Opinion:
¶ “Want Energy Resilience? Invest Locally In Community Solar, Rooftop Solar, Heat Pumps, EVs” • Fortunately for those of us who don’t live in Babcock Ranch, the resiliency created there is possible across the country. Communities looking to build resilience in the face of worsening climate disasters will be able to prepare themselves. [CleanTechnica]
Solar settlement (Andrewglaser, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)
¶ “Microgrids As A Service” • Microgrids are more and more popular every year. They offer tremendous benefits in terms of energy security, resilience, and energy independence. Here is an interview with Michael Stadler, co-founder and CTO of Xendee, about microgrids and about Xendee’s “microgrid as a service” offering. [CleanTechnica]
Science and Technology:
¶ “Volvo EX90 Will Feature App-Based AC & DC Bi-Directional Charging” • Volvo gets it. Electric cars are batteries on wheels that can be used to fry bacon at your campsite, support the grid, power your home, charge a friend’s EV, or earn extra money for their owners by sharing electricity with neighbors across the street or in the next county. [CleanTechnica]
Volvo bi-directional charging graphic
¶ “Battery State Of Health – What Is It? Why Is It Important?” • Like most things, the batteries in EVs age with time and use. This is a normal process that is influenced by factors such as number of cycles, temperature, and depth of discharge. Knowing how much life is left in an EV battery is critical for anyone planning to buy it for whatever reason. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Satellite Power Grid Would Beam Energy Around The Globe Just Like Data” • New Zealand company Emrod says it’s got the technology to enable efficient wireless energy transfer from orbit. It’s proposing a global wireless energy matrix, which would instantly beam renewable energy via satellite between any two points on Earth. [New Atlas]
Launch (SpaceX image)
World:
¶ “BYD Delivering 120 Electric Semi Trucks In 2022” • A decade or so ago, I recall a lot of debates about who was approaching the EV revolution best, Tesla or BYD. Or who was leading the EV revolution, Tesla or BYD. Of course, some people were happy to say “both!” Now, as Tesla is going into manufacture of its Semis, BYD is making them also. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Renewables Met Rise in Electricity Demand During First Half of 2022” • All of the increased electricity demand during the first half of 2022 was met by renewable energy, data released from the energy think tank Ember has shown. “Wind and solar are proving themselves during the energy crisis,” a senior electricity analyst wrote. [EcoWatch]
Wind turbines (Pixabay, Pexels)
¶ “Ministers Hope To Ban Solar Projects From Most English Farms” • UK Ministers are planning to ban solar farms from most of England’s farmland, the Guardian can reveal. Environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena is understood to oppose solar panels on agricultural land, arguing that they would impede boosting food production. [The Guardian]
¶ “Wave Power Generators Could Help To “Firm” Solar And Wind, Says Report” • Wave machines dotted along Australia’s coastlines could hold the key to filling generation gaps in solar and wind-powered grids and reduce the need for battery storage, cutting the cost of renewable energy in the future, Australian research and trial operations show. [Renew Economy]
Wave Power Generator (Wave Power image)
¶ “Life Insurers Urged To Prepare For Climate Change” • Life insurers need to prepare for the impact of climate change, though its effects on the life sector are not as obvious as those facing property and general insurers. That was the message from George Stavliotis, a Sydney-based vice-president of Swiss Re, to attendees at a conference in Auckland. [Good Returns]
¶ “Line Hydrogen Partners With Blue Cap On Gigawatt-Scale Green Energy Solution” • Line Hydrogen announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Blue Cap Mining to develop a 100% renewable energy system to replace fossil fuel-based power generation at BCM’s Lord Byron mining operation in Western Australia. [pv magazine Australia]
Lord Byron gold mine site in WA (Line Hydrogen image)
¶ “Power Is Back At Europe’s Largest Nuclear Plant. IAEA Warns The Situation Can’t Last” • The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has restored some power, UN nuclear watchdog officials announced. The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the restoration of power “a temporary relief in a still untenable situation.” [WAMU]
US:
¶ “Biden Is Blamed For Downturn In New Oil Drilling, But Fossil Fuel Companies Are The Ones Hitting Pause” • With the OPEC+ decision to reduce oil production, Republican rhetoric went into familiar territory: President Joe Biden’s green policies have us pay more at the pump. But energy experts tell CNN that the oil companies are just not interested in drilling. [CNN]
Alaska (Zetong Li, Unsplash)
¶ “Pioneers In The US Clean Hydrogen Sector Launch Avina Clean Hydrogen Inc, A Dedicated Clean Hydrogen Production Platform” • Principals of Hydrogen Technology Ventures have launched Avina Clean Hydrogen Inc, a clean hydrogen platform with a portfolio of green ammonia and hydrogen plants. They are to be operating in 2024. [GlobeNewswire]
¶ “Small Fairbanks Company Wants To Build Alaska’s Biggest Wind Farms” • A Fairbanks man and his business partner in the Lower 48 are planning to build what could be Alaska’s biggest wind farms, one each outside Anchorage and Fairbanks. One site would have 60 turbines and a capacity of 200 MW. The other would be about a third of that size. [Anchorage Daily News]
Have an excitingly welcome day.
geoharvey 