Science and Technology:
¶ “Catastrophic Drought That’s Pushed Millions Into Crisis Made 100 Times More Likely By Climate Change, Analysis Finds” • The unrelenting drought that has devastated the Horn of Africa and left more than 20 million people facing acute food insecurity would not have been possible without climate change, a new analysis has found. [CNN]
Dry stream (Matt Palmer, Unsplash)
¶ “Solar Power And Farming: A Win–Win–Win–Win” • What about the combination of solar PV power and farming? Aren’t the crops and the solar panels going to compete for sunshine? Well, as you can see from the title, the answers indicate that solar power and agriculture are indeed a match made in heaven. Here are some of the details. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Chalk Up Another Win For Invisible Solar Windows” • The dream of a truly see-through, colorless solar window is becoming real. That is bad news for fossil energy stakeholders, but great for the global energy transition. The technology replaces ordinary window glass with specially coated look-alikes that generate zero emission electricity. [CleanTechnica]
Solar windows (Courtesy of NEXT Energy Technologies)
World:
¶ “Almost Two-Thirds Of Elephant Habitat Lost Across Asia, Study Finds” • Elephants have lost almost two-thirds of their habitat in Asia, due to hundreds of years of deforestation and increasing human use of land for agriculture and infrastructure, a study has found. The study examined the period since 1700. It appeared in the journal Scientific Reports. [CNN]
¶ “Canada Pays $85 Billion Higher Social Carbon Price Than Oil & Gas Revenues” • The Canadian government updated its social cost of carbon, the estimated cost of the damages caused by emitting a ton of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Canada officially puts it at C$261 ($191). This means the damage of burning oil and gas exceeds the value of the fuel. [CleanTechnica]
Pump jack in Alberta (Nathan Schneider, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “India Launches A 9 Gigawatt-Hour Energy Storage Tender” • A subsidiary of India’s largest power company has announced the launch of a massive energy storage tender. NTPC Renewable Energy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Limited, which is government-owned, is to launch a tender for 9 GWh of energy storage capacity. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Viability Of UK Renewables ‘In Danger’ Unless Government Acts” • The UK risks failure in its mission to decarbonize its power sector by 2035 unless government takes action to support the delivery of renewables, a parliamentary report warns. “The US Inflation Reduction Act and international responses to it are leading to a significant market shift.” [reNews]
Parliament (Tom Chen, Unsplash)
¶ “China’s First Desert-Based Green Power Plant On Grid” • A renewable energy power project, one of the many being set up in the Gobi Desert and other arid regions, became the first to be connected to the electricity grid and started generating power on Tuesday, according to its operator China Energy Investment Corp. [China Daily – Global Edition]
¶ “Fugro Bags Oz Star Of The South Contracts” • Geo-data specialist Fugro won a contract to perform offshore geophysical and geotechnical site investigations for Australia’s offshore wind project Star of the South, off the coast of southeastern Australia. Star of the South is in the feasibility phase and has the potential to have up to 2.2 GW of capacity. [reNews]
Fugro ship (Fugro image)
¶ “Drop In Wholesale Power Prices As Renewable Energy Generation From Wind And Solar Grows, AEMO Finds” • Surging renewable energy output has pushed fossil fuel-fired generation down to record low levels in Australia’s biggest electricity grid, triggering another big fall in wholesale prices, the Australian Energy Market Operator said. [ABC]
¶ “Putin’s Forces have Set Up ‘Fighting Positions’ On Roof Of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant” • Satellite pictures the UK Ministry of Defence obtained show Russian forces in “sandbag fighting positions” on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The move shows Putin’s troops are increasingly worried about a major Ukrainian offensive. [Daily Express]
Russian soldiers (Konstantin Alysh, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
US:
¶ “Boston Public Schools Put First 20 Blue Bird Electric Buses Into Operation” • Boston Public Schools recently received their first batch of 20 Blue Bird electric school buses through the dealership Anderson Blue Bird Bus Sales of New England. The Blue Bird Vision electric school bus can go up to 120 miles with 71 pupils on a single charge. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Livelihoods Of 255,000 American Families In Solar And Storage Industry Under Attack By House Republicans’ Proposal” • A group of lawmakers is attempting to reverse the Biden administration’s two-year pause on new solar tariffs and force companies to pay $1 billion in retroactive duties by using the Congressional Review Act. [CleanTechnica]
Solar installers (Dennis Schroeder, NREL)
¶ “Huge Solar Canopy For Electric Buses Coming To Austin, Texas” • It looks like Austin, Texas, is going to get a bit cleaner thanks to its CapMetro regional public transportation provider. In 2021, the CapMetro board decided to purchase about 200 zero-emissions buses. Now it is building a 12 acre solar canopy to power those buses. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “North Carolina Senate Passes Bill To Waste Billions On Nuclear Power Plants Over Vital Renewables” • North Carolina’s Senate approved a bill that would allow Duke Energy to spend potentially billions on more unneeded nuclear power plants, including hundreds of millions on technology that won’t exist for years, if it ever does. [EWG]
Have a genuinely charming day.
geoharvey 
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