Energy Week #412: 4/1/2021

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.

Minute 0: Energy Week #412: 4/1/2021

Thursday, March 25

Wind blade installation (GWEC image)

Minute 2
¶ “New Wind Capacity Hits 93 GW In 2020” • The wind industry installed 93 GW of new capacity in 2020, up 53% from 2019, a report from the Global Wind Energy Council shows. The global wind power market has nearly quadrupled in size over the past decade with record growth in 2020 driven largely by China and the US, the report found. [reNEWS]

Projected growth of batteries (EIA image)

Minute 5
¶ “EIA’s AEO2021 Shows Growing Use Of Batteries On The US Electricity Grid” • The Energy Information Administration’s “Annual Energy Outlook 2021” projects a significant amounts of battery energy storage will be added to the grid. In the reference case, which reflects current laws and regulations, there will be 59 GW of US battery storage in 2050. [CleanTechnica]

Los Angeles (Henning Witzel, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “LA On Track To Have A Fully Renewable Energy Power Grid By 2045” • Los Angeles may be on track to reach its ambitious and unprecedented goal of creating a power supply of 100% renewable electricity by 2045 and possibly sooner. Research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that this goal is achievable if LA stays on track. [Courthouse News]

Friday, March 26

Cat (Sangia, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Assisting Evolution: How Much Should We Help Species Adapt?” • It may no longer be enough to protect species from a changing environment – we may have to assist in their evolution if they are to survive the 21st Century. To protect natural species, it has come to the point that it may actually be necessary to guide their evolution artificially. [BBC]

H3X motor (Image courtesy of H3X)

Minute 13
¶ “Groundbreaking H3X Motor Brings Electric Aircraft One Step Closer To Reality” • The startup H3X says it has developed a compact electric motor that develops more than 3 times the power and weighs less than most commercially available motors. It claims its HPDM 250 motor has an output of 13 kW per kg (7.924 hp per lb). [CleanTechnica]

Graph

Minute 16
¶ “Solar Is Cheapest Electricity In History, US DOE Aims To Cut Costs 60% By 2030” • Solar power costs have been coming down for decades. That long and significant trend has already led to solar power becoming the cheapest option for new electricity in the world. And the US DOE aims to cut utility-scale solar power plant costs by 60% by 2030. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, March 27

Carbon sink (Irina Iriser, Unsplash)

Minute 19
¶ “The Soil Carbon Sink Doesn’t Grow With Atmospheric CO₂, Study Finds” • Soil’s capacity to store carbon may be less than previously thought, a study published in Nature says. The amount of carbon stored in soil is approximately triple that stored in living plants, but as rising CO₂ levels increase plant growth, soil carbon storage decreases. [CleanTechnica]

Methane bubbles (Courtesy of USGS Image Gallery)

Minute 22
¶ “Senate Democrats To Nullify Trump Methane Rollbacks With CRA” • Senate Democrats plan to nullify Trump administration rollbacks of methane regulations via the Congressional Review Act. The relatively obscure process can reinstate important Obama era methane regulations through a simple majority vote in the Senate. [CleanTechnica]

New Flyer CHARGE NG (Image provided by New Flyer)

Minute 24
¶ “New Flyer Announces Improved Electric Bus, More Sales” • New Flyer, an established manufacturer of electric buses, has announced a new and improved electric bus. It is the Xcelsior CHARGE NG, which lighter, more efficient, and has longer range than its previous buses. The new bus achieves this with three technological improvements. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, March 28

Campfire in Tasmania (Manuel Meurisse, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “The Real Reason Humans Are The Dominant Species” • From the time early humans first made fire to the fossil fuels that drove the industrial revolution, energy has played a central role in our development as a species. But the way we power our societies has also created humanity’s biggest challenge. It’s one that will take all our ingenuity to solve. [BBC]

Tesla battery (Courtesy of Tesla)

Minute 30
¶ “MIT Takes Deep Dive Into Dropping Lithium-Ion Battery Costs” • A research team at the MIT took a look into lithium-ion battery costs. In a paper published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, they found that the cost of lithium-ion battery cells, relative to capacity, has fallen about 97% since their commercial introduction in 1991. [CleanTechnica]

