Energy Week #421: 6/3/2021

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 #421: 6/3/2021

Thursday, May 27

Exxon knew protest (Johnny Silvercloud, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 2
¶ “Activist Investor Ousts At Least Two Exxon Directors In Historic Win For Pro-Climate Campaign” • Engine No 1, a hedge fund that criticized ExxonMobil’s climate strategy, won enough shareholder support to get two board seats in a shareholder vote, ousting at least two directors from the oil giant’s board. It may gain two more seats that were too close to call. [CNN]

Construction of the Shell Cracker Plant along the Ohio River (Drums600, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 5
¶ “Court Orders Shell To Reduce CO₂ Emissions In Landmark Climate Ruling” • A Dutch court has ruled that Royal Dutch Shell must dramatically reduce its carbon emissions in a landmark climate decision that could have far reaching consequences for oil companies. By 2030, Shell must reduce its CO₂ emissions by 45% from 2019 levels. [CNN]

Bear Mountain Bridge (Clay Banks, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “There’s No Compromising On Science When It Comes To Protecting Water Quality In The Nation’s Rivers And Streams” • Before EPA Administrator Regan tries to create a compromise between Obama and Trump approaches in the EPA’s new rules, he must remember one thing: Obama’s regulations for aquatic preservation were based on science. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, May 28

Lake Mead (Ana Filipa Neves, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “First-Ever Colorado River Water Shortage Is Now Almost Certain, New Projections Show” • Lake Mead is at 37% capacity, a level it has hit very few times. In the past, it recovered quickly, but the US Bureau of Reclamation forecasts the lake’s levels to continue to decline, without any sign of recovery through at least the end of 2022. [CNN]

Jenny Ueberberg in her Tesla Model 3 (Jenny Ueberberg, Unsplash)

Minute 13
¶ “Electric Vehicle Tax Credit Bill From US Senate Finance Committee Looks Great” • Let’s look at how the bill that has moved through the US Senate Finance Committee. It extends the tax credit until 50% of vehicles are electric. It opens the tax credit up so people who owe little or nothing can benefit. And it provides other benefits. [CleanTechnica]

Wind turbines (Mary Ray, Unsplash)

Minute 16
¶ “Germany, Norway Flip Switch On $2.4 Billion Undersea Energy Link” • Germany and Norway inaugurated the €2 billion ($2.4 billion) Nordlink project, connecting the power grids of the two countries. The cable, which is 623 km (387 miles) long, runs under the North Sea. It can carry enough electricity to supply 3.6 million households. [Yahoo Finance]

StorEn flow battery (Image by StorEn Technologies)

Minute 19
¶ “Flow Batteries Keep The Energy Flowing” • Incubated in New York by a Stony Brook University program, StorEn Technologies aims to build upon the strengths of vanadium flow batteries to meet the needs for residential and industrial energy storage. StorEn Tech batteries fill market demand for more efficient and cost-effective energy storage. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, May 29

Rivian truck (Rivian image)

Minute 22
¶ “Rivian Deliveries Are To Begin In July, Test Drives In August, Equipment Upgrades And Changes” • Rivian announced that it is all set for deliveries to begin in July, and that all Launch Edition preorders will be in customers’ driveways by next summer. It also had news about standard equipment and upgrades that changed to benefit customers. [CleanTechnica]

New York City (Serge Pelletier, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “NYC Lawmakers Aim To Block Natural Gas Use In New Buildings, Major Renovations” • Lawmakers in New York City introduced legislation that would essentially prohibit use of fossil fuels in new buildings and major renovations, marking a new step in the most populous US city’s effort to decarbonize its building stock. [S&P Global]

Sunday, May 30

Sketch of a Fisker signed by the Pope (Image courtesy of Fisker)

Minute 27
¶ “Fisker To Build An Ocean Popemobile” • Pope Francis will probably beat every head of state to an all-electric jalopy to move him about his official functions in St Peter’s. He is getting the Fisker version of the Popemobile, a modified Fisker Ocean, which will have carpets made from recycled plastic bottles from the ocean. [CleanTechnica]

Batteries (Graphene Manufacturing Group image)

Minute 30
¶ “Developer Of Aluminum-Ion Battery Claims It Charges 60 Times Faster Than Lithium-Ion – EV Range Breakthrough” • Graphene Manufacturing Group, based in Brisbane, claims its graphene aluminum-ion battery cells charge up to 60 times as fast as the best lithium-ion cells and hold three time the energy of the best aluminum-based cells. [Forbes]
This is one I had missed, thanks to Tom Finnell for finding it.

