Opinion:
¶ “Electric Cars: It’s All About Efficiency” • Cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines are only about 20% efficient. This means that just one fifth of it is actually used to move them forward. By contrast, almost 90% of the energy stored in the batteries of electric cars is used to move them forward. [CleanTechnica]
Charging an EV (Andrew Roberts, Unsplash)
¶ “Tripling Nuclear Energy By 2050 Will Take A Miracle, And Miracles Don’t Happen” • It is time to abandon the idea that further expanding nuclear technology can help with mitigating climate change. We need to deal with carbon emissions quickly and inexpensively. Nuclear power is much too expensive and a buildout will take too long. [Down to Earth]
World:
¶ “UN Climate Chief’s Message: Fewer Loopholes, Way More Cash To Halt Climate Change” • United Nations’ climate chief Simon Stiell says to keep Earth from overheating, the nations of the world need to put fewer loopholes in climate agreements and far more money – trillions of dollars per year – into financial help for poor nations. [ABC News]
Melting ice (NOAA, Unsplash)
¶ “24% Plugin Vehicle Share In Europe” • The overall European automotive market fell 4% in December, its first drop in sixteen months. This was influenced by the German market, which fell by 23% in December, possibly influenced by the economic clouds on the horizon and a chaotic cut in EV subsidies. New EV sales fell 29% year-on-year, in the EU. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “EVs Take 52.5% Share In Sweden” • The January market in Sweden saw plugin EVs take 52.5% share, almost flat from 52.4%, year-over-year. Plugin volumes were up YOY for both battery electrics and plugin hybrids. January’s overall auto volume was 17,159 units, up some 18% YOY. The bestseller for the month was the Tesla Model Y. [CleanTechnica]
Volvo EX30 (Alexander-93, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Govt Invites Bids For 4 GW Offshore Wind Projects” • India’s new and renewable energy ministry has invited bids to 4 GW of develop offshore wind energy. The bids are for four blocks of 1 GW each on open access basis, for offshore wind power projects off the coast of Tamil Nadu, through international competitive bidding. [The New Indian Express]
¶ “Hydrogen Electric Aircraft Scheme Hatched By EU Nations” • Much of the attention around electric aircraft involves moving beyond small, regional-hopping passenger planes into the long distance territory of jumbo jets. The US-UK startup ZeroAvia is one stakeholder leaning on hydrogen fuel cells to do the heavy lifting. [CleanTechnica]
Hydrogen infrastructure for electric aircraft (ZeroAvia image)
¶ “Floating Solar Energy Pilot Passes Trials Offshore Norway” • Fred Olsen 1848 has deployed 124 kW floating solar pilot off Risør, Norway. The project is a testing ground for improving the components of the BRIZO floating PV technology, which is designed to follow the motion of the ocean while withstanding local offshore conditions. [Offshore Magazine]
¶ “Vortex Energy’s $123 Million Investment Spurs Construction Of 110 MW Renewable Energy Portfolio, Paving The Way For Green Power Expansion In Poland” • Vortex Energy, a prominent renewable energy company in Poland, has started construction on a portfolio of projects comprising 53 MW of onshore wind and 57 MW of PV solar. [SolarQuarter]
Vitol Vortex solar array (Vitol image)
¶ “Climate Change: Fungal Disease Endangers Production Of Wheat” • An international team of researchers surrounding Prof Senthold Asseng from the Technical University of Munich has now shown that further spread of the fungal disease wheat blast could reduce global wheat production by 13% by 2050, to be a threat to global food security. [Lab Manager]
US:
¶ “The Solar Electric Car That Looks Like An Airplane Is Almost Ready For Takeoff” • The Aptera has been a long time coming. It was launched in 2006, only to hit a wall in 2011. A relaunch in 2020 got the gears in motion again, and now the long-awaited, futuristic, solar-powered three-wheeled electric car is almost ready to hit the road. [CleanTechnica]
Aptera (Aptera image)
¶ “Tracking Electricity Consumption From US Cryptocurrency Mining Operations” • Electricity demand associated with US cryptocurrency mining operations has grown very rapidly over the last several years. Our preliminary estimates suggest that annual electricity use for cryptocurrency mining may be 0.6% to 2.3% of US electricity production. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “$230 Million Wind Farm Near Glenrock Could Bring 200 Jobs And Power 44,000 Homes” • AES Corp, a Virginia-based energy behemoth shedding coal-fired plants as part of a yearslong restructuring effort to focus on renewables, unveiled plans to build a $230 million wind farm south of Glenrock, Wyoming. Its capacity will be 150 MW. [Cowboy State Daily]
Wyoming wind farm (Courtesy AES Corp)
¶ “The US Added 1.2 Million EVs To The Grid Last Year, And Electricity Use Went Down” • 2023 set another record for EV sales in the US. About 1.2 million vehicles, or 7.6% of all sales, were electric according to Kelley Blue Book. Nevertheless, the data on electricity use through November 2023 shows that it was down by 1.1%. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Amazon Warns Climate Change Could Disrupt Its Business In Annual Filing” • Amazon is warning its investors that climate change could affect it negatively. In the risk factors section of its 2023 financial filing, Amazon added language that says climate change could cause its sales and operating results to fluctuate, possibly resulting in decreased revenue. [CNBC]
Have a politely presented day.
geoharvey 
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