Energy Week #534 – 8/3/2023

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 #534 – 8/3/2023

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, July 27

Wind farm (musicFactory lehmannsound, Pexels)

Minute 2
¶ “Democrats Push More Resilient, Lower-Carbon Infrastructure At US Senate Climate Hearing” • The changing climate is hurting infrastructure and the national economy, members of the US Senate Budget Committee said. Members of both parties agreed on the need to speed up the approval process for large energy and infrastructure projects. [Iowa Capital Dispatch]

Charging an EV (myenergi, Unsplash)

Minute 5
¶ “Is The Decline Of Oil In Sight?” • The idea of “peak oil” has been around for decades. It foresees a peak in the amount of oil we can extract and an irreversible decline in production. Last month, the International Energy Agency recently announced that we may soon reach a different but related value: a peak in the global use of (or “demand for”) oil. [CNN]

Lithium extraction from brines (US DOE image)

Minute 8
¶ “Lithium Extraction And Conversion From Geothermal Brines – Ten Projects Get $10.9 Million From US Government” • The US DOE announced $10.9 million for ten projects across nine states that will advance innovative technologies to extract and convert battery-grade lithium from geothermal brine sources within the US. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, July 28

Floating offshore wind turbine (Untrakdrover, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 10
¶ “Governor Mills Signs Bill To Create Jobs, Advance Clean Energy, And Fight Climate Change Through Offshore Wind” • Governor Janet Mills signed into law LD 1895, to procure up to 3,000 MW of offshore wind energy, allowing for critical port development, while protecting critical lobstering areas from development. [Maine.gov]

1 Java Street building (Marvel and Lendlease image)

Minute 13
¶ “AC Is Hard On The Planet. This Building Has A Sustainable Solution” • With 834 rental apartments along with commercial space, a building on Brooklyn’s waterfront is set to be the largest multifamily, residential building with “geothermal” heating and cooling system in New York State when it’s completed in late 2025, developer Lendlease says. [CNN]

Italian weather station (Rémih, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 16
“False Claims Of Bogus Heatwave Spread Online” • False claims suggesting that the BBC misreported temperatures in southern Europe were spread on social media. One GB News presenter accused the BBC of trying to “make people terrified of the weather” by reporting ground temperatures instead of the air temperatures. The accusation is debunked. [BBC]

Saturday, July 29

Installing the substation (South Fork Wind image)

Minute 19
¶ “The First US Utility-Scale Offshore Wind Farm Just Got The First US-Built Offshore Substation” • The first US-built offshore substation is now standing at New York’s South Fork Wind, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in US federal waters. South Fork Wind’s 1,500-ton, 60-foot-tall offshore substation came from Texas to New York by ship. [Electrek]

Wind turbines (Dan Meyers, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “Federal Regulators Approve New Rules To Ease Backlogs” • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finalized long-awaited new rules intended to reform how power generation projects get connected to the electric grid. FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said there are 2,000 GW of power projects stuck in interconnection queue. [Idaho Capital Sun]

Portland (Jeana Bala, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “Heat Pumps And Floating Wind To Lead Zero Emissions Campaign In Maine” • When the people of Maine realized how much money they could save each winter by switching to heat pumps, they began installing them in record numbers. In fact, the Maine blew by a target of 100,000 heat pumps by 2025 two years ahead of schedule. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 30

Sea surface temperatures (Copernicus Climate Change Service at ECMWF)

Minute 27
¶ “July 2023 Set To Be Hottest Month On Record” • “According to the data released today, July has already seen the hottest three-week period ever recorded; the three hottest days on record; and the highest-ever ocean temperatures for this time of year,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists at the UN headquarters in New York. [CleanTechnica]

Vacation (Asad Photo Maldives, Pexels)

Minute 30
¶ “Vacations As We Know It Are Over” • Terrified tourists on holidays in the Greek Islands this week came face-to-face with the future. The widespread and extreme weather conditions across southern Europe this summer are a wake-up call – a reminder that not even our vacations are insulated from the growing consequences of global heating. [CNN]

Antarctica (Pixabay, Pexels)

