2016-12-01 Energy Week

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.wordpress.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.

For scheduling reasons, this show covers ten days.

Monday, November 21:

Dakota Access Pipeline protest

• The Dakota Access Pipeline protest is turning violent. About 400 protesters clashed with police as demonstrators lit cars on fire and police launched tear gas and water at the crowds. Police said that the protesters “attempted to flank and attack the law enforcement line from the west,” and described their actions as “very aggressive.” [CNN]
• “Solar And Wind Versus Nuclear: Is Baseload Power Obsolete?” Renewables coupled with efficient, cost effective energy storage make grids virtually obsolete. Utility companies are petrified they may become irrelevant and the trillions of dollars invested in building grids throughout the world will no longer produce income. [PlanetSave.com]

Tuesday, November 22:

• Research released by the International Council on Clean Transportation shows an average discrepancy between official vehicle fuel consumption figures and actual vehicle fuel use in the EU has risen to 42%. Most of the difference is explained by vehicle manufacturers exploiting loopholes in the current regulation. [CleanTechnica]

Indian Point nuclear plants.Daniel Case / Wikimedia

• In a unanimous decision, the New York State Court of Appeals Monday upheld a state agency’s right to review applications for renewal of federal licenses to operate two Indian Point nuclear power plants for another 20 years. This delivers a serious setback to the facilities’ owner, Mississippi-based Entergy Nuclear. [EcoWatch]

Wednesday, November 23:

Tidal turbine being installed and used (Electrek)

• There has been a significant advancement in tidal energy this month with a single massive tidal turbine being deployed on the coast of Nova Scotia in the Cape Sharp Tidal project. Earlier this month, OpenHydro and Emera, the developers, deployed the first of a series of massive turbines. Now, they have connected it to the grid. [Electrek]
• President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed his intentions to cancel the Clean Power Plan. During his election campaign, Trump made several references to his intent to dismantle not only Obama’s Clean Power Plan, but also US involvement with the Paris Climate Agreement and the solar investment tax credit. [PV-Tech]
• President-elect Donald Trump conceded there is “some connectivity” between human activity and climate change and wavered on whether he would pull the United States out of international accords. Asked if he would withdraw the US from international climate change agreements, Trump said he is “looking at it very closely.” [CNN]

Thursday, November 24:

Enough power for the entire country – Pika Energy wind turbine on a farm in Maine (Pika Energy photo)

• The National Renewable Energy Lab released the first ever technical and economic analysis of the potential of distributed wind power, from smaller turbines at home or business sites. The key finding is that distributed wind installed at millions of locations could technically power the entire country. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

Friday, November 25:

Solar panel on a roof in Kenya

• Nearly 70% of the Kenyan population relies on costly and polluting energy sources. But a green transition is underway, as ever more Kenyans turn to solar power to meet their daily energy needs. A small solar system can cost about the same as a diesel generator, and it is as reliable, but there is no fuel and no pollution. [Deutsche Welle]

Goldisthal pumped storage plant (Source: Vattenfall)

• Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra say the cost of a 100% renewable energy future is very low. They designed an optimization model of their national electricity market (NEM) using solar, wind, pumped hydro, and high-voltage transmission lines. The model said the cost would be $90/MWh. [EcoGeneration]

Saturday, November 26:

• A new confrontation is brewing over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Protesters fighting pipeline construction must vacate federal property near the Cannonball River in North Dakota by December 5 or face arrest, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The demonstrators must a large campsite where they have been staying. [CNN]
• WWF-Canada has developed a tool to build habitat protection into the renewable-energy development process, so conflicts with wildlife can be prevented before significant investments are considered. The digital tool helps identify areas where renewable potential is high and conflict with nature is comparatively low. [WWF-Canada Blog]

Sunday, November 27:

Food has its own carbon footprint
(Credit: diametrik/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

• Recently, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University calculated the carbon footprint of Thanksgiving dinners, had every year on November 24, and published their findings for different states in the US. The meal-footprint is lowest in Vermont (0.09 kg of carbon dioxide released) and highest in West Virginia (36. 3 kg). [The Wire]
• Awareness of climate change and how to help sustain the environment will soon be taught in classrooms across the UAE, authorities announced. Curricula may include learning about sustainability, and school children will be shown how to take energy-saving measures. The program will include children of all ages. [gulfnews.com]

