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Minute 0: Energy Week #429: 7/29/2021
Thursday, July 22
New York City (Johannes Hurtig, Unsplash)
Minute 2
¶ “Western Wildfire Smoke Is Contributing To New York City’s Worst Air Quality In 15 Years” • Extreme heat and dry conditions are fueling raging wildfires in the western US, charring over a million acres, causing evacuations and creating smoky conditions visible from space. Smoke stretched all the way to the East Coast, making air bad in New York City. [CNN]
Birds fly over the Salton Sea (Janet Harvey, Heidelberg University via NREL)
Minute 5
¶ “Using Direct Lithium Extraction To Secure US Supplies” • NREL is researching is direct lithium extraction, which extracts lithium from underground brine. It is an emerging geothermal technology that could potentially deliver 10 times the current US lithium demand from California’s known geothermal area in the Salton Sea alone. [CleanTechnica]
Wind farm (Nathan Gonthier, Unsplash)
Minute 8
¶ “Renewable Energy Generation At Record Highs As Gas Slumps” • Renewables jumped up almost 20% in the National Energy Market in the first half of 2021, with New South Wales and Western Australia taking the largest increases at 35% and 41% respectively. But of the market’s 33 large gas power stations, 29 operated at less than 20% capacity. [Mozo]
Friday, July 23
Forest fire (luke flynt, Unsplash)
Minute 11
¶ “Bootleg Fire Is Burning Up Carbon Offsets • Oregon’s largest wildfire so far this season, the Bootleg Fire, has burned nearly 400,000 acres spreading approximately four square miles a day across the southern parts of the state. At the time of this report, the flames spread through one fifth of forests set aside for carbon offsets in the immediate area. [CNN]
Great Wall (Violette Filippini, Unsplash)
Minute 13
¶ “China Aims To Install Over 30 GW Of New Energy Storage By 2025” • China aims to install more than 30 GW of new energy storage capacity by 2025, its state planner said, as part of efforts to boost renewable power consumption while ensuring stable operation of the electric grid system. The plan includes several storage technologies, but not pumped hydro. [Reuters]
Mercedes-EQ, EQS 580 4MATIC (Mercedes image)
Minute 16
¶ “Mercedes-Benz Prepares To Go All-Electric” • Mercedes-Benz provided visions of a future unlike what other auto makers see. They include a realization that the market can flip to 100% EVs before 2030, worldwide. If the market flips, Mercedes-Benz has to be ready. That means it has to be prepared to change to 100% EV production before 2030. [CleanTechnica]
Saturday, July 24
Floating solar farm (Sembcorp Industries Ltd courtesy image)
Minute 19
¶ “World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Proposed For Indonesia” • Sunseap Group is a solar energy developer in Singapore. Its chief executive told Reuters it plans to build the world’s largest floating solar farm in Indonesia, about 50 km from Singapore. The solar farm is expected to have a capacity of 2.2 GW and cost about $2 billion to construct. [CleanTechnica]
Renault EVs (Image courtesy of Renault)
Minute 22
¶ “UK County Identifies Simple Yet Brilliant Way To Get Butts In EV Seats” • The UK county of Kent is trialing a brilliant program, offering small businesses two-month trials of electric vans. Kent is starting with a fleet of 24 electric vans from Renault, twenty Kangoo E-Tech vans and four ZOE Vans (a version of Renault’s popular ZOE electric car). [CleanTechnica]
Sunset (James Lewis, Unsplash)
Minute 24
¶ “NRDC Sues To Challenge Seismic Testing In The Gulf Of Mexico” • On January 19, just before President Biden took office, the National Marine Fisheries Service published a regulation allowing seismic oil and gas testing in the Gulf of Mexico, with minimal protection for marine mammals. The NRDC and its partner groups have filed a lawsuit. [CleanTechnica]
Sunday, July 25
Forest (Matt Palmer, Unsplash)
Minute 27
¶ “2021: The Year Climate Predictions Become Reality” • On the heels of jaw-dropping heat and flooding across three continents, nearly 200 nations will gather on Monday to validate a critical UN climate science report 100 days ahead of a political summit charged with keeping Earth liveable. The world isn’t the same as it was when the last report issued. [The ASEAN Post]
Smoke from a wildfire (Malachi Brooks, Unsplash)
Minute 30
¶ “With Wildfires Blazing Across The West, More Counties Are Declaring States Of Emergency” • As dozens of wildfires burn across the West, officials declared additional states of emergency for counties in California and Nevada while the nation’s largest blaze in Oregon continued to swell. The Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon is 42% contained. [CNN]
