Energy Week #439: 10/7/2021

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 #439: 10/7/2021

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, September 30

Minute 2

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

¶ “South Australia Hasn’t Lost One Hour Of Electricity In 5 Years Thanks To Renewables And Batteries” • Renew Economy says that since 2018 South Australia hasn’t lost one hour of electricity due to load shedding. In the previous four years, 7 million customer hours of electricity were shed. The improvement resulted from more renewable energy and storage. [CleanTechnica]

Nuclear power plant (Viktor Kiryanov, Unsplash)

Minute 5
¶ “Renewables vs Nuclear: 256-0” • The World Nuclear Industry Status Report shows the world’s operational nuclear capacity grew by just 0.4 GW in 2020, and generation fell 4%. Renewables grew by 256 GW and production rose by 13%. “Nuclear power is irrelevant in today’s electricity capacity market,” the report’s main author said. [pv magazine India]

Tesla solar, Tesla batteries (Tesla image)

Minute 8
¶ “Is Tesla Becoming A Threat To The World’s Biggest Utilities?” • The electric utility industry is on the verge of a revolution. The traditional utility model, in which energy is generated by a small number of enormous central power plants, is already as outdated as cars that burn fossil fuels. Tesla and Octopus Energy Germany are offering a new approach. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, October 1

Rendering of Salem Harbor project (Vineyard Wind image)

Minute 11
¶ “Vineyard, Salem City Ink Port Partnership” • Vineyard Wind entered into an agreement with the City of Salem and Crowley Maritime Corporation to establish Salem Harbor as the second major offshore wind port in Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind has estimated that over five years, the project would create up to 900 full time equivalent job years. [reNews]

Solar array in India (Ggn77, released to the public domain)

Minute 13
¶ “New Renewable Energy Policy To Implement Power Projects By 2025” • The Maharashtra government has come up with a new Renewable Energy Policy aiming at implementing 17,360 MW of transmission system-connected power projects by 2025. This includes 12,930 MW of solar projects, 2,500 MW of wind projects, and more. [The Indian Express]

Chevy Bolt (Gregory Varnum, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 16
¶ “GM Blows Past Biden Renewable Energy Goals With 100% By 2025” • In recent years, General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra has made the company into a renewable energy influencer. Now, GM has announced a new carbon-cutting initiative that sets a 100% renewable energy goal by 2025. Yes, that’s 2025. Not 2035, or even 2030. It’s 2025 or bust. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, October 2

Earth (NASA image)

Minute 19
¶ “Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, And Disney Lobby Against Biden Climate Initiative” • Some of the largest American corporations, many of whom have made pious pledges to act on climate change, are fighting tooth and nail to defeat the $3.5 trillion Biden infrastructure package, with its many provisions for reducing US CO₂ emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Wind turbines and thatched house (Brett Andrei Martin, via Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “A Look At The Philippines’ Clean Energy Ecosystem” • A small but mighty group of startups is helping the Philippines forge a clean energy future. According to New Energy Nexus and RMI, 15 young companies are helping transform the climate crisis – and close the region’s energy access gap – with renewable energy and clean-tech solutions. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 24
¶ “Exciting Updates On Tesla Battery Production Progress” • It is well understood that Tesla likes to make its own components to reduce dependence on others, a clear result of how Elon Musk sees and approaches work. This is quite the opposite of the big two (Ford and GM), which farm out every single piece of the car they can. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, October 3

Butterfly (Kathy Servian, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “Disconnection Caused the Climate Crisis. Reconnection Will Solve It” • A one principle binds together the daunting challenges and correlative solutions advanced by Paul Hawken and his team of researchers, essayists, and scholars in the book Regeneration: connection and reciprocity. We are pushings the natural systems that sustain us to the brink of extinction. [Sierra Club]

Norway (Johny Goerend, Unsplash)Minute 30
¶ “Norway’s EVs Break Through The 90% Barrier – Tesla Takes Top Two Trophies” • Norway’s plugin electric vehicle market share in September broke new ground, hitting 91.5% with full electrics taking 77.5% share. Diesels lost more than half their share year-on-year, falling to just 2.3%. Petrol and plugless hybrids did not fare much better. [CleanTechnica]

Colorado River (Oleg Chursin, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “The Shocking Numbers Behind The Lake Mead Drought Crisis” • The US largest reservoir is draining rapidly. Plagued by extreme, climate change-fueled drought and increasing demand for water, Lake Mead Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas registered its lowest level on record since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s. [CNN]

Monday, October 4

Two Volkswagen ID.3 electric cars (Volkswagen AG image)

Minute 35
¶ “Volkswagen Bosses And Labor Chief Want Big Changes At Wolfsburg Factory” • Herbert Diess, the Volkswagen Group CEO, sees Tesla and a host of Chinese car companies in the rear-view mirror and moving up fast. Volkswagen risks falling behind the competition unless it makes big changes in its manufacturing facilities. [CleanTechnica]

Electric Truck (ACT Emergency Services Agency image)