Colstrip power plant (P.primo, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)

Minute 32
¶ “GOP Lawmakers Want To Boost Coal And Colstrip – Not Renewable Power” • While coal-fired power production is on the decline nationally, Republican lawmakers in Montana are out to buck that trend, advancing an agenda this session to keep the two remaining Colstrip power units going and de-emphasize wind and solar power. [KTVH]

Monday, March 29

Solar as far as the eye can see? (Mars Australia image)

Minute 35
¶ “Greens Leader Proposes 700% Renewables For A Clean, Green Export Economy” • Australian Greens party leader Adam Bandt launched his next Federal Election policies centered on arresting climate change. “Imagine what we could achieve if we had a government that wasn’t backed by the fossil fuel industry,” he suggested. [pv magazine Australia]

Hall of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC image, cropped)

Minute 38
¶ “Supreme Court Of Canada Upholds National Carbon Tax” • In 2018, the Canadian government adopted a national carbon tax to start at $40 per ton and increase annually. Three of the country’s provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario – opposed the national carbon tax and took steps to block it in court. Last week, they lost their fight. [CleanTechnica]

Michigan wind farm (Peggy Sue Zinn, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “Utilities Chart Renewable Energy Future As State Mandates Level Off” • Michigan’s mandates for renewable power and energy efficiency programs – first set in 2008 and increased slightly in 2016 – are scheduled to level off this year. It may make little difference, however, as the clean energy transition rolls on under market forces. [MiBiz]

Tuesday, March 30

Rooftop solar system in Victoria (Sustainability Victoria image)

Minute 43
¶ “Small-Scale Solar Is Now Second Biggest Player In Australia’s Renewable Energy Mix” • Renewable energy almost doubled in the last five years and accounts for over a quarter of Australia’s electricity supply, growing from 14.6% in 2015 to 27.7% in 2020, a Clean Energy Australia report says. And small-scale solar is now second only to windpower. [pv magazine Australia]

Block Island Wind Farm (Gary Norton, NREL)

Minute 46
¶ “Biden Launches Major Push To Expand Offshore Wind” • The White House laid out an ambitious strategy to raise the first fleet of American offshore wind farms, announcing specific plans that could boost an eager industry and help the country meet climate targets. President Biden mandated a wind energy lease auction in the New York Bight as early as this year. [E&E News]

Indiana wind turbines (Mattchobbs, placed in the public domain)

Minute 48
¶ “A Renewable Energy Bill Is Fueling A Fight Over Local Control In Indiana” • A bill in Indiana that would expand renewable energy is drawing unusual battle lines. It would propose doing away with local ordinances around renewables and instead develop a uniform set of statewide requirements. Many local groups are very opposed to this. [Gizmodo]

Wednesday, March 31

Proposed hydrogen infrastructure (Ørsted image)

Minute 51
¶ “Ørsted To Develop Dutch-Flemish Green Hydrogen Plant” • Ørsted is to develop a renewable hydrogen plant to be linked to industrial demand in the Netherlands and Belgium. It will be one of the world’s largest of its type, with GW-scale electrolysis to supply industrial demand in the Dutch-Flemish North Sea Ports with hydrogen created by the wind. [reNEWS]

Economic direction (AbsolutVision, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “‘Immediate And Drastic.’ The Climate Crisis Is Seriously Spooking Economists” • According to a survey from the Institute for Policy Integrity at the NYU School of Law, 74% of economists agree “immediate and drastic” action is warranted to curb CO₂ emissions. That’s up sharply from 50% in 2015. The change is based on clearly increasing impacts. [CNN]

Dr Michael Mann (Greg Grieco, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)

Minute 56
¶ “Scientists To Biden: Reduce Emissions 50% Below 2005 Levels By 2030” • Over 1,000 scientists, including Dr Michael Mann, signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to pursue a “robust target” of reducing the nation’s “emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and transitioning to a net-zero emissions economy no later than 2050.” [Common Dreams]

Finis

Minute 59

Have a spectacularly easy day.

