Science and Technology:
¶ “Flying Boats And Other Tech For Cleaner Shipping” • The Pioneer is an electric foiling workboat developed by Artemis Technologies. The foil, a wing-like structure beneath the boat, lifts the hull out of the water, reducing drag. Combine that with an electric motor, Artemis says, and you have a vessel with 90% reduced fuel costs and no emissions. [BBC]
Artemis Technologies electric boat (Artemis Technologies image)
World:
¶ “Germany And Norway Will Build A Big Hydrogen Pipeline” • German power producer RWE and Norwegian energy firm Equinor announced plans to build hydrogen-fueled power plants in Germany over the next few years, as well as a major pipeline between the two countries to feed them. They will use methane to make hydrogen and perform carbon capture. [CNN]
¶ “Up To Half Of The World’s Glaciers Could Disappear Even If Ambitious Climate Targets Are Hit” • Glaciers will lose far more ice, causing more sea level rise than current scientific estimates project, a study shows. Researchers found that up to half of all glaciers could be lost by the end of the century, even given the world’s ambitious global climate actions. [CNN]
Perito Moreno Glacier (Birger Strahl, Unsplash)
¶ “Sierra Madre: Fighting To Save What’s Left Of A Rainforest” • The Sierra Madre is the backbone of Luzon, the island in the Philippines. Stretching for more than 500 km (310 miles), her peaks are thought to shield the 64 million people from the worst of strong typhoons. But 90% of the original rainforest is gone, so lanslides and flash floods are common. [BBC]
¶ “New Zealand Achieves 30% Plugin Vehicle Penetration” • Back in August, CleanTechnica broke the news that New Zealand had reached a point that 12% vehicle sales were plugins. Now, New Zealand has bumped that up to 30%! Part of that difference centered around one-off factors, but a big part was that Tesla models are finally available. [CleanTechnica]
New Zealand landscape (Tobias Keller, Unsplash)
¶ “Aussie Miners Consider The Renewable Option” • Aussie miners may be the most efficient and well governed companies in the world. It is only natural that they consider using renewable energy and head toward net-zero emissions. Mines use massive amounts of power 24/7, so hybrid options including wind, solar, hydro, and batteries are the best option. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “France’s EVs Take Record Quarter Share Of Market” • For December French plugin EVs grew to take 25.0% share of the auto market, up fractionally from 24.4% a year ago. Overall auto volumes for the month were flat year on year, but full year 2022 volumes were down almost 8% on 2021. The Dacia Spring was December’s bestselling BEV. [CleanTechnica]
Dacia Spring (© M 93, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Germany)
¶ “Germany Generated A Historical Amount Of Electricity From Wind Energy This Week” • On January 4, Germany set a wind energy record. European Energy Exchange data showed wind farms nationwide had produced more than 50,000 MW of power, resulting in the highest production of electricity ever from wind turbines. [Green Matters]
¶ “Global Renewable Power Capacity To Double In Five Years: IEA Report” • The global capacity of renewable power generation is expected to almost double over the next five years as countries step up efforts to deal with the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a report by the International Energy Agency has shown. [毎日新聞, The Mainichi]
Rooftop solar system in a village (Pixabay, Pexels)
¶ “UK’s 2022 Was Hottest Year On Record, Says Forecaster” • The UK experienced its hottest year on record in 2022, the national weather service said. Human-induced climate change made what would normally be a once-in-500-year event likely to happen every three or four years. Since 1884, all the ten warmest years have occurred after 2003. [Devdiscourse]
¶ “Wind Power Hits Record As Turbines Deliver Over A Quarter Of UK Electricity In 2022” • Data from National Grid show wind was the second largest source of electricity over 2022, supplying 26.8%. It represents a gain of five percentage points compared to 2021. Wind now accounts for a greater proportion of the UK’s electricity mix than nuclear. [The Telegraph]
Wind turbines (Sam Forson, Pexels)
US:
¶ “Evacuations Ordered In California As Deadly Storm Slams Into Coast” • Heavy rain and powerful winds are pounding the northern California coast and forecasters have warned people to expect more flooding and mudslides. California has been under a state of emergency since Wednesday. Over 160,000 home and businesses have lost power. [BBC]
¶ “The Hardest Part of Electric School Buses, Made Easier” • The EPA’s Clean School Bus Program is investing $5 billion over five years in clean school buses, and almost all of them electric so far. It’s easy to focus just on the electric school buses themselves. They’re big, photogenic, quiet, and emit no bad smells. But they do need chargers. [CleanTechnica]
Lion electric school bus (Lion image)
¶ “Solar Projects Help Meet California’s Green Energy Goals, But There’s More To The Story” • To the east of Palm Springs, on an expanse of desert called Victory Pass, construction workers drive row after row of big metal posts into the desert floor. They will hold enough solar panels to power more than 130,000 homes. But at what cost to the fragile desert? [KCRW]
¶ “Rhode Island Aims To Be First To Use Inflation Reduction Act To Deploy Solar For Low-Income Homeowners” • Rhode Island is seeking a company to partner with two state agencies to deploy solar on low-to-moderate income, or LMI, single-family homes using environmental justice tax credits that are in the Inflation Reduction Act. [Utility Dive]
Have a thoroughly exuberant day.
geoharvey 
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