Monday, November 28:

Lake Hartwell, near Anderson, South Carolina, hit by drought (Photo courtesy of Alan Raflo, Virginia Water Resources Research Center)

• Water isn’t a commodity that most southerners usually worry about. But lately, the drought has become a hot topic as more and more communities begin dealing with declining water resources. The drought, already exceptionally severe, continues to deepen. Even worse, these conditions may become the new norm. [Digital Journal]
• Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry now expects the total cost of dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster to total more than ¥20 trillion (US$178.8 billion), nearly double the previous estimate, sources familiar with the matter said. The previous estimate was ¥11 trillion. [South China Morning Post]

Tuesday, November 29:

Drought in the Southeast

• If it feels like it hasn’t rained in months in the South, you’re right. The region is experiencing an extreme drought. But just a few months earlier, we were talking about record-breaking floods in the South. These shocking extremes are happening more often, and it is all part of an unfortunate new normal in a world with climate change. [CNN]
• The global market for boilers, turbines, and generators is set to decline thanks to the growing focus on renewable energy sources and awareness about the environmental issues, according a study by GlobalData. The market is expected to decrease from $318 billion for the full period of 2010-2015, to $241 billion for 2016-2020. [Greentech Lead]
• The National Academy of Sciences released a study, which said New Orleans could see nearly 14.5 inches of sea level rise by 2040, and 6.5 feet by 2100. Scientists believe that metro areas outside of New Orleans’ protective levee system may have to be relocated because of rising sea levels within the next two decades. [WWLTV.com]

Wednesday, November 30:

New Dutch coal plant (Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Zandcee)

• Three Dutch coal plants opened in 2015 are already threatened with early closure. Their owners failed to foresee a rapid rise in renewable power generation, falling demand, and calls to phase out coal. It was a costly error that other countries could learn from, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says. [Climate Home]
• Texas grid operator ERCOT announced a new record for wind on Monday, as wind provided more than 15,000 MW to the state. It is not the hour-by-hour records that are impressive, however. Wind power will provide at least 14.7% of the state’s electricity in 2016, according to ERCOT, up from 11.7% in 2015. [Greentech Media]

2016-11-21 Energy Week

Because of studio scheduling, the show, which is usually recorded on Thursday, will be recorded on Monday, November 21, and so has news for November 17 through November 20.

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.wordpress.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.

Thursday, November 17:

Wind turbines silhouetted at sunset (Photo: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)

• The International Energy Agency released its annual report, which takes into account economic, technological, and policy developments, and it tries to project the trends that will drive our energy use for decades. This year’s IEA report suggests that a combination of economics and policy will drive an explosion in renewables. [Ars Technica]

Wind farm in Chile (Author: Diego Correa)

• Renewable energy will keep growing in the next few years as costs drop and coal use continues to fall, despite US President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to revive the fossil fuel, according to investors and analysts. They said possible policy changes under Trump should not dampen current investment in clean energy. [ETEnergyworld.com]
• China has responded to Trump’s claim that climate change was a Chinese hoax. “If you look at the history of climate change negotiations, actually it was initiated by the IPCC with the support of the Republicans during the Reagan and senior Bush administration during the late 1980s,” the Vice Foreign Minister pointed out. [Science World Report]
• General Motors made its largest procurement to date of renewable energy, purchasing enough wind power to provide for the electricity needs of 16 of its US facilities, including a major assembly and stamping complex in Arlington, Texas, offices in Fort Worth and Austin, and 13 parts warehouses east of the Mississippi River. [Justmeans]

Oil well and camels

• The International Energy Agency, which represents 29 energy-producing countries, says unless more money is spent exploring for and developing new oil fields, demand may outstrip supply early in the next decade. That could see oil prices surging again. Investment in new oil supplies last year was at its lowest since the 1950s. [BBC]

Friday, November 18:

Pumpjack at dawn

• Geologists say a new survey shows an oilfield in west Texas dwarfs others found so far in the United States, according to the US Geological Survey. The Midland Basin of the Wolfcamp Shale area in the Permian Basin in west Texas is now estimated to have 20 billion barrels of oil and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas. [CNN]
• The DOE’s SunShot Initiative was launched in 2011 “with the goal of making solar electricity cost-competitive with traditional energy sources without subsidies by 2020.” In just five years the Initiative has achieved more than 90% of its goal to cut the cost of utility-scale solar electricity in the US down to 6¢/kWh. [CleanTechnica]
• The nation’s energy infrastructure will undergo a significant transformation over the next 10 years, according to a study by Mortenson, a recognized leader in energy and transmission infrastructure. This is due largely to declining costs of energy storage. Of professionals answering a survey, 96% believe the technology is a major key. [AltEnergyMag]