Hybrit fossil free steel (Courtesy of Hybrit)

Minute 32
¶ “Six Global Banks Come Together To Decarbonize Steel” • Six of the top lenders to the steel sector – Citi, Goldman Sachs, ING, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, and UniCredit – have come together to define common standards of action for steel sector decarbonization through a collective climate-aligned finance agreement. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, May 31

International Space Station (NASA image)

Minute 35
¶ “Using The International Space Station To Study Earth’s Climate And Keep Our Planet Safe” • On Earth, we often look toward the sky longing to know what resides in the rest of the universe; meanwhile, 250 miles above us, the International Space Station is looking back, helping to provide unique insights to keep our planet safe. [SciTechDaily]

Kochem, Germany (Kai Pilger, Unsplash)

Minute 38
¶ “Germany Plans To Invest Over €8 Billion In 62 Large-Scale Hydrogen Projects” • Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Transport selected 62 large-scale hydrogen projects, which are to be state-funded as part of a joint European hydrogen project. The funding, €8 billion, is made up of federal and state funds. [Green Car Congress]

Homes in San Francisco (Mark Boss, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “Rental Efficiency Standards: A Win For Equity And Climate” • Rental buildings use, on average, 20% more energy per square foot than owner-occupied homes. Landlords have little incentive to improve home efficiency when they do not pay energy bills, and tenants have little incentive to invest in their homes. But the problem can be addressed. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, June 1

Interior of an Airlander 10 (Courtesy of Hybrid Air Vehicles)

Minute 43
¶ “Blimps May Be The Key To Low-Carbon Short-Range Air Travel” • According to The Guardian, Hybrid Air Vehicles, based in the UK, wants to change air travel by ferrying people between cities that are up to 300 miles apart with its Airlander 10 blimps. Here are a few reasons a blimp might be a serious alternative to travelling by jet. [CleanTechnica]

EV (Tesla Model Y?) (Taun Stewart, Unsplash) 

Minute 46
¶ “Why Electric Cars Will Take Over Sooner Than You Think” • We are in the middle of the biggest revolution in motoring since Henry Ford’s first production line started turning back in 1913. Many industry observers believe we have already passed the tipping point where sales of EVs will very rapidly overwhelm petrol and diesel cars. [BBC]

Canal in California (Stephen Leonardi, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “Solar Panel Installations Over Canals Could Save California 65 Billion Gallons Of Water Per Year” • Yale Climate Connections has shared how installing solar panels over California’s 4,000 miles of open canals could save around 65 billion gallons of water each year. Solar panels over canals not only generate clean energy, but also reduce evaporation. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, June 2

Alaska (Joris Beugels, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “Biden Administration To Suspend Oil And Gas Drilling Leases In Arctic Refuge, Undoing A Trump-Era Decision” • The Biden administration plans to suspend oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to a senior administration official. This will undo a move the Trump administration made late last year. [CNN]

Charybdis installation vessel (Dominion Energy)

Minute 54
¶ “Ørsted And Eversource Charter Dominion Wind Turbine Installation Vessel” • Ørsted and Eversource have contracted Dominion Energy’s wind turbine installation vessel Charybdis for the construction of two planned offshore wind farms in the Northeast. The Charybdis is expected to be deployed from New London, Connecticut, in 2023. [Offshore Mag]

Rivian pickup (Rivian image)

Minute 56
¶ “Rivian Selects Underwriters For IPO That Could Reach A $70 Billion Valuation” • Rivian will be working with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Goldman Sachs Group on their IPO, according to Bloomberg. Inside sources have said that Rivian could be seeking a valuation of about $70 billion when it goes public. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #421: 6/3/2021

