Opinion:
¶ “Trump Is Powerless To Stop The Community Solar Movement From Spreading” • Trump eliminated federal funding allocated for cleantech through the Defense Production Act. The sweeping gesture generated a few headlines for the attention-seeking 47th President of the US, but the reality behind the headlines tells a different story. [CleanTechnica]
Community solar project (Courtesy of Dimension Energy)
¶ “Building Nuclear Involves Killing More People” • In Australia, building nuclear power plants requires keeping air-polluting coal power going for an extra 25 years, which would kill 3000-10,000 people. Nuclear plants are considered too expensive, too slow, too risky, too little expertise and not necessary when there are better alternatives. [Pearls and Irritations]
World:
¶ “Plans For New Marine Nature Reserve Revealed” • There are plans to establish a marine nature reserve off the east coast of the Isle of Man to protect newly discovered eelgrass beds. Under the Manx Wildlife Act, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture is obliged to protect eelgrass by creating marine nature reserves and conservation zones. [BBC]
Eelgrass (Olivier Dugornay, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Trees Felled By Storm ‘Helping Support Nature'” • Exmoor National Park Authority said in December Storm Darragh, which brought winds of up to 88 mph (142 km/h), caused “significant damage and disruption” to the park. Trees thay fell at the national park in Devon during the storm are helping support insects, conservationists have said. [BBC]
¶ “Europe’s Electricity Crisis: From Heathrow’s Blackout To A Continental Wake-Up Call” • A fire that shut down Heathrow Airpor didn’t just cancel flights. A single substation failure near a busy transport hub brought European air traffic to a standstill, just because a complex of hardware that links transmission to distribution at a single site failed. [CleanTechnica]
Jet (John McArthur, Unsplash)
¶ “The Share Of Renewable Energy In The EU Increased To 46.9% In 2024” • In 2024, 46.9% of all electricity in the EU was generated from renewable sources. A Eurostat press release says Denmark is the leader in the share of green electricity among EU countries, with 88.4% of its electricity generation coming from wind farms. [GMK Center]
US:
¶ “Experts Say US Weather Forecasts Will Worsen As DOGE Cuts Balloon Launches” • With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in. [ABC News]
Weather balloon launch (NOAA, Unsplash)
¶ “Tariff Anxiety Makes Honda And Toyota Strange Bedfellows” • Toyota is building a $14 billion battery factory in North Carolina, but it won’t need all those batteries for its own vehicles until sometime in the middle future. Honda, in an unexpected move as it navigates US tariff rules, will buy batteries from Toyota for its hybrid offerings . [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Big Oil Lobbying Congress For Immunity From Climate Lawsuits” • Big Oil, along with its conjoined methane producers, is lobbying Congress to shield it from liability for destroying the environment. Pay attention to this: The fossil fuel industry is asking to be let off the hook for decades of lying and cheating that cost thousands of lives. [CleanTechnica]
Sign in Maryland Statehouse (Daniel Huizinga, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Solar Manufacturing Accelerates In Texas … With Freyr Battery In The Mix (‽)” • Texas has been growing its solar manufacturing profile even as state lawmakers try to obstruct the Texas energy transition. Among the news makers is Freyr Battery, which had ditched plans for a $2.6 billion battery factory in Georgia just a few weeks ago. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “The 28 States Where Clean Energy Beats Coal” • The US hit a major energy-transition milestone last year: For the first time ever, it produced more electricity from wind and solar than from coal. Over half of U.S. states get more power from wind turbines and solar panels than they do from polluting, planet-warming coal, an Ember report says. [Canary Media]
Have a magnificently tranquil day.
geoharvey 
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