Opinion:
¶ “A Deep Dive Into The Technical Side Of The 2023 IPCC Report” • This month, the final installment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) was issued. The Technical Summary of AR6 is a document that hasn’t received much media scrutiny. So let’s look at some of its key areas, especially those of interest to the cleantech audience. [CleanTechnica]
High water, low sales (Pixy.org, CC0)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Crucial Antarctic Ocean Circulation Heading For Collapse If Planet-Warming Pollution Remains High” • Melting ice in the Antarctic is not just raising sea levels but slowing down the deep ocean water circulation with vast implications, a study published in the journal Nature warns. The system collapse could happen before the end of this century. [CNN]
¶ “US Steel Announces New Steel That’s Ideal For EVs” • In a recent announcement, US Steel says it developed a new version of what is called electrical steel. It can be made much wider and thinner than other steels. It’s supposed to be lighter, stronger, and better for electrical environments, too. Also, it’s said to be more corrosion resistant. [CleanTechnica]
Making steel (US Steel image)
World:
¶ “EU Reaches Deal On More Ambitious Renewable Energy Targets For 2030” • EU negotiators struck a deal on more ambitious targets to expand the use of renewable energy by 2030, an important pillar of the bloc’s plans to fight climate change and end the use of Russian fossil fuels. The EU will get 42.5% of its energy from renewable sources. [RTE]
¶ “World’s Highest Court Can Set Out Countries’ Climate Obligations After Vanuatu Secures Historic UN Vote” • Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu won a historic vote at the UN that calls on the world’s highest court to establish for the first time the obligations countries have to address the climate crisis and the consequences if they don’t. [CNN]
Lodging in Vanuatu (Monika MG, Unsplash, cropped)
¶ “Heavy Duty Electric Trucks Now Being Offered In Some African Countries” • The good news is that there are now quite a number of heavy duty electric trucks on the market in Europe and elsewhere from the likes of Scania, Volvo, and BYD. There is more good news: They have already started to sell heavy electric trucks in some African states. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “33% Plugin Vehicle Market Share In China – February 2023 Sales Report” • Plugin vehicles are all the rage in the Chinese auto market. Even in one of the slowest months of the year, they scored almost half a million sales, up 56% year over year. And February showed another great performance, plugin vehicles hit 33% market share! [CleanTechnica]
BYD Song Plus EV (Evnerd, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)
¶ “UK Government Gambles On Carbon Capture And Storage Tech Despite Scientists’ Doubts” • The UK government will defy scientific doubts to place a massive bet on technology to capture and store CO₂ in undersea caverns, to enable an expansion of oil and gas in the North Sea. It believes that developing oil and gas is still necessary. [The Guardian]
¶ “Minister Galushchenko: Renewable Energy Is A Matter Of National Security” • Since October 10, 2022, Russia has launched numerous missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy objects. At times, Ukrainian nuclear power plants generated enough electricity, but they could not supply it to affected areas. Renewable energy is a matter of security, the energy minister said. [Ukrinform]
Solar panels (Jeneva Stiles, Pixy.org, CC0)
¶ “UN Nuclear Watchdog Says Fighting Near Ukraine Power Plant Is ‘Intensifying’” • Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has made a second visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine amid an escalation in the fighting around it. [The Guardian]
US:
¶ “Senate Passes Bill To Rescind EPA Waterway Rule In Rebuke Of Biden Administration Regulations” • The Senate passed a bill that would rescind a Biden administration policy regulating “waters of the United States.” The bill challenges an EPA rule that is argued to place a burden on farmers by being too restrictive in defining what is a navigable waterway. [CNN]
Mississippi River headwaters (Patrick Moes, USACE, public domain)
¶ “US Department Of Energy’s Strategy To Advance Offshore Wind Energy In The United States” • On March 29, 2023, the US DOE released a comprehensive summary of DOE’s role in the nationwide effort to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and setting the nation on a pathway to 110 GW or more of offshore windpower by 2050. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Biden Administration Moves Ahead With Massive Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Auction” • Just a few weeks after allowing the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska to go forward, the Interior Department is auctioning off over 73 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas drilling. Joe Manchin made the auction a condition of the Inflation Reduction Act. [CNN]
Offshore oil rig (Arvind Vallabh, Unsplash)
¶ “EV Acceleration Challenge” • As part of President Biden’s goal of having 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, the White House is issuing a call to action to all stakeholders in the private and public sectors to dedicate resources and make independent commitments in order to actively support this historic transition to EVs. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Bill Allowing Utilities To Charge Upfront Costs To Build Nuclear Plants Advances In Missouri House” • The repeal ban on utilities billing customers for the upfront costs of building nuclear power facilities, which had been approved by voters nearly fifty years ago, won initial approval from the Missouri House. [Moberly Monitor]
Have a singularly ideal day.
geoharvey 
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