Somers Solar Center (Image: Dominion Resources)

• A group of 365 companies, including General Mills, Nike, and Starbucks, has urged President-elect Donald Trump to abide by the Paris climate deal. In addition to sticking with the Paris deal, the group urged the US government to have a “Continuation of low-carbon policies,” and to invest “in the low carbon economy.” [Opposing Views]
• The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block a merger involving one of the key players in the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee. Federal officials say EnergySolutions’ acquisition of Waste Control Specialists, which has agreed to buy the nuclear plant, would create a “near monopoly” in low-level radioactive waste disposal. [vtdigger.org]

Saturday, November 19:

In a photograph taken in Yokosuka, Japan in 2000, sailors of the Peoples Republic of China march past USS Blueridge, (Photo by Jiang, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

“China Takes the Climate Spotlight as U.S. Heads for Exit” • The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has the world holding out for a climate hero, and parties at Marrakech are determined that it will be China. China is backing away from neither the challenge nor the Paris Agreement, as Trump vowed to do. [Scientific American]

“Environmentalists search for silver linings” • On November 15, the temperature in Salt Lake City reached 73°, the hottest temperature ever recorded for that date or later in the year. Park City Mountain Resort had already postponed its opening date from to November 26. Climate change, anyone? And yet, there is hope. [The Park Record]

Nearly 400 scientists signed a letter urging Mr Obama to eliminate Arctic offshore drilling. (AP photo)

The Obama administration has introduced a ban on offshore oil drilling in the Arctic for at least five years. The move is a significant victory for environmentalists who have campaigned for years against drilling in the ecologically fragile region. But Donald Trump, who pledged to increase offshore drilling, could overturn the ban. [BBC]

For what appears to be the first time since scientists began keeping track, sea ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic are hitting their record lows in mid-November. Temperatures in the Arctic have soared recently, and scientists are struggling to explain the implications. Air temperatures have been 35° F (20° C) above average. [CNN]

Tesla officially became an energy company this week after a vote in favor of the automaker acquiring Solar City. But CEO Elon Musk had more to announce. Musk said that the brand’s new solar roof product will somehow cost less than a traditional shingled roof, and that’s even before factoring in the energy savings. [Huffington Post Canada]

Sunday, November 20:

Prescribed burn in northern California (CN Skinner / US Forest Service)

• Western fires are getting bigger and hotter. When researchers from Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute studied the history of western fires, they found that the changes in land management had trumped climate in much of the 20th century, but stronger fire-climate relationships have developed since the mid-1980s. [Arizona Daily Star]
• African consumers are opting for off-grid solar solutions. According to International Energy Agency projections, almost one billion people in sub-Saharan Africa will gain access to the grid by 2040, but by that time 530 million will remain off-grid, almost comparable with the 600 million who cannot access power today. [TODAY.ng]
• After discussing details during the past week on how to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals successfully, some diplomats have suggested that the US should be punished with measures like a carbon-pollution tax on imports of American-made goods, if it withdraws from the agreement as president-elect Donald Trump has promised. [PerfScience]
• In a recent study out of Texas, researchers predicted that the state could reduce its coal-generated electricity to 6% in under 20 years. If the study’s proposals are even partly accurate, they would represent a turning of the tide in electricity generation, one that is not welcome in places like Wyoming, where coal is produced. [Billings Gazette]

Participants at the COP22 climate conference (David Keyton / AP)

• “What Trump really means for global climate-change progress” • Maybe it just won’t get that bad. Yes, United States president-elect Donald Trump is threatening to pull the world’s second-largest emitter out of a major international deal to ratchet down greenhouse gases. But, no, it will not scuttle progress. [Christian Science Monitor]

2016-11-17 Energy Week

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.wordpress.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.

