Science and Technology:
¶ “Super-Bacteria Are Scaling Up To Attack The Petrochemical Industry” • The green chemistry movement has been gathering steam since the early 2000s. Now bio-based breakthroughs may help pull the rug out from under the petrochemical industry. Bio-based substitutes for plastic products are becoming more common, but that’s just the start. [CleanTechnica]
Super-bacteria (Courtesy of Cellugy)
¶ “Researchers Claim Batteries With Iron Cathodes Outperform Traditional Materials” • Researchers at Oregon State University, in collaboration with colleagues at three other universities and two national laboratories, announced that they have found a way to substitute iron for nickel and cobalt in lithium-ion battery cathodes, reducing costs. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Nearly 175 Arrested As Climate Protesters Target France’s TotalEnergies And Key Investor” • The head of TotalEnergies has told shareholders that new oilfields have to be developed to meet global demand, as the annual meetings of the French energy giant and one of its biggest shareholders were picketed. Police arrested 173 protesters. [The Guardian]
Nodding donkey (Zbynek Burival, Unsplash)
¶ “Hull To Buy 40 Electric Buses” • Following a successful bid to the Government to fund electric buses, the Hull City Council’s Cabinet approved plans to enable purchase of 40 electric buses and allocation of circa £2 million of funding from the authority for installation of charging infrastructure to support the rollout of the vehicles. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Tootbus Unveils End-To-End Renewable Power For Its Electric Fleet With VEV Solar Panel Project in Wandsworth” • Tootbus, the world’s first low-emissions sightseeing bus company, has secured approval for plans to install roof-mounted solar panels on their Wandsworth depot, working in collaboration with VEV, an electric fleet provider. [CleanTechnica]
Tootbus (VEV image)
¶ “New Energy-Storage Industry Booms Amid China’s Green Drive” • US carmaker Tesla broke ground on a mega factory in Shanghai to produce its energy-storage batteries Megapack. This is an example of growth of China’s new energy-storage industry, which is backed by its commitment to developing renewable energy and a green economy. [Xinhua News]
¶ “Uzbekistan Teams Up With The Russian Energy Company Zarubezhneft For Solar Power Initiative” • Uzbekistan and the Russian energy company Zarubezhneft agreed to build a solar facility with a total capacity of 100 MW. Valued at $100 million, this initiative marks a substantial investment in the region’s renewable energy sector. [Daryo.uz]
Bukhara, Uzbekistan (Evgeny Matveev, Unsplash)
¶ “Amazon Reaches Nearly 3 GW Of Renewable Energy Capacity In Spain By Enabling Twelve New Projects” • Amazon is enabling twelve new renewable energy projects in Spain, with a combined capacity of 596 MW. These energy agreements raise Amazon’s renewable capacity in Spain to over 2.9 GW, totaling 79 wind and solar projects. [About Amazon Europe]
¶ “Freak April Heatwave In Southeast Asia ‘Virtually Impossible’ Without Climate Crisis” • The brutal heatwaves sweeping across Asia this year were made much more extreme due to the human-induced climate crisis, a study has found. This is the third year in a row that billions of people in Asia experienced brutal heatwaves that shattered records. [Yahoo News UK]
India (Charlie Costello, Unsplash)
¶ “Russia And China Tighten Grip On Global Nuclear Energy Supply” • Kazakhstan is the world’s largest uranium producer and a major source of the US’ nuclear energy. Russia and China have been moving to increase their stakes in Kazakh uranium production, impacting global energy security and highlighting allegations of corruption. [Newsweek]
US:
¶ “‘Kitty Cat’ Storms Hitting US Heartland Are Growing Threat To Home Insurance” • Insurance companies are threatened by hurricanes made worse by climate change, but the problem is becoming a crisis that stretches far inland. Another, less-talked-about disaster has wreaked havoc on states in the midwest and the Great Plains. [The Guardian]
Bad weather (Lucy Chian, Unsplash)
¶ “US Cities Leading The Way To Electric Cars And Trucks” • Many cities, towns, and counties in the US have adopted plans to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, believing that they have a duty to their citizens to provide them with an environment that will allow them to survive. Nationwide, they own and operate 4 million vehicles. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Bronzeville Unveils Community Solar Power Micro-Grid Array To Provide Electricity In Emergencies” • Chicago and state leaders said the Bronzeville solar power micro-grid will power its neighborhood in the event of a major power outage. Hundreds of solar panels packed into multiple ground arrays will provide community-level energy resilience. [ABC Chicago]
Have a unstoppably uplifting day.
geoharvey 