pickup truck. The bad news for them is that getting an electric pickup to production seems to be harder than anyone thought. The good news? It seems like they’ve already done it. Meet the (mostly) all-new Geely Radar. [CleanTechnica]
Geely Radar (Courtesy of Geely, via Reddit)
¶ “Church Stands Against Nuclear Power In The Philippines” • Reacting to news that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr plans to reopen the Bataan nuclear plant, Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga spoke out against reviving the plant, stressing the danger it represents. The Philippine bishops’ conference stands against nuclear power also. [UCA News]
¶ “JSW Steel Is To Invest ₹10,000 Crore To Increase Use Of Renewable Energy, Reduce Emissions” • To reduce its carbon footprint, the Indian company JSW Steel has earmarked the sum of ₹10,000 Crore ($1.266 billion) to increase the use of renewable energy to replace thermal power and other green initiatives, its Chairman Sajjan Jindal said. [TechStory]
Making steel (yasin hm, Unsplash)
¶ “Energoatom Re-Establishes Link To Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant” • Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power operator, has re-established a remote connection to safeguards surveillance systems at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. This is the second time the connection has been re-established in the last month. [Power Technology]
¶ “Ukraine War Fears As UK’s Nuclear Plants Vulnerable To Attack” • The war in Ukraine has put civilian nuclear plants on the frontline of a military conflict for the first time in history. Dr Paul Dorfman said that the conflict in Ukraine has shown that the UK’s own civilian nuclear infrastructure is at risk of attack and likely cannot be defended. [Daily Express]
Dungeness Power Station (Tony Hisgett, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Poor Households Face Having To Help Foot Bill For Building Sizewell C” • The UK government has been criticized for a plan that would make low-income households bear the cost of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant while factories are let “off the hook.” These are possible effects of a regulated asset base funding model that could finance the project. [The Guardian]
US:
¶ “Tesla Sets Vehicle Production Record In June” • The trend of Tesla’s quarter-over-quarter growth finally got broken and year-over-year growth was minimal due to supply chain and factory uptime challenges. However, Tesla reports, “June 2022 was the highest vehicle production month in Tesla’s history.” That bodes well for the third quarter. [CleanTechnica]
Gigafactory Texas (Tesla image)
¶ “Tesla Attempts To Add Value In Fragile Economic Times” • One of the industry pundits writing for Reuters was correct about Tesla not setting yet another delivery record for the quarter, but the company did set a new monthly production record in June. Let’s look at Tesla’s work behind the scenes to continue its EV marketplace dominance. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Feds give PG&E More Time To Apply For Funds To Keep Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Open” • PG&E has more time to consider applying for federal funding to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operating. The US DOE granted the utility company’s request to extend the deadline for a $6 billion funding initiative. [San Luis Obispo Tribune]
Have a notably enjoyable day.
geoharvey 