Minute 32
¶ “Antarctica Is Missing An Argentina-Sized Amount Of Sea Ice, And Scientists Are Scrambling To Figure Out Why” • Much of the Northern Hemisphere is suffering record-breaking summer heat waves, but in the Antarctic winter, another terrifying climate record is being broken: The ice is 1.6 million sq km (0.6 million sq mi) below the record low set in 2022. [CNN]

Monday, July 31

Energy Storage (CETT image)

Minute 35
¶ “CETF Counters Long Lead Times With 200 MWh Battery ‘Hives’” • Clean Energy Transfer Fund, based in Queensland, plans to get around long lead times and major capital outlays of grid-scale renewables projects by use of hundreds of sub-5-MW battery units across Australia to create coordinated battery ‘hives’ of up to 200 MWh each. [pv magazine Australia]

Sherburne County Gen Station (Tony Webster, Creative Commons)

Minute 38
¶ “Northland Transmission Line To Boost Reliability As Power Plants Are Replaced By Renewables” • Large cross-country transmission lines carrying clean energy from remote rural areas to population centers will be a key strategy for cutting emissions. The 180-mile-long Northland Reliability Project has a budget of $970 million. [Energy News Network]

Firefighters (BC government image)

Minute 40
¶ “Canada wildfire: Firefighter dies tackling British Columbia blaze” • A third firefighter has died battling Canada’s worst wildfire season on record. So far this season, Canadian wildfires have burned about 30 million acres – more than the land area of South Korea or Cuba. Out of the 990 active fires in Canada, 613 are considered out of control. [BBC]

Tuesday, August 1

Idle oil rigs (Andy Beecroft, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)

Minute 43
¶ “The UK Will Drill For More Oil And Gas In The North Sea” • The UK government announced plans to allow a big expansion of drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea in a move that green activists describe as a taking a “wrecking ball” to the UK climate commitments. He also announced plans for two carbon capture and storage sites in the North Sea. [CNN]

Flooded Montpelier (SMSgt Michael Davis, US Air National Guard)

Minute 46
¶ “How The US Is Fighting Back Against Deadly Floods” • In early July, the state of Vermont was hit by historic flooding. Over nine inches of rain fell in some areas in a single day. And climate change is projected to bring more precipitation. Restoring key floodplains in Vermont could reduce flood-related damages by 20%, a study had shown in 2022. [BBC]

Geothermal power in Iceland (David Elvar Masson, Pexels)

Minute 48
¶ “NREL Researchers Bring Technical Expertise To Communities Selected For Geothermal Heating & Cooling Initiative” • NREL will assist communities in Colorado (Carbondale), Vermont (Middlebury), and Alaska (Seward and Pilgrim Hot Springs, a remote community near Nome) to install district or networked geothermal technologies. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, August 2

Offshore oil rig (tsuda, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 51
¶ “The UK Once Vowed To Be A Global Climate Leader. Now Rishi Sunak Is Stoking A Culture War On Green Policies” • Less than two years ago, Britain was making itself a global leader in fighting the climate crisis. Now, as the Sunak government limps towards an election many expect it to lose, determination seems to have been swapped for divisiveness. [CNN]

Power lines (dhahi alsaeedi, Unsplash)

Minute 54

¶ “Electric lines kill birds. But they’re a lot better than climate change” • The National Audubon Society published a report that makes the case for displacing fossil fuels by building a lot more renewable energy infrastructure – even if certain birds are killed or harmed by some of that infrastructure. The report focuses on power lines specifically. [Los Angeles Times]

Phoenix (Rebecca Lawrence, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “Phoenix Gets Some Relief From Heat Streak Of 31 Days Over 110°F” • Residents of Phoenix have received some brief respite as a 31-day streak of temperatures over 110°F (43°C) came to an end after monsoon rains. The heat streak ended on Monday when the temperatures maxed out at 108°F. Temperatures are expected to rise again this week, possibly to 115°F. [BBC]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #534 – 8/3/2023

