Energy Week #483 – 8/4/2022

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 #483 – 8/4/2022

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, July 28

FP&L Power Plant (Roman Tokman, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 2
¶ “US Power Companies Secretly Spending Millions To Protect Profits And Fight Clean Energy” • In 2019, a Florida state senator proposed a law allowing landlords to sell rooftop solar power to tenants. The CEO of Florida Power & Light sent out in an email, “I want you to make his life a living hell … ” It went to a PR firm, and it has been leaked. [The Guardian]

Gorilla (Simbi Yvan, Unsplash)

Minute 5
¶ “Oil Permits Up For Auction In Congo’s Virunga Park, Putting Endangered Gorillas At Risk” • Despite growing pleas from climate change activists, the Democratic Republic of Congo says it is moving forward with its plans to auction off a vast majority of oil and gas drilling blocks located in the country’s rainforest and peatland. [CNN]

Capitol building (Harold Mendoza, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “Manchin And Schumer Announce Deal For Energy And Health Care Bill” • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin announced a deal on an energy and health care bill, representing a breakthrough after more than a year of negotiations that have collapsed time and again. The deal is a major reversal for Manchin. [CNN]

Friday, July 29

Solar panels (Flash Dantz, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Clean Energy Package Would Be Biggest Legislative Climate Investment In US History” • Senator Joe Manchin’s stunning reversal on a clean energy package has suddenly put Democrats in a position to pass the largest climate investment in US history. It will be by far the biggest legislative win for the environmental movement since the Clean Air Act. [CNN]

Tesla Model Y (Evnerd, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 13
¶ “China Electric Car Market – 28% Share Of Auto Sales In June!” • Plugin vehicles continue to be all the rage in the Chinese auto market. Plugins got back into the fast lane, growing 132% year over year. They scored over 565,000 registrations in June, a new record. Plugin hybrids grew faster, at 179% year over year. Battery EVs grew 121%. [CleanTechnica]

Mountain Rescue operating in 2015 (Richard Scott, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 16
¶ “Kentucky Hit With Deadly Flooding Following Second 1,000-Year Rain Event In Three Days” • For the second time in a week, parts of Kentucky hit by extreme rainfall that caused deadly flash flooding. Several inches of rain in the eastern part of the state turned towns into raging rivers that swept away homes and the people who lived in them. [AOL]

Saturday,  July 30

Line work (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 19
¶ “Midwest Power Grid Capacity Opens Up, Boosting Renewable Projects” • After the Midcontinent Independent System Operator approved a $10 billion investment for 18 long-term transmission projects for its Midwest Subregion, three utilities announced plans to expand renewable energy output by building lines from elsewhere to central Minnesota. [KNSI]

Kenya (Thomas Bennie, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “Kenya Aims To Generate 100 GW Of Renewable Power By 2040” • Kenya set a bold and ambitious target to have 100 GW of installed capacity of power produced from renewable sources by 2040, the Ministry of Energy said in its blueprint of the sector. Kenya will leverage its geographic advantage and clean energy abundance to achieve the goal. [Xinhua]

Tesla Model X and Model Y (Courtesy of Tesla Greater China)

Minute 24
¶ “Tesla Model Y And Model X Are First Electric Vehicles To Reach Mt Everest Base Camp” • Five years back, no one would have imagined an EV reaching anywhere near Mount Everest. But the ever-expanding network of Tesla Superchargers made it possible. A Tesla Model X and a Tesla Model Y have reached the Mt Everest Base Camp. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 31

First Solar plant (Courtesy of First Solar, Inc)

Minute 27
¶ “Intersect Power Orders 2.4 GW Of High-Performance Modules From First Solar” • First Solar, Inc, based in Arizona, announced that it signed an agreement to supply 2.4 GW of its high-performance, advanced thin film PV modules to Intersect Power, LLC. The modules are scheduled to be delivered from 2024 to 2026. [CleanTechnica]