Minute 38
¶ “First Electric Fire Truck In Australia” • It is only fitting that the nation’s capital receives the first electric fire truck. Canberra will take delivery of the million-dollar vehicle next year. It will be the fourth in operation in the world – there are two in Europe and there’s one in Los Angeles. The truck is being produced by the Rosenbauer company of Austria. [CleanTechnica]

Bokalift 1 (Boskalis image)

Minute 40
¶ “CIP Installs First Jacket At 589-MW CFXDI” • Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has installed the first foundation at its 589-MW Changfang and Xidao (CFXD) offshore wind complex in Taiwan. Boskalis-HC Offshore partnership Bowei put the jacket in place at the weekend using the Bokalift 1 vessel. [reNews]

Tuesday, October 5

Laguna Beach Condos (Kevin Zollman, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 43
¶ “What We Know So Far About The California Oil Spill” • A leak in an oil pipeline caused a major spill off the coast of southern California on Saturday, sending oil spewing into the local environment, potentially harming wildlife and nearby human residents. The volume of the spill pales in comparison to some of the US’ largest such incidents. [CNN]

Best selling Tesla model Y (Tesla image)

Minute 46
¶ “France Jumps Above 20% Plugin EV Share In September” • France, Europe’s second largest auto market, saw plugin electric vehicle share jump up to a record 21.5% in September, over twice the 10.6% share seen a year ago. Diesel was down to a record low of 17.6% share. The overall auto market volume was down some 16% over seasonal norms. [CleanTechnica]

GE Haliade-X Prototype (GE Renewable Energy image)

Minute 48
¶ “Rotterdam is now operating at 14 MW, making it the first player in the industry to operate a wind turbine at this power output. The Haliade-X 14-MW is an uprated version of the Haliade-X 13-MW, which received its type certification in January 2021. [reNews]

Wednesday, October 6

Volvo electric truck (Image courtesy Volvo Trucks)

Minute 51
¶ “Clean Trucks Rules Are Good For New Jersey” • A report shows that zero-emission trucks and buses will cut pollutants in New Jersey, protect lives, and provide $11.6 billion in societal benefits to the state over the next 30 years through a Clean Trucks New Jersey program. To maximize the benefits, parts of the program need to be adopted this year. [CleanTechnica]

Charging an electric car (Andrew Roberts, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “Electric Car Sales Surge In UK As Fossil Fuel Car Sales Slump” • Battery EVs took a record slice of the UK new car market in September. According to a report earlier here on CleanTechnica, nearly 33,000 pure electric cars were registered in the UK last month. That is almost 50% more than were sold during the same time last year, The Guardian adds. [CleanTechnica]

Oil platform (Ira Bowman, Pexels)

Minute 56
¶ “America’s Offshore Oil Infrastructure Is Aging” • After a leak in a pipeline sent as much as 144,000 gallons of oil gushing into the ocean off the coast of California, experts pointed to another growing problem: America’s offshore oil and gas infrastructure is aging, and becoming ever more vulnerable to accidents, natural disasters, and stronger hurricanes. [CNN]

Minute 59:

Finis

Notes: Energy Week #439: 10/7/2021

Summary:

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 #438: 9/30/2021

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 #438: 9/30/2021

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, September 23

Wind farm (RawFilm, Unsplash)

Minute 2
¶ “Wind Energy Can Deliver A Vital Reduction To Global Warming” • Implementing advance wind energy scenarios could greatly reduce the growth in average atmospheric temperatures of global warming. The reduction would be of 0.3°C to 0.8°C by the end of the century, according to a report by researchers at Cornell University. [Newswise]

Air pollution (Alex Gagareen, Unsplash)

Minute 5
¶ “Air Pollution: Even Worse Than We Thought – WHO” • Air pollution is even more dangerous than previously thought, the World Health Organization warned, as it reduces maximum safe levels of key pollutants such nitrogen dioxide. The WHO said an estimated seven million people die prematurely each year from diseases linked to air pollution. [BBC]

Boris Johnson in Cabinet meeting (UK Prime Minister’s office)

Minute 8
¶ “British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Says The World Needs To ‘Grow Up’ And Deal With Climate Change” • Humanity needs to “grow up” and deal with the issue of climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York. Johnson slammed the world’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. [CNN]

Friday, September 24

Damaged spruce forest in the Harz (Fährtenleser, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 11
¶ “Sleeping Beauty’s Forest Is Dying. It’s Not The Only Climate Crisis Facing Germany’s Next Chancellor” • The forests around Sababurg Castle are dying because of climate change and the invasive species it is driving. The climate is an important issue in the election, the first in 16 years that won’t feature Chancellor Angela Merkel. [CNN]

Baltimore Oriole, threatened with extinction by climate change (Mdf, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 13
¶ “A Federal Clean Energy Standard Would Build On Decades Of State Experience” • Starting with Iowa, thirty states have already set clean-energy goals. Their successes in meeting the goals, and proving critics wrong, are the seeds for a national standard. A new series of stories from Audubon investigates the industry at this crucial time. [National Audubon Society]