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 #533 – 7/27/2023

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 #533 – 7/27/2023

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, July 20

Wind turbines in Texas (Leaflet, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 2
¶ “The Economics Of Green Energy: A Case Study Of Wind Ranchers In Texas” • When a developer offered John Davis cash for the right to install an array of wind turbines on his land, he looked at the numbers. Davis can get $8 per acre raising cattle, $15 per acre from deer hunters, but many hundreds of dollars by hosting wind turbines. [Electropages]

Blast furnace (Kateryna Babaieva, Pexels)

Minute 5
¶ “The Transformation Of Global Steel Making Has Huge Potential” • A major insight from Agora is that the once seen as “hard-to-abate” sector, the steel industry, now has the potential to turn into a “fast-to-abate” sector. A net-zero iron and steel industry is technically feasible by the early 2040s using a rapid rollout of new technologies. [CleanTechnica]

Solar panels (Jadon Kelly, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 8
¶ “Europe Stockpiling 40 GW (DC) Of Chinese Solar Panels” • Chinese-manufactured solar panels are piling up in European warehouses, with about 40 GW (DC) of capacity currently in storage, according to Rystad Energy. The number of panels, worth about £7 billion, is same amount installed across the continent in 2022. [reNews]

Friday, July 21

Geothermal Well (Fervo Energy Image)

Minute 10
¶ “Fervo Completes Geothermal Energy Testing” • Fervo Energy, based in Houston, uses horizontal drilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry to unlock geothermal resources in places where tapping underground sources of heat to generate electricity has never been possible. Fervo says a test at a full-scale pilot facility was successful. [CleanTechnica]

Solar farm near Chapel Hill (Alice Keeney, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 13
¶ “Coal-Fired Electricity Is Falling Below Solar In NC” • Coal was used in 37% of electricity generation in 2015 in North Carolina. In the first quarter of 2023, it was down to 7%, while solar was up to 8%. A North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association officer said, “Based on this data, we’d expect to see solar generation regularly surpass coal generation starting this year.” [WFAE]

New method for making EV batteries (Navitas Systems via ORNL)

Minute 16
¶ “Better EV Batteries Start On Factory Floor With New ‘Dry Manufacturing’ Method” • The latest development in EV battery technology comes from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is part of the US DOE’s sprawling network of research facilities, in a public-private partnership with the US energy storage firm Navitas Systems. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, July 22

Supercell (NOAA, Unsplash)

Minute 19
¶ “Climate Records Tumble, Leaving Earth In Uncharted Territory” • A series of climate records for temperature, ocean heat, and Antarctic sea ice have alarmed some scientists who say their speed and timing is “unprecedented.” Studies are under way, but scientists already fear some of the worst-case scenarios are unfolding. [BBC]

Wildfire in Greece (Lotus R, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 22
¶ “Europe Heatwave: Temperatures To Soar In Greece As Fires Still Burn” • Greece is bracing for more intense heat over the weekend, with meteorologists warning that temperatures could climb as high as 45°C (113°F). It could turn into Greece’s hottest July weekend in 50 years. Meanwhile, firefighters are continuing to battle dozens of wildfires. [BBC]

Canoo Crew Transportation Vehicle

Minute 24
¶ “Canoo Transporting NASA Astronauts” • Canoo delivered three Crew Transportation Vehicles to the Kennedy Space Center. Canoo said that the vehicles were intended to transport astronauts for Artemis lunar missions. It wrote, “The CTVs are engineered to carry fully suited astronauts, flight support crew, and equipment to the launch pad.” [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 23

Solar array in Italy (Balfabio, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 27
¶ “Italy’s Renewable Energy Sector Soars With 2.5 GW Of Additions In Six Months” • Reports indicate that in the first half of 2023, Italy added an impressive 2.5 GW of new renewable capacity. The Monthly Electricity System Report says domestic clean energy sources covered 44.3% of the nation’s electricity demand in June. [Microgrid Media]

El Paso (Kevin Vega, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 30
¶ “El Paso Electric Power Usage Hits Level Not Expected Until 2029 Because Of Heat Wave” • El Paso Electric has shattered power-consumption records four days in the last three weeks because of the heat wave gripping the region for over a month. El Paso Electric officials didn’t expect to hit the power peak levels of this summer until 2029. [El Paso Times]