Thursday, November 10:

Street flooded by Hurricane Sandy, Lindenhurst, Long Island (Photo by Jason DeCrow, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• “Managing climate risk in Trump’s America” • The world will forge ahead on reducing emissions without US leadership. The Paris Agreement has already taken effect. While the federal government may not try to meet the US commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, states’ policies and market forces will continue. [The Conversation US]
• “Trump Can’t Stop the Energy Revolution” • The planet is warming, dangerously so, and burning more coal will make it worse. President-elect Donald Trump thinks man-made climate change is a hoax and he’s promised to revive the US coal industry by cutting regulation. So renewables are dead in the water, right? Maybe not. [Bloomberg]
• Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has developed a microstructured, chemical reactor providing a technology that is key for a plant planned in Finland to produce renewable fuels using solar power. The reactor can produce gasoline, diesel, and kerosene from regenerative hydrogen and CO2. [Energy Business Review]

Friday, November 11:

Smaller catches (Photo: Andrew Quilty)

• Fish being caught for our tables are shrinking according a survey of studies published in the journal Science. There has been a 23% decrease in commercial catches because of smaller body size, caused by rising ocean temperatures. This is particularly concerning because fish provide 17% of our protein. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
• A federal judge denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss the “climate kids” case, meaning their lawsuit over climate change will go to trial in federal court in Oregon, likely next year. The plaintiffs, ages 9 to 20, allege the federal government is doing far too little to keep dangerous global warming in check. [CNN]
• In 2017, non-hydro renewable-energy generating capacity should account for 9% of the country’s electricity-generation capacity, according to the US DOE’s most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook. That’s up from 8% this year, the agency says. Solar power is expected to account for most of the anticipated growth. [Green Car Reports]

Saturday, November 12:

Coal trains (Photo: Kimon Berlin via flickr.com, creative commons license)

• ExxonMobil has just dropped a tweet in support of putting the Paris climate agreement into force. Connect the dots, and that may mean the Trump Administration may be poised to throw coal under the bus. The company has clearly been positioning itself to be able to continue extracting fossil fuels in a changing world. [CleanTechnica]
• Fears that the UK power system would not be able to cope with intermittent technologies, such as wind and solar, have been “overblown”, according to the Secretary of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Speaking at the annual Energy UK conference, he said “doubters have been proven wrong.” [reNews]

Flooding stops a film crew in Miami Beach (Photo by maxstrz, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• “The Fortune 500 Can’t Go Along with a Rollback on Climate Policy” • Nearly every firm in the Fortune 500 has acknowledged the reality of climate change, along with thousands of smaller companies. Most of the business world sees climate change’s tremendous threat – they need to make that perspective heard. [Harvard Business Review]

Sunday, November 13:

King Canute, trying to stop the tide – Nature has a way of ignoring our most ardent wishes.

• “Trump Won’t Stop Global Climate Action, Might Accidentally Help” • Donald Trump disputed the existence of anthropogenic climate change. However, a Trump presidency isn’t the disaster one might think for climate action globally or in the US. In fact, he might actually reduce US emissions, however unintentionally. [CleanTechnica]

Marrakesh (photo by yeowatzup, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• Amid concerns over the threat by US President-elect Donald Trump, who has earlier vowed to cancel last year’s Paris climate agreement, the COP22 President, Salaheddine Mezouar said that one country walking out of the deal will not mean anything. The Paris agreement is already in force and the rest of the world is moving on. [Web India 123]
• China will continue to be an active player in climate talks and its policies will be unaffected by any external changes, according to a Chinese negotiator at the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22). He remarked on the issue on the sidelines of the conference in Marrakesh. [The Nation]

Monday, November 14:

• Impact investment firm Wermuth Asset Management, has said that regardless of whether oil prices rise around potential OPEC production-capping news, there is no long-term future for the hydrocarbon sector. Solar power is now available at 3¢/kWh, which is equivalent to oil at $5 per barrel. Demand for oil is slowing down. [Emirates 24|7]

Oil infrastructure

• Last month, Tesla launched its Powerwall 2.0 residential battery storage system, a little less than a year after Powerwall 1.0. Peak power has increased by 40%, continuous power by 50%, storage capacity by 100% (to 14 kWh), and an inverter is included. And all this is for about the same price as Powerwall 1.0, $5,500 ($AUS8,800). [CleanTechnica]
• Energy analysts at Deutsche Bank predict the state of South Australia could easily beat its target of 50% renewables by 2025, reaching 85% mark by 2020 and possibly as much as 95% by 2025. South Australia has already reached around 40% of its electricity from wind energy, and another 6% from rooftop solar. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, November 15:

