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Energy Week #398: 12/17/2020
Thursday, December 10
Harvesting cassava (International Center for Tropical Agriculture)
¶ “‘Rambo Root’ Could Help With Climate Action, Peace Building, And Environmental Issues” • The low-cost root crop cassava, called ‘Rambo root’ for its rugged appearance and resilient attributes, produces the highest amount of calories per hectare in most tropical countries. It can withstand increasing temperatures and thrives in poor soils. [EurekAlert]
Coal mine (Dominik Vanyi, Unsplash)
¶ “Falling Sales, Job Losses And Bankruptcies: Pain Spreads Across Coal Country” • President Donald Trump promised he would save the US coal industry. But as his tenure winds down, the industry is plagued by falling demand, bankruptcies and job losses. It has lost 8,000 jobs, or 15% of its workforce, over the last 12 months. [CNN]
Toyota electric SUV (Image courtesy of Toyota)
¶ “Toyota Says It May Finally Be Ready To Make An Electric Car” • Toyota, which is heavily committed to hybrid and fuel cell technology, announced that it has developed a flexible, scalable chassis for electric vehicles. The company will take the wraps off an all new electric SUV destined for European customers in a few months. [CleanTechnica]
Friday, December 11
NYPA battery storage system (Image: NYPA)
¶ “New York Power Authority’s Plan For 70% Renewable Energy By 2030 Approved” • A new strategic plan putting the New York Power Authority on the path to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 – five years earlier than the target set out in the US state’s policy goals – has been approved by the state public power organisation’s Board of Trustees. [PV-Tech]
¶ “Proterra Opens Next-Gen EV Battery Facility in Los Angeles, California” • Proterra recently sold its 1,000th electric bus in the United States. Demand for Proterra’s electric buses is growing strongly, and that has led to a new battery production line inside the company’s electric bus factory in Los Angeles County, California. [CleanTechnica]
Interceptor (Image courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup)
¶ “Ocean Cleanup Sets Its Sights On World’s Most Polluted Rivers” • After a little over a year of successfully dragging tons of plastic waste and pollution out of the world’s oceans, The Ocean Cleanup company has decided to tackle the primary source of ocean pollution: polluted rivers. They use a type of river vessel called an Interceptor. [CleanTechnica]
Saturday, December 12
Arctech solar trackers (Screenshot)
¶ “Arctech Solar Provides Trackers To Largest Single-Site Renewable Energy Project” • Arctech Solar, a solar mounting system company, provided the tracking mounts to a 3.2-GW solar park in the Qinghai province of China. The project was recently connected to the grid. The tracking mounts increase the site’s efficiency. [Solar Industry]
Progress in the lab: new vs older cells (Solid Power image)
¶ “Solid State Batteries – They’re Everywhere! They’re Everywhere!” • Solid state battery technology is supposed to give us lower priced EVs with more range and faster charging times. All of a sudden, in the labs, they are like Chicken Man. They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere! But they have to make it from the lab to the road. [CleanTechnica]
Atlantic City ( Bob Jagendorf, Wikimedia Commons)
¶ “Thousands Of NJ’s Affordable Homes Under Threat From Climate Change Flooding” • Sunny Day flooding is a constant, creeping threat in Atlantic City. These days, it only takes a particularly high tide for water to spill onto the city’s streets. The highest tides reach more than a foot higher than they did a century ago. [NBC 10 Philadelphia]
Sunday, December 13
Open pit mine in Germany (C M, Unsplash)
¶ “The End Of Coal? Why Investors Aren’t Buying The Myth Of The Industry’s ‘Renaissance'” • Three years ago, pictures of bulk carriers queued off the coast of Mackay in central Queensland were framed as evidence of a “renaissance” in the coal industry. Now, there are no ships waiting to load at all. Instead, they are waiting to unload at China. [The Guardian]
Aptera solar tool
¶ “Aptera Reveals Solar Calculator” • After CleanTechnica’s deep dive into Aptera’s technologies, one of the questions from readers was how much of a charge they can really expect from the Aptera’s solar cells. Aptera has come through on answering the question by giving everyone a useful tool to help get their answers. [CleanTechnica]