Notes:

Energy Week #412: 4/1/2021

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 #411: 3/25/2021

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 #411: 3/25/2021

Thursday, March 18

Building the Great Green Wall (MAKE Waves image)

¶ “A 5,000-Mile Living Wall Could Hold Back The World’s Largest Desert” • Because the Sahara Desert is expanding, the African Union launched an ambitious plan to hold it back and protect the Sahel area in 2007. The Great Green Wall initiative now hopes to restore 100 million hectares of land with a mosaic vegetation types over the next decade. [CNN]

Audi e-tron (Audi courtesy image)

¶ “Audi Gives Up On Combustion Engine Development – This Is Awesome” • Audi is abandoning its development of combustion engines, Electrive reported. The article cited an interview that CEO Markus Duesmann held with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he confirmed that Audi is no longer developing internal combustion engines. [CleanTechnica]

NREL laboratory (Dennis Schroeder, NREL)

¶ “From Wet Waste To Flight: Scientists Announce Fast-Track Solution For Net-Zero-Carbon Sustainable Aviation Fuel” • The aircraft sector has been seen as difficult to decarbonize. That task just got a burst of energy with the publication of a new paper on carbon-negative sustainable aviation fuel in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, March 19

Solar array (Image courtesy of Array Technologies)

¶ “2020 US Power Report Card: Solar And Wind Getting High Scores” • Government data shows that renewable resources surpassed coal in 2020 to become the third-largest source of US electricity. Continuing promising trends from 2019, solar and wind energy made strong gains, and there was a steep reduction in power sector pollution. [CleanTechnica]

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant (NRC, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)

¶ “Report Finds That ‘Advanced’ Nuclear Reactor Designs Are No Better Than Current Reactors – And Some Are Worse” • A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed the designs of a number of “advanced” nuclear reactors being developed. It says that they are no better, and in some respects significantly worse, than what we have. [Union of Concerned Scientists]

Abandoned Mines

¶ “Two Bills Introduced In Congress To Address Abandoned Mine Lands” • The RECLAIM Act and a bill to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine LandFund were reintroduced in the US House by Rep Matt Cartwright (D-PA). These bills, if passed, would provide an immediate economic boost by employing thousands of people across the country. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, March 20

Solar array (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

¶ “Global Renewables Investment Return Seven Times Higher Than Fossil Fuels” • Renewable power investment continues to outperform fossil fuel investment across the globe, the latest research shows. This signals a decline of fossil fuel investment. IRENA has projected achieving Paris targets will require $4.4 trillion a year into low carbon energy. [Forbes]

Byron Kominek, owner of Jack’s Solar Garden (Werner Slocum, NREL)

¶ “New Solar Farm Piles Even More Green Onto Green Energy” • Solar farms have become revenue lifelines for farmers. Now the biggest agrivoltaic research project in the US is taking shape in Boulder County, Colorado. Instead of a bed of gravel under the solar panels, Jack’s Solar Garden will have plants for people, animals, birds, and insects to eat. [CleanTechnica]

Buildings in Singapore (Kelvin Zyteng, Unsplash)

¶ “Amazon Announces First Renewable Energy Project In Singapore” • Amazon has announced its first renewable energy project in Singapore, buying energy from the solar provider Sunseap Group. The installation is noteworthy, as Sunseap will deploy mobile solar systems on temporarily vacant land and redeploy them as needed. [DatacenterDynamics]

Sunday, March 21

Crane Mountain, Adirondacks (Eva Darron, Unsplash)

¶ “Acid Rain Is Leaving The Adirondacks, But Scientists Say Restoration Is Still A Long Way Off” • Scientists say data on acid rain collected at an observatory on the summit of Whiteface Mountain tell a success story stretching over the past fifty years, as acid rain has been reduced. But recovery from the problem will take time. [The Adirondack Daily Enterprise]