Mercedes-EQS (Mercedes image)

Minute 16
¶ “Mercedes EQS Starting Price Is Lower Than Gas S-Class Starting Price” • Mercedes just exploded the myth that EVs are more expensive than their gas-powered equivalents. It released pricing and specifications for the EQS coming to the US next year. The starting price for the EQS is much below that of the fuel-burning S-Class. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, September 25

Urban farm (Image courtesy of Agrihood)

Minute 19
¶ “This San Francisco Housing Development Comes With Its Own Farm” • Some things like the Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars just scream “San Francisco.” But a new housing development in San Francisco may take the “peak California” crown. Designed by Agrihood, it includes something you might not expect in its plans: its own farm. [CleanTechnica]

Drought map (National Drought Mitigation Center)

Minute 22
¶ “La Niña Is About To Take The Southwest Drought From Bad To Worse” • Though summer rainfall brought some relief to the Southwest, the unrelenting drought there is about to get worse with La Niña on the horizon, the director at the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center said. La Niña conditions are typically drier than normal in the Southwest. [CNN]

Volvo CE electric loader (Volvo CE image)

Minute 24
¶ “Electric Construction Equipment From Volvo CE Passes One Year Test With Flying Colors” • Volvo Construction Equipment is creating construction equipment. Two battery-powered units, the L25 electric compact wheel loader and the ECR25 electric compact excavator, have been put through a year of trials and had enthusiastic praise. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, September 26

Survey launch from NOAA ship Fairweather (NOAA, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “COP26: What Is The Glasgow Climate Conference And Why Is It Important?” • The UK is hosting a summit that may be crucial for climate change to be brought under control. The meeting in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November could lead to major changes to our everyday lives. Two hundred countries are asked for plans to address climate change. [BBC]

Wind farm in Morocco (sqala, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 30
¶ “Xlinks Launches Morocco-UK Renewable Energy Plan” • Xlinks has set out plans to export clean electricity from Morocco to the UK, via HVDC subsea cables. The Morocco-UK Power Project will generate 3.6 GW of electricity in the North African state using solar and wind. The project will also include a 5-GW, 20-GWh battery. [Energy Voice]

Pump jacks (NIOSH image, public domain)

Minute 32
¶ “Lying, Cheating Oil And Gas Companies Stick Taxpayers With Cleanup Bill” • There are millions of abandoned gas and oil wells all across America. Many states require oil and gas companies to put up a bond to cover the cost of closing them down, but in practice, that bond is often a small percentage of the actual cost. Taxpayers pay the difference. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, September 27

As close as Vanuatu gets to a motel (Monika MG, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “Vanuatu Will Seek International Court Of Justice Opinion On Climate Protection” • The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu wants the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the rights of the nation’s current and future residents to protection from climate change. Vanuatu is the home of nearly 250,000 residents, all threatened by the climate crisis. [CNN]

Geely Geometry EX3 (Geely image)

Minute 38
¶ “Geely Geometry EX3 Electric SUV Priced Below $10,000” • Geely is the Chinese owner of Volvo Cars. In China, its domestic brand is called Geometry. This week, it introduced the EX3, an electric SUV with a range of 322 km NEDC (a nominal range of 200 miles), room for 5, and a price of ¥59,700. Listen up, people: that equates to €7,900 or $9,200. [CleanTechnica]

Wren and turbines (Bord na Mona image)

Minute 40
¶ “Bord Na Mona Eyes 200-MW Hybrid Park In Irish Midlands” • Bord na Mona has unveiled plans for a hybrid energy park in the Irish midlands. The developer wants to build a wind farm, solar array, energy storage, and green hydrogen facility, with a capacity of at least 200 MW, on 3000 hectares of land in Meath, Offaly, and Westmeath. [reNEWS]

Tuesday, September 28

Transmission pylons (mayanming, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 43
¶ “Goldman Sachs Cuts China Growth Forecast Over Power Outages” • Goldman Sachs cut its growth forecast for China, as the country struggles with energy shortages. It expects China’s economy to expand by 7.8% this year, down from its previous 8.2%. Environmental controls, supply constraints, and soaring prices caused the power shortages. [BBC]

Car charging (Charlotte Stowe, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Plugin Vehicles Hit 22% Market Share In Europe In August!” • The European passenger plugin vehicle market is staying in the fast lane. More than 155,000 plugin vehicles were registered in August, an increase of 60% year over year. This performance is even more impressive when we consider that the overall auto market is in the doldrums. [CleanTechnica]

Ford Mustang Mach-E (MrWalkr, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 48
¶ “Ford Announces $11.4 Billion Investment In Electric Vehicle Plants” • Ford announced a major investment in EV production in the US. It said will to build its biggest ever plant in Tennessee, and two battery parks in Kentucky. The $11.4 billion (£8.3 billion) plan is to build zero-emission cars and pickups “at scale” for US customers. It will create 11,000 jobs. [BBC]

