Opinion:
¶ “Precision Agriculture: Does Climate Tech VC Money Flow Into Agri-Chemicals And Monocrops?” • Venture Capitalists don’t support CleanTechnica, even if it could help support the rest of their portfolio by promoting their other companies. Hilariously enough, those same VCs hire expensive PR firms who just pitch their story ideas to CleanTechnica. [CleanTechnica]
Farm field (Courtesy of Berkeley Law)
¶ “Five Signs To Spot Anti-Cleantech Propaganda From Sources That Seem Innocuous” • It’s an election year, so okay, everything must be viewed skeptically. Recently an ad came up purporting to stand up for free speech, which, according to the ad, knows no political colors. Hm. Seems innocuous. What could possibly go wrong, right? [CleanTechnica]
Science and Technology:
¶ “Researchers Discover New Technique To Encourage The Restoration Of Degraded Corals” • Researchers have discovered a way to encourage restoration of coral reef populations degraded by record-high marine temperatures. Underwater speaker that play the sounds of a healthy reef were found to help coral larvae settle up to seven times as fast. [ABC News]
Coral (roy zeigerman, Unsplash)
¶ “No Graphite? No Problem, Silicon EV Batteries Really Are Coming” • US automakers got the jitters last year when China announced new export curbs on graphite, the main ingredient in EV batteries. But new EV batteries that replace graphite with silicon are coming, and the synthetic graphite industry is also springing into action. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Vietnam And The Promise Of Clean Power” • With a growing economy, vast coastlines available for offshore wind power, and high solar radiation levels, Vietnam has all of the ingredients to be a world leader in renewable energy. A McKinsey & Company report says Vietnam is the country in Southeast Asia best suited for wind and solar developments. [CleanTechnica]
Village in Viet Nam (Nathan Cima, Unsplash)
¶ “Low Carbon Powers Up Finnish Project” • Low Carbon has announced that its Mörknässkogen onshore wind project is now in commercial operation. With a capacity of 30 MW from five Nordex turbines, Mörknässkogen is Low Carbon’s first wind project to come online in Finland, part of the company’s goal to deploy renewable capacity at scale. [reNews]
¶ “ACEN And BrightNight To Develop 1 GW Of Renewables In The Philippines” • ACEN and BrightNight announced plans to invest an estimated $1.2 billion within five years, to develop up to 1 GW of renewable energy projects in the Philippines. ACEN has a global renewables capacity of 4.8 GW already and a target of 20 GW by 2030. [pv magazine International]
ACEN solar array (ACEN image)
¶ “Australian Renewable Sector Recorded ‘Alarming’ Slowdown In 2023, Energy Body Finds” • Investments in renewable energy plants showed an “alarming” slowdown in 2023, with financial approvals for new solar farms shrinking more than a third while no new windfarms won backing, the Clean Energy Council said in its annual report. [The Guardian]
¶ “AkzoNobel Uses 100% Renewable Electricity In Latin America” • All of AkzoNobel’s manufacturing locations in Latin America are now operating on 100% renewable electricity. The company’s ambition is to reduce carbon emissions across the full value chain by 50% by 2030 (baseline 2018). It had achieved that goal in Europe and North America earlier. [AkzoNobel]
Paints and coatings facility in Colombia (AkzoNobel image)
¶ “Hybrid Power Systems Fuel Renewable Energy Pathway For Gold Producer” • Australian renewables provider, Pacific Energy, completed four hybrid generating systems, with a total capacity of 82 MW, to gold producer Westgold Resources. The systems have 28 MW of solar, 11.5 MW of battery storage and 42.5 MW of high-efficiency gas capacity. [pv magazine Australia]
¶ “Government Must Act Now On Energy Storage” • A UK Parliamentary Committee report on long-duration energy storage concludes that the Government must act fast to ensure that energy storage technologies can scale up in time to play a vital role in decarbonising the electricity system and ensuring energy security by 2035. [UK Parliament]
Pumped storage facility (UK Parliament via Pixabay)
¶ “Japan’s Fukushima Plant Clean-Up At Snail’s Pace As Nuclear Experts Flag Achievements – ‘Not A Race’” • Thirteen years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster, progress on its decommissioning and decontaminating thousands of hectares of land across northeast Japan is proceeding at an excruciatingly slow pace. [South China Morning Post]
US:
¶ “Scout ‘Back To Work’ Campaign Pays Homage To The Original” • Scout, the newest brand at Volkswagen Group, hasn’t produced anything yet, but it has created some interesting graphics that offer hints about the vehicles it plans to produce. Work has begun on a $2 billion factory 20 miles north of Columbia, South Carolina. [CleanTechnica]
Scout graphic (Scout image)
¶ “Biden-Harris Administration Releases First-Ever National Strategy For Deployment Of Zero-Emission Infrastructure For Freight Trucks” • The Biden-Harris Administration released the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy. It is designed to meet growing market demands by encouraging private sector investment. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “The Technology ‘Handoff’ May Mean Legal Trouble For Tesla” • After a man died in an accident with Tesla’s autopilot operating, a suit’s allegations against Tesla include false advertising, product liability, defective product design, failure to warn, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, and breach of warranty. The trial is set for March 18, 2024. [CleanTechnica]
Have a happily moving day.
geoharvey 