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Science and Technology:

¶ “Floating Solar Plus Wave Energy Smackdown For Fossil Fuels” • A new EU clean power project pairs floating solar with offshore wind turbines. If all goes according to plan, the waters of the EU will be peppered with wave conversion devices as well as floating solar panels. These technologies can co-use transmission lines with offshore wind farms. [CleanTechnica]

Wave energy (Image courtesy of CorPower Ocean)

¶ “Embodied Energy – A Great Tool To Think About Climate Solutions” • The term embodied energy refers to the amount of energy used to bring a product through its life cycle. The energy to make, process, and ship the product, along with disposing of anything left of it, is embodied. The amount of it in a product is significant for the climate. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “NIO’s Been Making EV Battery Swapping More Efficient” • NIO has been working on solutions to improve the efficiency and convenience of battery swapping. A few months ago, NIO rolled out its first NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 in Beijing, at Sinopec’s Chaoying Station. The system is capable of completing up to 312 battery swaps per day. [CleanTechnica]

Battery swapping by NIO (Image by NIO)

World:

¶ “New Coal Plants Could Hit India’s Renewable Energy Goal” • Proposed new coal-based power plants with a total output of 27 GW could jeopardise India’s target of 450 GW renewable energy by 2030, according to a new report. These surplus plants would require $33 billion of investment, but are projected to lie idle or operate inefficiently. [Deccan Herald]

¶ “BMW Ups Battery Cell Orders, Plans Recyclable Car For 2040” • BMW showed off its CirCular concept car, which it says is fully recyclable, at the Munich Motor Show. It also upped its orders for battery cells from €12 billion to €20 billion. The battery cells for its future EVs are expected to come from CATL, EVE Energy, SK Innovation, and Northvolt. [CleanTechnica]

BMW CirCular concept car (BMW image)

¶ “Amazon Signs First Renewable Energy Purchase Agreement In Japan” • Online retail giant Amazon signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation. The agreement is for the output from 22 MW of solar from 450 separate PV plants. The PPA represents Amazon’s first renewable energy deal in Japan. [PV Tech]

¶ “Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Launches Recyclable Turbine Blade” • Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy announced the launch of the “world’s first” recyclable commercial turbine blade. The 81-meter blades allow recyclers to separate their component materials more easily at the end of the blades’ lifespan. [Power Technology]

Offshore wind farm (RWE image)

¶ “Invenergy, BW Offshore Unveil ScotWind Plans” • Invenergy and BW Offshore have announced a joint venture to develop up to 5,400 MW of offshore windpower as part of the first ScotWind leasing round. The joint venture will focus on developing both floating and fixed foundation offshore wind projects off the north east coast of Scotland. [reNEWS]

¶ “Russian Developer Delivers 120-MW Bondarevskaya Wind” • Rosatom subsidiary Novawind JSC started supplying electricity from the 120-MW Bondarevskaya wind farm in Russia. The wind project comprises 48 turbines. NovaWind plans to commission another wind farm in the same area for 60 MW more capacity by the end of the year. [reNEWS]

Wind farm (NovaWind image)

¶ “Are Solar And Wind The Cheapest Forms Of Energy?” • Professor Alistair Sproul, Head of School of University of New South Wales’ School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, says the plummeting cost of producing renewable energy now makes it inevitable that burning coal and gas will soon be consigned to history. [UNSW Newsroom]

US:

¶ “Environmental Groups Ask Congress To Fund Billions Of Dollars In Climate Measures In Reconciliation” • As Democratic lawmakers begin crafting a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, a coalition of prominent environmental groups is asking them to include between $577 billion and $746 billion for key climate provisions. [CNN]

Wind farm (Harry Cunningham, Pexels)

¶ “Oil Leak Off The Coast Of Louisiana Spread For Miles And No One Knows Who Is Responsible” • It seems that the oil leak is from a pipeline that is no longer used. A GAO report says, “Pipelines can contain oil or gas if not properly cleaned in decommissioning.” It said 18,000 miles of pipelines still sit in place after their use has ended. [CNN]

¶ “Biden Administration Asks For Billions In ‘Urgent’ Disaster And Refugee Funding In Request To Keep The Government Running” • The Biden administration is asking for billions of dollars for “urgent” extreme weather recovery efforts and the resettlement of Afghan refugees in its proposal to keep the government funded past September 30. [CNN]

Fire (Thomas Ehling, Unsplash)

¶ “Growing A Zero-Emissions Transportation Ecosystem In Cincinnati” • Servall Electric, which has served the area around Cincinnati for generations, is helping the city electrify in more ways than one. The family-owned company, which is installing EV charging stations, also plans to transition its entire fleet of 25 to 30 vehicles to electric. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “House Lawmakers Back To Springfield On Thursday To Address Long-Awaited Energy Bill – Passage Called ‘Possible’” • The Illinois House plans to return to Springfield after dealings on energy legislation appear to have progressed. Some lawmakers are hopeful that inefficient nuclear plants can be saved and coal-burning plants closed. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Have an acceptably superior day.

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Opinion:

¶ “The US And China Can’t Get Along – Even If The Planet’s Future Is At Stake” • Despite facing a common threat, China and the United States, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, are still at odds on climate action. US climate officials tried to separate climate issues from differences on other topics. Chinese officials would not allow that. [CNN]

John Kerry in talks with China (US State Department via AP)

¶ “Riding Out Ida: Loss Of Communications, Extreme Heat With No Power, Help From SpaceX – Is This The New Normal?” • It’s been a hell of a week, to say the least. I think this is the first article I’ve written since the storm hit. I lost power and turned to the emergency weather radio station. It went offline, and along with it, all communications. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Ida Is Proof That Louisiana Needs To Embrace Building Microgrids” • After Hurricane Ida, power and communications are out here in Louisiana. We need microgrids, but our leaders don’t seem to want them. Advocates have been trying for years to make our local grid resilient, but our leaders refuse to do things that benefit everyone. Why? [CleanTechnica]

Model of microgrid (NREL image)

World:

¶ “Climate Change Fight Will Be Six Times More Costly” • A study by an international team of scientists published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that the economic damage from climate change could be six times higher by the end of this century than previously estimated. Earlier analysis ignored important risks. [Technology Times]

¶ “Vattenfall Inaugurates 604-MW Danish Kriegers Flak” • Vattenfall has officially inaugurated the 604-MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm off the coast of Denmark. Kriegers Flak is Scandinavia’s largest offshore wind farm and will increase Danish wind power production by 16%, Vattenfall said. It is in the Baltic Sea, 15 km to 40 km off the Danish coast. [reNEWS]

Kriegers Flak wind farm (Vattenfall image)

¶ “Indonesia Still Clinging To Coal Despite Phaseout Pledge, New Plan Shows” • The Indonesian government has walked back an earlier pledge to phase out all coal-fired power plants, saying now that it will keep them running but fit them with carbon capture technology. Experts have questioned the technical and financial feasibility of the plan. [Mongabay]

Australia:

¶ “Australia Stands By Coal ‘Beyond 2030’ After UN Warns Of Economic Havoc” • The Australian government said that the country would keep producing and exporting coal “well beyond 2030,” despite a stark warning from a top UN climate official that failing to scrap the fossil fuel will “wreak havoc” on the Australian economy. [CNN]

Coal-burning power plant (Loïc Manegarium, Pexels)

¶ “BP Sizes Up Former Oil Refinery As Industrial Renewable Hydrogen Hub” • The site of what was once Australia’s largest oil refinery is being sized up as a renewable hydrogen hub, complete with large-scale electrolyser. It is part of a feasibility study being conducted by BP Australia and Macquarie Capital, and backed by the state government. [Renew Economy]

¶ “Caterpillar And BHP Plan To Create Battery-Powered Mining Trucks” • Caterpillar and BHP are partnering up to develop battery-powered mining trucks to support customers’ climate-related goals. BHP is one of Caterpillar’s largest customers. It announced the agreement with Caterpillar to develop large mining trucks with zero emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Caterpillar mining truck (Caterpillar image)

¶ “Australian Potash Plans Hybrid Renewable Energy Microgrid For Lake Wells Project” • Australian Potash announced plans for PWR Hybrid to build, own, and operate a hybrid microgrid at its Lake Wells sulphate of potash project in Western Australia. The 35-MW microgrid will integrate a gas-fueled power station with solar PV, wind, and storage. [Stockhead]

US:

¶ “Plans For $400-Billion New City In The American Desert Unveiled” • The cleanliness of Tokyo, the diversity of New York and the social services of Stockholm: Billionaire Marc Lore has outlined his vision for a 5-million-person “new city in America” and appointed a world-famous architect to design it. All he needs is $400 billion and a place to build it. [CNN]

Proposed city (Bjarke Ingels Group and Bucharest studio)

¶ “Hurricane Ida Left A Louisiana Refinery Spewing Chemicals And An Oil Spill In The Gulf” • There were no communications for hours. Then I found that a Shell refinery is spewing toxic chemicals into the air. The New York Times reported that satellite images found an oil spill in the Gulf after Ida. People living in polluted air have no safe water. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “What A Hurricane Means When You Live In Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley'” • The stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is home to a concentration of chemical, petroleum and other industrial facilities, dozens of which have reported releases of toxic carcinogens in the past. Hurricane Ida passed directly through this corridor. [CNN]

Refinery in Baton Rouge (formulanone, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Texas Eyeballs 91,000 MW Of Solar Power” • Dallas Morning News points out that the need for additional transmission lines is one of the roadblocks between Texas and all 91,000 MW of that new solar power. But the growing number of green hydrogen fans in the state may have a solution to that: Use solar energy to make green hydrogen. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “GE May Sell Another Piece Of Its Power Business” • Over the past several years, General Electric has divested assets at a steady pace in an effort to simplify the company, exit less desirable lines of business, and shore up its balance sheet. It has already stopped building steam turbines for coal-fired plants. Now it may sell its nuclear turbine business. [The Motley Fool]

Have a monumentally creative day.

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Opinion:

¶ “New York City Was Never Built To Withstand A Deluge Like The One Ida Delivered – It Showed” • When the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped more than 7 inches of rain on parts of New York City, officials and meteorologists seemed stunned by the devastating flooding that ensued. But Scientists have been warning about this for years. [CNN]

Closed subway station (Kches16414, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “How To Raise Revenue Quickly: End Fossil Fuel Handouts” • After a century of waste and mismanagement, the House Natural Resources Committee has released a budget proposal that would end a slew of harmful handouts to the fossil fuel industry, protect publicly owned resources, and raise significant new revenues for US taxpayers. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Investing In More Nuclear Power Can’t Be Our Solution To Climate Change” • No one has figured out how to safely dispose of deadly nuclear waste. Yet, to combat the climate crisis, the US and the world propose to create more by extending the lives of old nuclear plants and building new ones. Have we not learned anything from Chernobyl and Fukushima? [Patch]

Nuclear power plant (Pixabay, Pexels)

World:

¶ “More Than 230 Journals Warn 1.5°C Of Global Warming Could Be Catastrophic For Health” • Human health is already being harmed by the climate crisis, and the impacts could become catastrophic and irreversible unless governments do much more to address global warming, the editors of over 230 medical journals said in a joint editorial. [CNN]

¶ “Tesla May Receive €1.14 Billion Grant For German Battery Factory” • According to German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Tesla is in line to receive a €1.14 billion ($1.35 billion) grant from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to help build a new battery factory adjacent to its factory in Grünheide, near Berlin. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Gigafactory in Germany (Tesla image)

¶ “Sixteen Countries Now Over 10% Plugin Vehicle Share, 6 Over 20%” • The plugin electric vehicle market has taken off in the past year, largely thanks to the EU requiring automakers to sell more EVs or pay big fines. All of a sudden, car makers have discovered that consumers will indeed buy millions of EVs if you produce them and market them well. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “A Decade Of Wind, Solar, And Nuclear In China Shows Clear Scalability Winners” • China surprised the world in 2020, as it deployed 72 GW of wind energy, a world record for a single country, and 48 GW of solar capacity, over 50% more than the previous year. Meanwhile, exactly zero nuclear reactors were commissioned in 2020. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in Inner Mongolia (Steven Buss, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “UK Energy Regulator Supports Vehicle-To-Grid Proposal” • Recently, Ofgem, the independent energy regulator for the UK, has unveiled a proposed new policy that would expand the availability of vehicle-to-grid technology in the UK. The policy would allow EV drivers to sell the energy stored in their car batteries back to the grid. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “South Korea To Diversify Utilization Of Animal Manure For Developing Efficient Biogas” • South Korea will embark on a state project to develop an efficient method of utilizing manure for such renewable resources as biogas. Biogas, largely consisting of methane, can be used as fuel for vehicles and such equipment as power plant turbines. [Aju Business Daily]

Cow (Flash Dantz, Unsplash)

¶ “Climate Change Means Australia May Have To Abandon Much Of Its Farming” • The findings of the IPCC suggest Australia may have to jettison tracts of the bush unless there is massive funding for climate-change adaptation and planning. Even if emissions are curtailed, Australia likely faces billions of dollars of costs for adaptation of rural communities. [Business Line]

¶ “Climate Change Pushes New Zealand To Warmest Recorded Winter” • For the three months through August, the average temperature was 9.8°C (50°F), according to New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. That’s 1.3°C above the long-term average and 0.2°C higher than the previous record posted last year. [CNBCTV18]

New Zealand (Aneta Foubíková, Pexels)

¶ “Mediclinic Walks The Talk, Forging $152 Million Renewable Energy Deal” • Mediclinic International, a private hospital group, is putting action behind its sustainable development strategy and walking the talk. It announced that its Southern African division had entered a $152 million deal to buy renewable electricity from Energy Exchange of Southern Africa. [IOL]

US:

¶ “NASA Begins Air Taxi Flight Testing With Joby” • NASA has begun flight testing Joby Aviation’s all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Joby’s Electric Flight Base near Big Sur, California. It is the first time that NASA will test an eVTOL aircraft as part of its Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign. The tests will run to September 10. [CleanTechnica]

Joby’s eVTOL aircraft (Joby Aviation image)

¶ “US Civic Group Urges Transition To Renewable Energy Amid Frequent Natural Disasters” • The US must switch to renewable energy sources to protect communities across the country, which suffer from climate-related natural disasters that are becoming more frequent and deadly, the executive director of a civic group based in Louisiana told Sputnik. [Urdupoint.com]

¶ “Frustration With Power Outages Grows As Entergy Promises More Restorations Soon” • Entergy Louisiana’s CEO called Ida one of the utility’s most destructive storms ever. “Incredibly, the number of poles damaged or destroyed is already more than we saw in Louisiana from Katrina, Zeta, and Delta combined, by a large margin,” Phillip May said. [WWL-TV]

Have an unmistakably delightful day.

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Opinion:

¶ “The Truth New York City Cannot Avoid” • Four days after it hit New Orleans, at least 13 New Yorkers died when Hurricane Ida’s remnants hit the Big Apple, more than 1,300 miles away. So far, New York City has more fatalities reported than all of Louisiana. Climate change is scrambling all our assumptions for weather, resiliency, and emergency preparedness. [CNN]

Long Island Expressway (Tommy Gao, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Ida’s Reminder That Climate Policy Should Be Built On Resilience, Not Delusion” • Nine years after Hurricane Sandy, New York City’s preparedness for an aftershock from Hurricane Ida seemed less than impressive. This was not the only time something like this has happened recently. Part of the subway was flooded by Hurricane Elsa. [National Review]

Science and Technology:

¶ “Nearly 30% Of 138,000 Assessed Species Face Extinction, Group Warns” • In its annual Red List update, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature warned that 28% of the 138,374 species identified on its “survival watchlist” as under threat have now been moved to the more dangerous “red list,” meaning they are at high risk of extinction. [CNN]

Siberian Tiger (Dave Pape, released into the public domain)

World:

¶ “Volkswagen Has 25.5% Of BEV Sales In Denmark, Volkswagen Group 40.9%!” • Electric vehicle sales are booming in Europe, especially in some northerly nations. Denmark isn’t the largest or hottest auto market in the world, but its electric vehicle (BEV) sales are good and growing fast. In the first seven months of the year, VW had 25.5% of the market. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “IEEFA Says New Coal Power Plants In India Will Become Stranded Assets” • The Institute For Energy Economics And Financial Analysis says India is hell bent on building a fleet of new coal-fired generating stations, with 33 GW currently under construction and another 29 GW in pre-construction. The IEEFA says all will be stranded assets. [CleanTechnica]

Indian coal-burning plant (Epagemakerwiki, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Germany Hit Record 27.6% Plugin EV Share In August, And There’s More To Come” • Germany saw plugin electric vehicle share jump to a record 27.6% in August, more than doubling from the same month last year. Non-electrified combustion vehicle share fell to a record low 53.2% in an overall auto market that was down some 38% from 2019 levels [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Gone With The Wind: Why UK Firms Could Miss Out On The Offshore Boom” • Boris Johnson set out plans to add 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The GMB trade union warned that the UK risks squandering a major economic benefit by allowing many of the components of its offshore wind boom to be made in Asia. [The Guardian]

Offshore wind turbines (Reegan Fraser, Unsplash)

US:

¶ “Opt-Out Community Choice Solar For Upstate New York” • Several communities in upstate New York are now part of an opt-out community choice program that will allow their residents to enjoy clean, emissions-free energy and lower utility bills. Opt-out means that everyone is enrolled in the program unless they want to pay extra for dirty power. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Houston-Based Quanta Services To Acquire Renewable Energy Infrastructure Co For $2.7 Billion” • Quanta Services, based in Houston, announced that it is to acquire Blattner Holding Company, which provides support for utility-scale renewable energy developers. At closing, Quanta will pay roughly $2.7 billion for Blattner. [BIC Magazine]

Power lines (Quanta Services Courtesy Photo)

¶ “New Mexico’s Key Environmental Regulators Seek Budget Bumps To Fund Climate Change Efforts” • About a third of New Mexico’s budget has come from oil and gas production in recent years. But renewables recently began growing in importance as the state government seeks to diversify the state’s economy and curb pollution. [Carlsbad Current-Argus]

¶ “How McLean County Wind Farms Contribute To Renewable Energy Push” • McLean County’s wind farms have churned out enough energy to power more than 250,000 homes while raking in millions of dollars in property taxes to the Illinois county. About 65% of those taxes, $38.3 million, have funded some local school districts since 2007. [The Pantagraph]

Have an invigoratingly comfy day.