Farmers’ Market, Eugene, Oregon (Visitor7, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 30
¶ “Eugene Becomes First City In Oregon To Ban Natural Gas” • The Eugene City Council voted to mandate that all new homes be built 100% electric by June 1, 2023; push for new commercial and industrial construction to be all electric; and have the City Manager formalize a goal of electrifying all existing residential and commercial buildings by 2035. [CleanTechnica]

UniWave200 generator (Supplied by Wave Swell)

Minute 32
¶ “The Wave Power Generator Experts Say ‘Proves Ocean Energy Can Work’ Is Already Powering Australian Homes” • For the first time in Australia’s history, a wave energy converter trial has successfully generated energy from the chaotic and wild ocean waves to power homes. The project on King Island proves wave power can work, experts say. [ABC]

Monday, August 1 

Minute 35

Asia Super Grid (Renewable Energy Institute, Japan)

¶ “How Bangladesh Can Benefit From Japan’s Super Grid” • Japan has sped up efforts to materialize its decade-old plan to de-carbonize Asia by connecting some of the biggest economies and the power-hungry populations through a 36,000 km integrated grid of renewable energy. Bangladesh is part of the “Asia Super Grid” initiative. [Dhaka Tribune]

Mckinney pyrocumulonimbus (AAAAAboi, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 38
¶ “McKinney Fire Spreads Rapidly In North Of California” • The McKinney Fire, which started in the northern Siskiyou county on Friday, has already burnt 52,500 acres (21,000 hectares), the state fire service said. At least 2,000 residents and visitors have left the area, authorities say. Some homes have been destroyed. It was 0% contained as of Sunday. [BBC]

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (Gage Skidmore, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 40
¶ “All Eyes Turn To Sinema As Democrats Face A Week That Could Transform Biden’s Presidency” • Democrats have a chance to accomplish something big. But to do that, they must push the Manchin-Schumer compromise climate and health care bill through the Senate. And to do that, they need to get the crucial vote of Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. [CNN]

Tuesday, August 2

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Ігор Діклевич, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 43
¶ “US Accuses Russia Of Using Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Power Plant As ‘Nuclear Shield’” • The US accused Russia of using the Zaporizhzhia power plant as a “nuclear shield” by stationing troops there, preventing Ukrainian forces from returning fire, and risking a nuclear accident. The Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest such plant in Europe. [South China Morning Post]

Terrasmart project (Courtesy of Terrasmart)

Minute 46
¶ “Connecticut’s Largest Solar Power Plant Completed” • The renewable energy portfolio of Gibraltar Industries, Terrasmart, announced completion of Connecticut’s largest solar plant in Canterbury. The solar array has 150,000 modules for a capacity of 66.5-MW (AC). The project would normally have taken 130 weeks, but it was finished in just 33. [CleanTechnica]

BYD S7 (Mohammad Fathollahi, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “Record EV Sales Month Globally! 12% Share For BEVs!” • The EV disruption many of us have dreamed of is finally happening, and the proof is that despite all the stuff happening right now – pandemic(s), war, inflation, material shortages, etc, etc – global plugin vehicle registrations were up 54% in June 2022 compared to June 2021. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, August 3

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Ralf1969, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 51
¶ “UN Nuclear Chief: Ukraine Nuclear Plant Is ‘Out Of Control’” • The UN nuclear chief, Rafael Grossi, warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit it to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident. [WIVB]

Grid-scale storage applications (EIA image)

Minute 54
¶ “Grid-Scale Battery Storage In US Tripled In 2021” • The US Energy Information Agency posted preliminary findings from its latest energy survey, with generator-level specific information about existing and planned generators and their environmental equipment at electric power plants with 1 MW or greater of combined nameplate capacity. [CleanTechnica]

Duich Moss National Nature Reserve (Patrick Mackie, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 56
¶ “The Promise And Danger Of Scotland’s Bog” • The ancient blanket bog of northern Scotland is reaching a turning point in its long history – degrade or flourish. Which way it goes will have significant consequences for climate change. This is critically important, because globally, peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. [BBC]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #483 – 8/4/2022

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 #482 – 7/28/2022

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 #482 – 7/28/2022

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, July 21

Streams and rivers (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 2 
¶ “The Amount Of Greenland Ice That Melted Last Weekend Could Cover West Virginia In A Foot Of Water” • Temperatures in northern Greenland have been running around 60°F, which is 10°F warmer than normal for this time of year. Several days of unusually warm weather have triggered rapid melting. Rivers of meltwater are rushing into the ocean. [CNN]

House with Timberline Solar Roof (GAF Energy image)

Minute 5
¶ “GAF Building Second Solar Shingle Factory In Texas” • After GAF Energy spent $1 billion to build a solar shingle factory, some people wondered if anyone would used them. But enough are selling for GAF Energy to build a second 450,000 square foot factory in Georgetown, Texas, to manufacture its Timberline Solar Roof products. [CleanTechnica]

Windpower and storage (Enel Green Power image)

Minute 8
¶ “As Texas Energy Demand Increases, Enel Green Power Installs More Renewable And Storage Capacity” • Enel Green Power said it has completed Azure Sky Wind + Storage, its first large hybrid wind project. It added battery storage at other renewable project sites also, helping ensure energy availability for Texans in high demand periods. [PR Newswire]

Friday, July 22

Wildfire near Athens in 2021 (Anasmeister, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Is Europe set for its worst wildfire season?” • So far this year, the amount of land burnt by fires across the EU is more than three times greater than what you would expect by the middle of July. In some places fires are becoming more expected, such as across the Mediterranean, and they are seeing better safeguards and awareness campaigns. [BBC]

Monarch butterfly (Erin Minuskin, Unsplash)

Minute 13
¶ “Monarch Butterflies Could Become Extinct If We Don’t Take These Three Steps” • One of the most popular insects is at risk of extinction, says a global organization focused on conservation and sustainability. The International Union for Conservation of Nature added the migratory monarch butterfly to its Red List of Threatened Species as endangered. [CNN]

USPS Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (Oshkosh Defense image)

Minute 16
¶ “USPS Says That Up To 40% Of New Delivery Vehicles Will Be Electric” • Under pressure from the Biden administration, several states, and the UAW, the USPS this week announced “at least 50% of newly ordered NGDVs in the current contract are expected to be battery electric vehicles.” NGDV is postal-speak meaning “next generation delivery vehicle.” [CleanTechnica]

Saturday,  July 23

Cooling towers (Markus Distelrath, Pexels)

Minute 19
¶ “Nuclear Power Plants Are Struggling To Stay Cool” • In this heatwave, it’s no longer possible to use river water to cool reactors without killing aquatic life. A few weeks ago, EDF began powering down some reactors. Heat-related cuts, malfunctions, and maintenance have reduced the nuclear power output in France by nearly 50%. [Ars Technica]

Vertically installed, bifacial solar modules (Next2Sun GmbH)

Minute 22
¶ “Vertical Solar Systems Reduce The Need For Electricity Storage” • Solar panels are usually installed facing south at an angle. In a new study, a research team from HTWK Leipzig shows it would make sense in the future to primarily install bifacial solar modules vertically and to use agricultural land for this, for example. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

K Line ship partly powered by wind (Courtesy of Airseas)

Minute 24
¶ “Wind Power Returning To Open Seas, Now With AI” • A 20% savings in fuel efficiency for a two-day retrofit is noteworthy, and that explains why Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd, a leading shipping company, is adding more wind power to its roster of cargo ships. “K” Line also expects to leverage artificial intelligence for greater improvements. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 24

Cyanobacteria culture (Dennis Schroeder, NREL)

Minute 27
¶ “Bacteria Could Help To Capture Greenhouse Gases” • In a paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, King and others from Simon Fraser University examined the important role CO₂ plays in cyanobacteria, photosynthetic organisms found in water. Cyanobacteria use carbon to create essential nutrients that sustain their life cycle. [CleanTechnica]

49.5-MW solar facility for a Facebook data center (PNM image)

Minute 30
¶ “PNM Inundated With Companies Seeking Clean Energy” • Public Service Company of New Mexico announced that it commissioned a 50-MW solar facility to provide clean energy to a Facebook data center in Los Lunas. PNM is supplying nearly 400 MW of clean power to Facebook, but other companies are expected to follow. [Albuquerque Journal]

Rendering of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ESO image)

Minute 32
¶ “Solar Park Powering Astronomical Observatory In Chile’s Atacama Desert” • A solar plant with a capacity of 9 MW has now been completed at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The PV installation is also intended to power the world’s largest telescope, which is currently under construction at the site. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, July 25

SVolt battery cells (SVolt image)

Minute 35
¶ “SVolt Energy Readies Solid-State Battery With 400 Wh/kg Energy Density For Production” • CnEVPost reports that Svolt Energy is the first company to create prototype 20 Ah solid-state battery cells. With an energy density of 350 to 400 Wh/kg, the cells could enable EVs to drive 1,000 km or more on a single charge, the company says. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 38

Halliburton frack job (Joshua Doubek, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

¶ “Global Gas Expansion Endangers Climate Targets” • Rebuffing the still widespread narrative that natural gas is a “bridge” fuel, a team of German energy economists is warning that the massive global expansion of gas infrastructure now under way puts both climate mitigation efforts and the transition to renewable energy at risk. [The Energy Mix]

Firefighting airplane (Ben Kuo, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “Oak Fire: Wildfire Grows As Firefighters Battle Punishing Heat” • The Oak Fire has now burned 15,603 acres of land and is still “zero per cent uncontained,” California’s fire department said on Sunday night. More than 6,000 people have been evacuated and 10 structures destroyed. A further 3,271 structures, homes and businesses, are under threat. [BBC]

Tuesday, July 26

Gaborone, capital of Botswana (Justice Hubane, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “Searching For More Oil As The World Heats Up” • The world needs to cut down on oil production, but it is going in the wrong direction. Namibia, Botswana, and Congo want to get the same benefits from their land that Western countries used to become wealthy, but their need is to address poverty. “Our priority is not to save the planet,” one official said. [CNN]

EVs charging (Ed Harvey, Pexels)

Minute 46
¶ “Bloomberg Declares That The Tipping Point Has Been Reached!” • A report by BloombergNEF declares that the tipping point for battery EV ascendency has been reached globally. Although acceptance of EVs varies from country to country, a pattern has emerged. “Once 5% of new-car sales go fully electric, everything changes …” [CleanTechnica]

City of Gold Coast (City of Gold Coast, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “The Queensland Government Is Electrifying” • To speed up the process of electrifying the vehicles on the road in Australia’s Sunshine State, the Queensland government is proposing to transition its fleet to electric over the next four years. That means 100% of eligible Queensland government fleet passenger vehicles would be zero emission by 2026. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, July 27

Pyrocumulus cloud from the Oak Fire (Roc0ast3r, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 51
¶ “California’s Oak Fire Destroys At Least 42 Structures As It Burns More Than 18,000 Acres” • California’s Oak Fire has burned through over 18,000 acres and destroyed more than 40 structures since it started near Yosemite National Park on Friday. It is now 26% contained, according to an update from Cal Fire, the state fire management agency. [CNN]

Work at sea (Manor Renewable Energy)

Minute 54
¶ “Manor Renewable to power Dogger Bank construction” • SSE Renewables and Equinor awarded Manor Renewable Energy a contract to provide temporary power for the construction of the 3600-MW Dogger Bank offshore wind project. Dogger Bank will have 277 x GE Haliade-X 13-MW and 14-MW turbines. It will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. [reNews]

Transmission lines (Matthew Henry, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “MISO Approves 18 Transmission Projects In The US Midwest, Integrating More Renewable Energy” • The board of MISO, the Midwest power grid operator, voted unanimously to approve a tranche of transmission projects representing investments of $10.4 billion. The projects will integrate about 53 GW and create more than 200,000 jobs. [Utility Products]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #482 – 7/28/2022

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 #481 – 7/21/2022

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 #481 – 7/21/2022

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, July 14

Renewable energy (Kervin Edward Lara, Pexels)

Minute 2
¶ “Renewables Remain Cost-Competitive Amid Global Energy Crisis, Says IRENA” • Renewables are maintaining an extremely cost-competitive position with prices in the industry dropping last year, even as the energy market tackles a global fossil fuel crisis, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. [The National]

Canoo EV (Canoo image)

Minute 5
¶ “Walmart Orders 4500 Electric Delivery Vehicles From Canoo” • Walmart is locked in a titanic struggle with Amazon to survive in the fiercely competitive world of online retailing. To do that, it needs to find ways to reduce delivery costs. So it signed a deal with Canoo, the southern California EV startup, to buy 4500 of its battery-EV delivery vehicles. [CleanTechnica]

Solar Power Plant in India (Thomas Lloyd Group, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 8
¶ “India Has Achieved Clean Energy Targets Before Deadline, Says RK Singh” • India has achieved clean energy targets nine years ahead of schedule Power Minister RK Singh said at the Sydney Energy Forum in Sydney, Australia. India has installed 162 GW of renewable energy capacity which is 41% of the 402 GW of electricity installed. [The Hindu]

Friday, July 15

Renewable energy (IRENA image)

Minute 11

¶ “Renewables Generation Costs Fall In 2021” • In 2021, the global weighted average cost of new renewable projects fell despite rising materials and equipment costs, a report from IRENA said. The global levelized cost of electricity of onshore wind projects added in 2021 fell to 3.3¢/kWh, while that of solar fell to 4.8¢/kWh. [reNews]

SpaceX Falcon (SpaceX, Unsplash)

Minute 13
¶ “Can Rocket Launches Ever Be Green?” • Environmental effects of commercial space launches are a growing concern. There were 144 commercial launches last year, and at least three scientific research papers have already been published this year on the impact of rocket emissions on the atmosphere, temperatures, and the ozone layer. [BBC]

Solar array (US BLM image)

Minute 16
¶ “Two-Thirds Of New Renewables Were Cheaper Than Coal In 2021” • In 2021, 163 GW – nearly two-thirds – of new renewable power added was cheaper than the cheapest coal-fired power plants in G20 countries, a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency says. Costs for solar and windpower fell 13% to 15% in 2021. [Electrek]

Saturday,  July 16

Tricastin nuclear plant (Marianne Casamance, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 19
¶ “French Nuclear Cuts Extend To Next Week As Temperatures Soar” • EDF’s nuclear plant output cuts are expected to stretch into next week as a heat wave sweeping across Europe pushes up river temperatures, reducing its ability to cool its plants. EDF said that two power stations on the Rhone River will produce less electricity in the coming days. [Regina Leader Post]

Hot weather (Scott Goodwill, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “Hypothetical Weather Forecast For 2050 Is Coming True Next Week” • Two years ago, UK Met Office scientists tried a thought experiment to project what our forecasts will look like in 2050. “Not actual weather forecast,” they said. “Examples of plausible weather based on climate projections.” Well, on Monday and Tuesday, it’s here, 28 years early. [CNN]

Solectrac tractor (Solectrac image)

Minute 24
¶ “Solectrac Partners With Nolan Manufacturing To Produce More Electric Tractors” • Solectrac, based in Northern California, makes battery-electric tractors for farming and utility operations. Solectrac announced it has entered into a partnership with Nolan Manufacturing to begin producing its battery-electric tractors in a facility in North Carolina. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 17

Dairy farm in NSW (Rebecca Ritchie, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “Gippsland Dairy Farmers Rein In ‘Unsustainable’ Irrigation Costs With Solar Power” • A major investment in renewable energy has helped an organic dairy farm in the Gippsland region of New South Wales reduce irrigation-related electricity costs from almost $100,000 per year to just $15,000. The farm has 300 milk cows. [ABC]

Portuguese airtanker (Jacek Ulinski, Unsplash)

Minute 30
¶ “Europe Heatwave: Deadly Wildfires Spread In Mediterranean” • Thousands of firefighters contine to battle wildfires in Portugal, Spain and France, as a heatwave shows no sign of easing. A pilot died when his waterbombing plane crashed in Portugal. The Portuguese authorities say at least 238 people have died from the heat over the past week. [BBC]

Wind turbines (Bastian Pudill, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “Regional Investment Strategies Can Unlock Clean Energy Opportunities” • As Congress keeps debating investing in the US clean energy transition, RMI has released a report outlining how regional investment strategies can unlock emerging and growing clean energy opportunities for everything from offshore wind to EVs and green hydrogen. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, July 18

Upside-down image (Photoholgic, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “US EIA Projected The Future Of Electricity Generation In 2001. Why Were They So Wrong?” • Back in 2001, the US Energy Information Administration used its crystal ball and forecast the future of the US electricity supply through 2020. They forecast more coal, a small role for renewables, and steady growth in demand. So what went wrong? [CleanTechnica]

Heat wave (Lucian Dachman, Unsplash)

Minute 38
¶ “UK Heatwave: Country May Have Hottest Day On Record With 41°C Forecast” • The UK could set a record for hottest day this week, with temperatures forecast to hit up to 41°C (106°F). The current record in the UK is 38.7°C, in Cambridge in 2019. The Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for Monday and Tuesday in much of England. [BBC]

Ford F-150 Lightning (Ford image)

Minute 40
¶ “Sunrun Installs 700,000 Solar Roofs – How About 700,000 More For Ford F-150 Lightnings?” • Sunrun, the Number One rooftop solar installer in the US, just installed its 700,000th rooftop solar system. Now, Sunrun has partnered with Ford to combine solarizing homes with electrifying their transport via the Ford F-150 Lighting. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, July 19

Restoration from 2018 to 2020 (Courtesy of Justdiggit)

Minute 43
¶ “Greener Pastures: Can Ancient Eco-Engineering Help Fix Our Degraded Landscapes?” • Land management is one of the key issues facing the planet in the 21st century. As a result of climate change droughts are becoming longer and more intense and severe flooding is getting worse. But the land can be restored by use of old techniques. [CNN]

Dry weather (Wolfgang Hasselmann, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Hot Records Are Outpacing Cool By More Than 10-To-1 This Year As Europe And US Brace For Dangerous Heat” • Records for high temperatures are far outpacing cool records worldwide this year as Europe and the US brace again for dangerous heat waves. Globally, 188 all-time heat records were broken this year versus 18 records for cold weather. [CNN]

US Capitol Building (Andy Feliciotti, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “US Senate Democrats Urge Biden To Declare Climate Emergency” • Two US Senate Democrats, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley, urged President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency and use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of a wide range of renewable energy products and systems including solar panels. [MSN]

Wednesday, July 20

Public land (Ethan Wright-Magoon, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “The Oil Industry’s Grip On Public Lands And Waters May Be Slowing Progress Toward Energy Independence” • Of public lands in the western US 77% that are ideal for renewable energy projects are in areas with low or no oil and gas potential, yet they are still prioritized for oil and gas leasing. That imbalance can slow progress. [Center for American Progress]

Burned homes (South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service)

Minute 54
¶ “Fires Blaze As UK Passes 40°C For First Time” • In the UK, over thirty locations went past the previous record of 38.7°C, set in 2019. At Coningsby in Lincolnshire, hit 40.3°C (104.5°F). With the heat comes a surge of fires. Some train service was canceled when rails buckled and overhead cables failed. With such heat, there were more fires. [BBC]

Chevrolet Equinox EV, coming soon (GM image)

Minute 56
¶ “In AP Interview, GM’s Mary Barra Explains Her Strategy To Catch Tesla By 2025” • GM’s goal of catching up to Tesla for EV sales by 2025 seems like an impossible climb. GM still only sells around 1/10 the electric vehicles Tesla does. Mary Barra says she thinks they’re still going to pull it off, by focusing on parts of the market where Tesla is having trouble. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #481 – 7/21/2022

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 #480 – 7/14/2022

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 #480 – 7/14/2022

Minute 0: Introduction 

Thursday, July 7

High speed train (Winston Chen, Unsplash)

Minute 2 
¶ “Europe Wants A High-Speed Rail Network To Replace Airplanes” • A network of modern, super-fast and comfortable trains could run between every major city in the EU, as a reliable, comfortable and sustainable alternative to air travel. That was the vision outlined by rail industry leaders in Lyon, as they seek big increases in numbers of passengers. [CNN]

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (EDF image)

Minute 5
¶ “France Seeks To Nationalize Nuclear Giant EDF To Ride Out Energy Crisis” • The French government intends to nationalize its financially-struggling nuclear giant Electricite de France to help it ride out Europe’s worst energy crisis in a generation. EDF, already 84% state-owned, has been trying to deal with high costs of nuclear energy for years. [Energy Voice]

Hexicon’s 32-MW TwinHub floater (Hexicon image)

Minute 8
¶ “Hexicon Secures First Ever CfD For UK Floating Wind” • Hexicon’s 32-MW TwinHub has become the first ever floating wind project to land a Contract for Difference in the UK, securing a strike price of £87.30/MWh in the latest auction round. The project involves two turbines built on a single foundation off the coast of Cornwall. [reNews]

Friday, July 8

Solar array (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 11
¶ “Wind And Solar Produce More Electricity Than Nuclear For The First Time In The US” • In April, for the first time, wind and solar produced 17.96% of the US electricity. They generated more electricity than the US nuclear power plants. Renewable sources generated nearly 30% of US electricity, according to the SUN DAY Campaign. [Electrek]

Wind turbine (Expect Best, Pexels)

Minute 13
¶ “Price Of Offshore Wind Power Falls To Cheapest Ever Level In UK” • The price of offshore wind power in the UK has fallen to an all-time low, which could ease the pressure on future household energy bills. Offshore windfarm operators will sell power for as little as £37.35/MWh ($45.02/MWh), 5.8% below the lowest bid in the most recent auction in 2019. [The Guardian]

Wind turbines (Jason Blackeye, Unsplash)

Minute 16
¶ “Germany Approves Largest Renewable Energy Expansion Plan In History” • In a bid to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and reach climate targets, Germany approved what is seen as the largest renewable energy expansion in its history, with the legal package passing the parliament. The plan is for 80% renewable electricity by 2030. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

Saturday,  July 9

Sizewell B reactor dome (Dave Croker, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 19
¶ “Strong Tides Along UK Coast Could Create Electricity For Less Than Cost Of Nuclear Power” • The tides along Britain’s west coast could produce huge amounts of clean electricity for less cost than nuclear, Sky News was told. The tides are only second to Canada’s, peaking in the Bristol Channel, off the coast of north Wales, and off northwest England. [Sky News]

Nuclear plant (Petar Avramoski, Pexels)

Minute 22
¶ “Is Nuclear Sustainable? Read The Label” • The EU decided that nuclear is sustainable, but it’s getting some major pushback from scientists, sustainable investor groups, and the finance advisers of the European Commission itself. They argue the rules will divert money from truly green projects to prop up legacy industries and allow emissions to rise further. [Politico]

Solar panels (Karsten Würth, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “SCOTUS EPA Ruling Will Not Stop Plans For Public Power Decarbonization” • The recent ruling by the Supreme Court that limits the EPA’s authority to cap greenhouse gas emissions will not materially affect public power utilities’ credit quality or the move away from fossil fuels, Fitch Ratings says. Any benefits for fossil fuels should be short lived. [Fitch Ratings]

Sunday, July 10

National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (US BLM, public domain)

Minute 27
¶ “Biden Administration Takes Key Step In Controversial Alaska Oil Drilling Project, Angering Environmental Groups” • The US Department of Interior released a draft environmental impact statement for the ConocoPhillips oil drilling project, known as Willow. The statement is not a final decision, but is an important step toward developing oil wells. [CNN]

NREL Flatirons Campus (Werner Slocum, NREL)

Minute 30
¶ “How Inflation Could Be Cut By FERC And Renewable Energy Doubled” • Inflation is one of the chief financial challenges in America. A solution lies in plain sight, because technologies like wind and solar power can help stabilize domestic energy prices and prevent future price spikes due to over-reliance on volatile international fuel markets. [CleanTechnica]

Rammed earth buildings in Yemen (LBM1948, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 32
¶ “The Sustainable Cities Made From Mud” • Mud buildings are remarkably good at keeping us cool in summer and warm in winter, and withstanding extreme weather. In the search for more sustainable buildings, architects are returning to the age-old construction material. Mud could be the perfect sustainable alternative to concrete. [BBC]

Monday, July  11

Nuclear power plant in France (Stefan Kühn, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 35
¶ “Slow, Expensive And No Good For 1.5° Target: CSIRO Crushes Coalition Nuclear Fantasy” • Australia’s leading scientific research organisation, the CSIRO, has delivered a damming blow against the renewed push by the federal Coalition for nuclear power, saying it is expensive and too slow for a significant contribution to any serious climate targets. [Renew Economy]

Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia (User: me, CC-BY-SA 2.5)

Minute 38
¶ “China’s Wind Farms Have A Role In Its Renewable Energy Future. Can They Also Ease Effects Of Dust Storms?” • In spring, northwest winds carry large amounts of sand from the Gobi Desert, covering China’s north with yellow dust and sand. The Great Green Wall was created to mitigate this. Some believe wind farms can help also. [South China Morning Post]

Epiroc electric loader (Courtesy of Epiroc)

Minute 40
¶ “Glencore Places Order For Battery-Powered Mining Vehicles” • Glencore is one of the world’s largest mining and raw materials companies. Its Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations division recently placed an order with Sweden’s Epiroc for a full fleet of battery-electric mining equipment for use at the Onaping Depth Project in Ontario. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, July  12

Cooling towers at a nuclear plant (Jiří Sedláček, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 43
¶ “Catholic Groups Oppose EU Vote To Designate Gas And Nuclear Energy As ‘Green'” • Catholic organizations in Europe denounced a move by European Union lawmakers to designate gas and nuclear energy as “green” options for sustainable investing as part of the 27-nation bloc’s efforts to combat climate change. [National Catholic Reporter]

Rigid sails on a cargo ship (Photo via Cision PR Newswire)

Minute 46
¶ “High-Tech Hard Sails Transform Old Cargo Ships Into Racing Yachts” • Wind power is making a comeback on the high seas, and the global shipping industry beginning to be down for it. Rigid sails for cargo ships are still in the tryout phase, but that could change as Russia continues to pinch the global fuel supply and climate goals kick in. [CleanTechnica]

Texas sunrise (Dan Dennis, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “Extreme Temperatures Will Challenge The Texas Power Grid This Week” • Summer is always hot in Texas, but this is hotter than hot – it’s a record-breaking, sizzling hot, sweaty summer. The high temperature in Dallas has topped 100°F every day since July 3, and the heat is continuing. The electric grid is being challenged. [CNN]

Wednesday, July 13

Climate protest (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “Developing Nations Now Have A Scientific Basis For Legal Action Against Us, China For Climate Damages” • In a Dartmouth College study, researchers put dollar figures on economic harm caused by the countries most responsible for the climate crisis. The data could serve as a starting point for legal action against the world’s wealthiest nations. [CNN]

District heating with geothermal (DOE image)

Minute 54
¶ “Funding Notice: Community Geothermal Heating And Cooling Design And Deployment” • The US DOE announced a funding opportunity for Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling Design and Deployment. It will award some funding for projects that help communities design and deploy geothermal district heating and cooling systems. [CleanTechnica]

Solar Sal boat (Solar Sal image)

Minute 56
¶ “Solar Sal Electric Boat Cruises All Day On Nothing But Sunshine” • The Solar Sal 24 electric boat can cruise all day on sunshine alone. Sure, it has batteries onboard that can be used to power the boat after dark, but by careful attention to the natural world, ten people can enjoy a day on the water and never burn a drop of fuel or stop to recharge. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #480 – 7/14/2022

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