World:
¶ “Booking An Electric Flight In Europe Is Only Ten Years Away, Says Influential Dutch Researcher” • Cutting fossil fuel emissions is the most pressing challenge facing the world, and aviation is a big contributor. One of the world’s first battery-powered passenger planes is being built by Dutch start-up Elysian Aircraft. Development is well underway. [Euronews]
¶ “Scientists Find Clue To Predict When El Niño Will Strike” • Researchers from CSIRO and the University of Melbourne have identified the conditions that make it possible to predict some El Niño and La Niña events up to a year in advance. El Niño events can increase global average temperatures by about 0.2°C, enough to trigger widespread destruction. [Euronews]
¶ “Storm Austen Hits Northwestern France” • A major storm called Austen has caused severe disruption in northwestern France, with 23 departments on orange alert for high winds. Gusts were especially strong along the coast, reaching 161 km/h (100 mph) in Finistère. Around 161,000 households in the north-west were left without electricity. [Euronews]
¶ “If Google Fells 250,000 Trees In Finland, Does It Make A Sound?” • Google wants to build data centers in Finland because it is cheap to cool them there. But Google has taken to Finland’s forests like a wrecking ball takes to a building. Google cut down 400,000 trees without any permit, forcing the creatures that lived there to move to town. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “New EV Battery Gives Gasmobiles The Deep Freeze” • The cost of EV batteries spirals downwards while the cost of fossil fuels spirals up, speeding the transition to EVs. The missing link is battery performance that can meet, or even beat, a comparable combustion engine. Finnish innovator Donut Lab has taken a big step in that direction, at -30°C. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “ERM To Support 368-MW Welsh Wind Project” • ERM has been appointed by Bute Energy to support the development of the proposed 368.5-MW Lan Fawr Energy Park in Mid Wales. The project could comprise up to 55 wind turbines and is among the first to be brought forward under Wales’ new infrastructure consenting regime, ERM said. [reNews]
¶ “Renewables Boom Pushes Australia’s Gas Power To Quarter-Century Low” • Record renewable power generation and a surge in grid-scale battery capacity pushed Australia’s gas-powered generation to its lowest for any third quarter since 2000, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its Quarterly Energy Dynamics report. [OilPrice.com]
¶ “Couple Reveals How They Power Four-Bedroom Home And Electric Car For Just $59 A Week” • In Northern Ireland, a four-bedroom house shows what happens when a family runs both its home energy use and its driving on electricity: The two major expenses collapse into a single, lower bill of about £44 (about $59) per week. [The Cool Down]
US:
¶ “US Tech Leaders Are Urgently Calling For Rules On AI” • The recent warnings from American AI leaders give the impression that the world is just starting to confront the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence. China is made to appear to be the difficult final participant in a governance system that the US must create. This is the reverse of the true situation. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Trump Says Wind Turbine Part Imports Cause National Security Issue, But Doesn’t Impose Tariffs” • President Trump said that imports of wind turbines, their components and parts pose a threat to the national security of the US. At the same time, his memorandum did not announce the introduction of tariffs on such products. [The Hill]
¶ “Some Florida Farmers Are Making The Move To Regenerative Agriculture” • Florida’s farms have suffered through cold as well as drought, wildfires, and a warming climate. Not all of Florida’s farmers are succumbing to what might seem inevitable, though. Some have decided that regenerative agriculture may be at least a partial solution to their problems. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Small Nuclear Reactor At Vernon Site” • Vermont Public Service Commissioner Kerrick Johnson was at the Vernon Selectboard’s regular meeting, presenting a vision of nuclear power’s return to the Green Mountain State. He said it couldn’t happen any earlier than seven or eight years in the future even if things happened quickly. [MyChamplainValley.com]
¶ “A Changing Climate Is Reshaping Life Across Vermont” • From downtowns to farm fields and ski slopes, Vermonters are living the reality of climate change every day. A new Vermont Climate Assessment by University of Vermont scientists offers the most comprehensive analysis of Vermont’s dramatically changing climate. [Vermont Business Magazine]
Have an inexcusably nifty day.
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