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Opinion:

¶ “The World Needs Vastly More Green Electricity” • While perceptions about the consequence of the climate crisis may have advanced, reality has not. The majority of the world still relies on fossil fuels for heating, cooling, transportation, and manufacturing. It’s time to take decisive action and convert to green electricity. [CleanTechnica]

NREL’s Flatirons Campus near Boulder (Joshua Bauer, NREL)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Hybrid Power Plants And Flexibility – The Future Of The Grid” • Imagine an electric grid powered by clean energy. Now imagine that it has all the comfort and convenience consumers expect as well as grid reliability and resiliency services that are similar to or better than conventional plants. That is the promise of the FlexPower project. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “John Kerry Is Pushing China To Do More On Climate. Beijing Is Pushing Back” • John Kerry is pressing Chinese officials to be more ambitious in their plans to move away from coal faster and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As he does, they push back to ask what could be done about US sanctions, according to Kerry’s own account of the talks. [CNN]

John Kerry in China (Image from the US Department of State)

¶ “Vietnamese Solar Power Plant Could Reach 2.8 GW Soon” • Vietnam has become a surprising solar power champion in the past year, having shot into the role in December 2020. And it seems happy to keep going. Recent news is that the largest solar park in Vietnam is set to get a big boost and get even significantly larger by early 2022. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Cost-Effective Energy Storage In South Asia” • A study team from NREL’s recently launched Grid Planning and Analysis Center evaluated storage growth for South Asia under various technology cost, policy, and regulatory scenarios. Their work revealed a range of trajectories for storage growth over the next three decades. [CleanTechnica]

Energy storage opportunities for South Asia (NREL image)

¶ “Russian Trio Plan 67-MW Wind Farm On Sakhalin” • Russian coal producer East Mining Company, the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, and the Sakhalin regional government signed an agreement to cooperate on a wind farm of over 67-MW on Russia’s Sakhalin island. It is to have 16 turbines operating in 2024. [reNEWS]

¶ “Ford Mustang Mach-E Sets 3 Guinness World Records In UK” • It is 1,407 km (874 miles) from John O’Groats at the northern tip of Scotland to Lands End, in Cornwall. A Ford Mustang Mach-E set a Guinness World Record for electric cars by averaging over 6.5 miles per kWh for that distance. The previous record, set by a Tesla, was 1.8 miles per kWh. [CleanTechnica]

Ford Mustang Mach-E (Ford image)

¶ “Engie To Provide Google’s German Operations With Energy from Renewables 24/7” • American technology company Google has signed a deal with energy firm Engie for renewable energy to power the tech firm’s operations in Germany. The deal means Google will have clean power for its data centers and offices on a 24/7 basis. [Power Engineering International]

¶ “OPEC Member Calls For Change, Urges Oil Producers To Invest More On Renewable Energy” • Iraq’s deputy prime minister, urged oil producers to seek “an economic rejuvenation based on ecologically sound policies and technology,” such as solar electricity and even nuclear reactors, to lessen their reliance on fossil fuel exports. [Nature World News]

Coal-burning power plant (Jason Blackeye, Unsplash)

¶ “‘India Can Produce 1,000 GW Solar Energy On 0.5% Of Land'” • In a talk to the International Climate Summit 2021, industrialist Mukesh Ambani outlined a roadmap for New Energy business, calling it the “next big value creation engine” for Reliance and India. He said Reliance Industries would “establish and enable” at least 100 GW of solar energy by 2030. [NDTV.com]

¶ “More Issues At Bruce Power Station Raise Concerns About Aging Nuclear Infrastructure” • Unexpectedly high levels of hydrogen in pressure tubes at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station on the eastern shore of Lake Huron have renewed questions about how long Canada’s aging CANDU reactors can continue to operate safely. [The Globe and Mail]

Bruce Nuclear Generating Station (Chuck Szmurlo, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

US:

¶ “Will Hurricane Ida Cause A Spike In Covid-19?” • The fear is that the damage wrought by floods and winds will be made much worse by another scourge, the pandemic. Only a little over 40% of Louisiana’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and hospitals are already overburdened. Recovery from a major hurricane has complicated things greatly. [BBC]

¶ “Tesla To Provide Autopilot Data To NHTSA By October 22” • Teslas that are driving with Autopilot engaged have a distressing tendency to slam head on into emergency vehicles parked on the side of America’s highways. That has happened 12 times so far and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration wants to know why. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla autopilot driving (Tesla image)

¶ “Philadelphia Solar Plans 1-GW Solar Panel Factory On Back Of Biden’s Solar Support” • A solar panel manufacturer called Philadelphia Solar is planning to build a 1-GW solar factory in the US thanks to Biden’s “extensive support” for solar power. The solar factory is planned for completion in the third quarter of next year, 2022. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Duke Energy Can Save Billions Of Dollars Replacing Coal With More Renewables” • A report contends that by shifting to mostly solar, wind, and battery power to replace coal in meeting its Carolinas generation needs, Duke Energy Corp could cut carbon emissions 74% and save a total of $1.1 billion in generation costs by 2030. [The Business Journals]

Have a gloriously tranquil day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Climate Scientist: This Is A Dystopian Moment” • I’m a climate scientist. My colleagues and I have been warning for years that human-induced global warming will bring us a future of faster and more furious extreme weather events. But now the events are coming with such speed and ferocity that the moment can be called dystopian. [CNN]

Dystopian climate change (Pixabay, Pexels)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Arctic Warming Linked To Colder Winters” • A study shows that increases in extreme winter weather in parts of the US are linked to accelerated warming of the Arctic. The scientists found that heating in the region ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex. The Texas cold wave in February is an example. [BBC]

World:

¶ “Volkswagen Launches ID.3 And ID.4 Subscriptions” • Car subscriptions are getting more and more popular. Volkswagen is now offering them for the ID.3 and ID.4 in Germany. Customers can get these fully electric vehicles, maintenance, insurance, the registration, and taxes all handled, and more via the Volkswagen AutoAbo program. [CleanTechnica]

Volkswagen ID.4 (Dennis Elzinga, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “India, UK Agree On $1.2 Billion Investment In Green Projects, Renewable Energy” • India and the UK agreed on a $1.2 billion investment in green projects and renewable energy to boost India’s green growth ambitions at the 11th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue. This further drives an Enhanced Trade Partnership. [Free Press Journal]

¶ “Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power Launches IPO” • Saudi Arabian utility developer ACWA Power made an announcement that it intends to proceed with its plan to float on the Riyadh bourse. The company, 50% owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, plans to issue shares representing 11.1% of the company’s enlarged share capital. [Arab News]

Noor solar complex (Wikieliuser, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

¶ “Lenovo Is Committed To Procurement Of Clean Energy” • Lenovo’s latest environmental, social, and governance report outlines the companies prolonged commitment to sustainable development of its business practices. Determined to create a responsible operating model, Lenovo announced a target of 90% renewable energy use by 2026. [Energy Digital]

¶ “Renewable Power Generation Share In Denmark To Reach Nearly 100% In 2030, Says GlobalData” • Renewable power generation (excluding hydropower) in Denmark is expected to increase from 24.33 TWh in 2020 to 43.2 TWh by 2030, bringing its share from 86.4% as of 2020, to 99.9% in 2030 according to a report form GlobalData. [pv magazine India]

Solar Panels On Hjelm Island, 2005 (RSteen, CC-BY-SA 2.5)

¶ “Africa Needs To Invest $130 Billion Per Year To Go Net-Zero By 2050” • Africa needs investments to the tune of $130 billion annually to become a net-zero continent by 2050, a report by Friends of the Earth has suggested. The report, “A Just Recovery Renewable Energy Plan for Africa,” said Africa needs 300 GW of renewable energy by 2030. [Oil Price]

US:

¶ “At Least 46 People Have Died After Floodwaters From Ida’s Remnants Swamp Cities From Virginia To New England” • At least 46 people have died in six Eastern states – Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – after the storm brought unprecedented rainfall to some areas. There are 23 known deaths in New Jersey. [CNN]

Flood in Pennsylvania (Michael M Stokes, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Biden Says He’ll Press Congress On Infrastructure After Wildfires And Ida Wreak Havoc On Us: ‘The Climate Crisis Is Here'” • President Joe Biden said he plans to press Congress to take further action on his infrastructure proposals that he says will better prepare the nation for future natural disasters and the effects of climate change. [CNN]

¶ “Solar Activity Was At Record-High Level In USA In 2020” • In the US, solar PV module shipments rose to 21.8 million peak kW of solar power capacity in 2020, by far their best ever. In fact, that was 5.4 million peak kW above 2019’s total, their previous best. Rooftop solar installations grew, but larger installations grew even more. [CleanTechnica]

Solar module costs (US EIA graph)

¶ “Otter Tail Power To Sell Its Share Of Coyote Station By 2028” • Otter Tail Power Company plans to sell its share of the Coyote Station power plant near Beulah by 2028, reported Prairie Public. Otter Tail has a 35% ownership stake in the plant. The 420-MW facility, which opened in 1981, is supplied by North American Coal’s Coyote Creek Mine. [Star Tribune]

¶ “EDF Signs 300-MW Solar-Plus-Storage PPA In California” • EDF Renewables North America is to supply electricity from the 300-MW Desert Quartzite solar+storage project in California to Clean Power Alliance under a 15-year power purchase agreement. The facility will include a 600 MWh battery system. It is to be operating by February 2024. [reNEWS]

Solar array (Frederic Neema, EDF)

¶ “RWE Inks 200-MW US Battery Deal With LG” • RWE Renewables signed contracts with LG Energy Solution to provide an integrated battery energy storage system for two projects with co-located solar PV facilities in Texas. The contract secures more than 800 MWh of battery storage capacity deployed on over 200 MW of storage systems. [reNEWS]

¶ “Energy Bill Negotiations Head To House After Talks Once Again Derailed” • The Illinois Senate approved an energy bill that would subsidize nuclear plants and close coal plants, but it’s likely to change as negotiations continue in the House. Timelines for closing municipal coal-fired power plants continued to hold up the bill’s passage. [Pontiac Daily Leader]

Have an absolutely awesome day.

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World:

¶ “Air Pollution Is Cutting More Years From People’s Lives Than Smoking, War Or HIV/AIDS” • Air pollution is taking years from billions of people’s lives around the world and is a greater threat to life expectancy than smoking, HIV/AIDS, or war, a report shows. In India, air pollution reduces life expectancy an average of 5.9 years. [CNN]

Air pollution (Pixabay, Pexels)

¶ “The Unlikely Protector Against Bangladesh’s Rising Seas” • By 2050, up to 13.3 million Bangladeshis may become displaced due to climate change. A main problem is sea level rise. But there is a glimmer of hope visible amid the waves, as oyster-encrusted reefs glisten in the sun. These reefs could become a formidable defense against rising seas. [BBC]

¶ “Subaru To Introduce Battery Electric SUV In 2022” • Subaru announced its first battery EV will arrive in US showrooms in the middle of next year. The all-electric platform was developed jointly with Toyota, which owns a major chunk of Subaru. It is expected to be closely related to the production version of the Toyota bZ-4X concept car. [CleanTechnica]

Subaru electric SUV teaser (Subaru image)

¶ “Serbia Streamlines Rooftop Solar Permitting: No Permitting!” • Serbia is foregoing the lengthy, costly permits for rooftop solar panels altogether. If you buy some solar panels, you can have them installed and all is right with the world. One commenter said, “This is a U turn on regulations from close to impossible administration to zero paperwork.” [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Hive Energy Team Targets 350 MW Of PV In New Zealand” • Hive Energy, Ethical Power, and Solar South West launched a new joint venture, HES Aotearoa, to develop up to 350 MW of solar assets in New Zealand. The three UK-based companies said they have complementary skills, so the JV is fully integrated in the whole solar development chain. [reNEWS]

Solar panels (Sungrow EMEA, Unsplash)

¶ “Sweden’s Plugin EV Share Over 47% In August, Full Electrics At Record High 24%” • Sweden’s plugin electric vehicle market share hit 47.1% in August of 2021, up over 1.6 times its 29.0% in August of 2020. Full electric vehicles took a record high 24.1% share of new sales, slightly ahead of plugin hybrids, due to the country’s recent incentive adjustments. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Stiesdal ‘Hot Rocks’ Energy Storage Flagship To Power Up On Danish Island Of Lolland” • The flagship of an innovative ‘hot rocks’ energy storage system concept under development by Stiesdal Storage Technologies is to be set up with power and fibre-optic group Andel on Lolland, a renewables-rich island off Denmark in the Baltic Sea. [Recharge News]

CGI of Stiesdal’s GridScale energy storage facility (SST image)

¶ “Australia’s Long-Awaited Offshore Wind Legislation Has Landed” • Australia could become an offshore wind superpower, with new jobs and economic opportunities, after years of waiting for the federal government to open the door to this booming global industry. An offshore wind bill has finally been presented in Parliament. [Climate Council]

US:

¶ “Coming Hours Are Make Or Break For Lake Tahoe Resort City, Fire Officials Say” • Firefighters have been able to make some headway against the Caldor Fire around South Lake Tahoe, and the popular California tourist town may, with luck, be spared from flames, if conditions on Wednesday night remain favorable, a fire official said. [CNN]

Wildfire in California (Missvain, USDA, public domain)

¶ “New York City Declares State Of Emergency Over ‘Brutal Flooding'” • A state of emergency was declared in New York City after it was hit by record rainfall and flash flooding by Tropical Storm Ida. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city was “enduring an historic weather event” with “brutal flooding” and “dangerous conditions” on the roads. [BBC]

¶ “US Charging Networks Getting More Connected” • In recent months, four of the biggest and most user-friendly EV charging networks linked up in order to make EV charging much simpler and easier. Greenlots members can now use ChargePoint, EV Connect, and FLO charging stations via roaming agreements the companies made. [CleanTechnica]

Charging station (Image courtesy of FLO)

¶ “Fifty-Four Members Of Congress (All Democrats) Push For End To Fossil Fuel Subsidies” • In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer this week, 54 members of Congress called for an end to over $120 billion in tax handouts to the fossil fuel industry. The letter follows a proposal by President Joe Biden. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “LA City Council Votes To Have City Transition to 100% Renewable Energy By 2035” • The Los Angeles City Council voted to have the Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the country, transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035, as well as develop a long-term hiring plan for nearly 10,000 “green” jobs. [MyNewsLA.com]

Los Angeles (Cameron Venti, Unsplash)

¶ “Signal Energy Completes Texas Clean Renewable Energy Project” • Signal Energy, an EPC contractor based in Tennessee, has completed construction of the 418-MW Juno Solar Project in Borden County, Texas. The project was delivered on time and is producing enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes. [Solar Industry]

¶ “Exelon Threatens Nuclear Plant Closure After Springfield Energy Deal Falters” • The operator of three Illinois nuclear plants facing potential closure said that Illinois lawmakers must act on an energy omnibus package in less than two weeks to avoid having the Byron plant being taken offline permanently on September 13. [WBEZ]

Have a thoroughly agreeable day.

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Opinion:

¶ “It’s Time To Pay Serious Attention To The Power Grid” • Millions of Americans have gone without power this year. The examples include California (heat), Texas (cold) and Louisiana (hurricanes). New Orleans is powerless, potentially for weeks, after Hurricane Ida, and dangerously high temperatures setting in. It’s time to think about a resilient grid. [CNN]

Blackout (Claudio Schwarz, Unsplash)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Using Hot Sand To Store Energy” • Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are in the late stages of prototype testing a thermal energy storage technology that uses silica sand as a storage medium. The system is a reliable, cost-effective, and scalable solution that can be sited anywhere. The sand is heated to 1,200°C (2,192°F) for energy storage. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “High-Power Wireless Vehicle Charging Technology Licensed By HEVO” • The US DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has licensed its wireless charging technology for electric vehicles to Brooklyn-based HEVO. The system provides the world’s highest power levels in the smallest package and could enable EVs to be charged as they are driven. [CleanTechnica]

Wireless charging system (Carlos Jones, ORNL, US DOE)

World:

¶ “John Kerry Warns Nations Are Running Out Of Time To Decarbonize And Challenges China To Move Away From Coal” • US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry said that he is confident the world’s largest fossil fuel emitters will decarbonize in the end. But the top US international climate official warned we’re quickly running out of time. [CNN]

¶ “Paris Slams On The Brakes And Sets 30 kph Speed Limit To Reduce Pollution” • Authorities in Paris are forcing drivers to slow down, setting a speed limit on almost all the city’s roads to reduce pollution and improve safety. But there are questions about whether the rule, which limits drivers to 30 kph (19 mph), will actually reduce pollution. [CNN]

Notre Dame gargoyle over the city streets (Pedro Lastra, Unsplash)

¶ “Syrian Oil Slick Spreads Across Mediterranean – Cyprus On Alert” • Authorities in Cyprus are monitoring an oil slick that originated from a power plant on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and could soon affect the island. Syrian state media said last week there had been a spill from the plant, which is inside the Baniyas oil refinery. [BBC]

¶ “Renewables Surge ‘Not Fast Enough For Net Zero’” • The world will fall far short of hitting the 2050 net zero ambition established by the COP21 Paris Agreement, according to a report, DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook. The report made clear that this is true even if all new electricity generation capacity is from renewable resources. [reNEWS]

Assembling a wind turbine (Ørsted image)

¶ “China Curbs Coal-Fired Power Expansion, Giving Way To Renewables” • In the first half of this year, the government of China has chopped newly-approved coal-fired units by 78.8% to 5.2 GW as compared with the same period last year, the non-government environment organisation Greenpeace said in its latest research report. [Upstream Online]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Ida: Two Killed In Mississippi Highway Collapse” • Two people were killed and at least 10 injured after a section of highway collapsed in Mississippi. At least seven vehicles were involved in the crash, about 36 miles (69 km) from Mobile, Alabama. Local authorities believe the collapse was caused by torrential rainfall as Hurricane Ida. [BBC]

Highway collapse (Mississippi Highway Patrol image)

¶ “Caldor Fire Prompts States Of Emergency In Nevada And California, With More Than 50,000 Told To Evacuate The Lake Tahoe Region” • The governors of California and Nevada have declared states of emergency because of the fast-moving Caldor Fire. Officials have told everyone in the city of South Lake Tahoe to get out. [CNN]

¶ “Walmart Offers New Delivery Systems And Autonomous EVs” • Walmart announced it will expand its last-mile delivery service to other clients, offering what it terms a “white label” logistics platform to outside merchants. This meets its competitors’ level and could also make it be a rival to FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service. [CleanTechnica]

Delivery vehicle (Gatik image)

¶ “More Chevy Bolt Battery Woes – GM Shuts Down Production” • General Motors has stopped making Chevy Bolts and laid off workers at its factory in Orion Township, Michigan. The Detroit Free Press reported that GM will keep that plant idle until it is confident LG Energy Solution can make a defect-free EV battery without a potential fire risk. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Invenergy Inks 127-MW Colorado PV PPA” • Invenergy and Guzman Energy have signed a 127-MW PPA for the Boutique Solar project currently in development in Montezuma County, Colorado. Boutique Solar is expected to generate more than $250,000 (€211,000) per year in local property taxes in addition to creating jobs. [reNEWS]

Solar array (Invenergy image)

¶ “Louisiana Assesses Major Damage To Power Grid From Ida” • The damage to Louisiana’s power grid from Hurricane Ida is so extensive that the US Coast Guard has joined the task of assessing the wreckage, a departure from its maritime security duties. More than 1 million homes and businesses along the US Gulf Coast are without power. [Reuters]