Solar array in Australia (Grahamec, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 32
¶ “Queensland’s $62 Billion Green Energy SuperGrid Gambit” • Though Australia is a major coal producer, the government has approved several wind and solar power operations and expects the country to become a major green hydrogen hub in the next decade. And now the state of Queensland will become home to a SuperGrid, powered by renewables. [Yahoo Finance]

Monday, July 24

Turbine being installed (China Three Gorges Corporation image)

Minute 35
¶ “The Largest And Most Powerful Wind Turbine Ever Built Is Now Operational” • The world’s largest wind turbine constructed to date is now up and running and contributing to the power grid in China. The turbine is a MySE 16-260. The nomenclature designates a power capacity of 16 MW and a rotor diameter of 260 meters (853 feet). [ScienceAlert]

Hut at Bulungula Lodge (Bulungula Lodge image)

Minute 38
¶ “Remote Xhosa Community Pioneers Use Of Solar Power To Transport Tourists” • Bulungula Lodge in Nqileni Village, a rural community on the Wild Coast of South Africa, has pioneered eco-tourism since it opened in 2004. Solar panels were ten times as expensive then as they are now, yet the lodge has operated on solar power for almost twenty years. [SA Good News]

Solar panels in Paradox Valley (Tony Webster, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Minute 40
¶ “What’s Driving Sudden Flare Of Solar Energy And Storage In Colorado?” • Colorado has had a lot of solar and other renewable energy projects that independent experts say are keeping it ahead of a fast-growing pack of successful green-development states. Accelerants are lucrative tax credits and grants from the Inflation Reduction Act. [Vail Daily]

Tuesday, July 25

Wind farm (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “UAE To Work With COP28 Participants To Triple Global Renewable Energy Capacity By 2030” • The UAE will work with the participants of COP28 to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and to double the production of hydrogen by 2030, according to Suhail Al Mazrouei, the UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. [The National]

Sun in a heatwave (Raphael Wild, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Heat Waves In US And Europe Would Have Been ‘Virtually Impossible’ Without Climate Change” • Attribution analysis from the World Weather Attribution initiative shows that the searing heat in the US and southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, and it made China’s heat wave at least fifty times more likely. [CNN]

Prototype floating wind turbine in the Gulf of Maine. (UMaine)

Minute 48
¶ “Maine To Go All In On Offshore Wind” • The legislature of the state of Maine is expected to pass a bill that calls for getting 3 GW of electricity from offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine by 2040. The measure also supports building port infrastructure and local supply chains to service projects in the gulf’s deep, frigid waters. [Canary Media]

Wednesday, July 26

Atlantic Ocean (Jacob Buller, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “Crucial System Of Ocean Currents Is Heading For A Collapse That ‘Would Affect Every Person On The Planet’” • A vital system of ocean currents could collapse in a few decades if the world continues to pump out planet-heating pollution, scientists warn. The event would be catastrophic for global weather and “affect every person on the planet.” [CNN]

Solar array in China (李大毛 没有猫, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “China Surpasses Renewable Energy Targets Five Years Ahead Of Schedule” • A report by Global Energy Monitor, an NGO that monitors wind and solar farms, China has exceeded its ambitious goals. The report reveals that China is set to double its renewable energy capacity by 2025, reaching a milestone of 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity. [Microgrid Media]

Sailing at Key West (Jonathan Wheeler, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “Florida Ocean Temps Surge To 100°F As Mass Coral Bleaching Event Is Found In Some Reefs” • Multiple reefs near the Florida Keys are completely bleached or dead in a grim escalation that took place in as little as two weeks, experts told CNN. A buoy in the Florida Bay hit 101.1°F at a depth of 5 feet, one of the highest temperatures ever recorded anywhere. [CNN]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #533 – 7/27/2023

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 #532 – 7/20/2023

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 #Energy Week #532

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, July 13

Bleaching coral (Derek Manzello, NOAA)

Minute 2
¶ “Ocean Heat Around Florida Is ‘Unprecedented,’ And Scientists Are Warning Of Major Impacts” • A sudden marine heat wave off the coast of Florida has surprised scientists and sent water temperatures soaring to unprecedented highs, threatening one of the most severe coral bleaching events the state has ever seen. The ocean is close to 97°F in some areas. [CNN]