Minnesota wind farm (from Windtech at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons)

• The dozens of buildings on the campus of St Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, are now being powered entirely by wind energy, the liberal arts school and Xcel Energy announced. By choosing Xcel’s Windsource program for its electrical service, St Olaf has become the largest Windsource customer in the state. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
• President-elect Trump has pledged to boost the oil and gas sector and bring back coal, reversing President Obama’s efforts to encourage renewable energy and cut dependence on fossil fuels. But analysts say Trump’s policies could serve to worsen the global energy glut, reducing prices and doing little to save “Big Coal.” [Channel NewsAsia]
• In Vermont, the $80 million Searsburg wind project is now under way. The project will have 15 wind turbines, which will produce enough energy to power about 14,000 average Vermont households. It is expected to deliver at least $400,000 per year in local economic benefits and $300,000 per year for the state of Vermont. [Construction Equipment Guide]

Wednesday, November 16:

Geothermal plant releasing steam

• Japanese companies are developing a plant that, when it is completed, will be the world’s largest single geothermal power station. All together, the three facilities at the Sarulla plant will be able to generate 320 MW of electricity. The No 1 unit is already generating power, ahead of its official launch by the end of the year. [Nikkei Asian Review]
• French president Francois Hollande has said that the US must respect their commitments made under the COP21 Agreement in Paris. Speaking at climate talks in Marrakech, Mr Hollande said that the pact was irreversible “in law and in fact.” President Hollande said France would defend the deal in talks with the new US leader. [BBC]
• The US Army Corps of Engineers delayed construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline to hold further “discussion and analysis” with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has strongly opposed the project. Protests have gone on for months over the oil pipeline, which would go 1,172 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. [CNN]

2016-11-10 Energy Week

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.wordpress.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.

Thursday, November 3:

Anaerobic digestion plant (Photo by Rosser1954, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• Anaerobic digestor research, renewable energy education, and Rutland solar development are the latest beneficiaries of funding from an old Vermont Yankee insurance policy. The state Public Service Board has approved Green Mountain Power’s plans to distribute $302,719 from a Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited fund. [Commons]
• The New South Wales Coalition government has decided to break ranks with its Coalition partners in the federal arena and announced a major expansion into both large-scale and small-scale renewable energy, as well as electric vehicles and energy efficiency, as part of a new plan to reach “zero net emissions” by 2050. [RenewEconomy]
• Following its final Environmental Assessment and a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” the Bureau of Land Management has decided to offer 40,000 acres of Wayne National Forest, Ohio’s only national forest, up for fracking. The auction will begin on 1,600 acres on December 13, with bids starting at $2 per acre. [EcoWatch]
• ArcLight Capital Partners, an energy investment company based in Boston, has signed an agreement to buy TransCanada’s hydroelectric facilities along the Deerfield and Connecticut rivers. The sale is expected to close in mid-2017, subject to customary regulatory and other approvals. The price has not been announced. [The Recorder]

Friday, November 4:

• The US Department of Agriculture provided capital support to 17 Vermont businesses transitioning to renewable or energy efficient technologies to cut costs and energy consumption this year. The grants and loan guarantees through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Energy for America Program totalled over $3 million. [Vermont Biz]

Saturday, November 5:

Home lost in the 1933 San Clemente earthquake (Credit: Lt Charles A Pierce / US Geological Survey)

• On a March evening in 1933, the Newport-Inglewood fault ruptured violently along the Huntington Beach coast. The Long Beach quake was the deadliest in Southern California history. But a new study suggests that the quake may have been caused by an unexpected factor: Deep drilling in a Huntington Beach oil field. [ktla.com]
• The Paris Agreement on climate change became international law on Friday, November 4, 2016, after about 20 years of global wrangling. Exactly 30 days ago, it crossed both national and emissions thresholds needed to enter into force. The agreement now has 98 parties representing nearly 70% of global carbon emissions. [CleanTechnica]
• Ten major oil and gas companies have confirmed they are to invest $1 billion over the next decade in an attempt to drastically cut their emissions. They have formed the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative, which will seek to reduce emissions through efficiency. However, have left renewable power development off the table. [Clean Energy News]