¶ “Cunningham: Energy Legislation Creates Thousands Of Jobs, Fights Climate Change” • The Illinois Senate passed legislation that sets an ambitious goal of 100% renewable energy for the state by 2050. It creates a firm schedule for closing coal, oil, and gas-based power plants. It provides short-term funding for old nuclear plants. [Illinois Senate Democratic]

Have an undisguisedly majestic day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Keep Fuel Dollars Local By Switching To EVs” • A study shows that in the US Southeast, consumers spend about $94 billion on fossil fuels annually. Of this money, about $64 billion leaks out of the region’s economy every year. A switch to EVs powered by local renewable energy would retain this within the region, a boon to its economy. [CleanTechnica]

Charging an EV (Mike, Pexels)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Heimdal Uses Renewable Energy To Get CO₂, Cement From Seawater; Startup To Debut Carbon-Free Materials” • Heimdal is a tech startup that focused its services to extract CO₂, cement, and other materials from seawater, using renewable energy sources. The company features one of the most eco-friendly ventures in the world. [Tech Times]

¶ “Climate Change Is Making Hurricanes Stronger, Slower And Wetter. Ida Checked All The Boxes” • Human-caused climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous. They are produce rainfall, move slower once they make landfallm and generate larger storm surges along the coast. Hurricane Ida was a prime example of those changes. [CNN]

Rainfall potential of storm (NOAA image)

World:

¶ “Highly Polluting Leaded Petrol Now Eradicated From The World, Says UN” • There is now no country in the world that uses leaded petrol for cars and lorries, the UN Environment Program has announced. The toxic fuel has contaminated air, soil and water for almost a century, but in July, Algeria stopped allowing its use. [BBC]

¶ “Volkswagen ID.3 Rolls Into China” • The Volkswagen ID.3, Europe’s second best selling electric car in the first half of 2021, is finally making its way into the Chinese market, the largest auto market and largest electric car market in the world. It appeared at the Chengdu Motor Show, and pre-bookings of the hatchback EV were opened. [CleanTechnica]

Volkswagen ID.3 EVs (Image courtesy of Volkswagen AG)

¶ “New French Law Will Help Millions Of People Drive On Sunshine” • France has a new climate bill that will have 30% of the surface of new commercial and industrial buildings solarized starting on January 1, 2023. Those solar panels will power a lot of electric vehicles, but they won’t be the only ones in a wave of new solar power capacity. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “R Power Acquires 59-MW Portuguese PV Portfolio” • Polish company R Power has invested in a portfolio of solar projects in Portugal totaling 59 MW. With the acquisition, the company’s Portuguese capacity will reach almost 70 MW. The investments are expected to reach the construction-ready status in 2021, with construction to begin in 2022. [reNEWS]

R Power solar project (R Power image)

¶ “Renewables Could Meet 100% Demand In Australia At Certain Times Of Day By 2025, Report Says” • Renewables will meet 100% of consumer demand for electricity at certain times of the day by 2025 if large-scale wind and solar development continues at current rates, according to a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator. [The Guardian]

¶ “BC Is Blocking Needed First Nations Power Projects, Says Report” • Renewable energy projects run by First Nations could help British Columbia power through the climate crisis, but government roadblocks threaten their participation, according to a recently published report from the New Relationship Trust and the Pembina Institute. [The Tyee]

Wind farm (Photo by Washington DNR, Creative Commons)

¶ “Electricity Grid Powers On Despite Demise Of Coal As Renewables Surge” • Australia’s power grid is set up to cope with coal’s continued decline over the next decade, the Australian market operator has declared. There is a growing flood of cheap electricity from solar and wind farms undercutting traditional power plants’ profits. [Sydney Morning Herald]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Ida: One Million People In Louisiana Without Power” • Louisiana residents may be in the dark for weeks as officials take stock of the damage from Hurricane Ida. Ida made landfall on Sunday with 150 mph (240 km/h) winds, the fifth strongest to ever hit the US mainland. About one million locals remain without power. [BBC]

Storm (Hunt on Photos Studio, Pexels)

¶ “South Lake Tahoe Residents Ordered To Evacuate As Caldor Fire Threatens The Area” • With fire conditions resulting in the rapid spread of the fire, Cal Fire officials released updated maps three times in as many hours on Monday morning for three areas, marking the change from evacuation warnings to orders in South Lake Tahoe areas. [CNN]

¶ “Energy Bill Could See A Vote As State Lawmakers Return For Redistricting Session” • When Illinois lawmakers return to the Statehouse for what is scheduled as a one-day special session, they may vote on an energy regulatory overhaul bill. People interested in coal-burning and nuclear power plants hope to see those plants get subsidies. [Illinois Newsroom]

Prairie State coal-burning plant (PSEC on Facebook)

¶ “Indigo Technologies Promises Lightweight, Highly Efficient Electric Cars” • Indigo Technologies, a startup based in Woburn, Massachusetts, was formed by several people from MIT who are committed to making electric cars lighter and more efficient than anything else on the market. It is focusing on working EVs rather than personal cars. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “DOE Releases New Reports Highlighting Record Growth And Declining Costs Of Wind Power” • The Department of Energy released three reports showing record growth in land-based wind energy, significant expansion of the pipeline for offshore wind projects, and continued decline in the cost of generating energy with wind turbines. [CleanTechnica]

Have an abundantly rewarding day.

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Opinion:

¶ “How To Save $40,000 Over Next 10 Years By Selling Your Car Now!” • I want to say that this won’t work for everyone, but I hope thousands of you will be able to take the ideas in this article and sell a car or truck now, while the used car market is white hot in the US. After giving up the fossil-dependent vehicle, there are lots of low-cost options. [CleanTechnica]

2021 Ford Edge combustion-powered SUV (Ford image)

¶ “Transformative Climate Action Framework: Transportation” • My colleagues and I at the Union of Concerned Scientists, along with an advisory committee, have worked to understand what is needed to decarbonize our economy while focusing on people. We recently released a report outlining a transformative climate action framework. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Floating Wind Turbines Could Open Up Vast Ocean Tracts For Renewable Power” • In the stormy waters of the North Sea, 15 miles off the coast of Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, five floating offshore wind turbines stretch 574 feet (175 metres) above the water. The world’s first floating windfarm, it has already broken UK records for energy output. [The Guardian]

Floating wind turbine in tow (Lars Christopher, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

World:

¶ “Renewable Energy Consumption Has Tripled In Ten Years” • Over the past decade, renewable energy consumption has grown at an average annual rate of 13.4%. Renewables were the only category of energy that grew globally at double digits over the past decade. Last year, it grew by 9.7%, and was the only source of energy to grow at all. [Oil Price]

¶ “Australian Electric Buses To Run On Sunlight In Queensland” • A massive expansion in electric buses will be enabled by the partnership of Keolis Downer, BusTech, and the Queensland government. Sixteen new electric buses will be built in Bustech’s workshop on the Gold Coast. The first one should be running on sunshine within 12 months. [CleanTechnica]

Electric bus (Image courtesy of BusTech Group)

¶ “Shell To Power Malaysian Gas Platform With Renewables” • Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary Sarawak Shell Berhad will power its Timi gas development project off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sarawak with a solar and wind hybrid power system. Timi will be the first gas wellhead platform in Malaysia to be powered by solar and wind energy. [reNEWS]

¶ “Aquila To Sell Statkraft Finnish Wind Power” • Norwegian energy company Statkraft is to buy electricity from German investment manager Aquila Capital from wind farms in Finland under power purchase agreements. Starting in 2022, Aquila Capital will provide Statkraft with electricity from two wind farms at competitive price levels. [reNEWS]

Wind farm (Statkraft image)

¶ “Sinopec Plans To Spend $4.6 Billion On Hydrogen Energy By 2025” • China’s Sinopec Corp plans to spend ¥30 billion ($4.6 billion) on hydrogen energy by 2025 as it pivots to producing natural gas and hydrogen as part of becoming a carbon-neutral energy provider by 2050. Sinopec plans for an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2025. [The Star]

¶ “Melbourne’s Zoos Are Now Entirely Powered By Renewable Energy” • Your next trip to one of Melbourne’s major zoos just got a little greener. Zoos Victoria has announced that all three of its Melbourne zoos – Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo, and Healesville Sanctuary – are now powered by 100% renewable energy. [Time Out]

Lions in the Melbourne Zoo (Chris Phutully, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Electrolyzer Market Value To Hit $53 Billion By 2030, Says Global Market Insights Inc” • Global electrolyzer market revenue is expected to surpass $53 billion by 2030 according to a study by Global Market Insights Inc. This is due to large-scale integration of renewable energy resources and ongoing development of hydrogen infrastructures. [Yahoo Finance]

¶ “Non-Hydro Renewables To Have 72% Of Power Capacity Growth By 2030, Fitch Says” • Non-hydropower renewables – which refers largely to wind and solar power – will account for 72% of global capacity growth between 2020 and 2030, amid efforts to rapidly decarbonize the global power systems, Fitch Solutions projected. [The National]

Wind turbines (Tom Swinnen, Pexels)

¶ “UN Atomic Watchdog Says North Korea Appears To Have Restarted Nuclear Reactor” • North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have been used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, the UN’s watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency has said in an annual report. [The Guardian]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Ida Forces Mississippi River To Reverse Flow” • Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph. Its storm surge and strong winds actually caused the flow of the Mississippi River near New Orleans to reverse, something the US Geological Survey says is “extremely uncommon.” [CNN]

Hurricane Ida, August 29, 7:00 AM (NASA image, public domain)

¶ “Hurricane Ida’s Impact On Louisiana Is ‘Unprecedented,’ Cajun Navy Relief President Says” • Nearly a Category 5 storm, Ida had maximum sustained winds estimated to be 150 mph, when it hit land on Katrina’s anniversary. Only two storms that strong have ever hit Louisiana before, Last Island in 1856, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. [Yahoo News]

¶ “PG&E Launches Clean Energy Generator At Its Angwin Microgrid” • From the outside, the new linear generator Pacific Gas & Electric Co will use at its microgrid in Angwin, California, looks like other pieces of electrical equipment, a large diesel generator or maybe an array of lithium-ion energy storage. But this generator uses biogas. [The Press Democrat]

Have a basically copacetic day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Louisiana Hasn’t Yet Recovered From Two Major Hurricanes In 2020. Now Another Is Taking Aim” • Five named storms struck Louisiana in 2020. Two of them were major hurricanes, doing a total of $18.75 billion in damages. As the state still reels from the destruction, another major hurricane is now barreling toward the coast. [CNN]

After Hurricane Laura (Josiah Pugh, Louisiana National Guard)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Looking Into The Future Of The Grid” • One of the challenges of aggregating energy data from different sources into studies is knowing whether the data uses consistent assumptions. The Annual Technology Baseline resolves this challenge by creating consistent assumptions across all electric generation technology cost and performance data. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Space Mission Tests NREL Perovskite Solar Cells” • NREL Researchers are testing ways to bring costs down for terrestrial applications and transforming how PV technologies could work in space. Now, a test will evaluate the potential use of perovskite solar cells in space and assess the durability of materials used in those cells. [CleanTechnica]

Solar Everywhere (NREL)

World:

¶ “XPeng P7 Gets Highest Active Safety Score Of All EVs Sold In China – 98.51%” • After passing the 50,000 vehicle milestone with the P7, setting sales records two months in a row, and leading the Chinese EV startup market, the Guangzhou-based company has announced that the XPeng P7 has the absolute highest safety rating of all EVs sold in China. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Volkswagen ID Buzz Assembly Line Update, Chip Shortage Shuts Down Production” • VW is expanding production of EVs, but MDR Sachsen reports that Volkswagen is pausing electric car production at its Zwickau factory because of the global shortage of computer chips. The shortage is also affecting the company’s main factory in Wolfsburg. [CleanTechnica]

Volkswagen factory (Volkswagen image)

¶ “Masdar Commissions 100-MW Nur Navoi Solar Project In Uzbekistan” • Masdar, a world leader in renewable energy, has inaugurated Uzbekistan’s first successfully-financed independent power producer solar project. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, said 19 projects with 11,500 MW of new capacity are coming. [Trade Arabia]

¶ “‘Energy Patriots’ Bring Electricity To Indonesia’s Remote Villages” • For millions of villagers in Indonesia’s remote areas, a 12-hour-per-day erratic electricity supply is the norm. A recently launched UN-led initiative could change that, thanks to a group of Indonesians, “energy patriots,” who have been tasked to boost the use of clean energy resources. [UN News]

Fishing village in Indonesia (Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology)

¶ “Evidence Is Mounting About What Renewable Energy Could Mean For Southeast Alberta” • Evidence shows what renewable energy development could mean for southeast Alberta. New solar and wind farms are coming, and the Globe and Mail reported that Vulcan County might soon get half its tax revenues from green power plants. [Medicine Hat News]

¶ “Shell Plans To Boost Oman Renewable Energy Portfolio” • Global energy major Royal Dutch Shell plans to add new clean energy projects in Oman and boost its renewables portfolio as the sultanate aims to generate 30% of its electricity from green sources by 2030. Oman is building renewable energy plants across the country. [The National]

Qabas solar plant in Oman (Shell EP International)

¶ “Kuwait Reschedules Renewable Energy Projects To Meet Its Electricity Needs” • A bank source told CNBC Arabia that Kuwait has brought back to the table its ambitious plan for renewable energy projects, which were halted due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Kuwaiti economy. The plan had been canceled in July of 2020. [Dubai Week]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Ida: Thousands Flee As Storm Bears Down On Louisiana” • Thousands of people are fleeing as Hurricane Ida closes in on Louisiana. Ida is expected to make landfall with 130 mph (209 km/h) winds and a “life-threatening” storm surge. Forecasters say it may be stronger than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated much of New Orleans in 2005. [BBC]

Projected path of Hurricane Ida (NOAA image)

¶ “Gas Cars Are Declining Significantly And Full Electrics Rising In USA” • We may have experienced peak fossil car sales in the USA, and the peak year wasn’t even very recently. It appears that 2016 will go down in history as the peak year for fossil-powered light-duty vehicle sales. Ironically, that’s also the year the Tesla Model 3 was unveiled. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “The Waiting List To Own A Tesla Is Growing” • Tesla’s waiting lists are back. For most models, if you order today, you may be lucky to see your new Tesla this year. Tesla is predicting a wait of up to six weeks for the Performance Model 3 and Performance Model X. For some models, estimated delivery times can be as far out as April 2022. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Model Y cars (Tesla image)

¶ “Intensifying Hurricane Ida A Significant Threat To Key Infrastructure” • Ida is forecast to hit the corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the Waterford 3 nuclear plant sits. The plant is at an elevation of 10-15 feet on the south shore of the Mississippi River, and it is vulnerable to storm surge from a major hurricane. [Yale Climate Connections]

¶ “Nuclear Regulators Up Scrutiny Of Plant Vogtle, Citing Issues” • Nuclear regulators said that they will give greater scrutiny to construction of two new nuclear reactors being built at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle after a special inspection found electrical cables were not properly separated. Southern Nuclear could contest the findings. [WABE 90.1]

Have a noticeably flawless day.

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Opinion:

¶ “A Carbon Tax That Sends Americans Checks Could Pass This Fall: Interview” • The Senate will be voting on a reconciliation package soon. One of the things in that package is a proposed carbon tax that would actually use the funds from the carbon tax to create jobs, grow the economy, and even send monthly checks to US households. [CleanTechnica]

Check (michael kooiman, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Tesla’s Re|Source Blockchain Collaboration For Cobalt Aims To Prove That Tesla Ethically Sources Its Cobalt” • To ensure transparency, Tesla is developing a blockchain platform that will allow users to track what cobalt it does get from the mine to the battery. Reportly, Tesla is working with cobalt producers to develop the blockchain. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Climate Change Accelerating Disruptions To El Niño And La Niña” • Two studies, published in Nature Climate Change and Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, examine the complexity of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation’s variability. In the first, the variability will increase; in the second, it will instead collapse. Neither is good. [IFLScience]

Model of ocean temperatures (Institute for Basic Science)

¶ “China Set To Begin First Trials Of Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor Using Thorium Instead Of Uranium” • Scientists in China are about to turn on for the first time an experimental reactor that’s believed by some to be the Holy Grail of nuclear energy – safer, cheaper, and with less potential for weaponization. At a capacity of 2 MW, the test reactor is small. [ABC] (For safer, cheaper, and no weaponization, try solar, wind, and batteries.)

World:

¶ “Queen Elizabeth II Will Attend UN Climate Change Talks In Glasgow” • Queen Elizabeth II will attend a pivotal UN climate change conference in Glasgow this fall, giving a royal boost to the event, according to a tweet from organizers. The UK is hosting global leaders for the nearly two weeks of talks in the Scottish city from October 31 to November 12. [CNN]

Queen Elizabeth II speaking to open parliament (Parliament TV)

¶ “Government To Ban Single-Use Plastic Cutlery” • The British government announced plans to ban single-use plastic cutlery, plates, and polystyrene cups in England. Ministers said the move would help to reduce litter and cut the amount of plastic waste in oceans. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland already have plans to ban single-use plastic cutlery. [BBC]

¶ “World’s First Crewless, Zero Emissions Cargo Ship Will Set Sail In Norway” • Yara International, a Norwegian company, has created what it calls the world’s first zero-emission, autonomous cargo ship. The ship is to make a journey between two towns in Norway, with a reduced crew on board to test the autonomous systems, before the end of the year. [CNN]

Yara Birkeland (Yara International image)

¶ “SSE Renewables Pours £50 Million Into Second Life Of Scottish Hydro Plant” • A hydro-electric power station in the Highlands of Scotland secured new life through a £50 million investment by SSE Renewables. The company announced it will deploy new turbine technology in its Tummel Bridge Hydro-Electric power plant. [Energy Live News]

US:

¶ “New Orleans Braces For Possible Direct Hit By Hurricane Ida” • The mayor of New Orleans has called for residents to evacuate unprotected city neighbourhoods as Hurricane Ida bears down on the Louisiana coastline. Forecasters say the hurricane will be at category 4 strength by the time it reaches the Louisiana coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. [BBC]

Hurricane Ida (National Weather Service image)

¶ “Energy Infrastructure Near Hurricane Ida” • Hurricane Ida is approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast region and is expected to make landfall on August 29. Our Energy Disruptions Map has layers for energy-related infrastructure such as high-voltage transmission lines, power plants including two nuclear power plants, and petroleum bulk terminals. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Rivian Aims For $80 Billion Valuation In IPO” • At long last, Rivian is on the verge of going public. It hasn’t yet delivered a single customer car (or truck), but it is aiming to start its public market life with a whopping $80 billion valuation when it has an IPO later this year. That might seem like a lot, but Amazon and Ford are already big investors. [CleanTechnica]

Rivian pickup truck (Rivian image)

¶ “Voices Of 100%: A Renewable City Coalition Grows In Western Montana” • For this episode of the ILSR’s “Voices of 100%” series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with local leaders in Helena, Montana. Helena has joined Missoula and Bozeman, building a coalition for 100% renewable energy in western Montana. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Campaign To Shut Down New York City’s Peaker Plants Gains Congressional Ally” • Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) threw her support behind a proposal to cut the number of peaker power plants in New York City in half by 2025 and to zero in 2030. “They are old, inefficient, costly, and dirty,” one Peak Coalition activist said. [Utility Dive]

Have a truly superb day.

