Opinion:
¶ “The Great Electricity Transmission Debate – How Much Is Enough?” • Jigar Shah’s estimate is that the US needs 950 GW of clean energy and 225 GW of storage to clean up its electricity sector. Over 1,200 GW of clean energy and 650 GW of storage have already been proposed. The problem is how to connect the generating capacity to the grid. [CleanTechnica]
Transmission lines (Matthew Henry, Unsplash)
¶ “How Is Cleantech Faring In The Current Economic Climate?” • Global economic conditions seem to be a little tumultuous at the moment, don’t they? In this post, we look at the US situation only, but as we know, the US is a pretty good proxy for global economic conditions. We also going to go briefly into how that seems to be affecting cleantech. [CleanTechnica]
Science and Technology:
¶ “Global Loss Of Wildlife Is ‘Significantly More Alarming’ Than Previously Thought, A Study Shows” • The global loss of wildlife is “significantly more alarming” than previously thought, a study shows. Researchers at School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast found 48% the 70,000 species studied are seeing rapid population declines. [CNN]
Striped Tiger Butterfly (Sonika Agarwal, Unsplash)
¶ “New Perovskite Solar Cells: How Low (And How Fast) Can Solar Go?” • The cost of solar power has been dropping like a rock, but more is coming. Now low-cost perovskite solar cells are finally beginning to bump their way into the solar market. One promising pathway involves a piggyback with silicon technology, and thin film is also in play. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “A Global Biodiversity Crisis: How NASA Satellites Help Track Changes To Life On Earth” • Climate change plays an increasing role in the global decline of biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth. Scientists use NASA data to track ecosystem changes and to develop tools for conserving life on land, in our ocean, and in freshwater ecosystems. [NASA Climate Change]
Earth (NASA image)
World:
¶ “Why Car Parks Are The Hottest Space In Solar Power” • Solar car parks have been around for years, and there are signs that they are beginning to boom. They are mandatory for car parks with over eighty spaces in France. Prof Mark Barrett of the UCL Energy Institute said he believed that of 117 GW of potential in urban UK environments, 11 GW is car parks. [BBC]
¶ “Number World’s Farms To Halve By 2100” • University of Colorado-Boulder research shows that the number of farms globally will shrink in half as the size of the average existing farms doubles by the end of the 21st century, posing significant risks to the world’s food systems. The study was published in the journal Nature Sustainability. [CleanTechnica]
Small farm (Zoe Schaeffer, Unsplash)
¶ “France Unveils Plan To Radically Reduce Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions” • The French government has unveiled an ambitious plan to accelerate cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions, targeting a reduction of 50 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. The roadmap includes detailed figures for reductions for sectors of the economy. [RFI]
¶ “Economic Damage From Next El Niño To Total $3 Trillion” • Two researchers at Dartmouth College have published a report in the journal Science which predicts that the economic impact of the next El Niño weather event (expected to occur this year) will be $3 trillion through 2029, compared to what the same period would be without such an event. [CleanTechnica]
Data collection buoy (Image courtesy of NOAA)
¶ “EU Parliament Delays Renewable Energy Vote After Late Backlash” • The European Parliament delayed a planned vote to approve new EU renewable energy targets, after France and other countries lodged last-minute opposition to the law last week, an internal email seen by Reuters says. France is pushing for recognition for nuclear energy. [Energy Central]
¶ “Chinese Solar Exports Soar” • China’s solar exports grew 64% to $52bn in 2022 despite global trade tensions, according to latest analysis from Wood Mackenzie. China’s exports were mainly dominated by modules in 2022 – Europe remained the country’s top solar module export market with 56% share, according to Wood Mackenzie findings. [reNews]
Solar array (RWE image)
¶ “World’s Biggest Nuclear Plant May Stay Closed Due To Papers Left On Car Roof” • A week after Japanese regulators postponed the restart of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant due to safety lapses, a careless employee working from home added to the company’s woes. He placed a stack of documents on top of a car and drove off, losing them. [Financial Post]
US:
¶ “US Electricity From Renewable Energy Beat Electricity From Coal Or Nuclear In 2022” • In 2022, net generation of electricity from renewables reached 0.91 billion MWh, topping both coal and nuclear (0.83 and 0.77 billion MWh, respectively). In 2022, renewables accounted for about 21% of all net generation of electricity. [CleanTechnica]
Please click on the image to enlarge it. (From energy.gov)
¶ “Hawaiian Electric Amends Three Renewable Energy Contracts On Hawaii Island” • Hawaiian Electric announced it renegotiated three renewable energy contracts – Puna Geothermal Venture, Hawi Renewable Development, and Wailuku River Hydroelectric – to fixed rates. This will result in “long-term savings” for Hawaii Island customers. [The Business Journals]
¶ “Growth Slows, But US Renewable Energy Installs At Third-Highest Level In 2022” • The American Clean Power Association said in a report that installations of energy storage, along with wind and solar power capacity, were at the third-highest level on record in 2022, with more than 25 GW of new clean power installed cross the US. [POWER Magazine]
Have a satisfactorily superb day.
geoharvey 