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 #420: 5/27/2021

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 #420: 5/27/2021

Thursday, May 20

Ford F-150 Lightning

Minute 2
¶ “Ford F-150 Lightning – One Big Shocker!” • $39,974! Yes, that’s just the base MSRP for a version of the truck with 230 miles of range, but that’s a shockingly low price for the entry Ford F-150 Lightning. I did not see a single person predicting the F-150 Lightning would come in at such a low price. But there is even more to say about this truck. [CleanTechnica]

Volocopter eVTOL (Image courtesy of Volocopter)

Minute 5
¶ “Volocopter Unveils New 4-Seater EVTOL To Connect Suburbs To The City” • German eVTOL startup Volocopter has unveiled the VoloConnect. It differs from the existing VoloCity in a few key ways. While the VoloCity has a range of only 22 miles, the VoloConnect will have a range of around 60 miles. Also, the VoloConnect will have four seats. [CleanTechnica]

Map

Minute 8
¶ “New UCS Research: Utilities’ Uneconomic Coal Use Is Being Called Out In 25 States” • Coal self-commitment is a practice of running coal plants when cheaper resources are available. The Union of Concerned Scientists found that 25 states have taken up substantial discussion of the practice as an issue in state public utility proceedings. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, May 21

Offshore wind turbines (Herztier Kang, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Anglo-American JV Unveils 10-GW North Atlantic Offshore Plans” • Anglo-American company Hecate Independent Power has unveiled plans to build up to 10 GW of fixed and floating offshore wind in the North Atlantic to be connected to the UK grid. HIP said it made applications with National Grid for an initial 4 GW of grid connections. [reNEWS]

Minute 13

Hurricane Sandy (GOES-13/NASA Earth Observatory)

¶ “Flooding From Climate Change Increased Superstorm Sandy Damage $8 Billion” • Human-caused climate change added $8 billion to the damage inflicted by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, new research published in Nature found. The additional flooding attributed to melting glaciers and ice sheets meant 71,000 more people were affected. [CleanTechnica]

Wall Street (Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández, Unsplash – this picture is actually on Broadway)

Minute 16
¶ “Is The IEA Report A Tipping Point For Oil Investing?” • The demise of oil and thermal coal won’t come from eco-activism or even directly from renewable energy – it will come when big banks decide to stop financing it, rendering it ‘unbankable.’ And big financial companies like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock were already doing that before the IEA Report. [Oil Price]

Saturday, May 22

Beta Technologies ALIA-250 electric aircraft (Beta Technologies)

Minute 19
¶ “Beta Technologies Secures $368 Million In Funding, Reaches Electric Aviation Unicorn Status” • The Vermont-based electric aviation startup Beta Technologies has closed a Series A round of funding bringing it $368 million. The funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. One investor is the Amazon Climate Fund. [CleanTechnica]

Coal-fired power plant in Alaska (NOAA, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “G7 Ministers Agree On New Steps Against Fossil Fuels” • G7 environment ministers agreed to deliver climate targets in line with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C. Among other things, they agreed to stop direct funding of coal-fired power stations in poorer nations this year. The G7 is the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Italy, and Germany. [BBC]

Transmission infrastructure (Sigmund, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “When Will America Protect Itself Against EMP, Cyber And Ransomware Attacks?” • Protecting critical infrastructure has been a priority for Homeland Security since it was founded. So why is Colonial Pipeline vulnerable to hackers, and the Texas grid vulnerable to ice storms, and critical US infrastructure vulnerable to EMP attacks? [The Hill]

Sunday, May 23

Power Cubes to store solar energy (UNDP image)

Minute 27
¶ “Renewable Technology Brings Power Swarming Through The World’s Poorest Villages” • Around 789 million people worldwide still have no access to electricity, seriously hampering their opportunities for development. But the installation of so-called “swarm grids” is demonstrating the effectiveness of low-cost renewable energy solutions. [news.un.org]