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Science and Technology:

¶ “This Center In Dubai Is Growing ‘Future-Proof’ Food In The Desert” • In the Dubai desert, farmers must contend with intense heat, limited freshwater and sandy soil. Here, the International Center of Biosaline Agriculture is transplanting and growing salt-loving superfoods in an effort to expand food diversity in the region. [CNN]

Quinoa growing in the Dubai desert (ICBA image)

World:

¶ “‘Southern Blob’ Of Hot Ocean Is Causing A Megadrought Thousands Of Miles Away In Chile” • “The Southern Blob” is a huge, decades-old region of warm water in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Chile has been experiencing a megadrought for over a decade. A study, published in the Journal of Climate says the one is causing the other. [CNN]

¶ “Bourbon Installs Norwegian Floater” • Bourbon Subsea Services has successfully installed the innovative TetraSpar Demonstrator Floating Wind Turbine in Norway. After mooring lines installation in June, towing and hook up in July, Bourbon Subsea Services completed the offshore installation of the 3.6-MW turbine at the Metcentre Test site. [reNEWS]

Floating offshore turbine (Bourbon Subsea Services image)

¶ “Supermarket Giants Race To Net Zero, Beating The Do-Nothing Australian Government” • The federal government will not commit to a net-zero-by-2050 target, but Australia’s three biggest supermarket chains are making massive strides. Aldi, Coles, and Woolworths have all set and then quickly achieved net-zero goals. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Australia’s Largest Planned Renewables Zone ‘Swamped’ With 34 GW Of Capacity” • Australia’s newest planned renewable energy zone has been “swamped” by investors, according to the New South Wales government. It revealed that 34 GW of new solar, wind, and energy storage projects have been proposed for the 8-GW site. [PV Magazine]

Solar array (Neoen image)

¶ “Hydro Developer Unveils 600-MW Corrievarkie” • ILI Group launched the initial planning phase for the Corrievarkie pumped storage project in the Scottish Highlands. The 600-MW project at Loch Ericht, Dalwhinnie, will be able to supply power for up to 24 hours, enough to power 1.4 million homes, making it one of the largest such schemes in Scotland. [reNEWS]

¶ “Vensys On Track To Power Austrian Trains” • The world’s first wind turbine to produce traction current is to be built in Lower Austria. A Vensys112 with a hub height of 140 meters in a 16.7 hz version will enable direct feed-in to the ÖBB overhead contact line, which means that the trains are supplied with wind energy directly and with little loss. [reNEWS]

Wind turbine (Vensys image)

¶ “Anti-Nuclear Campaigners Slam Plans To Install New Nuclear Reactors In Wales” • Anti-nuclear campaigners in Wales have criticized the Welsh Government for supporting “flawed and outdated” technology as it plans to install new nuclear reactors in Wales. They said the site should be used for renewable and sustainable technologies. [Nation.Cymru]

US:

¶ “Northern California Wildfires Traveled Up To 8 Miles In A Single Day, Cal Fire Says” • Hundreds of California residents are under evacuation orders after new fires were sparked, with a new heat wave expected to make fighting fires even more challenging. Meanwhile, the Dixie Fire, California’s second-largest fire, is threatening over 11,800 structures. [CNN]

Firefighters battling the Bennett Fire (Cal Fire image)

¶ “Kerry Will Travel To China And Japan To Negotiate On Climate Action” • US Climate Envoy John Kerry will travel to China and Japan to meet with top climate officials in the lead-up to the UN climate conference in Glasgow in November. Kerry will be in Japan on August 31, then China from September 1-3, a person familiar with the plans said. [CNN]

¶ “Tesla Is Slowly Cutting Into Pharmaceutical And Health Insurance Costs” • Tesla doesn’t make medicines or cure diseases, but it is having a growing effect on the pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance industry here in America. Asthma, Covid-19, and dementia have all been shown to be made worse by air pollution. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Model 3 (Vlad Tchompalov, Unsplash)

¶ “Big Agnes Commits To Renewable Energy At New HQ” • The outdoor equipment brand Big Agnes, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, has committed to using 100% renewable energy to power each of its three US facilities. Its sister company BAP, Inc also uses solar panels to power its retail outlet in downtown Steamboat Springs. [Steamboat Pilot]

¶ “Ford Doubles Production Target For F-150 Lightning Electric Pickup” • Ford has doubled its production target for the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck due to strong early demand, several people and suppliers have told Reuters. It will invest an additional $850 million to meet the new production goal of 80,000 sales in 2024. [CleanTechnica]

Ford F-150 Lightning pickups (Ford image)

¶ “California Farmers To Power Its Electric, Self-Driving Fleet” • Cruise, a self-driving car company under General Motors, has launched an initiative, Farm to Fleet, that will allow the company to source solar power from farms in California’s Central Valley. Cruise is purchasing renewable energy credits to help power vehicles in San Francisco. [TechCrunch]

¶ “Renewable Energy Bills Signed Into Law In Derry” • Calling it a “603 win for clean energy” New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed two bills into law that advance renewable energy initiatives. Both bills enjoyed bipartisan support and are among the last measures expected to be signed into law from this past session. [InDepthNH.org]

Have an enchantingly beautiful day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Can Investors Save The Amazon?” • When you think of your retirement savings, your bank, or your investments, it’s unlikely that you associate these with trees being chopped down in lush tropical rainforests. And yet, well-known financial institutions either own shares in or provide credit to companies that have links to deforestation. [BBC]

Emperor Tamarin (Steve Wilson, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Science and Technology:

¶ “How To Fight Microplastic Pollution With Magnets” • Fionn Ferreira, a chemistry student at Groningen University in the Netherlands, found a way to use magnets to extract microplastics from water. He mixed vegetable oil with iron oxide powder to create a magnetic liquid, which attached to the particles. He was 87% successful in trapping them. [BBC]

¶ “Turning Hazelnut Shells Into Potential Renewable Energy Source” • Biomass is attracting growing interest from researchers as a source of renewable, sustainable, and clean energy. It can be converted into bio-oil by thermochemical methods, such as gasification, liquefaction, and pyrolysis, and used to produce fuels, chemicals, and biomaterials. [Lab Manager]

Hazelnuts (Mockup Graphics, Unsplash)

World:

¶ “Europe’s 2020 Heat Reached ‘Troubling’ Level” • Last year was the warmest on record across Europe, breaking the previous high mark by a considerable amount, say scientists. Temperatures in the region were more than 1.9°C above the long-term average of 1981 through 2010. Also, Arctic Temperatures were the highest since records began in 1900. [BBC]

¶ “XPeng P7 Goes To Norway” • Some of us have been wondering about when Chinese EV startups would start trying to sell their vehicles in Europe and North America. Now, we’re finally seeing the expectation come to life. XPeng started deliveries of its G3 electric crossover in Norway in December, and P7 electric sedan are on the way. [CleanTechnica]

XPeng cars being loaded for shipment (XPeng image)

¶ “Emissions Reduced By 28% From 2005 Levels, 80% Of Power To Come From Renewable Sources By 2030: Govt” • India has managed to fulfill the commitments part of the Paris Agreement as it boosts renewable energy capacity. India reduced emissions by 28% from 2005 levels, against the target of 35% by 2030, the government said. [India Today]

¶ “Electric Conversion Expert EDub Services Creates The Electric Vespa T5” • When Kit Lacey of eDub services took us on a little tour of his oldtimer EV conversions business, among the VW Golf Mk2 and Porsche 911 projects we got a sneak peak of an electric Vespa T5. Now it is officially ready for order under the catchy name: ESCOOT! [CleanTechnica]

Electric Vespa T5 (Photo credit of eDub services)

¶ “Energy Board To Consult Widely After Australian Renewables Industry Says Rules Could Prop Up Coal” • With criticism from the renewable energy sector over proposed market rules, which some fear could support coal, Australia’s Energy Security Board vowed to work with industry players and all tiers of government to design a new system by 2023. [The Guardian]

¶ “Funding For Gravity-Based Renewable Energy Storage Tower For Grid-Scale Operations” • Energy Vault, maker of the EVx gravitational energy storage tower, has secured $100 million in series C funding. The investment was led by Prime Movers Lab, with additional participation from SoftBank, Saudi Aramco, Helena, and Idealab X. [PV Magazine]

Energy Vault EVx storage tower (Energy Vault image)

¶ “It’s Crunch Time For France’s Tumultuous Renewable Energy Debate” • As the debate on renewable energies and nuclear rages in France, nuclear proponents, environmentalists, scientists, and politicians will have to set aside their differences to advance the energy transition. The French transition is underway, but has a long way to go. [EURACTIV.com]

US:

¶ “Climate Change Is Sparking Wildfires That Are Amplifying Covid” • The Caldor Fire east of Sacramento, is causing noxious air in Reno and threatening Lake Tahoe. The air quality near Reno this week is at its worst it’s ever been, and there’s growing evidence that noxious smoke from the fires amplifies the severity of Covid outbreaks. [CNN]

Smoke from wildfire (Malachi Brooks, Unsplash)

¶ “Tesla Model 3 Has Passed 1 Million Sales” • A reader pointed out that the Tesla Model 3 seems to have had 1 million deliveries. Indeed, looking at my own long-term records of Tesla sales, at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2021, the Model 3 had reached 1,031,588 worldwide deliveries. The Model 3 would be the first EV to have 1 million sales. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “RWE To Develop 200-MW Texan Solar Project” • RWE Renewables partnered with Constellation to develop a 200-MW solar facility coupled with a 80-MW, 120-MWh battery storage system in Texas. Constellation, a leading competitive energy and energy solutions provider, will purchase much of the power from RWE’s Big Star solar project. [reNEWS]

Solar farm in Texas (RWE image)

¶ “The Heat Is On – Is The Grid Ready?” • Our aging energy grids just were not designed to handle the stress of climate change. In the heat, more electricity is needed. But in times of drought, the reservoirs are low and can’t produce as much electricity. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is working on preventing failures. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “CenterPoint Energy seeks approval for 335 MW of renewable energy” • CenterPoint Energy announced that they filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to enter into two power purchase agreements for an additional 335 MW of solar energy as part of their long-term plan to transition to renewable electric generation. [Eyewitness News, WEHT & WTVW]

Have a magically advantageous day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Why I Think The New BYD Dolphin Will Convince Millions To Go Electric” • The reason I think this car matters is that it could be a car that is a “game changer” like the VW Beetle was last century and the Tesla Model 3 and Y are today. Part of the reason for the Beetle’s popularity was that it was reliable and affordable, features the Dolphin shares. [CleanTechnica]

BYD Dolphin (Image from BYD Europe)

¶ “Electric Vehicles Getting Ready To Rocket In Australia” • Last year, the EV share of Australia’s overall auto market was 0.78%. It is now approaching 2%, and should be more so by year’s end. From the fourth quarter, many new models of EVs will become available in Australia, including eight from BYD. Things may get exciting down under. [CleanTechnica]

Science and Technology:

¶ “Tech Firm Promises 1500 Times More Cattle Feed Using 5% Of The Water” • One Utah tech firm is hoping we’ll be able to use science to find our way out of drought-fueled food shortages with a new spin on vertical farms that promises fifteen-hundred times (!) the food production of a conventional farm with just 5% of the water use. [CleanTechnica]

Olympus Farm (Grōv Technologies image)

World:

¶ “JPMorgan Says Fuel-Cell Vehicles Are Set For Big Gains In China’s Commercial Truck Market” • Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are set to become a major player in China’s commercial truck market, according to JPMorgan’s Elaine Wu. The trucks can be fueled in less than 15 minutes and will have a range of about 800 km (497 miles). [CNBC]

¶ “Maersk Just Ordered Eight Carbon Neutral Ships. Now It Needs Green Fuel” • Shipping giant Maersk said it would spend $1.4 billion on eight large ships that will be able to use green methanol as well as traditional fuel. There’s not enough green methanol to power them, but Maersk hopes that the size of its order will help jumpstart the market. [CNN]

Maersk container ship (AlfvanBeem, placed in public domain)

¶ “Liberal Politicians Squabble As Australia Burns” • Matt Kean, energy and environment minister in the Liberal (Conservative) state of New South Wales, is giving members of his party in the federal government an ultimatum: Lead, follow, or get out of the way. He challenged voters to remove politicians who obstruct measures to combat climate change. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Vestas Picks Up 50-MW Polish Double” • Vestas has received two orders in Poland totaling 50 MW from a joint venture of KGAL and V-ridium Power Group. The order is to supply and install turbines at the 35-MW Wólka Dobryńska and 15-MW Podlasek projects in Poland, both to be fully commissioned by the end of 2022. [reNEWS]

Wind farm (Vestas image)

¶ “Innovators In Indonesia Are Advancing Renewable Energy” • The Indonesian government promises to almost triple the share of renewables in its energy mix in the next three years. That would reverse an investment climate in which fossil fuels saw three times more capital than renewable energy between 2016 and 2019. [GreenBiz]

¶ “Japan To Build Undersea Tunnel To Release Wastewater From Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant” • Japan reportedly decided to discharge radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea just 1 km off the coast through an undersea tunnel. Japanese media report that TEPCO is about to announce their decision on discharging the water. [Arirang News]

Fukushima Daiichi in 2002 (KEI, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

US:

¶ “‘Zero Now Fund’ Powers Electric Trucks In Chicago, San Diego, And San Jose” • Delivering Zero Emissions Communities, a one-year accelerator program supported by the Zero Now Fund, is enabling three cities – Chicago, San Diego, and San Jose, California – to take bold steps to have commercial vehicles with 100% zero-emissions today. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Waymo Enters San Francisco” • Two big players stand out in the autonomous driving world, Tesla and Waymo. Whether it’s planned or organically ironic, just after Tesla held its AI Day to show us the progress it’s making toward robotaxis, Waymo has expanded its legitimate, collecting-money-now robotaxi into San Francisco. [CleanTechnica]

Waymo autonomous vehicle (Waymo image)

¶ “Governor Murphy Signs Legislation Establishing the Garden State C-PACE Program” • Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill that establishes the Garden State Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program. The program will facilitate the funding of clean and renewable energy infrastructure at commercial properties throughout the state. [NJ.gov]

¶ “Record Growth Continues For Renewable Energy Projects” • The pace of installations of renewable energy projects across the first six months of 2021 hit a new high for the sector, according to a report released by the American Clean Power Association. The US renewable energy additions were 17% greater than for the same period in 2020. [Power Magazine]

Solar installation (Hoan Ngọc, Pexels)

¶ “So You Want To Fly A Drone Over A Nuclear Weapons Lab …” • Drone pilots beware: Authorities at one of the United States’ top nuclear weapons laboratories issued a warning that airspace over Los Alamos National Laboratory is off limits. After unauthorized drone flights were detected, officials said if you fly a drone over the lab, you likely will lose it. [Defense News]

¶ “State Lawmakers Again Try To Ban Most Dangerous Nuclear Waste As Feds Consider Allowing It At West Texas Site” • Texas lawmakers are again trying to ban the most dangerous nuclear waste from entering the state. A nuclear waste disposal company in West Texas is pursuing a federal application to store the highly radioactive materials. [Marfa Public Radio]

Have an utterly untroubled day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Energy Charter Treaty Allows Oil Companies To Sue Nations, But Not The Other Way Around” • The Energy Charter Treaty is an international agreement that protects energy and mineral companies operating in 57 signatory nations from government lawsuits as they work to extract natural resources. It does not prevent the companies from suing. [CleanTechnica]

Fossil fuels protest (Extinction Rebellion)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Hydrogen – For Cars, No; For Steel, Yes” • Given the physics and chemistry involved, I do not expect hydrogen to be a fuel widely used in passenger vehicles. It does, however, have its place – or places, and judging by the amounts of money being poured into research and development, industry thinks it has found those places. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “How Climate Change Amplifies Extreme Weather Like Tennessee’s Deadly Floods And NYC’s Record Rainfall” • Record breaking rainfall amounts in New York and Tennessee exemplify the same scientific phenomenon: extreme rainfall events being supercharged by human-caused climate change. The science is well known and easily explained. [CNN]

Flooding in Tennessee (NOAA image)

World:

¶ “How To Make A Small Fortune” • One way to make a small fortune is to start with a big one and invest it badly. Australia’s largest generator and largest emitter, AGL, is finding itself in hot water. It recently announced a $2 billion loss for the 2021–2022 financial year that was caused by clinging to coal and delaying the switch to renewables. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “From ‘Air-Pocalypse’ To Blue Skies. Beijing’s Fight For Cleaner Air Is A Rare Victory For Public Dissent” • Beijing was known as one of the world’s most polluted cities, with dense smog and acrid air a daily reality. Now, its skies are mostly blue, a sign the Chinese capital is entering a new era of clean air, the Minister of Ecology and Environment claimed. [CNN]

Temple of Heaven, Beijing (Pier Francesco Grizi, Unsplash)

¶ “SSE, National Grid Unveil Green Heat Initiative” • SSE Energy Solutions and National Grid have unveiled a project that could decarbonize heat networks, capturing waste heat from electricity transformers to generate hot water and space heating for homes and businesses. It is estimated that the heat recovery project could reduce emissions by 40%. [reNEWS]

¶ “Queensland-Built Electric Buses To Boost Jobs From Burleigh To North Lakes” • The Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to roll out more zero emissions vehicles on to Queensland roads was supercharged with a plan to build 16 new electric buses on the Gold Coast. The $15.6 million deal will also create the state’s first 100% electric bus depot. [Media Statements]

Gold Coast, Queensland (Jordan, Unsplash)

¶ “Tata Power Renewable Energy Commissions 150-MW Solar Project In Rajasthan” • Tata Power arm Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited has commissioned a 150-MW solar project in the village of Loharki in Rajasthan. With the latest installation in Rajasthan, the total renewables installed capacity of Tata Power will be 2,947 MW. [Business Today]

¶ “Vattenfall Plans Kriegers Flak Opening Bash” • Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Simon Kollerup will inaugurate the 604-MW Kriegers Flak wind farm in the Baltic Sea on 6 September. All 72 offshore wind turbines are now in place at the wind farm, which is Vattenfall’s largest. [reNEWS]

Offshore wind turbine construction (Jan de Nul)

¶ “Tariff Falls To ₹2.34/Unit In Wind-Solar Hybrid Auctions” • The latest bid by Solar Energy Corporation of India to set up 1,200 MW of wind-solar hybrid plants has discovered the lowest tariff of ₹2.34 per unit (3.2¢/kWh), much lower than the ₹2.41 per unit quoted by companies in the last auction for hybrid plants held in December 2020. [The Financial Express]

US:

¶ “Raging Wildfires In California Forced 42,000 To Evacuate And Drove Reno Residents Indoors Due To Historic Bad Air” • Over 42,000 residents have been told to evacuate their homes as nine large wildfires burn in northern California. The Caldor Fire has burned 114,166 acres since sparking ten days ago and is only 9% contained, according to Cal Fire. [CNN]

Fire (Rodnae Productions, Unsplash)

¶ “Tennessee Flash Floods Kill 22 With Dozens Missing” • At least 22 people have been killed and dozens are missing after flash floods in the US state of Tennessee. The record flooding began on Saturday, submerging entire roads and taking out telephone and power lines. In Humphreys County, 17 inches (43 cm) of rain fell  in less than 24 hours. [BCC]

¶ “Eurowind Energy Enters US Market” • Eurowind Energy is stepping into the US market, with its first projects expected to start construction in 2022. The company’s American subsidiary, Eurowind Energy USA, already has three projects under development, consisting of three hybrid projects in California that total 800 MW. [reNEWS]

Wind farm (Master Wen, Unsplash)

¶ “Four Suburban Philly Counties Join To Pursue Renewable Energy” • In a partnership aiming to combat climate change, four suburban Philadelphia counties have joined in pursuit of a renewable energy power purchasing agreement. Chester, Bucks, Delaware, and Montgomery have signed a memorandum of understanding on the effort. [Patch]

¶ “Staffers See Little Interest Or Action On Nuclear Waste Issues” • The 117th Congress has introduced few bills this session dealing with nuclear power and nuclear waste, according to staffers for Vermont’s congressional delegation. They were speaking to a committee of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. [Brattleboro Reformer]

Have an impressively jolly day.