Tesla Model 3 (Vlad Tchompalov, Unsplash)

¶ “ARK Invest’s New Tesla Bull Case – $4 Trillion Market Cap, 10 Million Cars Sold In 2025” • ARK Invest was one of the early Tesla Bulls. It turned out they were right, and everyone else dramatically adjusted their expectations. Now, ARK Invest has a new Tesla price target. It is forecasting that Tesla will achieve a $4 trillion market cap. [CleanTechnica]

Greenhouse (Harits Mustya Pratama, Unsplash)

¶ “Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Can Power Greenhouses Without Stunting Plant Growth” • Greenhouses fitted with semi-transparent solar cells can generate electricity without affecting the growth and health of the plants inside, according to a new study. This suggests we could build energy-neutral greenhouses without harming crops. [ScienceAlert]

Monday, March 22

Fracking in the Permian Basin (Rhod08, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “Have Rosy Forecasts About The Legacy Energy Industry Created A Financial Bubble?” • We’ve heard a lot lately about a “bubble” in Tesla and other EV-related stocks. But a report from the independent think tank RethinkX argues that a far more dangerous bubble exists around conventional coal, gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric energy assets. [CleanTechnica]

Pollution from particulates (Center For Disease Control)

¶ “Big Oil’s Lies About Pollution Health Risks Contributed To Millions Of Deaths” • Thanks to a report by The Guardian, we now know the major oil companies knew all about health risks from fine particulate matter for decades, but instead of doing anything about the problem, they poured their money into disinformation campaigns. [CleanTechnica]

Solar array in Colorado (Science in HD, Unsplash)

¶ “Solar, Wind Power To Drive Renewable Energy Growth This Year” • Renewable energy installations of solar, wind, and storage facilities are set to rise by 40% year on year to another record 190 GW globally this year. This is an acceleration from a 30% on-year expansion in 2020 that happened despite project delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. [The Sun Daily]

Tuesday, March 23

Offshore wind turbines (Insung Yoon, Unsplash)

¶ “Offshore Wind ‘Could Deliver 166% Of Texas Power'” • Texas could have 166% of its electricity needs covered by offshore wind, a report from the Environment Texas Research & Policy Center says. The report also said that 19 of the 29 states with offshore wind potential could produce more electricity from it than they used in 2019. [reNEWS]

Goodrich Farm (Courtesy of Vanguard Renewables)

¶ “Vermont ‘Digester’ Harvests Renewable Gas, Like Cow Manure And Food Waste, For Cooking” • Without any odor or fanfare, the methane wrung from the manure of 900 cows and organic waste from regional cheese, beer, coffee, and ice cream plants will enter the Vermont Gas Systems pipelines by mid-spring, the utility says. [BurlingtonFreePress.com]

Solar field (Rachel McDevitt, StateImpact Pennsylvania)

¶ “Wolf Administration To Buy Half Of State Government’s Electricity From Solar” • Pennsylvania’s Wolf Administration says it is making the largest government commitment to solar energy in the country, by agreeing to buy power from seven new solar projects in the state. A 15-year PPA will cover about half the state government’s electricity. [StateImpact Pennsylvania]

Wednesday, March 24

Disapproving Kingfisher (Vincent van Zalinge, Unsplash)

¶ “Our Survival Depends On Treating Nature With More Respect” • Intersecting and escalating crises – disruption of our climate, the collapse of biodiversity, the declining health of the ocean and the depletion of natural resources – demonstrate clearly that we cannot continue on our current path. We are the authors of our own misfortune. [CNN]

New Territories (Ivan Theodoulou, Unsplash, cropped)

¶ “The Rivers That ‘Breathe’ Greenhouse Gases” • Rivers are a surprisingly large source of greenhouse gases, and pollution makes their emissions many times worse. On the surface, the New Territories appear to be Hong Kong’s green lung, but the reality is rather more disconcerting. It is releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases. [BBC]