Wednesday, September 29

Walney Offshore Windfarm (David Dixon, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 51
¶ “IEA Chief: Don’t Blame Renewables For Europe’s Energy Crunch” • The energy squeeze in Europe has nothing to do with the continent’s energy transition plans, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, told the European Parliament’s energy and environment committees. He took the opportunity to point a finger at Russia. [Oil Price]

Pipeline odorant injection station (Glen Dillon, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 54
¶ “Home Heating Sticker Shock: The Cost Of Natural Gas Is Up 180%” • Prices for natural gas, the most common way to heat homes and a leading fuel source for generating electricity, have surged more than 180% over the past 12 months to $5.90 per million British thermal units. Natural gas has not been this expensive since February 2014. [CNN]

Wuling Mini EV

Minute 56
¶ “SAIC, GM, And Wuling To Release A Remix Of The Smash Hit Mini EV” • China’s top selling EV is getting a remix! The Wuling HongGuang Mini EV’s upgrade has a slightly longer wheelbase, a 26 kWh battery, up from the 9.2 kWh and 13.8 kWh in current models. The new version of the popular EV will sell at a barely higher price, about $5,500. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #438: 9/30/2021

Summary

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 #437: 9/23/2021

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 #437: 9/23/2021

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, September 16

Byron nuclear plant (Bill Tracey, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 2
¶ “Governor JB Pritzker Signs Legislation On Climate Change And Renewable Energy” • Illinois is the first state in the Midwest to enact legislation combating the climate crisis and to build an economy for the future. Gov JB Pritzker signed legislation that requires will close fossil fuel power plants over time and rescue money-losing nuclear plants. [HOI ABC]

Xpeng P5 (JustAnotherCarDesigner, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 5
¶ “XPeng Launches $25,000 To $35,000 P5 Electric Sedan – How Many Will XPeng Sell?” • XPeng has just dropped a massive hammer on the Chinese EV market. Despite being a smart electric car, XPeng’s new P5 model has a starting price of just ¥160,000 to ¥230,000 (after subsidies), which translates to $24,875 to $35,760. [CleanTechnica]

Volkswagen ID.4 EV (Volkswagen image)

Minute 8
¶ “Details Of The House’s US EV Incentives Proposal” • The House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the tax code, worked through the energy portions of the Build Back Better Act. They reimagined the EV tax credit that consumers can get when they buy a new EV and added a credit for the second owner of the EV as well. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, September 17

Trees in Sequoia National Park (Josh Carter, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “California Fires: General Sherman And Other Sequoias Given Blankets” • Firefighters are wrapping fire-resistant blankets around ancient trees as blazes tear through California’s world-famous Sequoia National Park. Officials fear the fire could reach the Giant Forest, a grove of some of the world’s biggest trees, within hours. [BBC]

Near Lake Placid, New York (Alex Shutin, Unsplash)

Minute 13
¶ “Moving From Pain To Gain On Climate Solutions” • Since the Paris climate conference in 2015, the cost of renewable energy has fallen to below that of coal. But it’s not just economics. There are also gains for the environment, health, and energy security and access. There is no longer a trade-off between development and climate mitigation. [CleanTechnica]

Testimony before House Committee (US Government, public domain)

Minute 16
¶ “House Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into Climate Crisis Disinformation By Fossil Fuel Industry” • The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced it is to investigate fossil fuel industry disinformation on the climate crisis. The committee invited the heads of six oil companies and lobbying groups to testify before it next month. [CNN]

Saturday, September 18

Offshore wind turbines (Mitchell Orr, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 19
¶ “US Offshore Wind Industry Has Electrifying Future” • The Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, written by a team of researchers at the DOE and NREL, says the US offshore wind industry made great progress in 2020 and early 2021. The offshore wind pipeline grew 24%, with 35,324 MW now in various stages of development. [CleanTechnica]

Rooftop solar system (Vivint Solar, Pexels)

Minute 22
¶ “Toss, Repair, Or Recycle Solar Panels? How Human Behavior Affects Fate Of Old Solar Panels” • By 2050, there could be 80 million metric tons globally of solar PVs reaching the end of their lifetime, with 10 million metric tons in the US alone. NREL researchers addressed this in an article published in the journal Nature Energy. [CleanTechnica]

LNG Carrier Alto Acrux (kenhodge13, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)

Minute 24
¶ “Biden Announces Global Goal To Reduce Planet-Warming Methane Emissions” • President Joe Biden announced the US and EU have launched a global pledge to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by nearly 30% by the end of the decade. Methane emissions are driven by fossil fuels, coal mining and agriculture. [CNN]

Sunday, September 19

School of fish (jean wimmerlin, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “Blue Food Revolution Can Help Solve Climate Change, Malnutrition And Economic Crisis: Study” • Research shows how aquatic food sectors can play a vital role in providing healthy diets and a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food system across the globe. The proceedings of the study were published in the journal Nature. [Republic World]

Offshore oil platform (Jan-Rune Smenes Reite, Pexels)