Growth of solar power in Vietnam

Minute 30
¶ “Vietnam Shines As Stunning Solar Champion As Banks Shun Coal” • In Vietnam, banks are shunning coal, enabling the nation to shine brightly as a solar champion. Vietnam saw a 100-fold increase in solar power over the last two years, BloombergNEF noted. In 2020, the only countries that installed more solar than Vietnam were the US and China! [CleanTechnica]

Hurricane Katrina, August 28, 2005 (NOAA image)

Minute 32
¶ “NOAA Predicts Another Active Atlantic Hurricane Season” • NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, though not at historic levels. It puts the chance of an above-normal season at 60%, the chance of a near-normal season at 30%, and the chance of a below-normal season at 10%. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, May 24

Ford F-150 Lightning (Ford via screenshot)

Minute 35
¶ “Ford F-150 Lightning Gets 44,500+ Reservations In Under 48 Hours!” • Ford CEO Jim Farley has announced that Ford pulled in more than 44,500 reservations for the F-150 Lightning in fewer than 48 hours! I think that, by many standards, that’s a great achievement and an indication that the F-150 Lightning is doing exactly as it should. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Cybertruck (Mira Shahan & Brendan Miles for CleanTechnica)

Minute 38
¶ “Reports: Tesla Has Over 1 Million Cybertruck Reservations” • A crowd-sourced reservation tracker shows that Tesla has a waitlist of over 1,000,000 Cybertruck orders, Drive Tesla Canada has reported. Wow! The article pointed out that reservations for the Cybertruck were being placed every two seconds during the weeks after its launch. [CleanTechnica]

Wind turbines (Alex Eckermann, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “Wind Power Sets New Record In The UK” • UK wind energy set a record on 21 May meeting almost two-thirds of electricity demand, according to preliminary data from National Grid ESO. Between 2:00 am and 3:00 am on 21 May, wind power met 62.5% of UK demand at 16.3 GW, National Grid ESO said. The previous record was set in August 2020. [reNEWS]

Tuesday, May 25

Forest (Jocelyne Yvonne, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “The Reason Wild Forests Beat Plantations” • Scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the UK warned that tree planting was often being presented as an easy answer to the climate crisis, and a way out for businesses to mitigate their carbon emissions. But it was not as simple as it seemed. Natural forest regeneration may be a better alternative. [BBC]

Fire in Tasmania (Matt Palmer, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Settled Enough: Climate Science, Skepticism, And Prudence” • The body of climate science has survived extraordinary vetting and yielded conclusions recognized by competent climate scientists around the world as true beyond any reasonable doubt. The possibility that they are true is too great to ignore with any level of prudence. [The Hill]

Offshore wind farm (James Fisher Renewables image)

Minute 48
¶ “James Fisher Renewables Nets Offshore Wind UXO Survey Gig In France” • James Fisher Renewables has been selected by the French grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Electricité to identify unexploded ordnance along the export cable routes for the Fécamp offshore wind project. The 18-km cablewill be buried at depths of 5 to 35 meters. [Offshore Engineer]

Wednesday, May 26

BYD bus (BYD image)

Minute 51
¶ “BYD Receives One Of Largest Electric Bus Orders In Italy – 50 Electric Buses” • BYD secured the largest electric bus order in Turin, and one of the largest orders for electric buses in Italy. The company sold 50 more of its 40-foot low-floor model, a best seller, to public transport operator Gruppo Torinese Trasporti in the city of Turin. [CleanTechnica]

Fire (Image courtesy of National Park Service, public domain)

Minute 54
¶ “Climate Drought Is Like Covering Land In Gasoline Ahead Of Fire Season – California At Risk” • Soil in the western US is drier than at any time since 1895. At the opening of the 2020 wildfire season, 3% of California was in extreme or exceptional drought and more than 4% burned. This year, more than 73% of the state faces similar drought conditions. [CleanTechnica]

Offshore wind turbines (Carl Raw, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “US To Lease California Offshore Wind Zone” • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Department of Defense have reached an agreement to lease 399-square miles off California’s central coast for offshore wind development. BOEM is working with other federal agencies on areas that would be impacted by leasing activities. [reNEWS]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #420: 5/27/2021

