Opinion:
¶ “2035 End Date For Polluting Freight Trucks Needed To Put Trucking On Path To Zero Carbon” • Polluting trucks will undo all the emissions savings from electrifying cars in the 2020s unless the EU changes its sales trajectory. Trucks and buses make up just 2% of vehicles, but they produce 28% of road transport CO₂ emissions in Europe. [CleanTechnica]
Truck (Craige McGonigle, Unsplash)
¶ “Nuclear Power Still Doesn’t Make Much Sense” • The case for significantly ramping up the production of nuclear power falls short. That’s because the nuclear industry has long been hobbled by two problems that its boosters can’t really wish away: Nuclear is far slower to build than most other forms of power, and it’s far more expensive, too. [ Moneycontrol]
Science and Technology:
¶ “An Architect Asked AI To Design Skyscrapers Of The Future. This Is What It Proposed” • An architect and computational designer based in New Delhi, Manas Bhatia, has a bold vision of the future – one where residential skyscrapers covered in trees, plants and algae act as “air purification towers.” His ideas were rendered into images by AI. [CNN]
Skyscrapers designed by AI (Courtesy Manas Bhatia)
¶ “Drought In China, Europe, And The US: Is 2022 The Driest Year Recorded?” • Europe and parts of China have experienced extreme temperatures this summer, dry conditions in Africa have put millions at risk of starvation, and the American West continues to see a persistent lack of rainfall. The droughts have broken records, but they may become normal. [BBC]
¶ “How Vanadium Flow Batteries Expand Applications” • There are many reasons why microgrids with battery backup have such great popularity now. Vanadium flow batteries, have commercial advantages over other energy storage systems because of their inherent efficiencies and life cycles, which do not exist with with energy storage technologies. [CleanTechnica]
Work on a small flow battery (StorEn Technologies, detail)
¶ “Heat Storage Systems Can Cut CO₂ Emissions By 15% In 15 Years, Really. Meet The ‘Brick Toaster.’” • Rondo Energy claims that its brick-toasting heat storage device, is so cheap and efficient that it makes decarbonization a complete no-brainer across the industrial sector. They must be doing something right because Bill Gates agrees. [Interesting Engineering]
World:
¶ “The First Batch Of BYD ATTO 3s Are Already In Israel And Ready For Delivery!” • The BYD Atto 3 has been put on sale in Israel. In fact, the first batch of BYD ATTO 3s has already arrived and is ready for delivery! The Atto 3 sits in a category that one reader said is more popular there and it should do well. BYD has partnered with Shlomo Motors. [CleanTechnica]
BYD Atto 3 (Image courtesy of BYD)
¶ “$71,315 – Lithium Prices Reach All-Time High” • The China Passenger Car Association raised its forecast for new EV sales in China s to a record 6 million units this year. Demand has pushed the price of lithium to blow past high after record high, having smashed through the C¥500,000 “barrier,” according to data from Asian Metal Inc. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “BMW To Recycle Fishing Nets In New Electric Cars” • In what BMW is calling “a first for the automotive industry,” its Neue Klasse EVs, set to launch in 2025, will feature plastic parts made from 30% recycled fishing nets and ropes, resulting in trim pieces with a 25% smaller carbon footprint than plastic parts made more conventionally. [CleanTechnica]
Fish net recycling (BMW image)
¶ “European Parliament Votes To Raise Targets For Renewables, Energy Savings” • The European Parliament voted to raise the share of renewables in the EU’s final energy consumption to 45% from 40%, under the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive. The European Commission proposed the same target under its REPowerEU package. [Balkan Green Energy News]
¶ “Growing WA Coal Crisis Sparks Warnings Of Possible Power Crunch As Summer Looms” • There are fears that a growing crisis in Western Australia’s coal heartlands could imperil the state’s biggest electricity grid less than a year after the lights flickered out during an intense heatwave. Griffin Coal, one of WA’s two coal mines, is in receivership. [ABC]
Perth, WA (Jamar Cromwell, Unsplash, cropped)
US:
¶ “Illinois Dakota Access Pipeline Expansion Gets Approved In Misguided Decision” • The Illinois Commerce Commission approved the Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline expansion in its state. A previous approval had been vacated because the benefit to Illinois citizens was unclear and operator has a troubling record. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Ford Drops A Bomb On Dealers: Either You’re In Or You’re OUT!” • In Las Vegas, Ford CEO Jim Farley delivered a message at the annual convention of Ford dealers: “When it comes to selling battery electric Ford products that are part of the new Model E division, you’re either on the bus or off the bus and you have just six weeks to decide.” [CleanTechnica]
Mustang Mach-E (Image courtesy of Ford)
¶ “NRG Files Petition To Sell Land Under Astoria, Queens Peaker Plant To Beacon Wind” • NRG-owned Astoria Gas Turbine Power and Beacon Wind filed a joint petition with the New York State PUC for approval of a sale of the land under the existing gas-powered peaker plant to Beacon Wind for power interconnection to their 1,230-MW wind project. [Earthjustice]
¶ “Minnesota PUC Approves Xcel Energy’s 460-MW Solar Project To Replace Sherco Coal-Fired Plant” • The Minnesota PUC approved Xcel Energy’s plan to build and own 460 MW of solar PVs next to its Sherco power plant. The coal-fired Sherco plant has a capacity of roughly 1,780-MW, and it is to be retired in phases this decade. [Utility Dive]
Have a delightfully bountiful day.
geoharvey 
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