Natural gas plant in Massachusetts (Fletcher, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “FERC Adopts GHG Review in Natural Gas Order” • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has incorporated a review of climate change impacts in a natural gas certificate decision, sparking a sharp debate among the commissioners over the major policy implications for future infrastructure projects under its purview. [Natural Gas Intelligence]

Energy Week #411: 3/25/2021

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 #410: 3/18/2021

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 #410: 3/18/2021

Thursday, March 11

House in Dillingham, Alaska (NREL via Twitter)

¶ “Even In Frigid Temperatures In Alaska, Air-Source Heat Pumps Keep Homes Warm” • When the north wind blows into Dillingham, Alaska, it can be well past -15°F. On these days, the oil heaters in many of the homes have to run pretty much nonstop to keep people warm. But one house is kept warm by an air-source heat pump. [CleanTechnica]

Kubota farm tractor (Image by Kubota)

¶ “Farming And Construction: Autonomous Is Going To Be More Than Vehicles” • There’s a whole world of autonomy going on both on farms and construction sites, and we could miss it while we tend to get focused on cars. Machine learning is going to transform not just the road, but how it’s built and how the food people eat is grown. [CleanTechnica]

Wind blade manufacture (GE image)

¶ “GE To Build UK Haliade-X Blade Factory” • GE Renewable Energy is investing in a new blade factory in Teesside, north-east England. The factory, which will make blades for Haliade-X units, will directly create around 750 jobs at the Teesworks site on the River Tees as well as 1500 indirect roles. It will open and start production in 2023. [reNEWS]

Friday, March 12

Mt Athos Monastery (Fingalo, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)

¶ “Mt Athos Monastic Community to Use 100% Renewable Energy” • Greece’s ancient monastic community of Mt. Athos, which is home to approximately 2,000 Orthodox monks, will soon begin receiving its electricity from solar panels, according to an announcement from Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the Governor of Central Greece. [Greek Reporter]

Carbon Engineering pilot plant (Carbon Engineering image)

¶ “The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Plan To Capture CO₂” • When it starts operationing, Carbon Engineering’s prototype direct air capture plant will scrub a tonne of CO₂ from the air every year. To stop climate change, we have to remove CO₂ from the air faster than we put it in. Carbon Engineering estimates the cost at $94 per tonne. We emit 34 billion tonnes per year. [BBC]

Sunreef catamaran (Sunreef Yachts image)

¶ “Sunreef’s New All-Electric Catamaran Blends Solar And Wind Energy For Unlimited Range” • Sunreef Yachts is building what it claims will be “the world’s most advanced sustainable luxury catamaran.” It can harness and store renewable energy, and it can sail silently emissions-free for days on end. In fact, the yard says it has infinite range. [Robb Report]

Saturday, March 13

Wetlands (Steve Adams, Unsplash)

¶ “We Are Losing The Earth’s Diversity Of Life Due To Economics” • We are plundering every corner of the world, apparently neither knowing or caring what the consequences might be to the diversity of life. Putting things right will take collaborative action by every nation on earth, a study from the UK government says. [CleanTechnica]

Lidar imagery from NOAA

¶ “Lidar May Be Harmful To People And Cameras” • A story at Truckinginfo.com questions the safety of lidar systems used by some vehicles (though not Tesla). Some types of lidar could potentially cause damage to human eyes, while other types could be hurting cameras that are used for safe operation of vehicles and traffic equipment. [CleanTechnica]

Rusty pipline (Rodion Kutsaev, Unsplash)

¶ “Pipeline Firms Are Abandoning Oil And Gas Lines, Leaving Landowners To Deal With The Mess” • There are few rules governing abandoned pipelines, which can collapse, explode, or leak dangerous chemicals. It’s a problem that is increasingly common as renewables outcompete fossil fuels and pipelines age out of service. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, March 14

Louisiana bayou (Mathieu Cheze, Unsplash)

¶ “A Victory In The Fight To Save Our Coast, But The War Isn’t Won” • Louisiana coastal advocates have been celebrating release of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact study on the state’s proposed Myrtle Grove river sediment diversion. It is to cost $50 billion. But it won’t be $50 billion, because climate change will just keep going on. [NOLA.com]

