geoharvey

Opinion:

¶ “A Conservative Recalibration on Climate Is Inevitable” • Given the Democratic Party’s stronger-than-expected performance in the recent midterm elections, and given climate as an apparent factor in a stronger-than-expected youth vote, we may see more Republican politicians rethinking their positions on climate change. [Treehugger]

Climate protest sign (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Vanadium Flow Batteries Could Leapfrog Over Pumped Hydro For Long Duration Energy Storage” • Russia’s murderous war in Ukraine makes the importance of energy storage more clear. A German firm, CellCube, has a Strategic Manufacturing Cooperation Agreement with the Australian firm North Harbour Clean Energy for flow batteries. CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “BYD To Build 20-GWh Battery Factory In Wenzhou, China” • Yesterday, a CleanTechnica article looked into whether BYD might start making sodium-ion batteries. BYD denied it. But today, BYD announced it will build a new battery factory in Wenzhou, China, that will produce 20 GWh of batteries per year by the time it is finished in 2024. [CleanTechnica]

Wenzhou-kean University (Roderick Hou, Unsplash, cropped)

¶ “East Africa Breweries PLC To Increase The Use Of Solar PV At Its Production Facilities” • East Africa Breweries PLC contributes about 1% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product and engages over 60,000 farmers across its supply chain. It is switching to biomass to help reduce its carbon emissions by 95%, saving 34,000 tonnes of emissions per year. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Europe’s Biggest Battery Storage System Goes Online Four Months Early” • Renewable power company Harmony Energy Limited has completed work on Europe’s biggest battery four months early because energy demands are expected to rise due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The system can store up to 196 MWh of electricity. [TechSpot]

Europe’s biggest battery (Harmony Energy image)

¶ “World’s Largest Isolated System Achieves A New Record For Renewable Energy” • In Western Australia, the instantaneous renewable energy share reached a new peak of 81% on November 12, at about 12:30 PM. This is considered outstanding for the world’s largest isolated system. The previous record of 79% was set in September 2021. [Energy Matters]

Ukraine:

¶ “Ukraine War: Six Million Without Power As Winter Bites” • Ukraine’s president says six million Ukrainian households are still without power, after massive missile strikes hit the country this week. The number of affected households has reduced by half since Wednesday, but millions have been left without light, water or heat as winter sets in. [BBC]

Power line repair (Антон Дмитриев, Unsplash)

¶ “Ukraine’s Battle To Restore Power Slowed By Sub-Zero (C) Weather Conditions” • The race to restore power to homes in Ukraine is being slowed by “strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures,” the state energy supply company said in a statement. It is the second day since a brutal Russian assault on Ukrain’s power infrastructure. [CNN]

¶ “Ukraine Restores Power To Millions As Nuclear Plants Come Back Online Following Russian Missile Strikes” • Ukrainian authorities yesterday gradually restored power to millions of people left in the dark after the most devastating Russian air strikes so far. They reconnected four nuclear plants. Millions of people still have no power. [Independent.ie]

Rivne nuclear plant (Дьяков Владимир Леонидович, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

US:

¶ “Vantem Offers Energy Efficient Factory-Made Modular Dwellings” • Vantem manufactures energy efficient modular dwelling units. Now, thanks to a Series A investment round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Quadrant Management, and TEM Capital, the company plans to build 15 factories in the US over the next seven years. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Sunrun Is Adding Ford F-150 Lightnings To Its Fleet” • Sunrun has entered into an exciting partnership with Ford, teaming up to make vehicle-to-home technology available to people who buy F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks. Sunrun also offers electric vehicle chargers and has a goal of having half of its fleet electric or hybrid by the end of 2025. [CleanTechnica]

Sunrun F-150 Lightnings (Sunrun image)

¶ “General Motors Vows To Avoid ‘Opportunistic’ EV Prices” • At the General Motors Investors Day event earlier this month, GM president Mark Reuss told those in attendance that the company wants to avoid “opportunistic” pricing of its upcoming electric vehicles, several of which are scheduled to appear in showrooms next year. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “What Higher Natural Gas Prices Mean For CT’s Clean Energy Push” • United Illuminating and Eversource, Connecticut’s two largest power utilities, announced last week that electric bills for most customers would increase between $79 and $85 a month as a result of the global natural gas shortage precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [CT Insider]

Have a totally ducky day.

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