Science and Technology:
¶ “EV Battery Pack Costs 90% Lower In 2023 Than In 2008” • The US DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office estimates the cost of an EV lithium-ion battery pack for a light-duty vehicle declined 90% between 2008 and 2023, based on 2023 constant dollars. The estimated cost for 2023 is $139/kWh, compared to a cost of $1,415/kWh in 2008. [CleanTechnica]
Porsche battery pack (Porsche image)
¶ “NREL Researchers Are Paving The Way For Carbon-Negative Concrete” • Cement production is notorious for its high energy use and carbon emissions. NREL researchers use a system based on polymers that does not emit carbon dioxide during synthesis and could use much less heat. And epoxy resins are known to be stronger than concrete. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Carbon-Capture Batteries Store Renewable Energy, Help Climate” • Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a new type of battery. The battery’s electrochemical reaction, in ORNL’s new battery formulation, captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and can convert it into value-added products. [all-about-industries]
Battery system (Andy Sproles, ORNL)
World:
¶ “India Has Pushed Hard For Solar. But As Its Billions Demand More Power, Coal Always Gets The Call” • For the third year in a row, the government of India ordered some coal plants to run at full capacity to meet high electricity demand of increasingly hot summer months. When demand is high, India still goes back to its most trusted power source: coal. [ABC News]
¶ “EVs Take 27.4% Share Of The UK” • July saw plugin EVs take 27.4% share of the UK auto market, up from 24.1% year on year. Both battery EVs and plugin hybrids grew YOY, better than the broader market. Overall auto volume was 147,517 units, up 2.5% YOY, still below pre-2020 seasonal norms. The UK’s leading battery EV brand in July was BMW. [CleanTechnica]
BMW EV (Damian B Oh, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)
¶ “XPeng On A Roll: Five Months In A Row Of Sales Growth” • Some may be claiming EV sales aren’t growing, but to that, XPeng can say, “Ha!” That’s because the Chinese “smart electric vehicle” company has seen five months in a row of both year-over-year sales growth and month-over-month sales growth. Can it last? We’ll see what August brings. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Synera Secures A Site For Its 800-MW Formosa 6” • Synera Renewable Energy has announced its Formosa 6 offshore wind project off Taiwan has been awarded 800 MW of development capacity. Formosa 6 will be situated approximately 35 km off the coast of Xianxi Township, Changhua County, spanning an area of around 84 square kilometres. [reNews]
Boat and Offshore wind farm (Bob Brewer, Unsplash)
¶ “Korea’s Large Corporations Are Increasing Renewable Energy Investments” • Korean corporations took numerous actions in the past three months to expand their business capabilities in renewable energy sectors such as solar power, secondary batteries, and bioenergy. This trend is part of a broader shift towards sustainable energy. [Businesskorea]
¶ “Solar Farm With Ability To Power Thousands Of Homes Approved Near Lincolnshire Coast” • Britain’s “greenest energy supplier” has been granted permission to build a new solar farm next to existing wind and solar farms off the Lincolnshire coast. Ecotricity applied to put ground-mounted solar panels on about 20.5 hectares of land. [Lincolnshire Live]
Site of proposed solar farm (Courtesy of Ecotricity)
¶ “Tokyo Gas Makes Overseas Investment” • Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd reached an agreement with Ocean Winds to invest in Windplus, the operator of the floating offshore wind farm WindFloat Atlantic operating in Portugal. This is the first time Tokyo Gas will participate in an overseas floating offshore wind power generation business. [Energy Global]
US:
¶ “Tropical Storm Debby Live Updates: Historic 10-20 Inches Of Rainfall Expected” • Debby has weakened over land, but it is still a tropical storm, producing maximum sustained wind speeds of 45 mph. Debby is expected to be stuck over the Southeast for the better part of this week, bringing historic rain while it meanders over Georgia and the Carolinas. [ABC News]
Rainfall potential of Debbie (NOAA image)
¶ “First Student’s Biggest School Year: Safety Enhancements, More Electric School Buses, And 1 Billion Planned Bus Rides in 2024–2025” • First Student, which provides children of millions of families with rides to and from school, is gearing up for its biggest year ever. The company expects to make the most trips for student s in North America. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “States To Receive $190 Million To Improve Health, Safety, And Lower Energy Costs In K-12 Public Schools” • Supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda, the US DOE announced selections for the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize and Grant, an investment to help K-12 public schools make energy upgrades. [CleanTechnica]
Solar canopy (Sacramento City Unified School District, via SEIA)
¶ “All Eyes On S&P 500 Nuclear Power Giant’s Outlook After 800% Grid-Price Surge” • Observers await the outlook of nuclear power provider and S&P 500 component Constellation Energy after PJM Interconnection, the largest US electrical grid operator, at its annual power market auction last week announced prices jumped more than 800%. [MSN]
¶ “Climate Change Deniers Make Up Nearly A Quarter Of US Congress” • US politics is an outlier bastion of climate denial. A total of 123 elected federal representatives, 100 in the House of Representatives and 23 US senators, all Republicans, deny that human-caused climate change exists, according to a recent study of statements they had made. [The Guardian]
Have a gleefully happy day.
geoharvey 
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