Reactor control panel (Dan Meyers, Unsplash)
Minute 32
¶ “Nuclear Power’s Reliability Is Dropping As Extreme Weather Increases” • It’s increasingly clear that the existing power systems aren’t designed for a changing climate. Nuclear power plants are no exception. Analysis looking at a broad range of climate events shows that it’s not just hot weather that puts these plants at risk; it’s the full range of disturbances. [Ars Technica]
Monday, July 26
Damaged forest (Chris LeBoutillier, Unsplash)
Minute 35
¶ “The Largest Fire In The US Continues To Defy Crews’ Efforts To Tame It. And The Weather Isn’t Helping” • Despite the efforts of firefighters battling the Bootleg Fire, the raging flames of the nation’s largest wildfire continued to spread in southern Oregon as officials declared weather warnings in the area. The fire is currently 46% contained. [CNN]
Imagine a car (Imagination promotion by Mercedes-Benz)
Minute 38
¶ “Mercedes Teases EQXX With 1,000 Kilometers Of Range” • A lot of talk today is about efficient powertrains for battery electric cars. Most new EVs have a range of about 250 miles. Some can go 300+ miles without charging. A few can even go 400 miles. But now Mercedes says it is workig on the EQXX, which might have a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). [CleanTechnica]
Transmission line (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)
Minute 40
¶ “Powering Rural Economic Development With Renewables” • Electric cooperatives loom large in conversations about the US energy system’s past, present, and future, despite the fact that they serve only 13% of US electricity load. Importantly, they may have difficulties replacing their aging coal fleets with less costly wind and solar projects. [CleanTechnica]
Tuesday, July 27
NextEra solar project (NextEra via Facebook)
Minute 43
¶ “Largest US Renewable Developer Plans Transmission, Solar Surge” • The world’s largest renewable developer is eyeing transmission project opportunities as the Biden administration focuses on adding large amounts of wind, solar, and storage to the nation’s grid in the coming decades. President Biden is pushing support for transmission lines. [E&E News]
Vermont Law School solar array (SayCheeeeeese, placed in the public domain)
Minute 46
¶ “This Vermont Utility Is Revolutionizing Its Power Grid To Fight Climate Change. Will The Rest Of The Country Follow Suit?” • Green Mountain Power CEO Mari McClure says the utility is transforming its grid. GMP is moving away from large generator plants and long transmission lines, and toward a more decentralized approach. [Time Magazine]
Tesla (Tesla image)
Minute 48
¶ “Tesla Profit Surge Driven By Record Car Deliveries” • Tesla has reported surging profits, despite shortages of semiconductor chips and congestion at ports hampering production. Sales rose to $12 billion in the three months to the end of June, up from $6 billion a year ago, when its US factory was shut down. A record 200,000 cars were delivered in the quarter. [BBC]
Wednesday, July 28
Pyrycumulus cloud, 2012 (JeremyaGreene, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Minute 51
¶ “Super-Outbreaks Of Fire Thunderstorms Could Change Earth’s Climate, Australian And US Experts Warn” • Fire thunderstorms, which occur in pyrocumulonimbus clouds, not only create their own weather system but may also be powerful enough to actually change the climate, according to scientists from Australia and the US. [ABC]
Countryside near Chattanooga (David Sager, Unsplash)
Minute 54
¶ “Appalachia Poised To Be Part Of Shift To Clean Energy” • As federal policymakers design policies to transition and invest in a clean energy economy, it is imperative that Appalachia can rebuild and grow a 21st century sustainable economy that builds shared prosperity. The people of Appalachia need to be at the table, and not on the menu. [CleanTechnica]
Jeep Wrangler 4xe (Image courtesy of Jeep/Stellantis)
Minute 56
¶ “EV Transmissions Are Awesome!” • Upcoming full EV off-road vehicles are going to be awesome. The biggest advantage will be how controllable they are at low RPM. Instead of having to gas-brake-gas-brake over obstacles, you can just use the right amount of power to climb an obstacle smoothly. This advantage is greatly magnified by gear reduction. [CleanTechnica]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes:
Energy Week #429: 7/29/2021
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 with George Harvey and Tom Finnell 