Romanian landscape (David Marcu, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 5
¶ “Europe Agrees On Landmark Nature And Climate Deal After Tense Negotiations” • The European Parliament voted in favor of legally binding targets to protect and restore nature in the EU, despite strong opposition among policymakers. The EU nature law requires countries to introduce measures to restore nature on 20% of their land and sea by 2030. [CNN]

Harvest (Robert Wiedemann, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “Climate Change Threatens To Cause ‘Synchronized Harvest Failures’ Across The Globe” • New research shows scientists underestimated the climate risk to agriculture and global food production. “High-impact but deeply-uncertain hazards” were ignored. But now the threat of ‘synchronized harvest failures’ has been revealed. [Salon.com]

Friday, July 14

Desert (Fabian Struwe, Unsplash)

Minute 10
¶ “World Registers Hottest Day Ever Recorded – What’s To Come?” • So far in July, the record for the world’s hottest day has been broken four times, data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction shows. ASU News interviewed Randy Cerveny, who keeps the world’s weather records for the World Meteorological Organization. [CleanTechnica]

Energy storage using old wells (Al Hicks, NREL)

Minute 13
¶ “Reality Check: Natural Gas’s True Climate Risk” • New RMI analysis has definitively calculated natural gas’s global life-cycle emissions and compared those to the global life-cycle emissions of coal. A study published in the science journal Environmental Research Letters concludes that leaky gas is as damaging to the climate as coal. [CleanTechnica]

Phoenix from Camelback Mountain (Drew Hays, Unsplash)

Minute 16
¶ “Excessive Heat Scorches Millions Across US Southwest” • An unrelenting heatwave is scorching the Southwest, with Arizona projected to see a record stretch of extreme hot weather. Over 115 million people are under some form of heat warnings, according to the National Weather Service. Phoenix has had fourteen days of temperatures hitting at least 43°C (110°F). [BBC]

Saturday, July 15 

Droogfontein solar plant in South Africa (Globeleq image)

Minute 19
¶ “Municipalities Grant BioPower approval For 1-GW Solar Project In South Africa” • US-based renewable power company BioPower Operations has announced plans to build a 1GW solar power facility in the South African state of Mpumalanga. The company has established a joint venture, which would be around $2.5 billion investment. [PV Tech]

North America, July 14, 2023 (CSU/CIRA & NOAA)

Minute 22
¶ “A New Outbreak Of Canadian Wildfires Is Sending A Plume Of Unhealthy Smoke Into The US Yet Again” • New wildfires in western Canada are sending of unhealthy smoke into the US again. The smoke is spreading unhealthy air into the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan, and down to Indiana. [CNN]

Tesla (Tesla Fans Schweiz, Unsplash)

Minute 24
¶ “Tesla Tells US Customers Tax Credit Likely To Decline In 2024” • Very few automakers have EVs on the US market that are eligible for the full $7,500 consumer tax credit. Tesla’s order log often goes six months, and things do change. The company wants to make sure people order now if they are expecting to get the full tax credit. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, July 16

Beijing (Henry Chen, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “John Kerry To Step Into Searing China Heat As World’s Two Biggest Polluters Try To Fix Fractured Ties” • When John Kerry arrives in Beijing to restart climate negotiations, he will step off the plane into one of the hottest summers ever recorded in the city. Since 1951, Beijing has seen 104°F (40°C) on 11 days, almost half of which were in the past few weeks. [CNN]

Solar panels (Andreas Gücklhorn, Unsplash)

Minute 30
¶ “Top UK Energy Firms To Warn Rishi Sunak: ‘Don’t Back Off Green Agenda’” • More than 100 of the UK’s biggest energy companies will tell Rishi Sunak this week not to back off the green agenda after an Office for Budget Responsibility report warned of catastrophic effects on the economy of continued overreliance on gas. [The Guardian]