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 #419: 5/20/2021

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 #419: 5/20/2021

Thursday, May 13

Fracking (Image courtesy of NASA, ClimateKids)

Minute 2
¶ “Want A Heart Attack? Move Closer To A Natural Gas Fracking Site” • Fracking might not be good for your heart. The Journal of Environmental Research published a study that found middle-aged men living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania were more than 5% more likely to die of a heart attack than their counterparts where fracking is banned. [CleanTechnica]

Cheshire, Ohio in 2004 (Analogue Kid, CC-BY-SA 2.5)

Minute 5
¶ “The Strange Deal That Created A Ghost Town” • The JM Gavin coal-burning power station is the seventh-largest emitter of CO₂ of all power stations in the US. In 2019 it emitted 12.9 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere. The power plant’s emissions are also responsible for the demise of the entire community of Cheshire, Ohio. [BBC]

Bitcoin (André François McKenzie, Unsplash) Bitcoin does not acutaly have physical reality.

Minute 8
¶ “Tesla Suspends Bitcoin Vehicle Purchases Due To Impacts Of Mining And Transactions On The Environment” • In the past, Tesla has accepted Bitcoin as payment for cars. But Elon Musk has tweeted that Tesla suspended use of Bitcoin for vehicle purchases. He said the reason was Bitcoin’s growing dependence on energy from fossil fuels. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, May 14

Paris (John Towner, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Paris Seeks To Ban Through Traffic In City Center By 2022” • A plan to drastically reduce car traffic in the center of the French capital Paris by 2022 has been put forward by the city council. The scheme would ban through traffic in four central districts, giving priority instead to cyclists, pedestrians, and the public transportation system. [BBC]

Colonial Pipeline (Image by Colonial Pipeline Co, via BBC) The map is wrong, and Tom is right. Lindon, the terminal for the Colonial Pipeline, is opposite New York City. 

Minute 13
¶ “‘An 8th-Grader Could Have Hacked’ The Colonial Pipeline” • Its owners should not be surprised that the Colonial Pipeline was hacked. An outside audit of its cyberattack defenses, delivered to the company more than three years ago, described “atrocious” information management practices and “a patchwork of poorly connected and secured systems.” [CleanTechnica]

Smoke from a PyroCb (David Peterson, NASA Earth Observatory)

Minute 16
¶ “The Most Intense Firestorms In The World” • When a wildfire reaches epic proportions, it changes everything around it – even creating its own weather. A pyrocumulmonimbus, or “pyroCb” is a thunderstorm generated by fire that creates positive feedback loops, with winds, lightning, and sometimes deadly downdrafts that spread the fire outwards. [BBC]

Saturday, May 15

Nuclear plant (Frédéric Paulussen, Unsplash)

Minute 19
¶ “Does Nuclear Power Really Keep The Lights On?” • The nuclear industry is fond of telling us the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow. But things are a bit more complicated than that. Advances in renewable energy and storage mean that baseload power provided by nuclear reactors is no longer needed. [MSN]

California (Vladimir Kudinov, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “US West Likely To Have Tough 2021 Due To Drought” • US officials expect climate-fueled heat and drought to drive a fire season in the West at least as bad as last year. Projections are so bad that hatcheries in Northern California are trucking salmon to the ocean instead of releasing them into dangerously low rivers with unsafely warm waters. [CleanTechnica]

Ravenswood Generating Station in Queens (King of Hearts, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 24
¶ “Ravenswood Generating Station On Track To Become A Renewable Energy Hub” • Ravenswood Generating Station could be home to renewable energy transported from upstate New York by 2026, its owner announced. The proposed Catskills Renewable Program would supplying an estimated 15% of New York City’s energy. [Queens Daily Eagle]

Sunday,May 16

Crane in Spain (Santiago Lacarta, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “Flying Giant Returning To Ireland After 300 Years” • Giant birds that have been part of Irish folklore could be returning to the island after an absence of more than 300 years. There is a pair of cranes nesting on a rewetted peat bog owned by former peat producer Bord na Móna. The peat harvests had stopped at the site in January. [BBC]