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(, CC-BY-SA 3.0) CO₂ NH₃ CH₄ ₹ NOₓ

Opinion:

¶ “When Electric Buses Make Sense, And When They Just Don’t” • Electric buses are definitely better than a diesel or natural gas bus. That’s indisputable without seriously bending the facts. The thing is, combustion buses aren’t the only competition electric buses have, and in many situations, there are even cleaner options that we can choose. [CleanTechnica]

Electric bus in Hamburg (Phuoc Anh Dang, Unsplash)

Science and Technology:

¶ “PivotBio’s Genetically Engineered Microbes Displace 20-25% Of Fertilizer Today, 100% By 2030” • Continuing a conversation with Karsten Temme, PhD, geneticist and CEO of PivotBio that began yesterday, we find that Pivotbio’s microbe displaces 20-25% of fertilizer with better crop yields and less work for the farmer. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “GAC Aion V 6C Promises 8-Minute Charge Times, 1000 Km Range” • Chinese car maker GAC says that next month it will be selling an Aion 6C battery electric SUV will charge a depleted battery to 80% capacity in a lightning fast 8 minutes. The car is rated to have a range of 1000 km NEDC, though that standard is known to be overly optimistic. [CleanTechnica]

Gac Aion V (Evnerd, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Burning Forests To Make Energy: EU And World Grapple With Biomass Science” • A major political and environmental dispute is coming to a boil in the run-up to COP26 in Scotland this November, as the EU and the forestry industry claim the science shows biomass is sustainable and produces zero emissions. [Eco-Business.com]

¶ “Crown Estate To Research Offshore Wind Impact” • The Crown Estate has launched a new research program to address the critical gap in understanding how marine ecosystems will respond to the continued growth of offshore wind. The four-year program will fund leading edge research into how offshore wind farms affect the marine environment. [reNEWS]

Offshore wind turbines (Insung Yoon, Unsplash)

Australia:

¶ “How Australia Could Save Almost $7 Billion On Its Energy Transition” • Representing eighteen major institutional investors, the Clean Energy Investor Group is calling for Australian Governments to pick a scenario from the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan and commit to de-risking renewable energy. [pv magazine Australia]

¶ “Net-Zero-Pursuing Investors Change Australia’s Renewable-Energy Development Game” • Research by market analyst and advisory firm PwC, finds bigger players – state governments, oil and gas majors and sophisticated large investors – have become involved in the energy transition, and are shifting the rules of engagement. [pv magazine Australia] 

Solar array (PwC Australia image)

¶ “Solar Generates More Power Than Coal In Australia” • In Australia, solar power generated more energy on Sunday than coal for the first time since the market was set up two decades ago. The crossover point lasted for only a few minutes, with low demand and sunny skies on Sunday, when coal generated at a record low level, less than solar. [reNEWS]

US:

¶ “Storm Henri Makes Landfall At Rhode Island” • More than 120,000 homes in the Northeast are without power after Tropical Storm Henri made landfall at Rhode Island. Although Henri had been downgraded from a Category One hurricane, it brought winds of 60 mph (95 km/h). People in southern and central New England are warned of potential flooding. [BBC]

Storm (Johannes Plenio, Unsplash)

¶ “Stanford Going To 100% Renewable Electricity – First Major University In USA To Do So” • The first university in the USA to announce a 100% renewable target is Stanford University. More good news is that its goal for getting to 100% renewable electricity is next summer, 2022. And this is even after the university had a solar farm burn down. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Giant Energy Storage Project Hoovers Up Excess Wind And Solar” • The huge Vistra energy storage project in Moss Landing, California, is to get bigger. Work on the first two phases is ahead of schedule, and Vistra is looking forward to another expansion that will bring the plant up to 1,500 MW, which translates into 6,000 MWh. [CleanTechnica]

Energy storage (Image courtesy of Vistra)

¶ “Here’s Why The Navy Is Betting On Wave Energy Research In Hawaii” • To reduce oil dependence, Hawaii is exploring wave energy as a possible source to help meet its goal to rely on 100% renewable energy by 2045. The military is looking for ways to more efficiently fuel forces increasingly focused on the Pacific as it battles China for influence. [Honolulu Civil Beat]

¶ “Wyoming Business Leaders Urge Feds To Take Action On Climate” • Critics of climate proposals making their way through Congress warn that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions will harm the economy, but some business leaders say those plans won’t get the job done in time. It is already too late. Significant change is happening. [Public News Service]

Have a totally okey-dokey day.

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Science and Technology:

¶ “How The Climate Crisis Is Changing Hurricanes” • The proportion of high-intensity hurricanes has increased due to warmer global temperatures, according to a UN climate report released earlier this month. Scientists have also found that the storms are more likely to stall and lead to devastating rainfall, and they last longer over land. [CNN]

Hurricane (Pixabay, Pexels)

¶ “Why Autumn Weather Won’t Be The Same This Year” • At the halfway point of August, fall is quickly approaching. But warm temperatures and prolonged drought could continue, hindering the traditional fall feeling of cool, crisp mornings with beautiful foliage on the trees. The Climate Prediction Center also raised chances for La Niña this fall. [CNN]

¶ “CEO Karsten Temme Of PivotBio On Microbes Reducing Agriculture GHG Emissions” • PivotBio was founded on the basis of a eureka moment. Microbes that fix nitrogen don’t work hard in fields that are fertilized. When microbes can be made to fix nitrogen constantly in fertilized fields, fertilizing is needed less frequently, reducing emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Agriculture (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

World:

¶ “The Middle East Is Running Out Of Water, And Parts Of It Are Becoming Uninhabitable” • Lakes in the Middle East are drying up, and there are concerns that they will disappear entirely. The region has witnessed persistent drought and temperatures so high that they are barely fit for human life. And from this point, things are just getting worse. [CNN]

¶ “Major Solar Energy Project Coming To Israel” • A bid for plans for a 300-MW solar farm in Israel that will provide significant electricity reserves for the country received 11 proposals from national and international groups. The solar farm is to be spread over 3,000 acres. Some electricity will be routed to a battery storage facility. [The Jerusalem Post]

Solar panels (Pixabay, Pexels)

¶ “Need For Generation Licences For Small-Scale Renewable Energy-Based Systems Eliminated” • In Pakistan, the Cabinet Committee on Energy approved the proposal of the Power Division for eliminating the need for generation licences for small-scale Renewable Energy based systems of up to 25 kW for net metering. [Business Recorder]

¶ “With 4 Lakh (400,000) Renewable Energy Installations By July, Odisha Achieves Milestone” • In India, the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency has made significant strides in generation and use of renewable energy in the state with more than 400,000 installations serving around 5.5 million people. [Sambad English]

Rooftop solar in India (Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “UK Government Announces £12 Million Energy Storage Solution Competition” • The UK Government is planning to award up to £12 million in prize money to innovators competing to develop the nation’s next energy storage solutions. Entries are welcome, so long as pre-existing commercialised technologies are not put forward. [Energy Digital]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Henri: East Coast Warned Of Significant Damage” • Residents on the East Coast have been urged to prepare for one of the most powerful storms in years. Hurricane Henri, which has strengthened from a tropical storm, is expected to hit Long Island and southern parts of New England. Hurricanes are rare for this part of the US coastline. [BBC]

Coming storm (Shashank Sahay, Unsplash)

¶ “Tesla Switching To LFP Batteries For Standard Range Model 3 And Model Y” • Though it is probably wise not to be moved by internet rumors, they sometimes pan out. There’s the rumor of standard range Model 3 and Model Y vehicles made in Fremont getting LFP (LiFePO₄) batteries. Tesla already has experience with this configuration in China. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Exelon Generation Receives US DOE Grant To Explore Hydrogen Production At Oswego Nuclear Station” • Exelon will partner with Nel Hydrogen, Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and the National Energy Laboratory to demonstrate integrated production, storage and normal usage at the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant. [H2 View]

Have an indisputably ducky day.

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Opinion:

¶ “What My Departure From Conservatism Can Teach Us About Getting Conservative Support For Climate Policy” • Try a gentle approach to get conservative support. Perhaps, “Hey, honest question. I remember that conservatives used to like alternative energy a few years ago. George Bush even signed the EV tax credits. What happened?” [CleanTechnica]

Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull (Wikipedia)

¶ “The Power Of Wind: Interview With Bound4blue Founder” • Shipowners and operators may be able to decrease their fuel-related costs and pollutant emissions up to 30%, thanks to a wind-assisted propulsion system created by Bound4blue. The Beam had an interview with one of the founders, José Miguel Bermúdez. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “UK’s Climate Spokesperson Pushes Anti-Electric Car Myths – Brilliant!” • Allegra Stratton, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson for the Cop26 climate summit, seems to have a talent for making daft, headline-generating statements. In an interview with Times Radio, she said she drives an old diesel VW Golf. She will not own an EV because of range anxiety. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla police car (Courtesy of Tesla UK)

¶ “Zambia Has A New President Who Could Help Accelerate The World’s Transition To Sustainable Energy” • President-elect Hakainde Hichilema is determined to push Zambia forward as a key player in the new low carbon world order. The secret weapon he plans to use for this is copper. Zambia is Africa’s second largest producer of copper. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Alpine Solar Project To Help Fill Swiss Winter Energy Gaps” • A 2.2-MW solar plant project, developed by Swiss energy group Axpo and partner IWB, is part of Swiss plans to plug the gap left by the phaseout of nuclear energy while also aiming to reach net zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The solar array is on the face of the dam at the Muttsee Reservoir. [Rappler]

Muttsee (Wala, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

¶ “Broome’s Solar Cap Hinders Transition To Renewables But Hope Is On Horizon” • There are big opportunities for solar power in Broome, Western Australia, where the sun shines 350 days per year, but Horizon Power limits grid-tied rooftop solar power because of transmission constraints. This problem will not last much longer, however. [ABC]

¶ “As Carbon Capture, Storage Spending Nears $4 Billion, What Are The Options For Heavy Industry?” • As climate change is increasingly pressing, Australia is looking at carbon capture and storage. Data shows that almost $4 billion of taxpayer money has been spent on the technology, and after decades it is still not operating at industry scale. [ABC]

Carbon capture system (Coal21 image)

¶ “US Will Oppose Fossil Fuel Projects At Development Banks” • The Biden administration released new guidance that will lead the US to oppose financing fossil fuel projects at the Multilateral Development Banks. Under the new guidance US will support financing fossil fuel projects by such international banks only under extremely rare circumstances. [NRDC]

¶ “GEG Partners With Proman On Scottish Green Methanol Plant” • Global Energy Group, owners of the Nigg Oil Terminal in Scotland, has partnered with Proman, a Swiss-based energy company, to develop a renewable power to methanol plant at the terminal. The two parties will source carbon dioxide from local industries. [Power Engineering International]

Offshore wind terminal (GEG image)

¶ “‘Too Hypocritical For Words’: Burning Wood For Power Isn’t Sustainable, Says Flemish Minister Of Energy” • The Flemish Minister of Energy is calling into question the practice of burning trees to generate power, a procedure she says doesn’t pass the sustainability test given that the trees are often shipped from faraway places. [The Brussels Times]

US:

¶ “Hurricane Warnings Posted For Long Island, Southern New England As Henri Looks To Make Landfall Sunday” • As Tropical Storm Henri moved north through the Atlantic on Friday night, hurricane warnings were posted from New York’s Long Island to Rhode Island and a tropical storm warning was issued for New York City. [CNN]

Hurricane Henri’s rainfall potential (NOAA image)

¶ “Missouri Among States Most Dependent On Fossil Fuels” • With the effects of global climate change becoming increasingly apparent, policymakers across the US are moving to reduce the nation’s reliance on carbon-based fossil fuels. In Missouri, 88% of the energy is derived from fossil fuels. Coal is the main fuel for generating electricity. [St Joseph News-Press]

¶ “Offshore Wind Would Help Save California $1 Billion” • Offshore wind electricity could bring employment gains, cost savings, carbon dioxide reductions, and improve the stability of California’s electric grid according to a study from the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, “California’s Offshore Wind Electric Opportunity.” [reNEWS]

Offshore windpower (Zoltan Tasi, Unsplash)

¶ “States Take The Lead On Renewables In 2021” • While federal leaders continue deliberations on how to build a cleaner, healthier future, states are making strides to advance renewable energy, according to a new roundup of state legislative highlights from Environment America’s report, “The United States of Clean Energy, Summer 2021.” [Solar Industry]

¶ “Vistra Completes Expansion Of Battery Energy Storage System At Its Flagship California Facility” • Vistra completed construction on Phase II of its Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility. The system is now storing and releasing power for California’s grid. The facility’s capacity of 400 MW, 1,600 MWh makes it the largest of its kind. [Yahoo Finance]

Have an amazingly enjoyable day.

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Science and Technology:

¶ “Automated Energy Transfer Vessel Would Expand Wind Farms Opportunities” • PowerX, a Japanese start-up company is developing a unique vessel, the Power ARK 100. It is a trimaran designed for transferring renewable energy in Japan’s coastal water. It would carry electricity from wind turbines to shore in a massive battery array. [The Maritime Executive]

Power ARK 100 trimaran (PowerX image)

¶ “New Innovations Bolster American Workforce And Advance Building Envelope Retrofits” • The US DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has announced the ten winners for the first phase of a $5 million competition focused on fast-tracking advanced robotics technologies for building envelope retrofits. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “Rain Fell At The Summit Station In Greenland For The First Time On Record” • For the first time on record, precipitation at the National Science Foundation’s Summit Station was rain and not snow. Summit Station is at Greenland’s highest point. It has been staffed since 1989, and it has been under observation by satellite since the 1970s. [CNN]

Ice formed by rain on Greenland snow (Alicia Bradley, NSF)

¶ “Oil Firms Made False Claims On Blue Hydrogen Costs, Says Ex-Lobby Boss” • Oil companies have used false claims over the cost of producing fossil fuel hydrogen to win over the Treasury and access billions in UK taxpayer subsidies, according to the outgoing hydrogen lobby boss. He quit because the schemes “make no sense at all.” [The Guardian]

¶ “XPeng To Double Production Capacity To 200,000 EVs A Year” • XPeng’s Zhaoqing Smart Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Base can currently produce about 100,000 “smart electric vehicles” per year, but the company is now bringing the factory into a second phase of development and aims to double its production capacity. [CleanTechnica]

XPeng EV manufacture (XPeng image)

¶ “Household Power Bills Could Jump If Aging Power Plants Are Paid To Remain Open, Report Warns” • Households on the eastern and south-eastern coasts of Australia could see their power bills jump by amounts ranging from $182 to $430 per year if they are forced to pay coal and gas plants to keep running, a report warns. [ABC]

¶ “Candela Builds Most Efficient Boat Motor Ever. Of Course It’s Electric!” • Swedish electric boat maker Candela has released pictures of a boat motor that looked like a cross between a Mark 48 torpedo and a Tomahawk cruise missile. Meet the Candela C-Pod, the most efficient marine outboard ever made. And it’s 100% electric – of course! [CleanTechnica]

Candela C-Pod 1 (Candela image)

¶ “France, Germany, UK Very Worried About Iran’s Uranium Enrichment” • France, Germany, and Britain voiced grave concern about a report that Iran had accelerated its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade, saying this was a serious violation of its commitments. The IAEA reported that Iran was enriching uranium to 20% fissile purity. [Ynetnews]

¶ “MingYang Unveils 16-MW Offshore Giant” • The Chinese turbine manufacturer MingYang has launched a 16-MW offshore machine with a 242-meter rotor. The MySE 16.0-242 is designed for high-wind sites including typhoon-class IEC TC, and features 118-meter long blades. MingYang said it will be tailored for North Sea deployment. [reNEWS]

MingYang turbine (MingYang image)

US:

¶ “Tesla’s New Product – Robot Hamburger Flipper” • As is often the case with Elon, at the end of the AI Day presentation today, there was a surprise announcement of a new product. In this case, it was a human-like robot with the FSD computer inside of it to direct its actions. It is designed to do things humans really don’t want to do. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Stanley Black & Decker Bets On Foam “Superbattery” Energy Storage Revolution” • Stanley Black & Decker got a jump on the rest of the world for solid state battery technology. It took a plunge into the field through the little known Colorado startup Prieto Battery back in 2016. Now it looks like all that hard work is about to pay off. [CleanTechnica]

Prieto Battery system (Prieto Battery image)
Please click on the image to enlarge it.

