Science and Technology:
¶ “What Record Warm Ocean Temperatures Could Mean For Hurricane Season” • The Atlantic hurricane season is entering uncharted territory with water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico the highest ever recorded. Hot oceans drive powerful hurricanes, but they are not the only factor. The situation is uncertain. [CNN]
Uncertain weather (Shashank Sahay, Unsplash)
¶ “Vehicle To Everything Can Be The Answer To Support The Grid – GridBeyond” • One of the most common questions about widespread EV adoption is “Can the grid handle all those electric cars?” A GridBeyond white paper tackles the issues surrounding the rapid uptake of EV options, and how vehicle-to-everything tech could offer solutions. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Soaring Temperatures To Record Rainfall: Asia Is Reeling As The Climate Crisis Takes Hold” • The world’s largest and most populous continent is dealing with the deadly effects of extreme summer weather, as countries endure blistering heatwaves and record monsoon rainfall, with governments warning residents to prepare for more to come. [CNN]
Flood in Indian monsoon (Dibakar Roy, Unsplash)
¶ “‘This Is Just The Beginning’: Extreme Heat Around The World As Fires Rage In Southern Europe” • Italy, Spain and Greece have already faced unrelenting heat for days, but the European Space Agency warns that the heat wave is only just beginning. Italy has been particularly hard hit, and temperatures in many cities are expected to soar above 40°C (104°). [CNN]
¶ “JUWI South Africa Has 400 MW EPC Projects In Advanced Stages Of Development For Mines In South Africa” • The leading renewable project developer JUWI Renewable Energies recently announced that it now has 400 MW of engineering, procurment, and construction projects in advanced stages of development for mines in South Africa. [CleanTechnica]
Garob Wind Farm (Courtesy of JUWI)
¶ “Wabtec Sends Electric Train Love Letter To World’s Largest Iron Mine” • The leading mining firm Vale has just ordered up three of Wabtec’s FLXdrive zero emission locomotives to ply a 550-mile railroad, pulling loads of ore from the world’s biggest iron mine. The two companies also are planing to test using ammonia as a fuel. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Power Firms Shifting Focus To Green Projects” • Chinese power companies have expanded their involvement in green energy projects worldwide, with the number of the new energy projects they invested in rising 55.6% year-on-year. a report says. They are in regions such as Southeast Asia, Europe, Oceania, and Latin America. [China Daily]
Wind farm (Karsten Würth, Unsplash)
¶ “’Very, Very Worried.’ Ramokgopa Sounds Alarm On Koeberg Refurbishment” • Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the South African Minister of Electricity, says that he is “very, very worried” that the Koeberg nuclear plant refurbishment is behind schedule again. The delay could result in higher stages of load shedding continuing into 2024. [News24]
Australia:
¶ “Australian Aboriginal group And Philippine Firm ACEN To Develop Renewable Energy” • Philippine energy company ACEN Corp and Australia’s Yindjibarndi Aboriginal group are planning to develop up to 3 GW of wind, solar, and battery storage on land held by the community. It is in the heart of Western Australia’s iron ore mining region. [Reuters]
Western Australia (Chris Stenger, Unsplash)
¶ “World’s Biggest Solar Project To Add Wind As New Owners Prepare To Take Charge” • Windpower will be added to a plan to send Australian solar energy to Southeast Asia through what is to be the world’s longest undersea power cable. The plan has been to use Northern Territory sunshine to supply renewable energy to Singapore. [Renew Economy]
¶ “Australia’s Biggest Coal Plant Can Close In 2025 And Lights Won’t Go Out. Here’s How” • The fossil fuel lobby and some of the media are agitating to delay the planned August 2025 closure of Australia’s biggest coal power station. They claim it is needed to “keep the lights on.” But delay would put power affordability, reliability, and security at risk. [Renew Economy]
Eraring power station (Nick Pitsas, CSIRO, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
US:
¶ “Tesla Cybertruck #1 Is Here At Last” • At the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, there was great excitement as the first pre-production Cybertruck rolled off the assembly line. Reportedly, the battery electric pickup truck from Tesla has over 1.5 million reservations pending, and now the big story will be how many of those turn into firm orders. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Blue Bird Electric School Bus Gets Better” • The iconic, nearly 100-year-old bus maker Blue Bird has been producing electric buses for a few years, and now it’s introducing a new, improved version. The electric bus will have 25% more storage capacity in its battery, rising to 196 kWh. That provides 130 miles of range on a single charge. [CleanTechnica]
Blue Bird electric school bus (Blue Bird image)
¶ “Ford F-150 Lightning Price Drops, Production Increasing To 150,000/Year” • Many EV fans hoped the Ford F-150 Lightning would take the US by storm – at least, as much as it could with the production capacity Ford targets. The electric truck has done quite okay, so far. However, it could do better now, because Ford is dropping its MSRP. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “ERCOT Sees Record-Breaking Electricity Demand For Fourth Time This Summer ” • In Texas, Monday’s demand for electricity set a record. As of 5:45 pm Monday, demand hit 82,014 MW. The previous record was set four days earlier at 81,405 MW. ERCOT records show solar and wind energy helped manage the record demand each time it happened. [KVUE]
Have a notaceably tranquil day.
geoharvey 