Rubber trees in Thailand (Earng.oi, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

¶ “The Wonder Material We All Need But Is Running Out” • Rubber is of such global importance that it is included on the EU’s list of critical raw materials. Unfortunately, there are signs the world might be running out of natural rubber. Disease, climate change and plunging global prices have put the world’s rubber supplies into jeopardy. [BBC]

Tesla’s Megapack battery storage (Tesla image)

¶ “Will Tesla Help Prevent Another Energy Disaster In Texas?” • Our neighbors in Texas got hit hard by the recent unexpected Arctic blast. The weather-related disaster was an embarrassing fiasco that simply should not have happened in a technologically advanced country. But now Tesla is boosting its presence in Texas with stationary batteries. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, March 15

Mamora Bay, Antigua and Barbuda (Mark Jordan, Unsplash)

¶ “Solar-Led Renewable Energy System Could Free Up 10% Of Caribbean Nation’s GDP” • For Antigua and Barbuda, IRENA proposed 199 MW of solar capacity in a near-90% clean energy system with 57% solar generation. Diesel would make up just 8%, down from its current 96%, which costs the nation around 10% of its GDP. [pv magazine International]

Training session for solar cookers (UNDP Sudan)

¶ “Solar Power Lights Up Sudanese Refugee Camp” • In eastern Sudan, renewable energy is being trialed as a power source in UN-run refugee camps, where an influx of thousands of people fleeing conflict in Ethiopia is putting a strain on local resources, and host communities. Their only other option for energy is to cut trees down for fuel. [UN News]

Wind farm (Jason Ng, Unsplash)

¶ “The US CLEAN Future Act – What’s In It?” • The CLEAN Future Act was on March 2, 2021, and it deserves some special attention, as it is the first major piece of climate legislation to be introduced since President Biden assumed office. Here, we give brief outlines of its major features, as well as some important measures that are not in it. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, March 16

Deb Haaland at a wind farm (Deb Haaland, via Twitter, cropped)

¶ “Senate Confirms Deb Haaland As Biden’s Interior Secretary In Historic Vote” • The Senate voted to confirm Deb Haaland as President Joe Biden’s Interior secretary, a historic move that will make her the first Native American Cabinet secretary. Haaland will be important for Biden’s plan to tackle the climate crisis and reduce carbon emissions. [CNN]

Wartsila energy storage facility (Courtesy of Wartsila)

¶ “Wärtsilä Providing 200 MW, 214.5 MWh Battery Storage For Texas Grid” • Wärtsilä Energy has installed 72 GW of power plant capacity in 180 countries around the world. Now it is bringing its expertise to Texas to help stabilize that state’s utility grid with two 100 MW battery storage facilities with a combined capacity of 214.5 MWh. [CleanTechnica]

Northvolt Ett battery gigafactory in Skellefteå, Sweden

¶ “Volkswagen Orders $14 Billion Of Battery Cells From Northvolt” • As part of Volkswagen’s Power Day, news came out that Volkswagen Group has put in an order for $14 billion worth of battery cells from Northvolt, which will be supplied via Northvolt’s Swedish battery factory. The $14 billion order is for the coming ten years. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, March 17

Wind turbines (Statkraft image)

¶ “Statkraft Wraps Up 1-GW Fosen Project” • Statkraft completed Europe’s largest onshore wind project, the 1057-MW Fosen wind development comprising 277 turbines across six wind farms in Norway. The wind farms are in the Trondelag region of Norway, on the country’s west coast. They will supply up to 3.6 TWh of electricity a year. [reNEWS]

Guernsey (Man vyi, released into the public domain)

¶ “Guernsey’s Electricity Is 100% Renewable” • All of Guernsey’s electricity that was imported from France last year was from renewable sources. The utility company, Guernsey Electricity, has received verification of its Guarantees of Origin certificate, which shows where in France the electricity was produced, and how, over the past 12 months. [ITV News]

Nature (fan yang, Unsplash)