Minute 30
¶ “In Canada And Germany, The Climate Crisis Is Finally On The Ballot. But Can It Win?” • Climate change rarely makes or breaks an election. But the tide appears to be turning. The climate crisis is finally on the ballot. In Canada and Germany, it has become an important issue, and political parties supporting climate action are gaining strength. [CNN]

Rolls-Royce Spirit of Innovation (Courtesy of Rolls-Royce)

Minute 32
¶ “Rolls-Royce Electric Airplane Takes Flight” • Rolls-Royce Aerospace has been a leader in developing electric propulsion systems for airplanes in order to help lead the world forward into a future of zero-emissions flight. The company has been working on the fastest electric airplane, able to fly at over 300 mph. Now they have flown it. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, September 20

Natural gas pipeline (Selim Arda Eryilmaz, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “Climate TRACE Lifts The Veil On Oil & Gas Emissions” • The production and refining processes for oil and gas account for about one-tenth of human-made greenhouse gases, making the sector one of the world’s largest emitters. With the launch of Climate TRACE, we are closer to clear answers about where those GHGs are coming from. [CleanTechnica]

EnerVenue nickel-hydrogen battery (EnerVenue image)

Minute 38
¶ “Nickel-Hydrogen Battery For Large Scale Renewables” • US start-up EnerVenue secured funding for a gigafactory to make nickel-hydrogen batteries for large-scale applications. The battery efficiency is 80% to 90%, depending on the cycle rate, and its energy density per square foot is at least equal to lithium-ion batteries, the company said. [PV Magazine]

General Sherman tree (Gene Daniels, NARA, public domain)

Minute 40
¶ “KNP Complex Fire Reaches Part Of Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest, Threatening Some Of The World’s Largest Trees” • The KNP Complex Fire in California reached a “small area” of the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park, home to some of the world’s largest trees, fire officials said. They have spent recent days preparing the trees for the threat of fire. [CNN]

Tuesday, September 21

Lightsource BP solar farm (Press release image)

Minute 43
¶ “BP Gambles Big On Fast Transition From Oil To Renewables” • Oil major BP agreed to sell a third of its majority stake in a very profitable project earlier this year. The deal exemplifies a larger strategy to liquidate the company’s fossil-fuel assets to raise cash for investments in renewable-energy projects that BP concedes won’t make money for years. [Reuters]

Empty shelves (Martijn Baudoin, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Why Is There A CO₂ Shortage And How Will It Hit Food Supplies?” • When two large UK fertilizer factories stopped work because of soaring wholesale gas prices, they also stopped producing CO₂, a by-product. This means there has been a cut of 60% of the UK’s food-grade CO₂ supply. And CO₂ has many different uses for food. [BBC]

Turów mine (Wolkenkratzer, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 48
¶ “Poland Ordered To Pay A $580,000 Fine For Each Day It Continues Operating A Controversial Coal Mine” • Poland is to pay a €500,000 ($586,000) fine for each day it takes coal from an open-pit mine near the Czech and German borders, Europe’s top court ruled. The KWB Turów mine supplies power to around 2.3 million Polish households. [CNN]

Wednesday, September 22

Chevy Bolt (GM image)

Minute 51
¶ “GM Says It Has Fixed The Chevy Bolt Battery Problem And New Cells Already In Production” • Good news. GM and LG say they have solved the battery cell manufacturing defect that led to several battery fires. LG stopped producing the cells in August, but resumed production recently. GM says it will begin replacing battery packs in October. [CleanTechnica]

Xi Jinping speaking in 2017 (Voice of America, public domain)

Minute 54
¶ “China’s Xi Jinping Promises To Halt New Coal Projects Abroad Amid Climate Crisis” • Chinese President Xi Jinping made a key climate pledge in a pre-recorded address to the UN General Assembly. China will not build any new coal-fired power projects abroad and will increase financial support for low-carbon energy projects in other developing countries. [CNN]

Appalachia (Jenna Richardson, Pexels)

Minute 56
¶ “Appalachia Poised To Become Clean Energy Country” • In the clean energy transition, many fear that coal-dependent regions like Appalachia will lose out or be left behind. But RMI analysis challenges that assumption. It says Appalachia could be where the biggest economic benefit from the deployment of wind and solar projects happens in next decade. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Highlights

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 #436: 9/16/2021

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 #436: 9/16/2021

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, September 9

Solar farm (Tom Fisk, Pexels)

Minute 2
¶ “Biden Administration Says Solar Energy Has The Potential To Power 40% Of US Electricity By 2035” • The Solar Futures Study, from the US DOE shows how solar energy could play a massive role in transitioning the US power sector to clean energy and achieve the President’s ambitious goals to decarbonize the American economy. [CNN]

Assembly line (Siyuwj, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 5
¶ “Biden Wants An Aggressive Transition To Electric Vehicles. A Surprising Ally Is Pumping The Brakes” • In August, President Joe Biden announced a target to have half of the vehicles sold in the US be battery electric, fuel-cell electric, or plug-in hybrid by 2030. But the United Autoworkers Union, one of Biden’s oldest political allies is resisting. [CNN]