¶ “US Energy Secretary Meets With Navajo Nation In New Mexico” • US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm met with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and other tribal leaders at the Four Corners Power Plant in northwest New Mexico to talk about renewable energy initiatives, including a solar project and an energy storage system. [AP News]

¶ “CEP Renewables Develops Largest Landfill Solar Project In North America” • CEP Renewables LLC is to build the largest solar project on a capped landfill in North America. The 25.6 MW (DC) solar project in Mount Olive, New Jersey, transforms the former Combe Fill North Landfill Superfund site into a clean energy asset. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

Solar array (Courtesy of CEP Renewables)

¶ “Wind Project Would Double Idaho’s Turbine Energy Output” • A proposed energy project in south-central Idaho would more than double the amount of wind energy produced in the state. The US Bureau of Land Management is taking comments on the 1,000-MW project proposed by Magic Valley Energy. It would include 400 wind turbines. [Kenosha News]

¶ “AES Kicks Off 72 MW Of Michigan Solar Construction” • AES has chosen US engineering, procurement and construction contractor Borrego to engineer and construct three solar projects in Michigan, totaling 72 MW. The three projects, which are in Cement City, Pullman, and Letts Creek, are scheduled to come online by mid-2022. [reNEWS]

Have a really great day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Eight Zero-Emission Transport Items That *Need* To Be In The Next Reconciliation Bill” • There were several provisions in the infrastructure bill that we worked hard to make sure were included (and were as good as possible), but almost none of them go as far as we would have liked or climate needs demand. Here are eight we need. [CleanTechnica]

Capitol building (Wendy Maxwell, Pexels)

¶ “Contradictory Headlines Show Fossil Fuel Market Confusion” • It surely must be turmoil in the fossil fuel future predictions industry. Huge variations can be found in expectations of supply and demand. A recent newsletter from mining.com showed this in its headlines, all in the one issue of its energy news digest. My head is spinning. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “Plugin Vehicles Score 15% Market Share In China In July!” • Plugin vehicles continue to see record or near-record levels in China, having scored 231,000 registrations in July. That pulls the year-to-date tally to 1.3 million units, which is already more than this market had in the whole year of 2020. … And remember, we are still just at July. [CleanTechnica]

Wuling HongGuang Mini EV (David290, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Australia’s Big Four Banks To Stop Lending To Thermal Coal Mining And Coal Fired Power Plants” • The Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac, and National Australia Bank all committed to stop fossil fuel financing. They are increasing commitments to sustainable lending, and they are reducing their exposure to the risks of climate change. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Northland Signs Up Locals To Back ScotWind Bid” • As part of its ScotWind bid, Northland Power has signed memoranda of understanding with the Western Isles Council and the region’s higher education institutions. The agreements cover topics ranging from domestic use of hydrogen to development of local skills for offshore wind farms. [reNEWS]

Offshore wind farm (Northland Power image)

¶ “Italian Energy Giant Plans Another 1,000 MW Of Renewables In Australia And Seeks Retail Licence” • Italian energy giant Enel, the biggest EU utility by some metrics, is seeking a retail energy licence in Australia to support its plans to grow its solar and wind portfolio by another 1,000 MW and provide power to industrial and commercial customers. [Renew Economy]

¶ “‘Green Steel’: Swedish Company Ships First Batch Made Without Using Coal” • The Swedish venture Hybrit said it was delivering the steel to truck-maker Volvo AB as a trial run before full commercial production in 2026. Volvo has said it will start production in 2021 of prototype vehicles and components from the green steel. [The Guardian]

Iron made in the green steelmaking process (Hybrit image)

¶ “Spain Looks To Cut Soaring Power Prices With More Renewables” • Spain, one of the fastest-growing renewable energy markets in Europe, is looking to award 3.3 GW of new wind and solar capacity. The Spanish government expects that the additional supply of electricity will help it cut sharply rising power prices, Bloomberg reports. [Oil Price]

India:

¶ “By Upgrading Old Wind Turbines, India Can Achieve Its Renewable Energy Targets” • India’s current installed wind power generating capacity is 39.2 GW. The country is targeting 60 GW by 2022. Progress is now slow. But the best sites for wind are the ones with the oldest turbines, and repowering them could put that goal within reach. [Scroll.in]

Wind turbines (Pixabay, Pexels, CC0)

¶ “India Proposes New Green Energy Rules To Promote Renewable Power” • The Indian government has proposed a new set of rules “Draft Electricity (promoting renewable energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules, 2021” for purchase and consumption of green energy, including green hydrogen and waste-to-energy plants. [Mongabay-India]

¶ “Maharashtra Renewable Plans Back On Track, Powered By Lower Costs” • So far, 2021 has been a good year for renewable energy growth in Maharashtra. MSEDCL is finally happy with the bids it received for its recent tenders. With prices dropping to as low as ₹2.42 (3.3¢) for its last solar tender and ₹2.62 (3.5¢) for its Solar+Wind hybrid tender. [Saur Energy]

Mumbai, Maharashtra (Vijit Bagh, Unsplash)

US:

¶ “Tesla Aims To Become A Retail Electric Provider In Texas” • Tesla is looking to become a retail electricity provider in Texas, according to Energy Choice Matters. The article noted that Tesla is seeking the certificate and it applied for Option 1 Texas retail electric provider certificate. Tesla already offers retail electricity in Australia and the UK. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “BlackRock Acquires US Wind And Solar Portfolio” • BlackRock Real Assets acquired National Renewable Solutions, a renewable energy developer focused on early stage wind and solar projects in the US. BlackRock has a current project development pipeline of more than 3.5 GW, with assets in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. [reNEWS]

Wind farm (Johanna Montoya, Unsplash)

¶ “Community Power Plan Gets A Charge” • The Plainfield Selectboard voted unanimously to join the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, a nonprofit energy aggregator that buys power for municipalities while limiting their legal and financial liability. Lebanon had already voted in favor of an agreement with the coalition. [Valley News]

¶ “New Criminal Charges Filed In SC’s Nuclear Plant Failure, Revealing How Project Unraveled” • A second high-ranking employee of Westinghouse Electric faces criminal charges that relate to the multi-billion dollar failure of the SCANA nuclear project, an 18-page indictment shows. It was made public in US District Court in Columbia, South Carolina. [The State]

Have a resoundingly serene day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Higher Carbon Prices Driving Greater Interest In Carbon Capture Technology” • Carbon capture is expensive, at about $120 a ton, and it doesn’t work very well. It may be a decade or more before carbon capture is commercially viable. But as countries prices on carbon, it might be possible to make carbon capture profitable. [CleanTechnica]

Carbon capture (LeJean Hardin & Jamie Payne, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Automated Disassembly Line Aims To Make Battery Recycling Safer, Faster” • Researchers at the US DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, have developed a robotic disassembly system for spent electric vehicle battery packs. It can recycle and reuse critical materials safely and efficiently while reducing toxic waste. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Teams Ride A Wave Of Winnings To Succeed In The Water Desalination Challenge” • Oncoming storms and hurricanes create challenges for remote, coastal, and island communities, like reliable access to energy and drinking water. To help people overcome such challenges, innovators are tapping into the power of ocean waves. [CleanTechnica]

Wave (Linus Nylund, Unsplash)

¶ “Major Nuclear Fusion Milestone Reached As ‘Ignition’ Is Triggered In A Lab” • An experiment appears to have triggered “ignition” (energy output greater than input) for the first time, at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, with extreme temperatures and pressures like those of the center of the Sun. [Imperial College London]

World:

¶ “Thousands Evacuated As Blaze Rages Near French Riviera” • A wildfire that broke out on Monday close to the French Riviera has already consumed 6,000 hectares (14,820 acres), according to fire officials. Thousands of people, including tourists staying in campsites, have been moved to safety as firefighters work to bring the wildfire under control. [BBC]

Fire (Vladyslav Dukhin, Pexels)

¶ “Australia In The Race For Green Hydrogen” • There is a green gold rush going on in Australia at the moment. Billions of dollars in investment are flowing into the production of green hydrogen. Before you reach for your keyboard, let me stress this hydrogen is green. The plans include massive wind and solar farms to power hydrolysis. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Australia’s Longest Electric Superhighway” • Not to be shown up by Queensland’s Electric Super Highway, the government of Western Australian announced its own, running from Kununurra to Esperance. At 3205 km, it is the longest electric highway in the country. With 45 chargers placed every 200 km, range anxiety should be a thing of the past. [CleanTechnica]

Electric Highway in Western Australia (Google Maps image)

¶ “IKEA To Start Selling Renewable Electricity To Swedish Households” • Ikea, which started selling solar panels and other equipment at its stores sometime back, is now moving into direct electricity selling too. IKEA’s solar panel producer, Svea Solar will be buying electricity on the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool and resell it without surcharge. [Saur Energy]

¶ “Asia-Pacific CPPAs Surge To 3.8 GW” • Corporate renewable power purchase agreement activity in the Asia Pacific region more than doubled to 3800 MW in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to Wood Mackenzie. This is despite project delays from labor shortages and logistic disruptions from the pandemic. [reNEWS]

Wind turbines (Peter Franken, Unsplash)

¶ “China Has Approved A Renewable Mega-Project For Green Hydrogen” • The Energy Administration of Inner Mongolia has approved a massive hydrogen project. It gave the go-ahead to a cluster of plants in the cities of Ordos and Baotou that will use 1.85 GW of solar and 370 MW of wind to produce 66,900 tons of green hydrogen per year. [Yahoo Finance]

¶ “Watchdog Halts Tsuruga Nuclear Safety Assessment After Data Tampering” • Japan’s nuclear regulator said it will pause its safety assessment of a central Japan reactor in response to the operator having tampered with key geological data related to a fault underneath the facility, putting in doubt its restart after a 10-year shutdown. [The Mainichi]

Tsuruga nuclear plant (Hirorinmasa, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

US:

¶ “EVgo Announces New Plans, Shows Us One Of Its Big Electric Bills” • A recent email from EVgo told current customers about upcoming changes to the company’s charging plans. In a link, the company also gave us a good look at what it takes to support a DC Fast Charging station financially. It provided the electric bill for one charging station. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Portland-Based Renewable Energy Company Gets $25 Million In Growth Capital” • Ocean Renewable Power Co, a marine renewable energy business based in Portland, Maine, announced that it has secured investments totaling $25 million. The funding comes from a consortium including two Canadian companies, according to a news release. [Mainebiz]

RivGen Power System in Igiugig, Alaska (ORPC image)

¶ “GOP Wants State Study Of Renewable Energy” • Republicans in the New York State legislature have introduced a proposal that would require the Public Service Commission and NYSERDA to conduct a full cost-benefit analysis of renewable energy systems and to compare those costs with other ways of producing electricity. [Observer Today]

¶ “Biden Administration: Solar Could Provide 40% Of US Power By 2035” • Solar power plants could supply more than 40% of the nation’s electricity by 2035, up from 3% today, if Congress adopts such policies as tax credits for renewable energy projects and component factories, according to a memo published by the US Department Of Energy. [Reuters]

Have a tolerably flawless day.

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Opinion:

¶ “How US Congress Can Get Cities Moving” • Cities and their partners have made significant strides with climate-friendly transportation policies to encourage people to bike, walk, or use public transit instead of driving. But local action can’t tackle the climate crisis alone. The federal government has tools to support bottom-up climate action. [CleanTechnica]

Bike lane in Boston (Aaron Doucett, Unsplash)

¶ “Did The US Spend Two Decades And Trillions Of Dollars In Afghanistan And Iraq Because Of Oil Addiction?” • After 9/11, the needs were obvious. We “needed” to secure our oil supplies. We “needed” to have the strongest presence in this “oil-rich” region of the world. The cost? Well, never mind the cost, short term and long term – it was a “necessity.” [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Bipartisan Support For Clean Energy Appears To Be Growing” • Many observers on Capitol Hill were surprised that nineteen Republican senators supported the bipartisan infrastructure package that overwhelmingly passed the Senate last week. After decades of climate change denial and opposition to clean energy, the GOP seems to be changing. [TheHill]

Wind turbines (Pixabay, Pexels, CC0)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Experts Say Record-Setting Heat And Wildfires Just A Taste What’s Coming In Our Future” • Historic heat waves have been ravaging the Pacific Northwest, wildfires blaze across California and Oregon, and July was the hottest month on record. Extreme weather could offer a preview of what to expect in forecasts of the near future, experts suggest. [TheHill]

¶ “Cities Like Paris May Be Optimal Urban Form For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions” • Researchers at CU Boulder are part of a newly published study that finds that low-rise, high-density environments like those found in Paris are the optimal urban form when looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their whole life cycle. [CleanTechnica]

Paris buildings (Nil Castellví, Unsplash)

World:

¶ “UK Government Launches Plan For A World-Leading Hydrogen Economy” • With its new Hydrogen Strategy, the UK plans to produce tens of thousands of jobs, billions of pounds in investment, and new export opportunities. It hopes to unlock these to create a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector over the next decade and beyond. [GOV UK]

¶ “How Water Shortages Are Brewing Wars” • Over the course of the 20th Century, global water use grew at more than twice the rate of population increase. Today, this dissonance is leading many cities to ration water. Water crises have been ranked in the top five of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks by Impact list nearly every year since 2012. [BBC]

Ho Chi Mihn City (Polina Rytova, Unsplash)

¶ “Low Carbon Acquires 30-MW Finnish wind” • Low Carbon recently completed the acquisition of the Morknasskogen wind project in Finland. The 30-MW, five-turbine facility forms part of Low Carbon’s exclusive renewables pipeline of more than 120 MW being developed in the country. Construction is expected to start in early 2022. [reNEWS]

¶ “Unlocking Renewables In Victoria” • In the western parts of Victoria, rich in solar and wind resources, many solar and wind projects are stuck because of grid stability and access problems. They are facing lengthy delays in getting connected, and even when connected, their output is curtailed. However, there is progress going on. [CleanTechnica]

Victoria landscape (Zac Porter, Unsplash)

¶ “China’s Cash For UK Nuclear Plants Is In Doubt” • In order to finance the construction of nuclear stations that are supposed to generate up to 20% of the UK’s electricity, the UK government needs Chinese money. Without it, the already prohibitively expensive projects may become completely unaffordable. And that money is in doubt. [Eco-Business.com]

¶ “UK Storage Start-Up Swoops On 160-MW Battery Pipeline” • Renewables infrastructure start-up Field has secured a 160-MW battery storage pipeline in the UK, with construction underway on the first 20-MW site. Field, founded earlier this year, has a pipeline of sites across the UK, with advanced discussions for a further 330 MW. [reNEWS]

Energy storage (Southern Power image)

US:

¶ “First-Ever Water Cuts Declared For Colorado River In Historic Drought” • The federal government has now declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time ever, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, as climate change-fueled drought pushes the level in Lake Mead to unprecedented lows. [CNN]

¶ “BOEM Wraps Up South Fork Environmental Review” • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed its environmental review of the proposed South Fork Wind project in waters offs New York and Rhode Island. The project will deliver approximately 130 MW of power to South Fork of Long Island, New York. [reNEWS]

Offshore wind farm (Jack Hunter, Unsplash)

¶ “US Energy Official To Visit NM Amid Renewable Push” • US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will be in New Mexico for a two-day visit. She and Senator Martin Heinrich (D) are to meet with local leaders and organizations about the state’s push for more renewable energy and efforts to lower costs as utilities face a mandate to lower emissions. [Albuquerque Journal]

¶ “Greenbacker Renewable Energy Acquires 40 MW Of Solar Projects In New York” • Through a subsidiary, Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company purchased two 20-MW (AC) solar projects from Hecate Energy. The acquisitions of Hecate Energy Albany 1 and Hecate Energy Albany 2 showcase Greenbacker’s expansion into New York. [Solar Builder]

Have a phenomenonally gratifying day.

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Opinion:

¶ “How Extreme Weather Makes Everything Harder, Except Climate-Risk Analysis” • The IPCC report has a clarity that is sobering. What does this newfound certainty mean for investors trying to hedge against climate risks? In the first half of this year, insured losses from catastrophes topped $42 billion, and they are growing. [Insurance Journal]

Hurricane (Zoltan Tasi, Unsplash)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Agora Energy’s Solution Will Turn CO₂ And Electricity Into Industrial Feedstocks Cheaply” • The carbonates of potassium and sodium are in lots of things we use daily. But making them uses quite a lot of energy. While the Agora Energy redox flow battery stores electricity at a very low cost, it also draws down CO₂, and carbonates are by-products. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “UK Government To Review Green Retail Electricity Tariffs” • The UK government is concerned that energy companies could be exaggerating how environmentally friendly their products are, and it said it will review green retail electricity tariffs. The review will look into the current system’s transparency and whether its rules are fit for their purpose. [Reuters]

Birds on wires (Pixabay, Pexels)

¶ “Bridgend Renewable Energy Firm Wins Royal Mint Contract” • The Welsh renewable energy company Infinite Renewables has won the tender to supply power directly to the Royal Mint. Local Energy Centre is on a site in Llantrisant. The project will include solar, wind, hydrogen-ready Combined Heat and Power, and battery storage technologies. [Business News Wales]

¶ “ACWA Power Hits Financial Close On 1.5-GW Saudi Solar” • ACWA Power has reached financial close on the 1.5-GW Sudair solar plant in Saudi Arabia, with the Public Investment Fund renewable energy program supporting the project. A specialised Saudi technical team at the Ministry of Energy selected the site for the Sudair project. [reNEWS]

Solar array (Saudi Aramco image)

¶ “NSW’s Roadmap To Renewables” • The New South Wales Committee on Environment and Planning outlined the future of its energy infrastructure, focusing on a transition to renewable sources. The Committee noted that NSWs’ coal-fired generating system is aging, and that many factors were driving a transition to sustainable energy. [Energy Magazine]

¶ “Concerns At Increasing Demands On Electricity Grid” • The Irish electricity grid faces increased prospects of blackouts this winter as emergency plans to import generators have stalled, according to a professor of energy engineering at University College Cork. One problem has been lack of maintenance for two gas plants due to Covid-19. [RTE]

Data center (imgix, Unsplash)

¶ “Construction Jobs In Renewables Two-Thirds Down On 2018, Says Clean Energy Council” • The pace of construction in Australian renewable energy is declining in 2021 despite global momentum for energy transition technologies. The Clean Energy Council claims some 2,700 jobs have been lost to the sector since 2018. [Stockhead]

US:

¶ “Decarbonized Buildings And Vehicles Create Good Missouri Jobs” • Eliminating carbon emissions from our building and transportation sectors will be critical to maintaining a healthy and livable climate. The good news is that decarbonizing these sectors is also good for our economy. Missouri is home to more than 50,000 clean energy jobs. [CleanTechnica]

Please click on the image to enlarge it, (NRDC image)

¶ “Elon Musk Shares Details On Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta 9.2 Improvements” • After a Twitter user asked Elon Musk when FSD Beta 9.2 would be released, Elon explained that there had been some unexpected last-minute issues. The anticipated update is now out, and Elon shared more details on the improvements of FSD Beta 9.2. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Renewable Energy Transition Faces Roadblocks In New Mexico” • As the alarms increase about the horrors of climate change, New Mexico and the nation are hustling to accelerate their renewable energy efforts. New Mexico has a good start on developing renewable energy, but the transition to green energy is facing delays. [Santa Fe New Mexican]

San Juan power plant (Steven Baltakatei Sandoval, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “UMass Solar Canopies Near Completion” • Two more solar canopies are going up over parking lots at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Together, the 4.09-MW solar canopies are expected to produce about 4.5 million kWh per year. That is enough electricity to provide for the annual needs of around 650 households. [Daily Hampshire Gazette]

¶ “Latest Climate Change Report Underscores Impacts For Skagit County” • Worldwide, the IPCC report shows the kind of heat wave that used to happen only once every 50 years now happens once a decade. For Skagit County, Washington, that means more glaciers melting, more massive wildfires, drought, hot days, bad air quality, and sea-level rise. [goSkagit]

Have a magnificently uncomplicated day.

