Science and Technology:
¶ “Time Of Use Electricity Rate Plans Explained: Challenges And Solutions To Maximize Your Savings” • The challenge of keeping the grid balanced is expressed in the “Duck Curve.” The peak of solar power drives demand from generating plants down, but it recovers in early evening. The rapid increase can be covered by battery energy storage. [CleanTechnica]
Deepening duck curve (CAISO image)
¶ “Panasonic Eyes Solid-State Batteries, But Not For EVs (Yet)” • Panasonic is the latest manufacturer to tease the technology of solid-state batteries beyond the familiar button-sized format, but don’t hold your breath for that new EV battery. The company’s near-term target consists of drones and factory robots, not street vehicles. At least, not yet. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Record-High Summer Temps Give A ‘Sneak Peek’ Into Future Warming” • Global temperatures this June and August were the warmest on record, but an analysis from Berkeley Earth found that they also likely exceeded the benchmark of 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. That means they are expected to prompt worsening impacts of global warming. [ABC News]
Sneak Peek into the future (Melvin, Unsplash)
¶ “Major UK Methane Greenhouse Gas Leak Gets Spotted From Space” • A major UK leak of the extremely potent greenhouse gas methane has been spotted by a satellite for the first time. The leak occurred over a three-month period while Wales and West Utilities were replacing the gas mains. The amount leaked could have powered 7,500 homes for a year. [BBC]
¶ “GreenMax And Tradeable Launch GreenShift Africa, A Platform Designed To Accelerate The Penetration Of EVs In Africa” • US-based GreenMax Capital Group Ltd and Tradeable, which focuses on trade in Africa, have announced a partnership to launch GreenShift Africa, a trade facilitation platform for EV promotion in Africa. [CleanTechnica]
Electric motorcycle (trenchophotography, Unsplash, cropped)
¶ “Pakistan To Enhance Cooperation With China To Promote Affordable Green Energy, Experts Say” • Pakistan and China enjoy close ties, and Pakistan needs to enhance cooperation with China further under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to promote affordable clean and green energy in the South Asian country, Pakistani experts said. [Xinhua]
¶ “Solar Energy And Climate Change Are Killing Future Hydro Plants In Africa” • About 1.2 billion people live in Africa, and improved standards of living, they are using more electricity. The plan on how to do that is changing, however. Power dams are getting less cost-effective, as solar gets cheaper and water made less available by climate change. [ZME Science]
Aswan High Dam (Olaf Tausch, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)
¶ “China To Expand Geothermal Energy Usage” • Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing announced at a conference that China will vigorously increase the use of geothermal energy to meet its targets for clean energy generation, according to a Reuters report. Geothermal energy can be used to produce electricity and for heating and cooling. [Interesting Engineering]
US:
¶ “Interior Department Announces More Than $40.6 Million For Efforts To Conserve America’s Most Imperiled Species” • The Interior Department announced over $40.6 million in grants through the US Fish and Wildlife Service to ten states and the US Virgin Islands to support land acquisition and conservation planning projects for 65 listed species. [CleanTechnica]
Monarch butterfly (Erin Minuskin, Unsplash)
¶ “Hurricane Lee Live Updates: When Storm Will Reach New England” • As Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 storm, moves up the East Coast, tropical storm warnings are in effect along the coast from Massachusetts to Maine. Lee is hundreds of miles off the coast and is expected to make landfall in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick as a tropical storm. [ABC News]
¶ “NREL And Joby Aviation Partnership Spotlights Green Ride-Hailing Flight Services” • When Joby Aviation wanted to find the environmental impact of its future all-electric aerial ride-hailing service, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which has done years of sustainable aviation research, helped provide a technological bird’s eye view. [CleanTechnica]
Joby Aviation eVTOL vehicle (Photo from Joby Aviation)
¶ “NREL Researchers Reveal How Buildings Across US Use – And Could Use – Energy” • Buildings are responsible for 40% of total energy use in the US, including 75% of all electricity use and 35% of the nation’s carbon emissions. National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers created a data set to detail how buildings use – and could use – energy. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Santa Barbara County Moving Steadily Toward Renewable Energy Goal” • Santa Barbara County is moving steadily toward meeting its goal of operating government facilities on 100% renewable energy by 2030. Currently, renewable sources supply 53% of county government’s energy. Supervisors generally expressed support. [Santa Maria Times]
Santa Barbara County gonvernment campus (Contributed)
¶ “California Sues Fossil Fuel Giants Over Climate Change” • The state of California is the latest to take some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies to court, claiming in a suit that decades of deliberate disinformation about climate change have worsened it and caused major environmental, public health, and economic damages in the state. [Courthouse News Service]
¶ “Environmental Groups Urge Regulators To Shut Down Diablo Canyon Reactor Over Safety, Testing Concerns” • Environmental groups called on federal regulators to shut down one of the two reactors at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant until tests can be conducted on critical machinery they believe could fail, causing a catastrophe. [Santa Monica Daily Press]
Have a greatly appreciated day.
geoharvey 
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