Sonnedix Atacama solar farm (Sonnedix, sonnedix.com)

Minute 8
¶ “Chile’s Power Auction Wraps Up For Average Price Of $23.78 Per MWh” • Five renewable energy companies were declared winners in Chile’s technology neutral power auction for 2,310 GWh/year for 15 years. The average price was $23.78 per MWh from solar, wind, and storage projects with a total of 2,000 MW of installed capacity. [Renewables Now]

Friday, September 10

Dust storm in Texas, 1935 (George E. Marsh Album, NOAA)

Minute 11
¶ “This Summer Tied The Dust Bowl For The Hottest On Record In US” • The summer of 2021, which produced numerous extreme weather and climate disasters, was also the hottest on record in the US, tying with the Dust Bowl summer of 1936, according to the NOAA. The average temperature was 2.6°F above the 20th-century average. [CNN]

Ford Mustang, 1972 (Meritt Thomas, Unsplash)

Minute 13
¶ “New York Governor Signs Bill Bill Banning Sale Of ICE Vehicles After 2035” • New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation banning the sale of passenger cars and light duty trucks with infernal combustion engines by 2035. This makes New York the second US state to ban conventional cars and trucks, after California. [CleanTechnica]

Solar array (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 16
¶ “Democrats’ Clean Electricity Program Would Create Nearly Eight Million Jobs By 2031, Analysis Shows” • A report by the independent firm Analysis Group finds that if Congress passes a $150 billion Clean Electricity Payment Program, it would cause the US workforce to grow by 7.7 million new jobs and add nearly $1 trillion to the economy by 2031. [CNN]

Saturday, September 11

Vermont Yankee in 2012 (NRC image, CC-BY-ND 2.0)

Minute 19
¶ “20 Years After 9/11, Yankee’s Nuclear Fuel Still Poses Security Risk” • The Vermont Department of Health still plans for the worst. But the Vermont Yankee site is not as bad as it could have been six years ago, when the reactor shut down. The nuclear fuel has been moved out of the reactor core and put into giant steel and concrete casks. [Brattleboro Reformer]

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

Minute 22
¶ “The Future Of Agriculture Combined With Renewable Energy Finds Success At Jack’s Solar Garden” • A 24-acre family farm purchased by Jack Stingerie in 1972 has evolved into a model for how to produce energy and food in tandem. Jack’s Solar Garden is the largest commercially active agrivoltaics system in the US, combining agriculture with PVs. [CleanTechnica]

New York City (Daryan Shamkhali, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “New York City Plans Major Expansion Of EV Charging Stations” • There may be an answer to EV charging for residents of New York City. According to Staten Island Live, the city will create one of the country’s largest electric vehicle charging networks over the next 10 years in an effort to reduce the its greenhouse gas emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, September 12

Plumes forming above a thunderstorm (NASA image)

Minute 27
¶ “We Finally Know Why Icy Plumes Flare Ahead Of Deadly Supercell Storms” • Just before a severe thunderstorm produces a tornado, high winds, or hailstones, a plume of ice and water billows up above the top of the storm. Scientists now think they know why. Their research has implications for warning systems and for climate change. [ScienceAlert]

Devonshire Street, London (Philafrenzy, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 30
¶ “UK Legislation Will Require All New Homes To Have EV Chargepoints” • If pending UK legislation becomes law, all new homes built will include EV charging. New non-residential buildings will need to provide charging infrastructure per every five parking spaces. And other existing non-residential buildings are to have charge points. [CleanTechnica]

Visit to New Hampshire (Mara Hoplamazian, NHPR)

Minute 32
¶ “Energy Secretary Visits NH Solar Project; Touts Infrastructure Bill” • Energy Secretary Granholm came to New Hampshire to talk about renewable energy and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in August. A recent DOE report found that solar energy could power 40% of the country’s electric energy by 2035. [New Hampshire Public Radio]

Monday, September 13

Offshore oil rig (Clyde Thomas, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “Despite Climate Red Alert, Interior Department Moves On Gulf Lease Sale” • Despite clearly catastrophic climate change, the Interior Department decided to sell offshore leases of over 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico. It estimates the area will produce up to 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over 50 years. [CleanTechnica]

Coal-burning plant in Victoria (Marcus Wong, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 38
¶ “Australia Is Shaping Up To Be The Villain Of COP26 Climate Talks” • If Australia’s allies were worried that the country might cause them problems at upcoming climate talks in Glasgow, the events of the past week should leave little doubt in their minds. Australia made clear that it plans to pursue a business-as-usual approach to the climate. [CNN]

Earth from the Moon (NASA image)

Minute 40
¶ “NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Pushes Continued Climate Research And Aircraft Sustainability” • At a White House event, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson showed some of the progress his agency has made on combating climate change. He highlighted NASA’s bold plan to reduce aviation-related carbon emissions by over 3 billion gallons by 2030. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, September 14

