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Energy Week #477 – 6/23/2022
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, June 16
Road destroyed by erosion (National Park Service image)
Minute 2
¶ “Scientists Saw Yellowstone’s ‘Unprecedented’ Flooding Coming” • Scientists predicted more frequent events like this week’s flash flooding in the Yellowstone area. Just last year, one report on the future of Yellowstone concluded the climate crisis would lead to more rainfall and rapid snowmelt due to extreme spring and summer warmth. [CNN]
Methane leak (GHGSat image)
Minute 5
¶ “Satellite Spots World’s ‘Largest’ Methane Leak In A Russian Coal Mine” • The Raspadskya Mine in Kemerovo region in remote part of southern Russia is spewing out huge amounts of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, in what is described as the “biggest” such leak ever detected from a single facility. The leak was found by a GHGSat satellite. [CNN]
Work on a wind turbine (Global Wind Energy Coalition)
Minute 8
¶ “Wind Industry Urges ‘Greater Policy Ambition’” • The Global Wind Energy Coalition for COP27 has called for greater policy ambition and volumes made available to scale up to 390 GW of annual wind energy installations by 2030. On Global Wind Day the coalition is calling for the scale-up in line with a net zero trajectory. [reNews]
Friday, June 17
Energy Storage (NREL image)
Minute 11
¶ “US Grid-Scale Energy Storage Market Breaks Q1 Record” • The US energy storage market set a new record in the first quarter of 2022, with grid-scale installations totaling 2,399 MWh, the highest capacity for Q1 on record. The volume of US grid-scale installations was four times the volume seen in Q1 of last year, sources said. [Renewable Energy Magazine]
Congo River (Bsm15, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Minute 13
¶ “Congo Peat: The ‘Lungs Of Humanity’ That Are Under Threat” • A giant slab of carbon-rich peat has been discovered in central Africa. It is under threat from uncontrolled development, posing a significant risk for future climate change, writes BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding. The peat bog stores about 30 billion tonnes of carbon. [BBC]
Funicular railway powered by water and gravity (CAT image)
Minute 16
¶ “The UK’s Haven For Alternative Thinking” • The Centre for Alternative Technology spent the last half century redefining the relationship between nature and humankind. Once merely a haven for those who think about alternative ways to do things, it now offers master’s degrees in fields such as energy provision, green building, and sustainable food. [BBC]
Saturday, June 18
Solar panels (Courtesy of the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative)
Minute 19
¶ “NM’s Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Achieves 100% Daytime Solar Power” • The Kit Carson Electric Cooperative has achieved a milestone. Customers in their service area, around Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, will now have 100% of their daytime electric use provided by solar power. This was achieved with the opening of a 41-MW solar array. [CleanTechnica]
Green River Reservoir (Vermont State Parks image)
Minute 22
¶ “Natural Beauty And Renewable Energy Source Are Being Threatened” • Vermont’s Green River Reservoir State Park is threatened. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources ordered Morrisville Water & Light, to reduce generation by about 30%. So the dam at the reservoir operates at a loss, and the electric utility has no choice but to remove it. [VTDigger]
Mult-turbine floating platform (Wind Catching Systems image)
Minute 24
¶ “GM Falls For Crazy Floating Wind Turbine Idea, May Not Be So Crazy After All” • General Motors has been deploying its GM Ventures arm to kickstart next-generation clean tech. The firm has spearheaded a round of up to $10 million in funding for a new floating wind turbine system that looks like a giant wall of fidget spinners. [CleanTechnica]
Sunday, June 19
Forest (Jay Mantri, Unsplash)
Minute 27
¶ “Friendly Fungi Help Forests Fight Climate Change” • While we know that forests play a major role in countering global warming, acting as reservoirs for carbon, what is less well understood is how tiny organisms that dwell hidden in the soil help lock away our greenhouse gas emissions. Ectomycorrhizal fungi enable certain trees to absorb CO₂ faster. [BBC]
Solar farm in Mexico (Contenidos InLab, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Minute 30
