Opinion:
¶ “Bill McKibben On Global Heating, Capitalism, Insurance, And Social Friction” • In his latest Substack post, Bill McKibben delves into the insurance crisis brought on by a warmer climate. He says that insurance is the lubricant that makes commerce possible. He warns that without it, we will lose important parts of our local, national, and global economies. [CleanTechnica]
Destructive fire (Daniel Tausis, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “PNNL Kicks Off Multi-Year Energy Storage, Scientific Discovery Collaboration with Microsoft” • To meet the call for faster clean energy solutions, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has teamed with Microsoft to use high-performance computing in the cloud and advanced artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Wind Turbines Are Friendlier To Birds Than Oil and Gas Drilling” • No one doubts that wind turbines do indeed kill at least some birds. But a new analysis of American data, published in Environmental Science & Technology, suggests the numbers are negligible, and have little impact on bird populations. Drilling for oil and gas is another matter. [Yahoo Finance]
Wind turbines (Thomas Reaubourg, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Kenya’s Geothermal Sector Gets A Boost From Indonesia, UAE” • Kenya’s geothermal sector got a shot in the arm during the Green Industrialisation Initiative in Dubai. Kenya’s energy sector faces many challenges, with the high costs of generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as a lack of investment in renewable energy sources. [Daily Nation]
¶ “Honda Zero – The Future Of Mobility Is About To Arrive” • The cars Honda brought to CES 2024 are not electric versions of the Hondas we often see. In fact, the two show cars, the Saloon and Space-Hub, look like no other vehicles Honda has ever produced. Actually, they don’t look much like any production cars anyone ever made. [CleanTechnica]
Honda Zero (Honda image)
¶ “Thai Government Facilitates Solar Rooftop Expansion To Drive Sustainable Business” • Thailand is fast-tracking rooftop solar installations without formal permission. The secretary of the Industry Ministry said the private sector’s interest in solar rooftops is expected to rise exponentially, due to rising power prices and reduced PV costs. [Nation Thailand]
¶ “Analysis: World Will Add Enough Renewables In Five Years To Power US And Canada” • Rapid growth has pushed the IEA to upgrade the renewables forecast it made, adding 728 GW of capacity to a five-year estimate it made just a year ago. It expectes enough renewables added over the next five years to power the equivalent of the US and Canada. [Eco-Business]
Utility worker (Asian Development Bank, Flickr)
¶ “Why Eskom Can’t Do Proper Maintenance On Its Power Stations” • Civil nuclear engineer Hugo Kruger said that South Africans should expect load-shedding to persist for another six months, as Eskom has not done proper maintenance in over a decade. It does not have plants to keep the grid going while others are having maintenance done. [MyBroadband]
US:
¶ “New Database of Federal Grants for Food Waste” • About 38% of food in our country goes unsold or uneaten, and most of this ends up as waste in landfills or incinerators. The good news is there are many waste reduction solutions that span the food supply chain. The catch is that making many of these changes will take investment. [CleanTechnica]
Compost (allispossible.org.uk, Flikr)
¶ “The First-Ever Climate Museum In The US Is Welcoming Visitors In NYC’s Soho Neighborhood” • New York’s new Climate Museum may call some of the most famous fashion brands as neighbors, but the emergence of this pop-up art exhibit in the heart of Soho, advocating through art, proves climate activism is much more than a trend. [ABC News]
¶ “John Kerry To Step Down As Us Climate Envoy” • US climate envoy John Kerry plans to step down from his post by this spring, a source close to Kerry confirmed to CNN. The 80-year-old former secretary of state and Democratic nominee for president led US negotiations at three international climate summits, most recently in Dubai. [CNN]
John Kerry and Han Zheng (Office of US Climate Envoy)
¶ “Biden-Harris Administration Announces $623 Million in Grants to Continue Building Out EV Charging Network” • The Biden–Harris Administration announced $623 million in grants to help build out the US EV charging network. This will create American jobs and ensure more drivers can find nearby EV chargers, wherever they are. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “How Cities Can Scale Up Onsite Solar Power With New Federal Incentives” • Last year, San Antonio set a record of 75 days at or above 100°F. This year, the City of San Antonio made history by approving a major deal with local solar developer Big Sun Solar to put an estimated 13 MW of solar on 42 city-owned facilities and parking lots. [CleanTechnica]
Have a wonderfully nifty day.
geoharvey 
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