¶ “The Human Right That Benefits Nature” • More than 100 constitutions across the world have adopted a human right to a healthy environment, which is proving to be a powerful way to protect the natural world. A clean and healthy environment is human need for life, as are balanced ecosystems, biodiversity, and other elements of nature. [BBC]

Energy Week #410: 3/18/2021

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 #409: 3/11/2021

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 #409: 3/11/2021

Thursday, March 4

Coal mine (Arno van Rensburg, Unsplash)

¶ “Biden’s Energy Secretary Vows To ‘Leave No Worker Behind’ In The Clean Energy Revolution” • Fossil fuel workers will not be left behind in the Biden administration’s push to embrace clean energy. That’s the promise from new Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, addressing workers worried that their livelihoods will be disrupted. [CNN]

Automobile engine (Tim Mossholder, Unsplash)

¶ “Morgan Stanley: The Oil Industry Is About To Become Worthless” • We are starting to see the transformation under way. In a survey of institutional investors, Morgan Stanley found that 17% of respondents think internal combustion engine technology has zero or negative value today, and 60% said its value was only slightly positive. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm (Romero Souza, Unsplash)

¶ “The US Installed More Wind Turbine Capacity In 2020 Than In Any Other Year” • According to data published by the Energy Information Administration, 2020 was a record year for wind turbine capacity additions in the US, at 14.2 GW. The previous record was 13.2 GW in 2012. The total wind turbine capacity in the US is now 118 GW. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, March 5

Increase in small-scale PVs (EIA image)

¶ “California, Texas, And Florida Had Large Small-Scale Solar Capacity Increases In 2020” • As of December 2020, the states with the most small-scale solar PV capacity were California (10.6 GW), New Jersey (1.9 GW), and Massachusetts (1.8 GW). Of the 4.5 GW of small-scale solar capacity added in the US in 2020, 31% was in California. [CleanTechnica]

Worker at a solar farm (Cypress Creek Renewables image)

¶ “New York State Adopts Rules To Streamline Large Renewable Energy Project Reviews” • New York State has adopted new rules designed to streamline the siting and construction of renewable energy facilities of 25 MW or more. The regulations result from a law enacted in April 2020 to consolidate environmental review and permitting processes. [pv magazine USA]

Storm (Arto Marttinen, Unsplash)

¶ “Humans, Not Nature, Are The Cause Of Changes In Atlantic Hurricane Cycles, New Study Finds” • The idea of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation may have been dealt a deadly blow by Michael Man, who had named it. He concludes the AMO is likely an artifact of climate change in the modern era and big volcanic eruptions in pre-industrial times. [KLFY]

Saturday, March 6

Monarch butterfly (Sandy Millar, Unsplash)

¶ “Dramatic Decline In Western Butterfly Populations Linked To Fall Warming” • Western butterfly populations are declining at an estimated rate of 1.6% per year, according to a new report to be published this week in Science. The report looked at 450 species. Among them, the western monarch has undergone a decline of 99.9% since the 1980s. [Science Daily]

Public speaking (Marcos Luiz Photograph, Unsplash)

¶ “With New FERC Office Of Public Participation, You Can Help Shape Energy In Your Community” • Now FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is creating an Office of Public Participation after 35 years of dodging the issue. This truly is a once in a lifetime chance for reform in a very important US government agency. [CleanTechnica]

Cadillac Lyriq electric car (Image courtesy of Cadillac)

¶ “GM And LG Energy Solution Plan Second US Battery Factory” • Citing a report by the Wall Street Journal, Autoblog says General Motors and LG Energy Solution are in the planning stages for a second US battery factory. Currently, the two companies are building a $2.3 billion battery factory next door to the former Lordstown factory in Ohio. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, March 7

Wind turbines (Charl Folscher, Unsplash)

¶ “Biden Faces Steep Challenges To Reach Renewable Energy Goals” • President Joe Biden wants to change the way the US uses energy by expanding our renewable capacity, but he will need to navigate a host of challenges – including dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and restoring hundreds of thousands of lost jobs – to get it done. [WIZM News]