¶ “Mexico Signs Renewable Energy Deals With US Companies As It Steps Up Climate Change Fight” • Mexico made commitments with 17 US companies on generating clean energy, its president said. After months of friction with business leaders, President Lopez Obrador said the deals would generate 1,854 MW as the government fights climate change. [The National]
Flaming Gorge Reservoir in 2014 (Paul Hermans, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Minute 32
¶ “The Southwest’s Unchecked Thirst For Colorado River Water Could Prove Devastating Upstream” • When the federal Bureau of Reclamation and four states agreed to release a sixth of the capacity of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, on the border of Utah and Wyoming, to help desiccated communities to the south, it created a local uproar. [CNN]
Monday, June 20
Estimated costs in the late 2020s (NextEra image)
Minute 35
¶ “Half A Penny For ‘Near Firm’ Solar And Trillions In Renewable Opportunities” • NextEra, the largest renewable company in the US, sees 3.5 TW renewable capacity installations through 2050 worth $2 trillion. And that figure could double under the right conditions. It says the energy storage adder for solar power is now about 0.4¢ to 0.6¢ per kWh. [PV Magazine USA]
Southland landscape (Gulfside Mike, Unsplash)
Minute 38
¶ “Australian Companies In The Mix For $5 Billion Southland Hydrogen Plant” • Australian companies Woodside Energy and Fortescue Future Industries are counterparties in final stage negotiations to become lead developer of the prospective world’s largest green hydrogen plant in New Zealand’s Southland region, at the southern end of South Island. [Stuff.co.nz]
German coal-burning plant in snow (Arnoldius, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Minute 40
¶ “Germany To Fire Up Coal Stations As Russia Squeezes Gas Supply” • Germany must reduce natural gas consumption and increase the burning of coal in order to help fill gas storage facilities for next winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced as the country moves away from reduced Russian gas supplies. [CNN]
Tuesday, June 21
Area in floating city (Waterstudio.NL and Dutch Docklands)
Minute 43
¶ “Floating City In The Maldives Begins To Take Shape” • A city is rising from the waters of the Indian Ocean. In a turquoise lagoon, just 10 minutes by boat from Male, the Maldivian capital, a floating city, big enough to house 20,000 people, is being constructed. Because it floats, it is not vulnerable to sea level rise from climate change. [CNN]
Hamilton power plant, a stranded asset (Supplied image)
Minute 46
¶ “Contact’s Hamilton Power Plant Closing Next Year To Reduce Carbon Emissions” • New Zealand’s Contact Energy is closing its Hamilton power plant next year to reduce carbon emissions. The 44-MW gas-fired power station has been operating since 1999 and provides steam and electricity to a dairy factory, with surplus electricity directed back to the grid. [Stuff.co.nz]
Ford electric van (Ford image)
Minute 48
¶ “Ford Sets EV Sales Record, Again” • Ford sold 6,254 EVs last month. This puts its total sales at 222% above last May’s numbers, an amazing increase. Perhaps more importantly, Ford’s EV sales growth is now four times that of the whole EV market, which means the company is grabbing ground and market share from other manufacturers. [CleanTechnica]
Wednesday, June 22
Egypt (Flying Carpet, Unsplash)
Minute 51
¶ “Acwa Power Consortium Closes $1.5 Billion Egypt Wind Project” • A consortium led by Acwa Power, a leading Saudi developer, investor, and operator of power generation, water desalinization, and green hydrogen plants worldwide, signed an agreement to develop a 1.1-GW wind project in Egypt, at an investment value of $1.5 billion. [ZAWYA]
Offshore wind turbine (Courtesy of Simply Blue Group)
Minute 54
¶ “It’s Boom Times For Wind Power And Green Hydrogen In Ireland” • Clean power is blooming in Ireland thanks to such new technology as green hydrogen and floating wind turbines. That’s good news for the economy and great news for the rest of the EU, which is scrambling to untangle itself from Russian fossil energy imports. [CleanTechnica]
Airship in hanger (LTA Research image)
Minute 56
¶ “Giant Hangar Poised For An Aviation Revolution” • Airships could help speed up the delivery of aid in disaster zones, carry air cargo much more cheaply than air freighters, and cut aviation emissions. Airships could offer an alternative for some types of aviation. A new generation of airships is taking shape in a former airship factory in Akron, Ohio. [BBC]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #477 – 6/23/2022
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 