Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.com.
Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.
Energy Week #572 – 5/9/2024
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, May 2
Costa Rica (Filip Mroz, Unsplash)
Minute 2
¶ “Costa Rica Restored Its Forests And Switched To Renewable Energy. Can The World Learn From It?” • Switch to renewable energy. Stop deforestation. Restore ecosystems. They’re lofty goals that more and more corporations and governments are setting for themselves. If it seems too ambitious, just look to Costa Rica. [The Verge]
Train in Uzbekistan (Abdul Raaz, Unsplash)
Minute 5
¶ “Uzbekistan To Build Over 20 GW Of Renewable Capacity By 2030” • Uzbekistan will create more than 20 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. Trend reports that the president also said the country is aiming to increase its share of the green energy balance to 40%. [Trend News Agency]
Stop climate change (Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash, cropped)
Minute 8
¶ “Appeals Court Rejects Climate Change Lawsuit By Young Oregon Activists Against US Government” • A federal appeals court panel of three judges rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists who argued that the US government’s role in climate change violated their constitutional rights. [ABC News]
Friday, May 3
Offshore wind farm (Pete Godfrey, Unsplash)
Minute 10 ¶ “Winds Of Change: UK Offshore Wind Sector Breaks Records” • In 2023, the UK offshore wind industry achieved significant milestones according to The Crown Estate’s UK Offshore Wind Report. Highlights include a record-setting 49 TWh of electricity generated by offshore wind, equivalent to powering half of all UK households. [Energy Live News]
Norwegian countryside (Michael Fousert, Unsplash)
Minute 13
¶ “EV Sales Continue To Increase In Norway” • If incentives like the exemption from paying import duties and VAT disappear, sales should go down, right? Not always. Electrive reports that 10,051 electric cars were sold in Norway in April, 2024. EV sales were up by 2,580 vehicles compared to April, 2023, an increase of 34.5% year over year. [CleanTechnica]
Offshore wind farm (Enterprise Ireland, Irish Sea Contractors)
Minute 16
¶ “Ireland Unveils Roadmap For 37 GW Of Offshore Wind By 2050” • The government of Ireland announced a roadmap to enable the country to deliver 37 GW of offshore wind by 2050. It plans to deliver 20 GW of offshore wind by 2040 and at least 37 GW by 2050. It also provides the basis for Ireland’s ambitious offshore renewable energy targets. [Splash247]
Saturday, May 4
Wind turbines in Spain (John Cameron, Unsplash)
Minute 19
¶ “Renewables reached 64.6% in April in Spain” • In April of 2024, renewables generated 13,515 GWh, 21% more than in April 2023, and reached a share of the total of 64.6%. This past April was the first month in history in which three renewable technologies led the Spanish mix: wind (22.2% of the total), hydropower (19.7%) and solar PV (18.8%). [evwind.es]
Burning car (Riley Edwards, Unsplash)
Minute 22
¶ “Car Fires By Vehicle Type” • If you believe the memes from people who try to deter you from driving an EV, fires in EVs might seem like a big deal. Data from federal recalls, the Federal Transportation Safety Board, and the Bureau of Traffic Statistics don’t show that. It turns out that fires are thousands of times more likely in gas-powered cars than in EVs. [CleanTechnica]
Hurricane (NASA, Unsplash, rotated)
Minute 24
¶ “Extremely Active Hurricane Forecast Highlights Importance Of Resilient Solar Power” • Colorado State University forecasters issued a dire prediction for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season: it is expected to be “extremely active,” with the highest number of hurricanes ever forecasted since the team released predictions in 1995. [Environment+Energy Leader]
Sunday, May 5
Rendering of Silver City Energy Centre (Hydrostor image)
Minute 27
¶ “Hydrostor Plans Two Large Compressed Air Storage Facilities, One In Australia And One In California” • Hydrostor, based in Toronto, has a plan to construct two massive long-term energy storage facilities. One is a 200-MW, 1,600-MWh facility near Sydney, Australia. The other is a 500-MW, 4,000-MWh plant in Kern County, California. [CleanTechnica]
Orbital Marine Power generator (Orbital Marine Power image)
Minute 30
¶ “Why Scotland Is Leading The World In This Essential Type Of Alternative Energy” • It is by a quirk of geography that the Orkney Islands, off the northern tip of Scotland, are unusually well-positioned to bear witness to the ocean’s might. On the islands’ western shores, waves crash ceaselessly. The Orkney Islands are ideally suited for research. [Inverse]
