geoharvey

Opinion:

¶ “Hay! Alfalfa Is The Biggest Issue For Western Water” • All the reductions of water use cities can do will not be nearly enough to restore the Colorado River. But alfalfa farmers in one California irrigation district use far more water than the allotment for the state of Nevada. Alfalfa farms use almost enough water to cover the river’s shortfall. [CleanTechnica]

Growing alfalfa (USDA-NRCS image)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Hurricane Ian’s Rapid Intensification Is Part Of A Trend For The Most Dangerous Storms” • Ian’s wind speed increased by 35 mph in less than three hours. Scientists say rapid intensification of hurricanes is getting more likely as the climate crisis pushes ocean temperatures higher, enabling them to grow at breakneck pace into deadly major hurricanes. [CNN]

World:

¶ “Big Oil’s Toxic Emissions From Flaring Undeclared” • Major oil companies are failing to declare significant greenhouse gas emissions from flaring gas at oil fields, a BBC News investigation revealed. Millions of tonnes of undeclared emissions come from gas flaring at oil fields that are operated by BP, Eni, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell. [BBC]

Gas Flare (Andreas Rümpel, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

¶ “West Shores Up Nord Stream Pipeline Security, Blaming Leak On Sabotage” • European countries say they will boost security around oil and gas installations after the suspected sabotage of two major pipelines. The EU, US, and Nato suggested damage to the pipelines between Russia and Germany was deliberate, but have not blamed Russia directly. [BBC]

¶ “Australia’s Most-Polluting Coal Plant To Shut Decade Earlier Than Planned” • Australia’s dirtiest power plant will shut down a decade earlier than planned. The coal-fired Loy Yang A power station in Victoria will close in 2035, owner AGL Energy said. It emitted 16.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gas in 2019-20, more than 3% of the country’s emissions. [BBC]

Loy Yang plant (Marcus Wong Wongm, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)

¶ “Manchester Orders 50 Electric Buses, But It Would Be More Fair To Call Them 100 Electric Buses” • NFI announced that Transport for Greater Manchester had ordered 50 zero-emission double-decker buses from Alexander Dennis. These buses will be used in the first phase of the franchised Bee Network bus system, set to launch in September 2023. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Vattenfall Swoops On 1 GW Of German Offshore Wind” • Vattenfall has decided to exercise its right to develop a 980-MW offshore wind project awarded to RWE Renewables in the German North Sea. Following a final investment decision by Vattenfall, the wind farm could be connected to the German electric grid in 2027. [reNews]

Offshore wind turbines (Vattenfall image)

¶ “GE Renewable Energy Secures 218.7-MW Indian Order” • GE Renewable Energy has secured orders from Continuum Green Energy Limited to supply, install, and commission 81 turbines for windpower projects in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. The order is for 2.7-132 onshore wind turbines for the projects with a total capacity of 218.7MW. [reNews]

¶ “Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant Hit By 26th Postponement” • The completion date for a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan, a key component in the cycle policy, was pushed back for the 26th time. The construction cost of the reprocessing plant was initially estimated at ¥760 billion ($5.25 billion). It has grown to ¥3.1 trillion ($21.4 billion). [Asahi Shimbun]

Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (Nife, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

US:

¶ “Hurricane Ian Continues To Batter Florida As A Category 1 Storm While Officials Warn The Worst Is Yet To Come” • Ian made landfall as a Category 4 near Cayo Costa around 3:05 pm, with winds near 150 mph. It continued to batter Florida with high winds, heavy rain, and historic storm surge Wednesday night, even as it weakened to a Category 1. [CNN]

¶ “More Green Ammonia For The US, And More Electrofuels For Texas” • The Danish firm Topsoe announced that it is part of a scheme to drop a gigantic new electrofuel plant featuring green hydrogen in the state of Texas. The same company is also involved in a new green ammonia plan that could find a footing in Texas, too. [CleanTechnica]

Green ammonia and electrofuels (HIF Global, screenshot)

¶ “Electric School Buses Used To Support Maryland Energy Grid” • A widespread adoption of EVs with V2G technology can help balance the nation’s energy grids. The Montgomery County Public School district in Maryland put the idea into practice by using its electric school bus fleet to provide power reserves to support the PJM electric grid. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “ESS Flow Battery To Supply 200-MW, 2-GWh Of Storage To California Utility” • ESS is an Oregon-based company that makes flow batteries using abundant and inexpensive materials: iron, salt, and water. ESS is to supply the Sacramento Municipal Utility District with a flow batteries with a total capacity of 200-MW, 2-GWh beginning next year. [CleanTechnica]

ESS all-iron flow battery (ESS image)

¶ “Victory! Colorado Cancels Highway Expansion, Funds Transit Instead” • A plan to expand Interstate 25 through central Denver has officially been scrapped, and $100 million has instead been reallocated to Bus Rapid Transit and investments in projects that are friendly to walking and biking to support healthier, more vibrant communities. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Tiny Oregon Town Hosts First Wind-Solar-Battery “Hybrid” Plant” • A renewable energy plant that was commissioned in in the tiny Oregon town of Lexingtonn combines solar power and wind power with massive batteries to store the energy that is generated there. It is the first utility-scale plant of its kind in North America. [NowThis News]

Have a sufficiently perfect day.

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