Minute 30

Heavy waves (Barth Bailey, Unsplash)

¶ “May 15 Is The New ‘Unofficial’ Start To Hurricane Season” • Officially, the hurricane season starts on June 1. But named tropical systems have formed earlier than that in the Atlantic every year for the past six years. The National Hurricane Center is now issuing their routine ‘tropical weather outlook’ forecasts starting on May 15, rather than June 1. [CNN]

Pump jack (Zbynek Burival, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “Exxon Mobil’s Messaging Shifted Blame For Warming To Consumers” • Exxon Mobil Corp has used language to systematically shift blame for climate change from fossil fuel companies and onto consumers, according to a paper by researchers at Harvard University. The paper was published in the journal One Earth. [Scientific American]

Monday, May 17

Wind farm (Mārtiņš Zemlickis, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “Air Compression To Be Used In The World’s Largest Non-Hydro Energy Storage System” • The world’s largest advanced compressed-air long-duration energy storage (A-CAES) system is set to be constructed in California. Canadian company Hydrostor has announced that it is developing two A-CAES projects, each of 500-MW / 5-GWh. [Energy Matters]

Yallourn Power Station (Stephen Edmonds, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 38
¶ “Coal Generators Bleeding Money As Renewables, Rooftop Solar Push Prices Down” • Revenue for the operators of coal burning power stations has plunged by $5.4 billion as coal use continues to decline. This is impetus for AGL, which burns more coal than any other company in Australia, to bring forward its coal closure timeline. [Mirage News]

West Virginia solar energy (Revolt Energy image)

Minute 40 
¶ “The Dam Has Broken And West Virginia Has Awoken To Solar Power” • The tight grip the coal industry has on West Virginia is loosening. Consider the case of Nitro Construction Services, a provider of electrical, mechanical, and technological services. Its roots are in the coal industry but it is now ramping up its new solar business. [Forbes]

Tuesday, May 18

Impossible burger (Impossible Foods image)

Minute 43
¶ “Impossible Foods To Reach New Generation Through US School Nutrition Programs” • The plant-based meat company Impossible Foods has taken another big step on the path to mass adoption of its products. It secured Child Nutrition Labels for its Impossible Burger. They can now be served in US schools as part of school nutrition programs. [CleanTechnica]

Madrid (Jorge Fernández Salas, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Spain Bans New Oil And Gas Exploration As It Supercharges Renewables” • Spain has joined the growing number of European countries banning new oil and gas exploration with far-ranging legislation. It is also prohibiting the sale of fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040 and making it illegal to produce fossil fuels in the country from the start of 2043. [Upstream Online]

St Croix (Jpheym, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 48
¶ “Refinery That Rained Oil Is Shut Down By EPA In St Croix” • Less than 48 hours after an EPA employee sent to the Virgin Islands to investigate the Limetree oil refinery told colleagues “there is oil on my windshield,” the agency took the remarkable action to shut down the entire refinery, citing an “imminent” threat to human health. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, May 19

Minute 51

Yummy! (Colton Jones, Unsplash)

¶ “This Supplement Can Reduce Methane In Cows And Make Farmers Money” • Cattle farming accounts for nearly 10% of all greenhouse gases generated by human activity. Most of that is from methane they produce, but a new feed supplement based on garlic and citrus extracts could reduce those emissions by an average of 30%, its makers say. [CNN]

Highview Power model (Highview Power image)

Minute 54
¶ “Highview Power Developing 2 GWh Spanish Storage Project” • Highview Power is developing up to 2 GWh of long duration, liquid air energy storage projects across Spain. With an estimated investment of around $1 billion (€0.81 billion), these projects should enable several Spanish regions to move towards their net zero emissions target. [reNEWS]

Offshore oil rig (Zukiman Mohamad, Pexels, public domain)

Minute 56
¶ “International Energy Agency Says Oil And Gas Exploration And Coal Plant Construction Must Stop Now” • The International Energy Agency said in a wide-ranging report that countries must immediately stop exploiting new oil and gas fields and building coal-fired power plants, if global temperatures are to be kept within safe limits. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #419: 5/20/2021