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Opinion:

¶ “How Investors, And Everybody, Should Think About Climate Change” • Companies that don’t make a transition to deal with climate change risk falling behind or having their business models usurped. For example, consider the $5.8 trillion global insurance industry and the upheaval that climate change is creating there. [Yahoo Finance]

Houses built on permafrost (Fbaudoux.ir, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Agora CO₂-Based Redox Battery Wins Global Deeptech Competitions And Has 1 Year ROI” • Agora Energy Technologies has a flow battery that is revolutionary, and has won some well deserved awards. It is based on the chemistry of CO₂, which it captures aggressively in an open-loop system and renders into commercially useful chemicals. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Wireless EV Charging For Highways – Does Indiana Have The Solution?” • The Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University have announced plans to develop the world’s first contactless wireless-charging concrete pavement highway segment. The project will use innovative magnetizable concrete developed by a German startup. [CleanTechnica]

Purdue University (Cole Parsons, Unsplash)

¶ “Activists Call It A ‘False Solution.’ But UN Scientists Say We Need To Suck Up CO₂” • Avoiding climate catastrophe at this point will require removing carbon from the atmosphere. But IPCC report makes clear that averting catastrophe now will require us to develop measurable, surefire ways to suck CO₂ from the air and return it to the ground. [HuffPost]

¶ “Argonne Study On Costs And Benefits Of New Transportation Technologies The Most Comprehensive To Date” • An study from Argonne National Laboratory offers the most complete understanding yet of the costs of owning and operating a vehicle and how those costs vary by powertrain, from the conventional to the cutting-edge. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla charging (Jannis Lucas, Unsplash)

World:

¶ “Volkswagen Takes Three Out Of Top Four Spots In July In Germany” • The German plug-in vehicle market scored over 55,000 registrations last month. Full battery EVs were up 52% year over year, and plug-in hybrids were up 58% year over year. This is slower growth than the year to date, which increased 185% and 182% respectively. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Japan Rain: Nearly Two Million Residents Told To Seek Shelter” • Nearly two million people have been urged to evacuate their homes because of heavy rainfall in parts of Japan. The evacuations are non-compulsory. The west of the country is worst affected but heavy downpours are expected across the country in coming days. [BBC]

Raindrop (Sourav Mishra, Pexels)

¶ “Saudi Aramco Joins Local 1.5-GW Solar Project With A 30% Stake In Renewables Push” • Saudi Aramco is investing, alongside the country’s sovereign wealth fund and Riyadh-based ACWA Power, in the oil exporter’s largest solar project with a capacity of 1.5 GW as the world’s biggest energy company makes a push into renewables. [S&P Global]

¶ “Just What Australia Needs – More Droughts, More Floods, More Fires” • According to the recent IPCC report, Australia can look forward to more floods, more droughts, more fires, and even drier conditions. While the weather presenters on the news prattle about the wonderful sunny days, the farmers off the coast pray for rain. [CleanTechnica]

Stormy weather (Moritz Böing, Pexels)

¶ “Dublin Solar Power Developer Signs €39 Million Deal For Renewables Ahead Of €500 Million Fundraising Plan” • Dublin solar power developer BNRG has signed a €39 million deal with Paris-listed renewable energy business Neoen for three projects in Ireland. It revealed plans to raise €500 million in debt and equity over the next five years. [Independent.ie]

US:

¶ “As The Climate Crisis Worsens In The US, Pressure For Action From Biden And Kerry Grows” • The Biden administration and Democrats are walking a tightrope, with a razor-thin majority in Congress, to enact policies that will reroute the US economy away from fossil fuels and show the world that the US will lead on climate change. [CNN]

Wind turbines (Narcisa Aciko, Pexels)

¶ “Tesla Model S Plaid Is Ready To Race In Mt Washington Hillclimb Today!” • Before today, no electric car had ever raced in the Mt Washington Hillclimb. Today, two electric cars are racing up the highest peak in the Northeast. One is a modified EV, and one is stock. Eighty cars are racing in the event, which covers 7.6 miles of road. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “FedEx Orders 120 Xos Electric Trucks” • The electric truck market has been a hot topic in the past year or so, but you might not have heard of Xos. Xos produces electric Class 5 and Class 8 commercial trucks, and as you can see in the headline, it has landed a big order with FedEx, with 35 FedEx ground operators, to be specific. [CleanTechnica]

Have an uncommonly peachy day.

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Opinion:

¶ “I Toured ‘The Best Damn [Natural Gas] Plant In The Fleet.’ Two Years Later It Exploded” • Two years ago, I went on a tour of the Russell City Energy Center, a California natural gas power plant. Two months ago, the power plant exploded, raining hunks of metal down on its neighborhood. Now the state is racing to put it back online. [CleanTechnica]

Russell City Energy Center (Mark Specht, UCS)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Smoke And Soot From Wildfires May Be Causing More Covid-19 Cases And Deaths, Study Finds” • A study published in the journal Science Advances found that increases in fine particulate matter of the type called PM2.5 from wildfire smoke in 2020 led to increased numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon, and Washington. [CNN]

¶ “NREL’s Thermoplastic Blade Research Dives Deep With Verdant Power’s Tidal Energy Turbines” • National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers are studying thermoplastic composite blades on a large-scale tidal power turbine for the first time. They have the potential to revolutionize the marine energy industry. [CleanTechnica]

NREL researchers making a blade (Dennis Schroeder, NREL)

¶ “UN Report: Human Role In Global Warming Overwhelming And ‘Unequivocal’” • The latest scientific assessment from the UN’s IPCC for the first time speaks with certainty about the total responsibility of human activity for the rising temperatures of global warming. The scientists forecast no end to warming trends until emissions cease. [Buenos Aires Times]

¶ “The Planet’s Water Cycle Is Changing Rapidly. Here’s What That Means For Us” • A number of factors are intensifying the water cycle, but one of the most important is that warming temperatures raise the upper limit on the amount of moisture in the air. That increases the potential for more rain. Oddly, it also increases the potential for drought. [Popular Science]

Key parts of the water cycle (NASA image)

World:

¶ “Sales Of Fossil-Fuel Vehicles Have Already Peaked, Bloomberg Says” • A recent article in Bloomberg makes the bold assertion that sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines have already peaked, so the future of the global auto industry belongs to EVs. EVs may still be more expensive than fossils, but that won’t be the case for much longer. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “July Was The Hottest Month On Record” • We just had the hottest month, as a planet, in any of our lifetimes, and we saw the weather extremes that came with it. The global temperature in July 2021 was the highest for any July in the 142 years of records, according to data released today from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. [CNN]

Departure from normal temperatures (NOAA)
Please click on the image to enlarge it.

¶ “India On Track To Achieve Renewable Energy Target Of 450 GW By 2030” • The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh, apprised the business leaders that India will achieve the set renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030. He was interacting with members of the US India Business Council in a virtual event. [Swarajya]

¶ “Study: Renewables Much Cheaper Than Fossils” • Fraunhofer ISE released a levelized cost of energy analysis for power plants in Germany, a place with solar resources comparable to Alaska’s (not a joke). Solar panels are so cheap now and solar power plant systems are so streamlined that solar is just cheap, compared to anything else. [CleanTechnica]

Levelized cost of electricity (Fraunhofer)
Please click on the image to enlarge it.

¶ “Middle East Renewables Surge” • Middle East Energy Transition reports that there were no contract awards for oil-powered or gas-fuelled power stations in the Middle East and North Africa region in the first half of 2021. In the same period, there were about $2.8 billion of renewable energy project contracts awarded. [Power Technology]

US:

¶ “GM Teases Electric Chevy Silverado Pickup Again: What We Know So Far” • Tesla and Ford have shown off their electric pickup trucks, to much fanfare. Now Chevy is finally taking another small step toward a public announcement. I saw “small step” because the company hasn’t really announced anything yet – it’s just teasing it. [CleanTechnica]

Tease of an electric vehicle

¶ “Read All About It! ‘US To Lead In EV Manufacturing'” • US President Joe Biden said that he wanted half of new cars sold in the country to be battery-powered by the end of the decade. To do that, he revealed a multi-layered strategy that would ease US consumers away from gasoline-powered cars and trucks and toward EVs. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “70% Of US EV Battery Cells And 87% Of Battery Packs Made In USA” • The US DOE recently shared that through 2020, most battery cells and packs used in US plug-in vehicles were made in the USA. That’s great news for the USA, but not surprising once you think about it for a moment. It is also not even close to the full story. [CleanTechnica]

Battery sources (Yan Zhou et al, Argonne National Laboratory) Please click on the image to enlarge it.

¶ “Clean Energy Projects Highlighted In Granholm’s Alaska Tour” • Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is to spend two days in Alaska traveling with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski to showcase “America’s living laboratory.” They will visit research projects, such as one to find ways to power remote villages 100% with renewable energy. [Laredo Morning Times]

¶ “Amid Extreme Weather, A Shift Among Republicans On Climate Change” • After a decade of disputing the existence of climate change, many leading Republicans are shifting their posture amid heat waves, drought, and wildfires that have hit their districts and unnerved their constituents. What they will do about it is not settled. [The Seattle Times]

Have an unprecedentedly superb day.

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Science and Technology:

¶ “Theory Versus Reality: The Dirty Hydrogen Story” • Not all hydrogen is clean. According to a report in the New York Times, a peer-reviewed study by researchers at Cornell and Stanford finds that most hydrogen used today is extracted from natural gas in a process that requires a lot of energy and emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide. [CleanTechnica]

Shell hydrogen facility (Bexim, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Why Heat Pumps Are The Answer To Heat Waves” • RMI modeled the performance of several cooling options for a Seattle home during the three-day heat wave in June 2021. We found that the heat pump was not only capable of maintaining a safe and comfortable indoor air temperature during extreme heat, but it also has the lowest cost. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “ESB Unveils Irish Green Hydrogen Project” • A large-scale green hydrogen storage project off the coast of Cork, Ireland, was launched by ESB and dCarbonX. Green Hydrogen @ Kinsale is an integrated project that could store up to 3,000 GWh of green hydrogen and hydrogen carriers, the equivalent of about 10% of Irish annual electricity consumption. [reNEWS]

Kinsale, Ireland (Image from Kinsale.ie)

¶ “US Project Enhances Pakistan’s Renewable Energy Capacity” • USAID has increased the wind and solar capacity in Pakistan by approximately 50% by leveraging over $900 million, according to an official statement. USAID partnered with the government of Pakistan to build renewables through the Sustainable Energy for Pakistan project. [The Express Tribune]

¶ “100 GW Renewable Energy Milestone Achieved, Much Work Ahead In India” • India has reached a key milestone of 100 GW of renewable energy capacity, excluding large hydro. Including large hydro, the number goes right up to 146 GW. There are 50 GW of renewable capacity under construction, and 27 GW more are being tendered. [Saur Energy]

Windfarm in Tamil Nadu (Raj, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Australia:

¶ “Large-Scale Solar And Windfarm Investment In Australia Records Major Drop This Year” • In Australia, investment in new large-scale solar and windfarms fell dramatically in the first half of 2021, according to industry data. There has been ongoing concern over delays in getting new renewable energy plants connected to the electricity grid. [The Guardian]

¶ “BEVs Make Slow And Steady Progress In Queensland” • The Queensland government released data detailing the growth of BEVs in the state’s transport fleet. While not quite an S curve, it does show slow and steady progress, almost doubling from April 2020 to April 2021. There was surge of Teslas delivered at the end of the second quarter. [CleanTechnica]

Gold Coast, Queensland (City of Gold Coast, Unsplash)

¶ “Energy Giant’s $2.06 Billion Loss Labeled A ‘Titanic’ Failure” • Australia’s largest energy retailer, AGL, has blamed an “extremely challenging market,” prompted in part by the ongoing growth of renewables, including rooftop solar PV, after reporting a $2.06 billion full-year net loss. AGL is the country’s biggest operator of coal-fired power plants. [pv magazine Australia]

US:

¶ “Bill Gates Pledges $1.5 Billion To Climate Projects In The Infrastructure Bill” • Bill Gates has pledged $1.5 billion over three years for climate change partnerships with the DOE, through his climate investment fund Breakthrough Energy. The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill has over $100 billion for addressing climate change. [CNN]

Bill Gates, 2013 (Energy.gov, public domain)

¶ “Tesla Service Center Approved In East Hartford, Connecticut” • Here is some good news for Tesla owners in Connecticut, a state that has heavily favored the whims of dealerships. The Planning and Zoning Commission of East Hartford voted unanimously to approve Tesla’s application to build a service center, the Journal Inquirer reports. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Planning A Wind Energy Project? Two New WINDExchange Resources Can Help” • The DOE’s WINDExchange initiative has released two resources: a report titled “Land-Based Wind Energy Siting” and a web-based Land-Based Economic Development Guide, to help local decision makers see if a wind project is right for their community. [CleanTechnica]

Agriculture and windpower (Dennis Schroeder, NREL)

¶ “Tesla’s Lowest Priced Model 3 Is Sold Out For Rest Of 2021 In USA” • The Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus is apparently already sold out for the rest of the year in the US. The estimated delivery time if you order a new Model 3 SR+ is now January 2022. Previously, the estimated delivery was for November of this year. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Facebook Plans To Build Data Center In Mesa Powered By Renewable Energy” • Facebook announced that it is building a data center in metro Phoenix powered only by renewable energy. Once completed, the Mesa facility “will represent an investment of more than $800 million and will support approximately 100 jobs,” Facebook said. [KTAR News]

Rendering of data center (Facebook image)

¶ “With The Growth Of Renewable Energy, The Need For More Trained Workers Is Surging” • Nearly 3.3 million Americans work in clean energy, outnumbering fossil fuel workers by 3-to-1, and the number of jobs is growing remarkably fast. The renewable energy industry will need skilled technicians to provide for the projected growth. [The Business Journals]

¶ “New Jersey’s Largest Energy Company Sells Off Fossil-Fuel Plants” • Public Service Enterprise Group announced that it has agreed to sell its fleet of 13 fossil-fuel plants for $1.92 billion to a Boston-based private equity company that focuses on energy infrastructure investments. It will keep three nuclear plants with state subsidies. [NJ Spotlight News]

Have a prodigiously priceless day.

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Opinion:

¶ “We Have The Solutions To The Climate Crisis. Now We Must Act” • We have known for many decades that at some point the day would come when the climate crisis was not a distant future occurrence but happening now. The only remaining question is, how fast will we take action to reduce the consequences of this planetary emergency? [CleanTechnica]

Surveying Arctic ice (NOAA, Unsplash)

¶ “Australia’s Response To The IPCC” • We are doing a great job – everything bad is someone else’s fault. We are waiting for some magic technology to solve the problem for us – no, we won’t use the technology we already have. We have to give all our money to the fossil fuel industry. All we need to meet our energy problems is a Future Fuels Strategy. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Small Businesses Can Play A Big Role In Championing Renewables” • A report from Total Retail reveals a noteworthy trend: over four-fifths of Gen Z consumers and three-quarters of millennials consider environmental sustainability in purchasing decisions. They value companies that put responsible and ethical practices to use. [Sustainability Times]

Installing solar panels (Los Muertos Crew, Pexels)

¶ “Utah Cities Shouldn’t Gamble On Nuclear Power” • We’re not into energy politics, and we don’t take positions on the sources or technologies. But one of our critical missions is to protect the taxpayers when governments are looking to make risky bets. If modular nuclear power is ready for market, let the private sector show it by putting up its money. [Deseret News]

Science and Technology:

¶ “Scientists Say This Invisible Gas Could Seal Our Fate On Climate Change” • Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is critical to ending the climate crisis. But, for the first time, the UN climate change report emphasized the need to control a more insidious culprit: methane, an invisible, odorless gas 80 times as effective as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. [CNN]

Atmospheric methane (Jens Mühle, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

World:

¶ “Italy May Have Registered Europe’s Hottest Temperature On Record” • The Italian island of Sicily may have registered the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe – 48.8°C (119.8°F). Regional authorities reported the reading near Syracuse. It still needs to be verified by the WMO. The current official record in Europe is 48°C, registered in Athens in 1977. [BBC]

¶ “Algeria Forest Fires: At Least 65 People Killed As Fires Spread” • Wildfires tearing through northern Algeria have killed at least 65 people, including 28 soldiers deployed to help the firefighters. Some 69 fires were burning on Wednesday, as a heatwave sweeps across North Africa. The flames have been fanned by tinder-dry conditions and strong winds. [BBC]

Algerian countryside (Bilou bilal, Unsplash)

¶ “Audi Is Bringing Six Electric Vehicle Models To South Africa In Q1 2022” • EV sales in South Africa have been quite slow due to several factors. One of these is the small selection of EVs for consumers to choose from. But a wider range is coming. Audi South Africa will launch six all-electric models in the South African market early next year. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Mainstream, Aker Offshore Wind Take Stake In Japanese Floater” • Mainstream Renewable Power and Aker Offshore Wind, together, were selected as the preferred bidder to acquire an initial 50% in Progression Energy’s 800-MW floating wind project in Japan. The country aims to expand offshore wind energy capacity to 10 GW by 2030. [reNEWS]

Offshore wind project (Principle Power image)

¶ “GIG And TotalEnergies Secure Rights For Korea Floater” • Macquarie’s Green Investment Group and TotalEnergies have secured exclusive development rights for the first phase of a 1500-MW floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Ulsan, South Korea. The plant is to have a maximum capacity of 1.5 GW, developed in three phases. [reNEWS]

US:

¶ “US Department Of Energy Awards $45 Million To Advance Solar Manufacturing And Grid Technologies” • The US DOE announced $45 million for projects that will help integrate clean energy sources onto the grid. The purpose of the funding is to advance the domestic manufacturing of solar energy and electric grid technologies. [CleanTechnica]

Transmission lines (James Wainscoat, Unsplash)

¶ “Senator Markey Announces Legislation For Offshore Wind Manufacturing” • Senator Edward J Markey (D-MA), and cosponsors Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), announced the Offshore Wind American Manufacturing Act, to drive US manufacturing and offshore wind deployment. [Senator Edward Markey]

¶ “EDPR Unleashes 180-MW Wildcat Creek” • EDP Renewables North America announced that its 180-MW Wildcat Creek Wind Farm reached commercial operations and is producing energy in Cooke County. Wildcat Creek Wind Farm is EDPR NA’s fifth operating wind farm in Texas and brings its Texas portfolio to 1089 MW of operating capacity. [reNEWS]

Wind turbine (EDPR image)

¶ “‘Once-in-a-generation’ Infrastructure Bill To Boost Renewable Energy With Modernized Grid” • From hydrogen pipelines and electric vehicle charging stations to green school buses, the sprawling $1.2 trillion infrastructure package approved in a 69-30 vote on Tuesday features a list of energy projects of all types. [The Florida Star]

¶ “Critics Decry $12 Billion For Nuclear In Infrastructure Bill” • The US Senate has passed a massive infrastructure bill. Buried in the package is $12 billion for the nuclear industry. Half of that money would go to supporting unprofitable nuclear plants, and half to untested technology. Critics say all of the money would be better spent elsewhere. [Public News Service]

