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Energy Week #504 – 1/5/2023
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, December 22
Polar vortex (National Science Foundation, public domain)
Minute 2
¶ “Climate Change Could Be Driving Bomb Cyclones And Unstable Polar Vortex” • Warming in the Arctic has disrupted the movement of air around the North Pole. Usually, cold air in the Arctic is contained in the Arctic circle by a ring of fast-moving air that circles the North Pole, called the stratospheric polar vortex. That has changed with the climate. [Newsweek]
Solar panels in Berlin (Georg Slickers, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
Minute 5
¶ “EU Solar Shines Bright In Stunning Year” • The EU has reportedly added a record 41.4 GW of solar power in 2022. The new capacity is equivalent to the power needs of 12.4 million European homes. In essence, the new solar capacity replaces 102 LNG tankers. Annual EU solar power growth has increased by 47% from 28.1 GW in 2021. [CleanTechnica]
Friday, December 23
Pug keeping warm in an extra layer (Matthew Henry, Unsplash)
Minute 8
¶ “US Winter Storm Will Bring Frostbite Within Minutes” • In much of the US and Canada, plunging temperatures can lead to frostbite on bare skin in only five to 10 minutes, experts warn. The National Weather Service said temperatures of -50°F (-45°C) and -70°F were possible by the end of this week in some parts of the US (though not in the Northeast). [BBC]
Saturday, December 24
Stranded by snow (Todd Diemer, Unsplash)
Minute 11
¶ “Stranded Native Americans Burn Clothes For Warmth” • In South Dakota, Native American tribal leaders are appealing for urgent help as snowed-in communities run out of vital supplies in a winter storm. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has been buried in more than 30 inches (76 cm) of snow, but winds have stacked snow drifts 12 feet (3.6 meters) high. [BBC]
Sunday, December 25
Polar bear (Hans-Jurgen Mager, Unsplash)
Minute 13
¶ “Canada’s Hudson Bay Polar Bear Population Plummets As Climate Change Warms Arctic” • Canada’s Western Hudson Bay polar bear population fell 27% in just five years, according to a government report released this week, suggesting climate change is impacting the animals. The Government of Nunavut found a drop of roughly 50% from the 1980s. [Fiji Times]
Crop in a greenhouse (Courtesy of the USAF)
Minute 16
¶ “How The US Dept Of Defense Is Shaping The Bioeconomy Of The Future” • Plastics and other synthetic materials made from coal, oil, and natural gas have been sidelining biobased products for decades, but the era of petrochemicals is coming to a close. A new, futuristic bioeconomy is beginning to take shape, and the US DOD is behind it. [CleanTechnica]
Monday, December 26
Solar array in Austria (Raphael Cruz, Unsplash)
Minute 19
¶ “Nation’s PV Growth, Exports Chase Demand” • China’s new PV installations grew 98.7% year-on-year to 58.24 GW during the first 10 months this year, as the country has actively promoted solar power development for some years. Exports hit a record high amid surging demand overseas, hitting $44.03 billion, up 90.3 percent year-on-year. [China Economic Net]
Nant de Drace facility (Courtesy of Nant de Drance, SA)
Minute 22
¶ “The Making Of A Pumped Hydro Water Storage Battery In Switzerland” • The Nant de Drace pumped hydro facility, with a capacity to store 20 GWh of electricity, is now in operation high in the Swiss Alps near the border with France. It has been under construction for 14 years, and uses 18 km of tunnels cut into the Valais Alps. [CleanTechnica]
Tuesday, December 27
Planting a tree in Puerto Rico (US FWS, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Minute 24
¶ “Puerto Rico’s Agriculture Solution To Climate Change” • Agroecology is a low-impact agricultural method. It protects biodiversity and soil quality by working with nature to produce food sustainably. Agroecology, initially ridiculed and labeled a hippy movement by universities and government officials, has spread across the territory. [Pasquines]
Wednesday, December 28
Oil platform (Jan-Rune Smenes Reite, Pexels, cropped)
Minute 27
¶ “Russia Bans Oil Sales To Countries Using Price Cap” • Russia has banned oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a price cap agreed by Western nations earlier this month. The price cap was taken up by the G7 group of nations, Australia and the EU. It prohibits countries from paying more than $60 (€56, £50) per barrel of Russian oil. [BBC]
Thursday, December 29
Solar array (GCL image)
Minute 30
