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 #500 – 12/1/2022
Minute 0: Introduction
Wednesday, November 23
Koala up a tree (David Clode, Unsplash)
Minute 2
¶ “Australia Will See More Extreme Weather Events, Putting Strain On Economy, Report Shows” • Australia will continue to see increased extreme rainfall, heat, and more dangerous fires, its government agencies warned. The changes are happening more rapidly and will put further pressure on Australia to transition its economy away from fossil fuels. [CNN]
Gas terminal (Uniper image)
Minute 5
¶ “Ukraine War: How Germany Ended Reliance On Russian Gas” • After a scramble to secure alternative supplies, lights sparkle in German Christmas markets. Germany’s hastily assembled system to manage without Russian gas appears to be working for now. And engineers have finished building the country’s first liquified natural gas terminal in record time. [BBC]
Thursday, November 24
Diesel truck on the road (Joshua Woroniecki, Unsplash)
Minute 8
¶ “California Contemplates Ban On Diesel Trucks” • The California Air Resources Board is proposing a plan to phase out diesel trucks. The proposed regulations would prohibit the use of new diesel trucks in and around busy railways and ports by 2024 one report says. A goal is to remove every diesel truck and bus fleet from California roads by 2045. [CleanTechnica]
Drilling for heat (Dandelion Energy image)
Minute 11
¶ “Dandelion Energy Ready To Expand Ground Source Heat Pumps” • The Inflation Reduction Act has given the heat pump industry a lift. Reportedly, Dandelion Energy raised $70 million more to expand its business from a group of investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lennar, one of the largest homebuilders in America. [CleanTechnica]
Tiny forest (IVN Natuureducatie image)
Minute 13
¶ “Urban Rewilding Is Bringing Wildlife To The Heart Of Cities” • One vision of the futures of cities foresees a return to what they were once built upon, the wilderness complete with forests and wild animals that were lost long ago. That vision is beginning to be realized in major cities around the world in the shape of the urban rewilding movement. [CNN]
Friday, November 25
BYD Qin (Mohammad Fathollahi, Unsplash)
Minute 16
¶ “BYD May Begin Sodium-Ion Battery Production In 2023” • Rumors flying about in China claim BYD plans to be producing sodium-ion battery cells in the second quarter of 2023 and use them to power some of its own EVs. The company claims those rumors are false, but they come to us from a source generally regarded as reliable. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model 3 (Vlad Tchompalov, Unsplash)
Minute 19
¶ “How Long Does A Tesla Battery Last In Australia?” • The warranty on a Tesla battery is 160,000 km (100,000 miles). But I am fast coming to the conclusion that this figure is no longer relevant. I read recently that some battery recyclers in the US are complaining that the batteries are not degrading fast enough and they need more stock. [CleanTechnica]
Saturday, November 26
Wind turbine (Ian Van Landuyt, Unsplash)
Minute 22
¶ “What Higher Natural Gas Prices Mean For CT’s Clean Energy Push” • United Illuminating and Eversource, Connecticut’s two largest power utilities, announced last week that electric bills for most customers would increase between $79 and $85 a month as a result of the global natural gas shortage precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [CT Insider]
Europe’s biggest battery (Harmony Energy image)
Minute 24
¶ “Europe’s Biggest Battery Storage System Goes Online Four Months Early” • Renewable power company Harmony Energy Limited has completed work on Europe’s biggest battery four months early because energy demands are expected to rise due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The system can store up to 196 MWh of electricity. [TechSpot]
Sunday, November 27
Kyiv (Viktor Talashuk, Unsplash)
Minute 27
¶ “How Much Damage Has Russia Done To Power Supplies?” • After facing setbacks on the battlefield, Russian forces have been concentrating on attacking Ukrainian power facilities, fuel depots and water works. Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national power company, says damage to electricity installations is so great that 50% of the demand cannot be met. [BBC]
Wheat (Pixabay, Pexels, cropped)
Minute 30