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 #418: 5/13/2021

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 #418: 5/13/2021

Thursday, May 6

Wind turbines (Chelsea, Unsplash)

Minute 2
¶ “IHS Markit: Rankings Show The US Is Already World’s Most Attractive Renewables Investment Market” • As the Biden Administration aims to increase federal investment in renewable energy under the American Jobs Plan, the US already ranks as the most attractive market for renewables investment, according to a new ranking by IHS Markit. [World Oil]

Energy storage (Mitsubishi Power image)

Minute 5
¶ “California’s Grid Reliability Enhanced with Two Battery Energy Storage Projects” • Two new battery energy storage projects are coming to enhance California’s grid reliability. Southern Power awarded Mitsubishi Power Americas and Powin an order for two battery energy storage system projects totaling 640 MWh. [Environment + Energy Leader]

Destruction of the Amazon rain forest (Alzenir Ferreira de Souza, placed into the public domain)

Minute 8
¶ “Aldi And Other Big Grocers Threaten To Boycott Brazil Over Deforestation In The Amazon” • Some of Europe’s biggest supermarkets and food companies threaten to stop buying agricultural products from Brazil if a bill that would legalize the private occupation of public land that has taken place since 2012 becomes law. [CNN]

Friday, May 7 

Wisk Aero eVTOL (Image courtesy of Wisk Aero)

Minute 11
¶ “Wisk Aero And Blade Urban Air Mobility Join Forces To Make Electric Air Taxis A Reality” • In a further step towards making electric air taxis a reality, eVTOL startup Wisk Aero, which is backed by both Boeing and Kitty Hawk, formed a partnership with Blade Urban Air Mobility to send a fleet of 30 eVTOLs up into the air. [CleanTechnica]

Vermont Electric Cooperative (Courtesy photo)

Minute 13
¶ “Vermont Electric Plans For Carbon Neutrality By 2023, 100% Renewable Energy By 2030” • Vermont Electric Cooperative plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2023 and transition fully to renewable energy sources by 2030, it announced last month. Member enthusiasm and state climate goals were cited as reasons for change. [The Middlebury Campus]

Wind turbines (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 16
¶ “China Leads In Renewable Energy Capacity At 895 GW” • The world’s total installed renewable energy amounted to almost 2,800 GW in 2020. China has an installed renewable energy capacity of 895 GW, the Warsaw Business Journal reports citing data by TradingPlatforms.com. The next on the list is the US with a distant 292 GW. [Budapest Business Journal]

Saturday, May 8

Earth (Carl Hostetter, NASA EPIC Team)

Minute 19
¶ “NASA Reboots Its Role In Fighting Climate Change” • NASA is best known for exploring other worlds, whether that’s sending astronauts to the Moon or flying helicopters on Mars. But under US President Joe Biden, the space agency intends to boost its reputation as a major player in studying Earth, especially to fight climate change. [Nature]

Dudgeon offshore wind farm (Sonja Chirico Indrebø, Equinor)

Minute 22
¶ “How An Oil Company Becomes A Renewables Company” • Norway’s state-owned oil producer, Equinor ASA, posted more than $2.6 billion of earnings in the first quarter of 2021, 49% of which was from renewable energy. Last quarter, Equinor earned more from renewables than it did from oil and gas exploration and production. [gCaptain]

Wind farm in South Australia (HikerJules, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 24
¶ “Tesla Director Of Energy On Transition To Renewables: ‘It’s Happening Quickly'” • Mark Twidell, Director of Energy at Tesla, was recently in Adelaide, South Australia, where he spoke at a Southstart entrepreneur’s conference, Financial Review reported. In his talk, he emphasized just how fast the renewables transition is happening. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, May 9

San Francisco (Timo Strohmann, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “California Energy Commission Proposal Makes Important Climate Progress, But Falls Short Of Widely Supported All-Electric Building Code” • The California Energy Commission released its official proposal for the 2022 California Energy Code, which, if finalized, will help advance the state toward pollution-free homes and buildings. [CleanTechnica]

