Science and Technology:
¶ “Super Plants to Clean Indoor Air” • The Neo Px is a GMO plant that can purify indoor air. “It’s the equivalent of up to 30 regular houseplants in terms of air purification,” said Lionel Mora, co-founder of Neoplants. “It will not only capture, but also remove and recycle, some of the most harmful pollutants you can find indoors.” [CleanTechnica]
Neo Px plant
¶ “NREL Researchers Highlight Opportunities For Making Perovskite Solar Panels With A Long-Term Vision” • Solar panels made of perovskites may eventually play an important role to reduce carbon emissions. Now is a perfect time to think critically about how to design the solar panels to minimize their impact on the environment in the future. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “A Love Song to Smelly, Inconvenient, Glorious Mass Transit” • Mass transit doesn’t have a lot of cheerleaders. People love their cars, despite the harm they cause, but who loves a bus? And who sees transit as a vital decarbonization strategy when EVs steal the spotlight? Yet people who ride transit emit a lot less CO₂ than people who drive cars (even EVs). [CleanTechnica]
Flinders Street Railway Station, Melbourne (Weyne Yew, Unsplash)
¶ “Norway Stands At The Crossroad Between Fossil Fuels And The Low Carbon Future” • Norway is a green petro-state, The Guardian says. Its 5.5 million inhabitants are adopting clean technologies faster than anyone else, while its political and industry leaders drill furiously for fossil fuels to sell to their European neighbors. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Data Center Power Loads Threaten Corporate Net-Zero Goals” • The internet, cloud computing, and the use of AI all fuel demand for more and more data centers. The International Energy Agency projects that by 2026, data centers will consume more than 800 TWh annually, more than double what they used in 2022. [pv magazine International]
Rooftop solar system (Iron Mountain image)
¶ “Over 300 MW Of Solar Power To Be Generated By December 2025” • The Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated multiple projects to install rooftop solar power plants in over 40,000 buildings in the union territory, both government and residential, by the end of 2025, officials told the news agency Kashmir News Observer. [The Kashmir Monitor]
¶ “Plan For UK’s Biggest Solar Farm Will Be Biggest Test Of Government’s Anti-Nimby Drive” • The Government faces the biggest test so far of its anti-Nimby drive as it decides whether to give the green light to what would be the UK’s biggest solar farm. The Cottam Solar project would occupy 12.5 sq km (almost 8 sq mi) of farmland. [inews.co.uk]
Solar panels in the UK (Graham Hogg, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
¶ “Indian Player Plans 250-MW PV Project In Uzbekistan” • The Indian energy transition platform Jakson Green secured a credit facility to build a 250-MW solar power plant in Uzbekistan. The ₹2.96 billion (€3o million) facility from from First Abu Dhabi Bank (Mumbai) will also finance a 63-MW integrated battery energy storage system. [reNews]
¶ “First Meltdown-Proof Nuclear Reactor Passes Loss Of Cooling Test In China” • Ateam of engineers from Tsinghua University, working at China’s high-temperature reactor with a pebble-bed module claims that the reactor passed a critical cooling test. In their study, published in Joule, the group turned off external power to the reactor for two days. [MSN]
Pebble-bed reactor mockup (NRC, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
¶ “Nuclear Energy Not The Way To Go: Coalition” • Relying on nuclear power is the wrong strategy for Taiwan to achieve net zero emissions, a coalition of environmental groups said. Amid rising calls from some lawmakers and government officials in support of it, the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform held a news conference in Taipei. [Taipei Times]
US:
¶ “Natural Gas Electricity Generation In The US Spiked With The July Heatwave” • Sadly, we’re already seeing examples of global heating leading to the burning of more fossil fuels, which of course is creating more global heating. It’s a vicious cycle, and here’s the latest example: With global warming, we use more gas, causing more global warming. [CleanTechnica]
Natural gas usage (EIA image)
¶ “Nearly $50 Million Funding Opportunity For Offshore Wind National And Regional Research And Development” • The DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office announced the Offshore Wind National and Regional R&D Funding Opportunity. It will award $48.6 million for projects that address several major areas of need for offshore wind. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Clearway Signs PPA For 315-MW US Wind Project” • Clearway Energy Group signed a 25-year PPA with Puget Sound Energy for the Haymaker wind farm, a 315-MW facility under development in Wheatland and Meagher counties, Montana. Once it is in operation, Haymaker will generate enough electricity to provide annual needs for 116,000 homes. [reNews]
Wind turbines (Clearway Energy image)
¶ “Newport, Rhode Island’s Climate Resilience Gets A Boost From IRA” • This week Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Department of Commerce and NOAA have recommended nearly $2 million for a project in Rhode Island to enhance the state’s coastal resilience to confront climate change and other coastal hazards. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Three Men Sentenced For Involvement In Plot To Destroy Power Grid” • Three men with connections to white supremacist groups were sentenced in federal court after plotting to destroy a power grid in the Northwest, the US Department of Justice said. Two of the men had been members of the same US Marine unit at Camp LeJeune. [ABC News]
Have an enthusiastically cheerful day.
geoharvey 
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