Opinion:
¶ “AI Bubble?” • Huge tech companies are going after AI. It is going to solve countless problems at it gets smarter and more useful. We just need to build bigger and bigger datacenters. But Futurism just referenced a survey of AI researchers. It shows that 76% of experts said the brute force approach to general AI was ‘unlikely’ or ‘very unlikely’ to succeed. [CleanTechnica]
Turing Test weakness (CharlesTGillingham, public domain)
¶ “Will Tesla’s Pivot To MAGA Crash The Company? Has Musk’s Reach Exceeded His Grasp?” • Musk’s public profile and his talk about Tesla’s innovations, excellence, and exceptionalism were key ingredients for investors and car buyers alike. No more. Musk is clear: he doesn’t like them who brought him to the dance. And he’s still at it. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Lidar’s Wicked Cost Drop” • An article from China Daily on the growing autonomous driving market and dropping costs, says this: “A LiDAR unit, for instance, used to cost 30,000 yuan (about $4,100), but now it costs only around 1,000 yuan (about $138).” The extra cost is minimal now if it provides much better safety and results in fewer accidents. [CleanTechnica]
Hesai lidar unit (Courtesy of Hesai Technology)
¶ “Schools And Hospitals Get £180 Million Solar Investment” • Hundreds of schools and hospitals in the UK are to receive £180 million for solar panels from the government’s state-owned energy company. The first major investment from Great British Energy was announced as part of government efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions. [BBC]
¶ “Siemens Gamesa To Deliver Egyptian Wind Farm” • Siemens Gamesa entered into an agreement to deliver a large wind farm in Egypt. Under the agreement with the Egyptian government, the turbine maker will build, finance, and operate a 500-MW wind farm to help the country achieve clean energy targets. The wind farm will be built near the Gulf of Suez. [reNews]
Wind farm (Siemens Gamesa image)
¶ “Zelestra To Build 500-MW Hybrid Plant In India” • Zelestra has signed a contract to supply dispatchable renewable energy in India, enabling the construction of a portfolio of 500 MW of wind, solar and battery capacity. The hybrid multi-technology project will deliver 24/7 clean energy generation with wind, solar, and battery storage technology. [reNews]
¶ “Schroders Greencoat Hits 2-GW UK Solar Milestone” • The firm Schroders Greencoat hit a landmark 2 GW in operating UK solar capacity, equivalent to supplying annual needs of around 730,000 homes. With over 200 solar projects operating in the UK, Schroders Greencoat’s portfolio has around one fifth of the UK’s total ground mount solar capacity. [reNews]
Solar panels in Devon (Partonez, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)
¶ “Solar To Take Lead As India Targets 500 GW Of Renewables By 2030” • India’s goal is to have 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, which aligns with its pledge at COP26 to reach net-zero emissions by 2070. Among various renewable energy sources, solar power is poised to play a leading role in realizing this target. [pv magazine International]
¶ “Why Solar And Batteries Are Now The Engine Room Of The Energy Transition” • Quinbrook Infrastructure Investors,one of the world’s biggest investors in renewable energy systems, says the falling cost of solar and batteries is pushing the green energy transition to a “tipping point.” It will underpin massive new green metals industries. [RenewEconomy]
Solar plus batteries (blmcalifornia, public domain)
¶ “Zelenskyy: Nuclear Power Plants ‘Belong To The People Of Ukraine'” • A day after US President Donald Trump, in which Trump reportedly suggested that Ukraine consider transferring ownership of its power plants to the US for long-term security, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s nuclear plants are not a private but a national asset. [Yahoo News UK]
US:
¶ “Commercial Operations Begin At New US Green Hydrogen Plant” • The sudden shift in federal energy policy has not been good news for US hydrogen stakeholders, which were cut off when the federal Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program was suspended. Still, fresh activity in the green hydrogen industry continues to crop up. [CleanTechnica]
Green hydrogen plant (Courtesy of Invenergy)
¶ “Nissan To Get US-Made Batteries From SK On” • The EV market is growing everywhere, even in the USA, and various dynamics are encouraging automakers to get batteries locally, wherever they are. So, it is no surprise at all to learn that Nissan and SK On have just announced a big battery supply agreement for Nissan in North America. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “The Sustainability Sparks Fly When Geothermal Energy, Orphan Wells, And CAES All Come Together” • In a new twist on geothermal energy, a research team at Penn State University has developed an economical model that leverages the natural heat in unused oil and gas wells for compressed air energy storage to support wind and solar. [CleanTechnica]
Wind and solar (Werner Slocum, NREL via PSU)
¶ “Cutting Clean Energy Won’t Lower New England Utility Bills, Advocates Say” • The are efforts from Maine to Massachusetts to cut clean energy programs to save money. Advocates for clean energy say the irony is that many of the threatened investments contribute relatively little to customers’ monthly bills and save everyone money in the long run. [Canary Media]
¶ “Green Investors Are Finding Bargains in Trump’s Big Oil Era” • Private infrastructure investors are snatching up green bargains in what seems to be a buyer’s market for wind, solar, and battery projects. Brookfield is among the asset managers betting that rising energy consumption and competitive economics will drive demand toward renewables. [Yahoo Finance]
Have a truly great day.
geoharvey 
Leave a comment