Historical district in Bergen (Michael Fousert, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “Norway’s Center-Left Defeats Solberg’s Conservative Rule” • The opposition Labor party has won Norway’s general election, bringing an end to eight years of conservative government under Erna Solberg. Norway’s biggest export is oil and the green party campaigned to close production down in a few years to curb the country’s carbon emissions. [BBC]

Expected rainfall from Nicolas (NOAA image)

Minute 46
¶ “Nicholas Is Now A Hurricane That Threatens The Texas Coast With Heavy Rain And Storm Surges” • Nicholas strengthened into a hurricane and threatens to bring heavy rain, storm surges and strong winds to portions of the Texas Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. It said Nicholas could produce as much as 12 inches of rain or more in some areas. [CNN]

Climate protest (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “Young People Very Worried: Survey” • A global survey shows the depth of anxiety many young people feel about climate change. Three-quarters of them said they thought the future was frightening. Over half (56%) say they think humanity is doomed. Over 45% of those questioned said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives. [BBC]

Wednesday, September 15

Wärtsilä marine battery swapping (Wärtsilä image)

Minute 51
¶ “Wärtsilä Is Swapping Batteries For Waterway Vessels In The Netherlands” • Wärtsilä has come up with a mobile battery swapping system to help power and re-power electric waterway vessels. This may be an old idea, but it’s new in the real world. The first order, for an initial 3 units, was just placed and fulfilled in June in the Netherlands. [CleanTechnica]

KNP Complex Fire (KNP Complex Fire Incident Command)

Minute 54
¶ “Pair Of California Wildfires Now Threatening Some Of The World’s Largest Trees” • Wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains have forced much of Sequoia National Park to close. Two-thirds of all the Sierra Nevada’s giant sequoia grove acreage had already burned in wildfires of 2015 through 2020, according to the National Park Service. [CNN]

Electric sanitation truck (Photo courtesy of Volvo Group)

Minute 56
¶ “Clean Trucks New York Program to Bring Significant Benefits” • New York Governor Hochul gave the green light last week for the state to move forward with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule. The directive to the Department of Environmental Conservation represents one of her Administration’s first actions to mitigate climate and air pollution. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #436: 9/16/2021

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 #435: 9/9/2021

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 #435: 9/9/2021

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, September 2

Air pollution (Pixabay, Pexels)

Minute 2
¶ “Air Pollution Is Cutting More Years From People’s Lives Than Smoking, War Or HIV/AIDS” • Air pollution is taking years from billions of people’s lives around the world and is a greater threat to life expectancy than smoking, HIV/AIDS, or war, a report shows. In India, air pollution reduces life expectancy an average of 5.9 years. [CNN]

Wildfire in California (Missvain, USDA, public domain)

Minute 5
¶ “Coming Hours Are Make Or Break For Lake Tahoe Resort City, Fire Officials Say” • Firefighters have been able to make some headway against the Caldor Fire around South Lake Tahoe, and the popular California tourist town may, with luck, be spared from flames, if conditions on Wednesday night remain favorable, a fire official said. [CNN]

Los Angeles (Cameron Venti, Unsplash)

Minute 8

¶ “LA City Council Votes To Have City Transition to 100% Renewable Energy By 2035” • The Los Angeles City Council voted to have the Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the country, transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035, as well as develop a long-term hiring plan for nearly 10,000 “green” jobs. [MyNewsLA.com]

Friday, September 3

Flood caused by Ida in Pennsylvania (Michael M Stokes, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 11
¶ “At Least 46 People Have Died After Floodwaters From Ida’s Remnants Swamp Cities From Virginia To New England” • At least 46 people have died in six Eastern states – Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – after the storm brought unprecedented rainfall to some areas. There are 23 known deaths in New Jersey. [CNN]

Dystopian view of climate change (Pixabay, Pexels)

Minute 13
¶ “Climate Scientist: This Is A Dystopian Moment” • I’m a climate scientist. My colleagues and I have been warning for years that human-induced global warming will bring us a future of faster and more furious extreme weather events. But now the events are coming with such speed and ferocity that the moment can be called dystopian. [CNN]

Solar module costs (US EIA graph)

Minute 16
¶ “Solar Activity Was At Record-High Level In USA In 2020” • In the US, solar PV module shipments rose to 21.8 million peak kW of solar power capacity in 2020, by far their best ever. In fact, that was 5.4 million peak kW above 2019’s total, their previous best. Rooftop solar installations grew, but larger installations grew even more. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, September 4

NREL’s Flatirons Campus near Boulder (Joshua Bauer, NREL)

Minute 19
¶ “Hybrid Power Plants And Flexibility – The Future Of The Grid” • Imagine an electric grid powered by clean energy. Now imagine that it has all the comfort and convenience consumers expect as well as grid reliability and resiliency services that are similar to or better than conventional plants. That is the promise of the FlexPower project. [CleanTechnica]

Ford Mustang Mach-E (Ford image)

Minute 22
¶ “Ford Mustang Mach-E Sets 3 Guinness World Records In UK” • It is 1,407 km (874 miles) from John O’Groats at the northern tip of Scotland to Lands End, in Cornwall. A Ford Mustang Mach-E set a Guinness World Record for electric cars by averaging over 6.5 miles per kWh for that distance. The previous record, set by a Tesla, was 1.8 miles per kWh. [CleanTechnica]