Nissan LEAF and Renault Zoe in Paris
¶ “Rising To The Challenge Five Years After The Paris Climate Agreement'” • A new report produced by the UN Environment Program – the Emissions Gap Report 2020 and the Production Gap Report – highlights the urgency of the task ahead. We know how to deliver a safer climate trajectory right now, but major action is necessary. [CleanTechnica]
Monday, December 14
The clock starts now (Credit: Oil Change International)
¶ “State Of New York To End Pension Fund Investments In Fossil Fuels” • Last week, New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced that the state would begin divesting its $226 billion employee pension fund from gas and oil companies if they don’t come up with business plans aligned goals of the Paris climate accord within four years. [CleanTechnica]
EAC-Whisper octocopter, AERO (Matti Blume, SA-BY-CC 4.0)
¶ “EV Battery Packs About 50% Cheaper Than In 2016” • It can be tough to analyze what is happening in the EV industry because we tend to be static thinkers. We see how things look today and it is hard for us to see how dramatically they can change. The story of EVs, however, is largely a story about how fast the costs of batteries can fall. [CleanTechnica]
Pump jack (Zbynek Burival, Unsplash)
¶ “Forget Oil Stocks: Renewable Energy Stocks Are Better Long-Term Buys” • With the pandemic and the growth of renewables, the oil industry’s future has dimmed considerably over the past year. That’s why it might be time for investors to forget about buying oil stocks and instead concentrate their efforts on the renewable energy industry. [Nasdaq]
Tuesday, December 15
Aptera (Chris Anthony, CEO, Aptera Motors Corp)
¶ “Aptera Is Getting A Lot of Orders For Its ‘Never Charge’ EV” • Aptera released its “Never Charge” electric vehicle a little over a week ago, and the company already has preorders for over $100 million. Aptera is also seeing lots of views for its launch video, with over 600,000 views on YouTube when this CleanTechnica article was published. [CleanTechnica]
Solar panels in Colorado (Jeffrey Beall, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Renewables Were The Sole Source Of New US Generating Capacity In Last Quarter” • Figures from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission show that all new capacity added in June through September has been renewable. And for the first three quarters of 2020, renewables accounted for 64.1%, of all new utility-scale capacity. [RenewEconomy]
Sandhill cranes at the Platte River in Nebraska (Larry Crist | USFWS)
¶ “Trump’s Attacks On America’s Natural Treasures: In His Final Days, President Trump Is Selling Our Public Lands And Waters” • In his final days, President Trump is selling our public lands and waters to the highest bidder. The federal government holds these resources in trust, for the use and enjoyment of the people of this country. [CleanTechnica]
Wednesday, December 16
Wind farm in South Australia (Fairv8, Wikimedia Commons)
¶ “SA Envisions Becoming Clean Energy Exporter At 500% Renewables In New Climate Plan” • Already a renewables leader, the South Australian government supplemented its vision and investments by announcing 68 new actions and almost A$200 million in new funding as part of its Climate Change Action Plan 2021–2025. [pv magazine Australia]
Electric bus in Poland (Image courtesy of Solaris)
¶ “Public Transit Is In Crisis, But Essential To Our Recovery” • The pandemic continues to rattle every aspect of our lives, and millions of people are still traveling less for work and other trips. Since most transit agencies in the US rely on farebox revenues, this use gap caused an unprecedented budget shortfall for transit agencies nationwide. [CleanTechnica]
Indian wind turbines (Rajavel vanaraj, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “India Starts Construction Of World’s Largest Renewable Energy Park” •India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched construction of a megapark that will produce 30 GW of renewable energy and will be the world’s largest renewable energy facility. The Hybrid Renewable Energy Park is in the district of Kutch in Gujarat.[OilPrice.com]
Energy Week #398: 12/17/2020
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
Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell 