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 #485 – 8/18/2022
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, August 4
Building a wind turbine in Lake Erie (LEEDco image)
Minute 2
¶ “Ohio Court Rules Icebreaker Can Proceed” • The proposed six-turbine Icebreaker offshore wind project in Lake Erie has received a favourable decision from the Ohio Supreme Court which has ruled the project may proceed. The court held the Ohio Power Siting Board properly issued a permit that allows the project to move ahead. [reNews]
UN Building, New York (Mike Peel, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Minute 5
¶ “UN Security Council To Discuss Ukraine Nuclear Plant Crisis” • The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to address the crisis at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex. Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of having bombed the power plant. A source in the Security Council presidency said that the meeting would be on 11 August. [RTE]
Ford parking garage (Ford Motor Company)
Minute 8
¶ “Ford Makes Largest Purchase Of Renewable Energy From A Utility In American History” • Ford Motor Company took a major step towards its renewable energy goal. It announced the largest renewable energy purchase ever made in the US from a utility, 650 MW of renewably generated electricity from DTE Energy, which is based in Michigan. [Jalopnik]
Friday, August 5
Aurora over ice (Lightscape, Unsplash)
Minute 11
¶ “World’s Largest Ice Sheet Crumbling Faster Than Previously Thought, Satellite Imagery Shows” • Antarctica’s coastal glaciers are shedding icebergs more rapidly than nature can replenish the crumbling ice, doubling previous estimates of losses from the world’s largest ice sheet over the past 25 years, a satellite analysis published in the journal Nature shows. [CNN]
Aptera (Aptera)
Minute 13
¶ “Aptera Reveals Gamma (Near-Production) Vehicle Interior” • A social media post by Aptera shows the great progress it is making toward its production vehicle. Not only is Aptera in the last phase before its production design, but they’ve kitted the EV out with a complete interior and exterior, something it didn’t do with the last phase of production. [CleanTechnica]
Drax power plant (Martin Sepion, Unsplash)
Minute 16
¶ “Burning Imported Wood In Drax Power Plant ‘Doesn’t Make Sense’, Says Kwarteng” • The importing of wood to burn in Drax power station “is not sustainable” and “doesn’t make any sense”, the business and energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, told a private meeting of MPs this week. Scientists have held this position for a long time. [The Guardian]
Saturday, August 6
Los Angeles (izayah ramos, Unsplash)
Minute 19
¶ “A Disastrous Megaflood Is Coming To California, Experts Say. It Could Be The Most Expensive Natural Disaster In History” • A study by Science Advances shows climate change has doubled the chances of a disastrous flood happening in California in the next four decades. Experts say it would be unlike anything anyone alive today has ever experienced. [CNN]
Greener greens (Tesco image)
Minute 22
¶ “Tesco Electrifies Deliveries To More Than 400 City Center Stores In Greater London” • Tesco has become the first retailer to launch a zero-emission electric lorry to make deliveries from its distribution centersto stores in city centers in the UK. Electric trucks will help improve air quality in urban areas, and their use should be prioritized. [CleanTechnica]
Ford Lightning pickups (Ford image)
Minute 24
¶ “Ford Lightning: Orders Open Again, But Prices Are Up, Better Standard Range, New Hitch Assist Feature, Other News” • Ford is taking orders for the F-150 Lightning again, but prices are higher. That was expected, but there are two new reasons to make an order: There’s ten more miles of range, and an available feature to help with hauling. [CleanTechnica]
Sunday, August 7
Mussels (Christopher Carson, Unsplash)
Minute 27
¶ “Can Eating Fish Ever Be Sustainable?” • Seafood includes everything from farmed prawns to wild mackerel. It can have an array of environmental impacts, from high carbon emissions to the effects of overfishing, slaughtered bycatch, or antibiotic pollution. But some seafood can be a healthy source of food with low-carbon, low environmental impact. [BBC]
Golf hole (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)
Minute 30