Solar panels in India (Rsrikanth05, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 24
¶ “‘India Can Produce 1,000 GW Solar Energy On 0.5% Of Land'” • In a talk to the International Climate Summit 2021, industrialist Mukesh Ambani outlined a roadmap for New Energy business, calling it the “next big value creation engine” for Reliance and India. He said Reliance Industries would “establish and enable” at least 100 GW of solar energy by 2030. [NDTV.com]

Sunday, September 5

Long Island Expressway (Tommy Gao, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 27
¶ “The Truth New York City Cannot Avoid” • Four days after it hit New Orleans, at least 13 New Yorkers died when Hurricane Ida’s remnants hit the Big Apple, more than 1,300 miles away. So far, New York City has more fatalities reported than all of Louisiana. Climate change is scrambling all our assumptions for weather, resiliency, and emergency preparedness. [CNN]

Siberian Tiger (Dave Pape, released into the public domain)

Minute 30
¶ “Nearly 30% Of 138,000 Assessed Species Face Extinction, Group Warns” • In its annual Red List update, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature warned that 28% of the 138,374 species identified on its “survival watchlist” as under threat have now been moved to the more dangerous “red list,” meaning they are at high risk of extinction. [CNN]

Offshore wind turbines (Reegan Fraser, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “Gone With The Wind: Why UK Firms Could Miss Out On The Offshore Boom” • Boris Johnson set out plans to add 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The GMB trade union warned that the UK risks squandering a major economic benefit by allowing many of the components of its offshore wind boom to be made in Asia. [The Guardian]

Monday, September 6

Fossil fuels use (Chris LeBoutillier, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “How To Raise Revenue Quickly: End Fossil Fuel Handouts” • After a century of waste and mismanagement, the House Natural Resources Committee has released a budget proposal that would end a slew of harmful handouts to the fossil fuel industry, protect publicly owned resources, and raise significant new revenues for US taxpayers. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in Inner Mongolia (Steven Buss, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 38
¶ “A Decade Of Wind, Solar, And Nuclear In China Shows Clear Scalability Winners” • China surprised the world in 2020, as it deployed 72 GW of wind energy, a world record for a single country, and 48 GW of solar capacity, over 50% more than the previous year. Meanwhile, exactly zero nuclear reactors were commissioned in 2020. [CleanTechnica]

Joby’s eVTOL aircraft (Joby Aviation image)

Minute 40
¶ “NASA Begins Air Taxi Flight Testing With Joby” • NASA has begun flight testing Joby Aviation’s all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at Joby’s Electric Flight Base near Big Sur, California. It is the first time that NASA will test an eVTOL aircraft as part of its Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign. The tests will run to September 10. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, September 7

Proposed city (Bjarke Ingels Group and Bucharest studio)

Minute 43
¶ “Plans For $400-Billion New City In The American Desert Unveiled” • The cleanliness of Tokyo, the diversity of New York and the social services of Stockholm: Billionaire Marc Lore has outlined his vision for a 5-million-person “new city in America” and appointed a world-famous architect to design it. All he needs is $400 billion and a place to build it. [CNN]

John Kerry in talks with China (US State Department via AP)

Minute 46
¶ “The US And China Can’t Get Along – Even If The Planet’s Future Is At Stake” • Despite facing a common threat, China and the United States, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, are still at odds on climate action. US climate officials tried to separate climate issues from differences on other topics. Chinese officials would not allow that. [CNN]

Wildfire (Tim Mossholder, Pexels)

Minute 48
¶ “Climate Change Fight Will Be Six Times More Costly” • A study by an international team of scientists published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that the economic damage from climate change could be six times higher by the end of this century than previously estimated. Earlier analysis ignored important risks. [Technology Times]

Wednesday, September 8

Wind farm (Harry Cunningham, Pexels)

Minute 51
¶ “Environmental Groups Ask Congress To Fund Billions Of Dollars In Climate Measures In Reconciliation” • As Democratic lawmakers begin crafting a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, a coalition of prominent environmental groups is asking them to include between $577 billion and $746 billion for key climate provisions. [CNN]

Fire (Thomas Ehling, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “Biden Administration Asks For Billions In ‘Urgent’ Disaster And Refugee Funding In Request To Keep The Government Running” • The Biden administration is asking for billions of dollars for “urgent” extreme weather recovery efforts and the resettlement of Afghan refugees in its proposal to keep the government funded past September 30. [CNN]

Offshore windpower (Carl Raw, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “Invenergy, BW Offshore Unveil ScotWind Plans” • Invenergy and BW Offshore have announced a joint venture to develop up to 5,400 MW of offshore windpower as part of the first ScotWind leasing round. The joint venture will focus on developing both floating and fixed foundation offshore wind projects off the north east coast of Scotland. [reNEWS]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes:

Energy Week #435: 9/9/2021

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