¶ “EU Market Outlook Says Solar Production Is Soaring” • Solar production has already made a real difference in the current EU energy crisis. Driven by dramatically reduced fossil fuel imports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, solar production soared nearly 50% in the EU this year, after 27 EU nations added 41.4 GW of solar PV capacity. [CleanTechnica]
Tourists in the Kubuqi Desert (Popolon, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Minute 32
¶ “China Starts Work On Huge $11 Billion Desert Renewables Project” • China broke ground on an 80 billion yuan ($11 billion) renewables project in Inner Mongolia, part of a massive rollout of clean power to achieve the nation’s ambitious climate targets. The project, located in the Kubuqi Desert, will have 16 GW of capacity when completed. [Yahoo Finance]
Friday, December 30
Vestas turbines (Image courtesy of Vestas)
Minute 35
¶ “Vestas Prototype Turbine Produces First Power” • Vestas’ prototype V236-15MW turbine has successfully produced its first electricity at the Osterild National test center in Western Jutland, Denmark. The 15-MW prototype will undergo an extensive test and verification program to ensure reliability before certification and the beginning of serial production. [reNews]
Saturday, December 31
Quantino 25 (Courtesy of nanoFlowcell)
Minute 38
¶ “NanoFlocell Wants To Sell Flow Battery Cars In The US” • In the past, flow batteries were too bulky and heavy to be of much use for EVs, but that’s changing. A new concept from nanoFlocell is a sports car called the Quantino 25. Its flow battery will take it from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds. And it has a range 1,200 miles! [CleanTechnica]
Rice paddy (Pan Species, Unsplash)
Minute 40
¶ “Experts Push For Crop Diversification To Deal With Climate Change” • The need for crop diversification to deal with climate change and enhance the nutritional value of food was stressed by experts at a workshop at Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in India. They cited a need for broad agreement on climate change. [The Statesman]
Sunday, January 1
Sorghum (Larry Rana, USDA, public domain)
Minute 43
¶ “Sorghum: Harnessing The Power Of Climate Smart Crops” • As we begin to see the effects of climate change, it is clear that not all crops will be reliable producers in the long term. Extreme weather patterns and changing ecosystems pose a threat to many of the sources of food and energy we rely on. Sorghum, however, is up to the challenge. [The Business Journals]
Monday, January 2
Flow country (Jayzed kay, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)
Minute 46
¶ “The Highland Peatbog Seeking Worldwide Recognition” • In the 1970s, peatbogs were drained as huge diggers made massive ditches for planting non-native trees for commercial forestry. Then the environmental damage became clear. Now a vast area of peatbog in Scotland’s Flow Country could become one of Unesco’s newest World Heritage sites. [BBC]
Tuesday, January 3
ZeroAvia airplane (ZeroAvia image)
Minute 49
¶ “The Wait For Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Aircraft Just Got Shorter” • Batteries and fuel cells have scaled up for semi trucks, locomotives, and construction vehicles along with stationary energy storage. Sending them up on an airplane is a different matter entirely, but recent activity indicates that zero emission aircraft are close at hand. [CleanTechnica]
Solar panels (Thomas Coker, Unsplash)
Minute 51
¶ “2022 Another Remarkable Year For Australian Renewables” • Not many years ago, some so-called experts claimed more than 20% renewables would be a disaster for the electricity grid. In 2022, Queensland had the lowest portion of renewable electricity at 22.4%, New South Wales was next lowest at 27.7%, and the other states ranged from 38.2% to 93.1%. [SolarQuotes]
Wednesday, January 4
Wind turbines (Waldemar Brandt, Unsplash)
Minute 54
¶ “Wind Power Sets Third Generation Record In A Year” • A new wind energy record was set last week in the UK, National Grid ESO confirmed. Wind power generated 20.918 GW of electricity over a half-hour period on 30 December 2022. Trade body RenewableUK said that wind energy provided 61.4% of the UK’s power that day. [reNews]
Vermont (Kevin Davison, Unsplash)
Minute 56
¶ “Peter Sterling: A Vermont Solution To Fighting Climate Change: 100% Renewable Energy” • It’s 2023 and the question is no longer “is climate change here” but “what is Vermont going to do to stop it?” We already have a law in place, the 2015 Renewable Energy Standard, that takes us part way there. It’s time to take the next step. [Caledonian Record]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #504 – 1/5/2023
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 