Have a plainly magnificent day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Frightening New Climate Report Also Holds The Seeds Of Hope” • The latest report that just arrived from the IPCC isn’t pretty. But in a year defined by searing heat waves, torrential floods, and raging fires, it is encouraging that the same report that is so frightening also suggests a strategy to alleviate some of its most devastating projections. [CNN]

Extinction Rebellion (Bhuwan Bansal, Unsplash)

¶ “When Do Fossil Fuel Car Sales Collapse?” • I expect fossil fuel car sales to start to really collapse in 2025–2026 in Europe and 2027–2028 in the USA, though, it seems that is already started. But the 50% plugin vehicle share, which Biden’s team is targeting, is not a peaceful state of equilibrium. It’s a point of hyperfast change and disruption. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Why Rural America Is Key To Climate Change Policy” • Rural areas represent 86% of persistent poverty counties in the US, and over 50% of rural Black residents live in economically distressed counties. Addressing the climate crisis and lagging economic vitality will require federal investment in building a new climate economy for rural America [GreenBiz]

Farmland (Arno Smit, Unsplash)

World:

¶ “Wildfires: How Are They Linked To Climate Change?” • Recent heatwaves and wildfires around the world have caused alarm, with warnings that parts of Europe and North America could be experiencing the worst fire season ever. So how do wildfires compare with previous years? Here is a look at areas around the world that are burning. [BBC]

¶ “Stellantis Takes Four Out Of The Top Five Spots In July In France!” • After a record month in June, the French plugin vehicle market took some time to breathe in July, just 5% above July 2020. That may not seem impressive. But considering that the overall market is down 33% compared to July 2019, that is impressive growth. [CleanTechnica]

Hyundai Tucson (Duncan Winslow, Unsplash)

¶ “Companies Unite To Develop A Japan-Australia CO₂-Free Hydrogen Supply Chain In South Australia” • A ground-breaking MOU between ENEOS Corporation and Neoen, a world-leading independent renewable energy provider, will explore developing a Japanese-Australian CO₂-free hydrogen supply chain in South Australia. [Premier of South Australia]

¶ “NSW’s Largest Electricity User Plans To Go Green, Abandon AGL’s Coal” • One of the country’s most electricity-intensive smelters plans to switch to renewable energy, a move that would drastically reduce its footprint. It sends power generators a clear message that Australia does not support coal, even if the federal government does. [pv magazine Australia]

Wärtsilä battery storage system (Wärtsilä Corporation)

¶ “Wärtsilä Supplies Battery For Taiwan Grid” • Wärtsilä will supply an energy storage system that will provide frequency regulation in the ancillary service market for the Taiwanese grid as the country aims for a 20% renewables mix by 2025. The 5.2-MW / 5.2-MWh battery order was placed in August 2021 by Shangfa Construction. [reNEWS]

¶ “EU Clean Hydrogen Drive Finds Partners In Kazakhstan And The UK” • The EU is placing a major bet on hydrogen to replace the fossil fuels, oil, gas, and coal, but so far the move has involved a lot of wrangling. EU companies, however, have been moving ahead on their own, making deals in other places, such as the UK and Kazakhstan. [Sustainability Times]

Almaty, Kazakhstan (Alexander Serzhantov, Unsplash)

US:

¶ “Well Over 100 Million People Are Under Heat Alerts” • As if hundreds of wildfires, crippling drought, and a summer marked by a once-in-a-lifetime heat wave were not enough, more than 20 million Americans in the western US are on alert again, ahead of another historic heat wave. They are not alone. Over half the US is under heat alerts this week. [CNN]

¶ “Tesla Impact Report Highlights Sustainability & Battery Recycling” • Tesla’s focus is on more than building electric vehicles. In its 2020 Impact Report, the company says, “In 2020, Tesla customers helped accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by avoiding 5.0 million metric tons of CO₂e emissions.” [CleanTechnica]

Tesla cars (Tesla image)

¶ “American Canyon Opts Into 100% Renewable Energy For Facilities” • The American Canyon City Council voted to opt the City’s facilities into Marin Clean Energy’s Deep Green 100% renewable energy program. Currently, the California city is enrolled in the Light Green program, MCE’s default energy plan that offers 60% renewable energy. [Patch]

¶ “Winds of Change: Samsung Purchases 100% Renewable Energy in the US” • All Samsung’s facilities in the US, including its manufacturing and distribution sites, use renewable energy. Samsung currently has over 20,000 employees in 46 states, with six major subsidiaries based in California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas. [Samsung Newsroom]

Samsung Semiconductor’s rooftop solar array (Samsung image)

¶ “AEP Energy Procures More Capacity From Mammoth Project In Indiana” • AEP Energy and Doral Renewables have signed a renewable energy purchase agreement for the second phase of the Mammoth solar project in Indiana. The 360-MW Mammoth Solar II is part of the 1.65-GW Mammoth project that Doral has under development. [pv magazine USA]

¶ “Salem Township Concerns Over A New Bitcoin Mining Facility To Be Built Near Power Plant” • Talen energy, the owner of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Salem township, Pennsylvania, announced plans to develop an infrastructure campus next to the plant. The facility would use electricity from the plant to make Bitcoin currency. [PAhomepage.com]

Have a wonderfully lovely day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Climate Scientists Have Done Their Bit. Now The Pressure Is On World Leaders” • Scientists have warned for decades that we were changing the climate in a way that would have devastating impacts on the planet and our lives. The landmark report from the IPCC showed that it is already happening, and faster than we ever expected. [CNN]

Ice (Johannes Plenio, Unsplash)

¶ “We Saw This Coming” • As I read the press reports, I realized that the joke has been on us. A small group of very smart, very selfish people backed by huge sums of money managed to stop the changes that need to be made to stop climate change. They’ll go to a future Hell of their own creation, but they are bringing us with them. [Environmental Health News]

Science and Technology:

¶ “Was That Wild Weather Caused By Climate Change? Scientists Can Now Say ‘Yes’ With Confidence” • Historic heat waves are so clearly caused by human-driven emissions that researchers can easily link them to climate change. Scientists at World Weather Attribution say this year’s Northwest heat wave would have been “virtually impossible” without it. [CNN]

Rainfall from Hurricane Harvey (National Weather Service)

World:

¶ “Greece Faces ‘Disaster Of Unprecedented Proportions’ As Wildfires Ravage The Country” • Greece faces a “natural disaster of unprecedented proportions,” as 586 wildfires burn all over the country, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address. Sixty-three organized evacuations have taken place in the past few days. [CNN]

¶ “At-Risk Nations Fear Extinction After IPCC Report” • Nations vulnerable to climate change have warned they are on the “edge of extinction” if action is not taken. The warning by a group of developing countries comes after the landmark UN IPCC report argued that global warming could make parts of the world uninhabitable. [BBC]

Protest sign (Ma Ti, Unsplash)

¶ “The IPCC Environmental Warning India Cannot Ignore” • Among the most serious findings of the sixth assessment report of the UN’s climate science organisation is that some of the climate systems of the planet have already seen irreversible changes due to unabated global warming. India is exposed to both increased droughts and flooding. [BBC]

¶ “Tesla Giga Shanghai’s New Production Rate Is 450,000/Year” • Tesla’s Giga Shanghai reached a milestone earlier this month. It now has an annualized vehicle production rate of 450,000 Models Y and 3 vehicles. Last year, Tesla met a goal of delivering 500,000 cars globally. Now, there are thoughts that Tesla could make 1 million EVs in 2021. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Modle Y (Tyler Casey, Unsplash)

¶ “Broad Public Support For Tough Action On Climate Change – Poll” • The survey of 2,046 British adults aged 16 to 75 found 60% wanted a ban on imported goods linked to deforestation, while just 10% did not. The survey also found 58% wanted the UK to use its diplomatic influence to persuade other countries to reduce emissions. [Evening Standard]

¶ “Abandoned Pits Of Former Mining Town Will Fuel Green Revolution” • A garden village with 1,500 homes, a primary school, and shops is being planned on fields near the old mining town of Seaham, County Durham. The heating and hot water for the entire development will come from water pumped from an abandoned mine shaft nearby. [The Guardian]

Miners’ homes in Seaham (peter robinson, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Study Finds 95% Of Renewable Energy Capacity In Richest Countries” • An analysis found that 95% of installed renewables capacity is located in just 16% of global countries, particularly in Global North countries. However, Global South countries have the strongest growth in energy demand, and are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. [Open Access Government]

US:

¶ “‘Final Warning’: Lawmakers, Biden Administration Sound Alarm Over UN Climate Report And Urge Swift Action” • US Lawmakers and the Biden administration’s top climate officials sounded the alarm in response to a new report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, urging nations to swiftly limit global warming to 1.5°C. [CNN]

Dixie fire Pyrocumulus (Frank Schulenburg, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “‘We’re Seeing Truly Frightening Fire Behavior’ Firefighters Battling The Dixie Fire Say” • Pyrocumulus, firenadoes, dry lightning. It sounds like an apocalyptic movie, but it’s the reality that firefighters are facing. When wildfires are this intense, they can sometimes create their own weather, making their next move nearly impossible to predict. [CNN]

¶ “Ørsted Signs US Power Play With Microsoft” • Ørsted and Microsoft have entered into an agreement for Microsoft to purchase energy from a 430-MW solar farm project in Texas. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will buy power from the Old 300 solar farm in Fort Bend County, which is expected to come online next year. [reNEWS]

Solar farm (Ørsted image)

¶ “Ford’s Got More Ambitious EV Plans Than The White House” • Ford and the Biden administration announced their goals to convert to EVs the same day. Now, we see that the Ford targets, 40–50% full EV sales in 2030, are a bit stronger than the Biden administration’s, which has a goal of 50% plugin and hydrogen vehicle sales by 2030. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Push For Green Energy Could Strand More Than $68 B In Coal And Gas Assets, S&P Says” • An ongoing push to expand renewable energy generation in the US could strand at least $68 billion in coal and natural gas power plant investments, an S&P Global Market Intelligence report says. The assets at risk include both coal and gas investments equally. [Utility Dive]

Have a tremendously worthwhile day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Why China’s Climate Policy Matters To Us All” • China’s carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China’s emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. China’s President Xi Jinping has said his country will aim for its emissions to peak before 2030. [BBC]

Li River, a different picture of China (Sam Beasley, Unsplash)

¶ “Tipping Points With World Climate Starting – How To Respond?” • I try to remain positive. But increasingly, evidence points to our breaching tipping points that can’t be remediated. There are ice sheets melting, ocean currents changing, record heat in Siberia. I think the answer is hope and work for the best, but prepare for the worst. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “IPCC 6: Slash Methane Or Die. Any Questions?” • The sixth IPCC climate report is due out, but there are already broad hints about what it will say. Put together over a period of years by thousands of scientists and climate researchers in 195 countries, IPCC reports offer us a snapshot of where our planet is in terms of human survivability. [CleanTechnica]

Where is our civilization going? (Constantinos Kollias, Unsplash)

Science and Technology:

¶ “Major Climate Changes Now Inevitable And Irreversible, Stark UN Report Says” • The Earth’s climate system is changing across the entire planet and human activities are worsening its effects. As a result, those effects are “widespread, rapid and intensifying,” according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. [The Irish Times]

¶ “Landmark Report Stresses Urgency Of Climate Crisis” • The latest report from the IPCC, to be published today, August 9, stresses the urgency to protect the most ambitious target of the Paris Agreement for global temperature rise to remain below 1.5°C. It says emphatically that the action needed for a stable climate cannot be delayed. [Met Office]

Wildfire smoke (Manny Becerra, Unsplash)

World:

¶ “The World Is On The Brink Of ‘Catastrophe,’ Leader Of Next UN Climate Talks Warns” • Failure to act now on climate change will result in “catastrophic” consequences for the world, the leader of the UN’s next climate talks warned. He warned that the COP26 talks in November would be among the last chances to limit global heating. [CNN]

¶ “Greece Wildfires: Evia Island Residents Forced To Evacuate” • Wildfires are continuing to rip through the Greek island of Evia, prompting residents to flee to safety by sea. More than 2,000 people have already been evacuated. Greece is experiencing its most severe heatwave in 30 years, and temperatures have spiked to 45°C (113°F). [BBC]

Village in central Evia (C messier, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “400-MW Wind Farm In Saudi Arabia Begins Generating” • A 400-MW windpower project in Saudi Arabia is now generating electricity. The project was developed by a consortium led by EDF Renewables and Masdar, two of the leading renewable energy companies in the world. It is comprised of 99 Vestas turbines, each of 4.2-MW capacity. [Saur Energy]

¶ “UK Backs Siemens Gamesa, GRI Factory Plans” • The UK government has selected manufacturers Siemens Gamesa and GRI Renewable Industries to receive grant funding to develop factories in the Humber region. Siemens Gamesa will expand its offshore blade plant in Hull by 41,600 square meters, more than doubling the size of the facilities. [reNEWS]

Offshore windpower supply facility (Siemens Gamesa image)

¶ “Derby’s Solar-Powered Future” • Derby, Western Australia, with a population of over 3,300, is celebrating solar installations funded by the state government. The plan has a $66.3 million renewable-energy package, designed to help foster resilience, create sustainable jobs, and promote recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. [pv magazine Australia]

¶ “Australia Trails World On Energy Transition And Emissions” • Contrary to the federal government’s talking points, a report found that the country’s performance on energy and emissions trails the rest of the world. The report, Back of the pack, from the progressive think tank The Australia Institute, compares Australia with 23 similar countries. [Renew Economy]

Rooftop solar power in Queensland (Kgbo, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

US:

¶ “Denver Experienced The Worst Air Quality Of Any Major City In The World Due To Smoke From Western Wildfires” • Denver had the worst air quality of any city in the world for several hours Saturday, as heavy smoke from western wildfires polluted the city. The 107 wildfires in the West have burned 2.1 million acres, about a third of the size of Vermont. [CNN]

¶ “The Boring Company In Talks With Austin And San Antonio To Build Tunnels” • The Boring Company has some big plans for a possible transportation tunnel that would go from Giga Texas to Downtown Austin. The company is also in talks with officials in San Antonio for a tunnel in Central Texas similar to the one that opened in Las Vegas. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla in a tunnel (The Boring Company)

¶ “Panther National Partners With Tesla To Build A Luxury Community That Is Sustainable” • Tesla is building a new 218-home luxury development in Florida with solar roofs, batteries, and EV chargers, Yahoo! News reports. Centaur US Holdings is developing the new community, Panther National, around a golf course in Palm Beach. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Solar Challenging Nuclear As Potential Climate Change Solution” • Research suggests that we can power 80% of the US with wind, solar, and 12 hours of energy storage, but replacing the country’s nuclear power plants hasn’t been seen as financially viable. Is that about to change? Moving forward, it seems nuclear has lost its swagger. [PV Magazine]

Have a fabulously amusing day.

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Opinion:

¶ “Five Key Things To Watch For In The UN Climate Report” • Filled with detail and tracing multiple future scenarios, the IPCC report is likely to run hundreds or even thousands of pages. New research, computer modeling, and data collection will make this report the most comprehensive yet. Here are five key things to watch for. [Thomson Reuters Foundation News]

Lake Tahoe, in drought on a cold winter day (NOAA, Unsplash)

¶ “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Need To Be Reduced Dramatically, But Nuclear Power Isn’t The Way” • There are growing questions as to whether nuclear power plants are a variable “alternative” to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Based just on risk costs, the Fukushima disaster shows that the economics of nuclear power are by no means a safe bet. [The Hankyoreh]

Science and Technology:

¶ “A Machine Learning Breakthrough Uses Satellite Images To Improve Lives” • A team at UC Berkeley has devised a machine learning system to tap the problem-solving potential of satellite imaging, based on low-cost, easy-to-use technology that be used by researchers and governments worldwide. The study appeared in Nature Communications. [CleanTechnica]

Satellite image (Photo by NASA via Pxfuel)

¶ “Virtuous Cycles Of Technology Adoption” • What creates the “S” curve of technology adoption? It is a virtuous cycle. Positive change creates more positive change, just as negative change has the opposite effect. In a report, Carbon Tracker identifies seven of these paired cycles which are creating “S” curves and speeding us toward the future. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ “Climate Change: Low-Income Countries ‘Can’t Keep Up’ With Impacts” • Low-income countries struggle to protect themselves against climate change, officials and experts have told the BBC. Organisations representing 90 countries say that their plans to prevent damage have already been outpaced by climate-induced disasters, which steadily get worse. [BBC]

Flood (rachman reilli, Unsplash)

¶ “Greece Wildfires: PM Describes ‘Nightmarish Summer” • The prime minister of Greece has talked of a “nightmarish summer” as forest fires continue to ravage the country. Thousands have been evacuated from their homes in various parts of Greece and more than 1,000 firefighters have been deployed to bring the flames under control. [BBC]

¶ “AC Cobra Series 1 Electric Is Ready For Launch” • Storied British car brand AC announced plans for an all-electric version of its iconic AC Cobra Series 1 sportscar last year, with its performance promised to be on par with the original V8. Now, the first of the electric AC Cobras is out on the road, as it goes through real-world testing. [CleanTechnica]

AC Cobra (Image by AC Cars, via EV Obsession)

¶ “ReNew Power Signs PPA With SECI For Country’s Maiden Round-The-Clock Renewable Energy Project” • To supply power from the 400 MW RTC project at 80% utilization rate, ReNew Power will need to install wind and solar capacity, along battery storage facilities, that will bring the total project cost to an estimated $1.2 billion. [The Financial Express]

¶ “Experts Approve Key UN Climate Science Report” • A critical UN science report that will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment yet of the state of Earth’s climate has been approved by representatives from 195 countries. IPCC delegates had been locked in virtual negotiations for two weeks, vetting the summary of the report. [New Age]

Arctic ice (Melissa Bradley, Unsplash)

US:

¶ “$1.5 Million Grant Will Improve Wildfire Spotting From The Air And Space” • Helped by a $1.5 million grant, a UC Berkeley physicist and a firefighter-turned-scientist plan to outfit spotter planes with improved infrared detectors to study fire. They hope that within four years similar systems in space will do 24/7 fire discovery and monitoring. [CleanTechnica]

¶ “Justice Reactivates Public Energy Authority, Appoints New Members” • Governor Jim Justice reactivated the West Virginia Public Energy Authority, which has been inactive for ten years, and appointed new members. The body has the authority, among other powers, of issuing bonds to build coal or natural gas power plants. [WV MetroNews]

Mountaintop removal mining (iLoveMountains.org, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Bipartisan Bill Leaves Out Key Climate, Clean Energy Steps; Upgrade To Power Grid Left Out” • The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill headed for a Senate vote falls far short of the president’s pledge to transform from an economy powered by fossil-fuels into one that is clean-burning and free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. [Houston Chronicle]

¶ “Community Choice Clean Energy Coming To Santa Barbara South Coast In October” • Through community choice, clean energy is coming to the Santa Barbara South Coast this fall to help meet the goal of 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030. Customers will be able to choose between various electricity services for the first time. [Noozhawk.com]

Have a delightfully fortunate day.

geoharvey is free and without ads.
geoharvey is not tax-deductible.