Wreckage at Fukushima (IAEA Imagebank, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Ten Years After Fukushima, Safety Is Still Nuclear Power’s Greatest Challenge ” • On March 11, 2011, Japan’s northeast coast was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami that swept entire towns away in seconds. An investigation concluded that nuclear disaster that followed at Fukushima Daiichi was an accident waiting to happen. Safety is still an issue. [Kiowa County Press]

DOI logo (DOI image)

¶ “Science Wins At The Interior Department” • The Department of the Interior announced that it is rescinding secretarial order 3369, which sidelined scientific research and its use in the agency’s decisions. The order restricted the DOI from using scientific studies that did not make all data publicly available, including private data. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, March 8

Snow in Texas (Matthew T Rader, Unsplash)

¶ “ERCOT Charged $16 Billion Too Much For Power” • ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, left wholesale electricity prices at the legal maximum two days longer than necessary, overcharging power companies $16 billion in the process, during the winter storm that caused massive system failures, an independent market monitor says. [CleanTechnica]

Butterfly (Michal Mrozek, Unsplash)

¶ “Want To Save Butterflies? Use Less Pesticide, UNR Study Says” • Butterflies have been in decline for the past 40 years and new methods of conservation and management of butterfly habitat – like less backyard pesticide use – may be needed to stop the decline, a report from the University of Nevada, Reno said. The report was published in Science. [KOLO]

Wind turbines (Henry & Co, Unsplash)

¶ “Renewables Supplied 20.6% Of US Electricity In 2020” • US electricity generation data are in from the Energy Information Administration for 2020. Renewable energy accounted for 20.6% of US electricity generation last year. Wind power led, with 8.3% of US electricity generation, followed by hydropower at 7.2%, and solar power at 3.3%. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, March 9

Illustration of the Vineyard Wind project (Vineyard Wind image)

¶ “Biden Admin Advances Major Offshore Wind Farm” • The next-to-last requirement for the Vinyard Wind project to move forward was the final environmental impact statement from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It now has that. With the next step, construction can start in federal waters 12 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. [E&E News]

Drought (Juanita Swart, Unsplash)

¶ “Multiyear Drought Builds In Western US With Little Relief In Sight” • While much has been written this year on atmospheric rivers, avalanche warnings, and even flash flooding, the western half of the US is experiencing a crushing drought. While parts of the Northeast are soggy, 80% of the land in the western US faces some official category of drought. [CNN]

Wärtsilä floating barge (Wärtsilä Corporation image)

¶ “Wärtsilä To Install ‘First-Of-Its-Kind’ Floating Battery Storage Solution In Southeast Asia” • Wärtsilä Corporation will deploy a floating battery system to provide ancillary services for a thermal power facility in the Philippines. The battery system will provide 54 MW, 32 MWh of electric energy storage for a 100-MW diesel powered barge. [Energy Storage News]

Wednesday, March 10

Venice (Egor Gordeev, Unsplash)

¶ “Sea Level Rise Is Increasing Fastest In Populous Coastal Areas, Study Says” • Coastal communities are experiencing sea level rise four times worse than global water rise, a study says. Sediment production, groundwater pumping, and extraction of materials from the ground all cause the land to sink, compounding the effects of a rising sea level. [CNN]

Rolls-Royce Spirit of Innovation (Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce)

¶ “Rolls-Royce Gets One Step Closer To The Fastest Electric Plane” • Rolls-Royce has a small propeller aircraft with a 400-kW electric power-train pulling juice from the latest batteries. It is called the Spirit of Innovation, and the company expects it to be able to exceed 300 MPH. If it pulls that off, it will be the fastest electric plane ever flown. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm (Pixabay image)

¶ “Chevron Updates Plans To Increase Renewable Energy And Carbon Offsets” • Chevron Corporation announced plans to increase return on capital employed and lower carbon intensity. The company has exceeded its 2023 upstream carbon intensity reduction targets three years ahead of schedule, and it set new lower targets. [Environment + Energy Leader]

Energy Week #409: 3/11/2021

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