Solar array (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 30
¶ “99.7% Of New US Power Capacity Was Solar And Wind In January And February” • New US power capacity in the first two months of 2021 came almost exclusively from wind and solar power plants, data from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shows. Wind and solar power provided 99.7% of all new large-scale power capacity. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm on Kodiak Island (James Brooks, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 32
¶ “Legislature Votes To Reduce Government Regulation Of Renewable Energy” • The Alaska Legislature passed Senate Bill 69, encouraging private investment in renewable energy projects by extending an exemption from duplicative regulations for independent power producers. The bill passed the Senate 18-0 and the House 36-1. [Alaska Native News]

Monday, May 10

Solar array (Nows92, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 35
¶ “Inside Kenya’s Small-Scale Renewable Energy Revolution” • Demand for solar energy in Kenya has risen over the past few years as ratepayers turn to it to beat the high cost of electricity. Kenya Power said industrial customers accounting for nearly 55% of its sales revenues have begun generating their own electricity using solar power. [Construction Kenya]

Mountains (Taylor Wright, Unsplash)

Minute 38
¶ “Biden Administration Outlines The ‘America The Beautiful’ Initiative” • In a clean break from the anti-nature politics and policies of the previous administration, the new Biden-Harris administration has begun to outline a different vision for how the US can work collaboratively to conserve and restore public lands, waters and wildlife. [New American Journal]

Colonial Pipeline tanks (Colonial Pipeline image)

Minute 40
¶ “US Passes Emergency Waiver Over Fuel Pipeline Cyber-Attack” • The US government issued emergency legislation after the largest fuel pipeline in the US was completely shut down by a ransomware cyber-attack. The Colonial Pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day – 45% of the East Coast’s supply of diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel. [BBC]

Tuesday, May 11

Hawaii (Sebastian Coman Travel, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “Big Island On Pace To Meet Renewable Energy Goals In Two Years” • Three large solar projects in the works on Hawaii island are bolstering the island’s renewal energy supply. They are big enough that the island should hit 100% of its renewable energy standards by 2023, Hawaiian Electric Co says. By 2024, that rate could jump to 110%. [Honolulu Civil Beat]

Wind turbines (Jason Blackeye, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Renewable Energy Sources Grew At Fastest Rate In Two Decades Last Year” • Renewable sources of electricity, including wind and solar, grew at their fastest rate in two decades in 2020 and are set to expand even more rapidly over the next two years, with high-capacity renewables likely to account for about 90% of new global power capacity. [The Globe and Mail]

Charging Porsches (Porsche image)

Minute 48
¶ “BNEF Predicts Electric Cars Will Be Cheaper In Europe Than Conventional Cars By 2027” • Recently, Transport & Environment asked Bloomberg New Energy Finance to determine when EVs will become less expensive to manufacture than conventional cars with gasoline engines. The answer from BNEF is that will happen in 2027. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, May 12

Tidal turbine installation (Verdant Power image)

Minute 51
¶ “EMEC Assesses New York Tidal Turbine Output” • EMEC delivered the world’s first internationally recognized power performance assessment to Verdant Power for its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy array in New York. In a 39-day test, Verdant Power’s turbines had availability of over 99% and generated 187 kW at peak flood tide velocity. [reNEWS]

California highway (Peter Mizsak, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “Drought Emergency Declared In Most Of California Amid ‘Acute Water Supply Shortfalls'” • California Governor Gavin Newsom expanded a drought emergency across most of the parched state, covering a vast stretch of the central and northern regions of the state as it endures its second major drought in less than a decade. [CNN]

New Zealand (Tomas Sobek, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “Throwing Money At Schemes Ineffective – Charity” • A report by Third World Network says rich countries “throwing money” at enhancing biodiversity is ineffective. It calls for “a profound re-organisation of the global post-pandemic economy to prevent further harm to the planet,” and it recommends nothing less than a “change in our entire economic model.” [BBC]

Minute 59:

Finis

Notes:

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