¶ “Could Centuries-Old Wheat Help Feed The Planet?” • Could the key to feeding the world with a changing climate be hiding in a 300-year-old museum collection? That’s a hope of scientists combing through 12,000 specimens of wheat and its relatives archived at the Natural History Museum, as Climate change, pests, and diseases pressure wheat crops. [BBC]
Better growth of dendrites (Courtesy of MIT)
Minute 32
¶ “MIT Researchers Solve Dendrites Mystery To Creating Smaller And Lighter Batteries” • A breakthrough on dendrites by MIT researchers may lead to building a new type of rechargeable lithium battery that is safer, lighter, and more compact than existing models. It’s a concept that has been pursued by labs all over the world for years. [CleanTechnica]
Monday, November 28
Vermont State House (Decumanus, CC-BU-SA 3.0)
Minute 35
¶ “Vermont’s Climate Plan Is Built On A Foundation Made Of Paper” • Vermont has a plan to combat climate change. But the plan rests on a foundation of paper because Vermont’s most consequential energy policy papers over our region’s fossil use and does not move the needle when it comes to making our region’s power supply more renewable. [VTDigger]
Wind turbine (Trygve Finkelsen, Pexels)
Minute 38
¶ “Renewables Providing Nearly A Quarter Of US Electricity In 2022” • US renewable energy sources provided almost 23% of the nation’s electrical generation during the first three-quarters of 2022, according to a report by the SUN DAY Campaign, which reviewed data released the day before Thanksgiving by the US Energy Information Administration. [reNews]
Engine test (Rolls-Royce image)
Minute 40
¶ “Rolls-Royce Tests A Jet Engine Running On Hydrogen” • Rolls-Royce is putting a small aircraft jet engine through tests that could one day lead to huge changes within the aviation industry. The engine itself is almost completely conventional. But this is the first time a modern aircraft engine has ever been run on hydrogen. [BBC]
Tuesday, November 29
SK On battery factory in Georgia (Courtesy of SK On)
Minute 43
¶ “Hyundai Plans Three Battery Factories With Annual Capacity Of 90 GWh” • Motivated by the Inflation Reduction Act, Hyundai broke ground on a $5 billion electric car factory near Savannah, Georgia. Also, with partners SK On and LG Energy Solution, it is building three battery factories there, with a total capacity of 90 GWh annually. [CleanTechnica]
Caterpillar 793 electric truck (Courtesy of Caterpillar)
Minute 46
¶ “Caterpillar Makes One Gigantic Electric Truck To Rule Them All” • The latest electric truck from Caterpillar is a zero-emission version of the company’s massive diesel-powered 793 mining truck. It will help push EVs for heavy duty use, as it demonstrates a battery-powered electric drive that can tackle some of the toughest jobs on Earth. [CleanTechnica]
Solar array in South Africa (Art Solar image)
Minute 48
¶ “South Africa Turns To Solar To Help Stop Power Cuts” • To try to help solve the problem of frequent power cuts and boost its environmental credentials, the South African government is undertaking efforts to boost its solar power generation capacity. To do this it is encouraging firms in the solar sector to tender for contracts. [BBC]
Wednesday, November 30
V2G charging site (Nuuve image)
Minute 51
¶ “Vehicle-To-Grid Solutions Could Open Fast Lane To Net-Zero Future” • MIT Research published in Energy Advances shows that as the number of EVs rises, the collective fleet’s batteries might function as a cost-effective, large-scale energy source. This could have significant effects on the energy transition, both for EVs and for the grid. [CleanTechnica]
South Tyrol, Italy (Lukas Leitner, Unsplash)
Minute 54
¶ “The Alpine Villages Producing Their Own Power” • There are about 1,000 hydropower plants in South Tyrol, and the vast majority of them are small or medium-sized, ranging from tiny ones powering a single farm, to clusters of more sizeable ones covering an entire valley’s supply. With Europe in an energy crisis, they are getting a lot of attention. [BBC]
Airbus after zero emissions (Airbus image)
Minute 56
¶ “Airbus Designed A Cold Heart For Its New Zero-Emission Plane In Record Time” • One challenge for fueling aircraft with liquid hydrogen to power aircraft is that it has to be kept at -253°C (-423.4°F). But Airbus is serious about doing that. It took an empty warehouse in Nantes, and in a little over a year built its first cryogenic hydrogen tank. [CleanTechnica]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #500 – 12/1/2022
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 