Wind turbines on the Liu’ao Peninsula (Photo by Vmenkov, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• China’s Cabinet issued a new climate plan targeting an 18% cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 2015 levels, on the same day that the Paris Agreement involving nearly 200 countries took effect. Under the new State Council plan announced Friday, coal consumption must be capped at about 4.2 billion tons in 2020. [The Japan Times]

Sunday, November 6:

• For every tonne of C02 a person produces (the amount of CO2 from burning100 gallons of gasoline), three square meters of Arctic sea ice melts, according to researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany, the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, and the University College London in the UK. [DailyQuint]

The true cost of wind power – a state secret? (Photo: Graham / Rex Shutterstock)

• Sir Ed Davey, the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015, has actually had to resort to a Freedom of Information request for a report he commissioned himself. And his request has been turned down, an act he calls “an abuse of power.” It is on the true costs of different electricity sources. [Telegraph.co.uk]

Monday, November 7:

Pollution in the wind (Credit: Zhan Tian)

• The UN Environment Program says the door will close on the 1.5° C warming limit unless countries raise their ambition before 2020. The Emissions Gap report was published one day before the Paris Agreement on climate change enters into force. It is the first to explicitly measure the so-called “ambition gap” for 1.5° C. [Carbon Brief]
• An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 shook central Oklahoma on Sunday, causing damage to a number of buildings. The epicenter of the quake struck the city of Cushing, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Oklahoma City. Tremors were felt as far away as Texas. The earthquake was one of 19 that have hit Oklahoma in the past week. [BBC]
• The California Air Resources Board found another cheat device in Volkswagen Group cars. Like the earlier device the new one lowers a car’s CO2 emissions if the software detected that the car was on a test machine. However, the new cheat device was used on cars with automatic transmissions, both gasoline and diesel. [CleanTechnica]

Steamboat on Lake Mead (Jae C. Hong, AP)

• The Colorado River Research Group released a concise four-page paper explaining how climate change is affecting the river. It is a remarkably accessible summation of lots of complicated science. The conclusion is that we simply need to adapt to a future in which water scarcity is the norm. “Climate change is water change.” [News Deeply]

Tuesday, November 8:

Wind farm in Quebec (Photo: iStockphoto)

• An emerging option for grid stability, which will get a hearing next week at the 15th International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power in Vienna, is synthetic inertia. It is achieved by programming power inverters at wind turbines so that they emulate the behavior of synchronized spinning masses. [IEEE Spectrum]
• According to a report released by Oxfam, members of ISIS have torched more than a dozen oil wells as they retreat towards Mosul ahead of a massive Iraqi offensive. The situation was made worse after ISIS set fire to a sulfur plant in the area. ISIS fighters are leaving behind a toxic cloud causing breathing-related illnesses. [The Weather Channel]
• China, the world’s biggest clean-energy investor, lowered its solar and wind power targets for 2020, a reflection of how record installations of renewables have overwhelmed the ability of the nation’s grid to absorb the new electricity. China is now aiming for 110 GW of solar power by 2020, a 27% reduction in the target capacity. [Bloomberg]

Wednesday, November 9:

Artist: Azmaa Omassou / ZME Science / COP22.

• The World Meteorological Organization has just submitted a detailed climate analysis in a report “The Global Climate in 2011-2015,” the hottest years on record, and it doesn’t look very good. The WMO shows that humanity’s footprint on extreme weather and climate events is becoming more pronounced, dangerous, and costly. [ZME Science]
• Scientists are dismayed at the election of science denier Donald Trump, calling it a huge blow. Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a veteran US observer of the UN climate talks, in Marrakech, Morocco, said he hopes Donald Trump will adopt a more “responsible” view of climate change once he takes office. [Hong Kong Standard]
• Vattenfall has won the rights to build the 600-MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in Denmark with a record-low bid price of 37.2 ore/kWh (€50/MWh ($55/MWh). The Swedish utility beat competition from DONG, Statoil, EnBW, and Eon to win the Danish government tender. It will invest up to €1.3 billion in the project. [reNews]

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant

• Entergy Corp announced today an agreement to sell the closed Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which would shorten the time to dismantle and decontaminate the site by 45 years. Entergy plans to transfer its federal licenses to subsidiaries of NorthStar Group Services to accelerate decommissioning and site restoration. [The Recorder]

Meadowlands site. Posted in a comment to vtdigger.org by Tom Sullivan