EV charging (Chuttersnap, Unsplash)
Minute 32
¶ “US EV Sales Up 170% In First Quarter vs First Quarter Of 2021” • Is the hype about EV sales drooping true? Well, a little, maybe. Compared to Q1 2023, EV sales are up only a little bit in the first quarter of 2024, just 2%. However, if you look back two years, EV sales are up 71%, and if you look back three years to Q1 2021, EV sales are up 170%! [CleanTechnica]
Monday, May 6
Solar array in Gujarat, (Epagemakerwiki, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)
Minute 35
¶ “India Tendered ‘Record’ 70 GW Of Renewables In FY 2024” • Renewable energy tender issuances in India crossed a record 69 GW in FY 2024 on the back of a strong push for them by the central government, according to a joint report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and JMK Research & Analytics. [pv magazine India]
Solar array (Mariana Proença, Unsplash)
Minute 38
¶ “EU Reaches Provisional Deal To Raise Renewable Energy Target” • The EU parliament reached a provisional deal to raise the share of renewables in its energy mix. The European Council said the agreement would raise the renewable energy target to 42.5% of total consumption by 2030. The current goal for the EU is 32%. [Yahoo Movies Canada]
Scientists examine core samples (Image by Talon Metals)
Minute 40
¶ “Making More Batteries With Fewer Materials” • The US DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory is developing a process that could dramatically increase the number of EV batteries produced from mined nickel ore. The effort is part of a partnership with Talon Metals, a US mining company with plans for high-grade nickel ore production domestically. [CleanTechnica]
Tuesday, May 7
Solar panels (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)
Minute 43
¶ “Renewable Energy Set To Overtake Coal As Largest Source Of Power Globally” • The IEA found that a massive move towards clean energy, largely driven by Russia invading Ukraine, will see the world add as much renewable capacity in the next five years as it did in the last two decades. As a result, coal is falling behind renewables. [Yahoo Lifestyle Canada]
Cook Inlet (Brendan McMurrer, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
Minute 46
¶ “Alaska Tidal Energy: New Study Shows Alaska’s Cook Inlet Could Power 70,000 Homes” • An NREL study funded by the US DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office examines how much value the new but fast-growing tidal energy industry could bring to Alaska’s Railbelt grid. Cook Inlet contains some of the largest tidal energy resources on Earth. [CleanTechnica]
Solar farm in Texas (Cypress Creek Renewables)
Minute 48
¶ “Texas Goes Big On Solar + Storage That Can Power Over 41,000 Homes” • A 208-MW solar farm with 80 MWh of storage has come online west of San Antonio, Texas. Developers Cypress Creek Renewables brought the Zier Solar + Storage facility online in Brackettville, Texas, on May 2, 2024. Zier can provide annual electricity needs of 41,600 homes. [Electrek]
Wednesday, May 8
Fossil fuel burning power plant (Ivo Lukacovic, Unsplash)
Minute 51
¶ “Fossil Fuels Are ‘Becoming Obsolete’ As Solar Panel Prices Plummet” • The cost of solar power has dropped by 87% over the last decade, a study by Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change shows. The world is moving towards a point where fossil fuel-generated power is no longer economically viable. [Yahoo News UK]
Cooling off (Gary Cole, Unsplash)
Minute 54
¶ “Earth Experienced Its Warmest April On Record” • Earth just experienced its eleventh straight warmest month on record. Last month continued a relentless stretch of record-breaking global temperatures for the planet after it was found to be the warmest April on record, said the monthly climate report by Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service. [ABC News]
Lilium e-jet (Lilium image)
Minute 56
¶ “Lilium Announces Firm Order Of Twenty Lilium Jets From US Operator UrbanLink” • Lilium NV announced a partnership with air mobility operator UrbanLink for Lilium Jets in South Florida. UrbanLink will buy twenty Lilium Jets, with pre-delivery payments, and become the first airline in the US fully committed to using eVTOL aircraft in its fleet. [CleanTechnica]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #572 – 5/9/2024
George Harvey, blogger, author, and journalist for Green Energy Times and CleanTechnica, computer engineer
Tom Finnell, electrical engineer, transmission grid expert, world traveler, philanthropist, and philosopher
Energy, Renewable Energy, Wind Power, Solar, Batteries, Nuclear, Coal, Oil, Gas, Climate Change