Opinion:
¶ “Free electricity: Is it really fair?” • Free electricity? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s what two companies are offering in a bid to shift demand to when power is plentiful. As solar and wind farms grow all the time, our electricity grid is increasingly complex, and the solar and wind farms are paid to shut down. Two companies are working on an alternative. [BBC]
Wind turbines (Luke Thornton, Unsplash, cropped)
¶ “A Climate Week To Advance Urgent Change” • As the hottest summer on record winds to a close, the window to hold global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) is rapidly closing. We need to act now to confront a widening climate crisis that is intersecting with, and exacerbating, a global biodiversity crisis, a global food crisis, and a crisis of global injustice. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Insurance Majors Held Fossil Fuels Assets While Cutting Coverage Due To Climate Risks” • A report shows that the US insurance sector held $536 billion in fossil fuel-related assets in 2019, despite some insurers citing climate-related risk and natural disasters as factors in raising premiums or dropping coverage in high risk regions. [CleanTechnica]
Wildfire (Mike Newbry, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “A Haunted Australia Stares Down Bushfire Disaster Again” • As Australia edged into spring in 2019, former fire brigade chief Greg Mullins warned the country was disastrously primed to burn. Over and over, he begged to be heard, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. His warnings, however, came true. Now, he is sounding the alarm again. [BBC]
¶ “Horrific Libya Flooding Made Up To 50 Times More Likely By Planet-Warming Pollution, Scientists Find” • The World Weather Attribution initiative, a team of scientists that analyze the role of climate change in extreme weather events, found that planet-warming pollution made the deadly rainfall in Libya up to 50 times more likely to occur and 50% worse. [CNN]
Storm Daniel approaching Libya (NOAA, public domain)
¶ “The World Just Sweltered Through Hottest August On Record” • August 2023 was Earth’s hottest August in NOAA’s 174-year climate record. The month also wrapped up the Northern Hemisphere’s warmest June-August summer period and the Southern Hemisphere’s warmest June-August winter on record, an analysis by NOAA scientists shows. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “45% Of New Cars In Netherlands Now Plugin Cars!” • In the Netherlands, 45% of new car sales were plugin car sales in August. Furthermore, 33% were full electrics, which jumped 58% year over year. The overall market is also rising, although at a slower rate (+19% YOY). We expect the final plugin share for 2023 to end close to 50%.[CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model Y (Michal Lauko, Unsplash)
¶ “Ormat Secures Contract With Mercury New Zeleand To Construct And Supply New 56-MW Geothermal Power Plant” • Ormat Technologies, Inc announced that it signed contracts with Mercury NZ Limited for supply and Engineering, Procurement and Construction of a new 56-MW geothermal power plant in New Zealand. [Yahoo Finance]
¶ “Sanikiluaq Wind Project Represents Major Shift In Nunavut Renewable Energy Policy” • A lone windmill in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, which is expected to produce enough power to cut the community’s reliance on diesel fuel by half, is all but a done deal as the Qulliq Energy Corporation and the Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation are set to sign an agreement. [CBC]
Wind turbine in Nunavut (Tugliq Energy)
¶ “Germany On Track To Meet Over 50% Of Energy Demand With Renewables This Year” • Germany is likely to generate enough energy from renewables to meet more than 50% of its energy demand by the end of this year, as Robert Habeck, the country’s Economy Minister, announced at a conference held by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. [EcoWatch]
¶ “Renewable Energy Accounts For 46% Of Dutch Electricity” • Almost half the electricity generated in the Netherlands in the first six months of this year came from natural sources such as the wind and sun, national statistics office CBS said. In total, 46% was generated from renewable resources, a rise of 16% on the same period in 2022. [DutchNews.nl]
Amsterdam (Azhar J, Unsplash)
¶ “Possibly Contaminated Iron Scraps From Near Fukushima Plant Sold” • Workers at a demolition site near the meltdown-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant took and sold iron scraps from waste possibly contaminated with radioactive materials, according to officials in the Japanese Environment Ministry. [The Japan Times]
US:
¶ “Heatwaves claim tens of thousands of lives each year. Now a US mapping project is revealing those most at risk so they can get the help they need” • NOAA’s heat maps are helping policy makers and families understand the real-life impact of heat waves with new clarity, by combining satellite imagery, air temperature, and humidity data. [BBC]
Cooling off (Leonid Antsiferov, Unsplash)
¶ “Homeowners Face Rising Insurance Rates As Climate Change Makes Wildfires More Common” • An increasing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climate change, a new report says. [ABC News]
¶ “New Roadmap To Accelerate Offshore Wind Transmission In US” • As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Interior and Energy Departments released An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the US Atlantic Region to promote offshore windpower, bolster the US supply chain, and create good-paying jobs. [CleanTechnica]
Have an absurdly delightful day.
geoharvey 