¶ “Climate Activists Fill Golf Holes With Cement After Water Ban Exemption” • Climate activists in southern France have filled golf course holes with cement to protest against the exemption of golf greens from water bans amid the country’s severe drought. Golf greens are getting water while a hundred French villages are running short. [BBC]
Autonomy Tesla Model Y (Autonomy image)
Minute 32
¶ “Autonomy Orders 23,000 More Electric Vehicles” • After a lot of recent news about Autonomy, the biggest EV subscription company in the US, we have even more. The company has just ordered 23,000 EVs from 17 different automakers to expand and diversify its subscription fleet. Up till now, it has only offered the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. [CleanTechnica]
Monday, August 8
Xpeng G9 (Xpeng image)
Minute 35
¶ “XPeng Bringing Truly Ultrafast Charging To Town” • Chinese EV startup XPeng is on the verge of releasing an EV that will be able to charge at a wicked-fast pace. According to the company, the G9 will be able to gain 200 kilometers (124 miles) of driving range in just 5 minutes. The company is reportedly rolling out the chargers for the car, as well. [CleanTechnica]
Fishing boat (Knut Troim, Unsplash)
Minute 38
¶ “World leaders Make Fifth Attempt To Pass UN Oceans Treaty” • World leaders will meet at the UN in New York for more talks to save the world’s oceans from overexploitation. The UN High Seas Treaty has been through 10 years of negotiations but has yet to be signed. If agreed, it would put 30% of the world’s oceans into conservation areas by 2030. [BBC]
Tesla Model 3 (Martin Katler, Unsplash)
Minute 40
¶ “BEV Demand Increasing, ICEV Demand Decreasing Across Europe” • Compared to 2021, new car sales have dropped by 11% to 20% in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the UK. Full battery EV demand is increasing, while all types of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV), including hybrids, have falling demand throughout Europe. [CleanTechnica]
Tuesday, August 9
Kyiv (Artem Zhukov, Unsplash)
Minute 43
¶ “UN Can Facilitate IAEA Power Plant Visit, But Russia Puts Conditions” • The UN has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, a spokesman said, but a Russian diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing a mission through Kyiv was too dangerous. [Reuters]
Monarch butterfly (Gary Bendig, Unsplash)
Minute 46
¶ “One-Third Of The Food We Eat Is At Risk Because The Climate Crisis Is Endangering Butterflies And Bees” • Species of bees, butterflies, and bats are all pollinators. Without them, fruits, vegetables and other plants wouldn’t be pollinated, and that’s a major problem for our food supply. They are in decline because of climate change. [CNN]
Heidelberg (Mateo Krössler, Unsplash)
Minute 48
¶ “German Households Face Levy Of Hundreds Of Euros On Gas Bills” • German households will have to pay hundreds of Euros more a year for gas under a levy to help energy companies cover the cost of replacing Russian supplies. For an average family of four, the additional charge will amount €480 ($489; £404), according to Verivox. [BBC]
Wednesday, August 10
Hoover Dam (Ryan Thorpe, Unsplash)
Minute 51
¶ “Takeaways From Today’s Report On Lake Mead And The Colorado River” • The federal government announced that the Colorado River will operate in a Tier 2 shortage condition for the first time starting in January as the West’s historic drought has taken a severe toll on Lake Mead. States are facing mandatory cuts in water use. [CNN]
Old tires (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)
Minute 54
¶ “Car Tires Are Disastrous For The Environment. This Startup Wants To Be A Driving Force In Fixing The Problem” • As tires wear down, the material they lose becomes dust. Around 6.1 million metric tons of tire dust end up in our atmosphere and waterways annually. A startup in London, The Tyre Collective, says its technology can reduce the problem. [CNN]
Hope (Marc-Olivier Jodoin, Unsplash)
Minute 56
¶ “Can Renewable Energy Visions Of The Future Actually Be Within Reach?” • The passage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US has opened up hope that this is just a start, that other renewable energy and sustainability visions of the future might be within our grasps. Let’s imagine looking into an all-electric crystal ball … [CleanTechnica]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #485 – 8/18/2022
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 