Austen (MJ Tangonan, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “Will Texas Become Too Hot For Humans?” • The EPA is warning that in the coming decades Texas summers are likely to be “increasingly hot and dry, creating problems for agriculture and possibly human health.” The agency predicts that seventy years from now, Texas will have days above 100°F (38°C) three or four times as often as it does now. [BBC]

Monday, July 17

Monopyle (Rich Hundley III, NJ Governor’s Office)

Minute 35
¶ “Construction Of NJ’s First Offshore Wind Farm Moves A Step Closer” • With the backdrop of the recently completed state budget process and a sustained push by opponents to slow the process down, Ocean Wind 1, New Jersey’s first offshore wind project, took a major step forward with an approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. [NJBIZ]

San Antonio (Judah Estrada, Unsplash)

Minute 38
¶ “How Texas Is Racing To Thwart The Heat” • Many cities in Texas are taking proactive measures to cool their streets down and protect their people from dangerous heat. Their measures range from installing green roofs and walls and painting streets with cool pavement coating to purchasing air conditioning units for vulnerable residents. [BBC]

Iowa wind farm (Voice of America, public domain)

Minute 40
¶ “Iowa Reaches Milestone On Wind-Energy Production” • Iowa has been a wind-energy leader for decades. Now 64% of the state’s energy production comes from wind. That is a new record for the state, the US Energy Information Administration reported. Green-energy advocates call it a big step along the road to fossil-fuel independence. [Public News Service]

Tuesday, July 18

Flood in Indian monsoon (Dibakar Roy, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “Soaring Temperatures To Record Rainfall: Asia Is Reeling As The Climate Crisis Takes Hold” • The world’s largest and most populous continent is dealing with the deadly effects of extreme summer weather, as countries endure blistering heatwaves and record monsoon rainfall, with governments warning residents to prepare for more to come. [CNN]

Blue Bird electric school bus (Blue Bird image)

Minute 46
¶ “Blue Bird Electric School Bus Gets Better” • The iconic, nearly 100-year-old bus maker Blue Bird has been producing electric buses for a few years, and now it’s introducing a new, improved version. The electric bus will have 25% more storage capacity in its battery, rising to 196 kWh. That provides 130 miles of range on a single charge. [CleanTechnica]

Ford F-150 Lightning (Matt Weissinger, Pexels, cropped)

Minute 48
¶ “Ford F-150 Lightning Price Drops, Production Increasing To 150,000/Year” • Many EV fans hoped the Ford F-150 Lightning would take the US by storm – at least, as much as it could with the production capacity Ford targets. The electric truck has done quite okay, so far. However, it could do better now, because Ford is dropping its MSRP. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, July 19

Houston (Vlad Busuioc, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 51
¶ “Extreme Heat Drives Texas Power Demand To Yet Another Record” • Power demand in Texas is once again setting records as extreme heat drives homes and businesses to crank up the air conditioning, and the outlook for more searing temperatures means the state’s grid will continue to be tested. Power use set its ninth record in just three weeks. [Yahoo Finance]

Fractured line from the candy factory (NTSB image)

Minute 54
¶ “NTSB Investigation Of Pennsylvania Candy Factory Explosion Reveals Natural Gas Was Leaking From Two Service Lines” • An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board into an explosion at a Pennsylvania candy factory that left seven dead in March revealed that natural gas was leaking from two service lines, a preliminary report says. [CNN]

China’s wall (Hanson Lu, Unsplash)

Minute 56
¶ “Xi Says China Will Follow Its Own Carbon Reduction Path As US Climate Envoy Kerry Meets Top Officials In Beijing” • China will follow its own path to cut carbon emissions, leader Xi Jinping vowed, as US climate envoy John Kerry called for faster action to confront the climate crisis. China’s goals are a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. [CNN]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #Energy Week #532

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 #531 – 7/13/2023

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 #531 – 7/13/2023

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, July 6

Napa Valley vineyard (Gabriel Tovar, Unsplash)

Minute 2
¶ “Californian Winemakers Learning Firefighting Techniques” • Northern California’s Napa Valley had a historic wildfire season in 2020. The first blaze erupted in August, consuming hundreds of thousands of acres and killing five people. Vinyard owners had to adapt to learn not only firefighting techniques, but how to deal with wine flavored by smoke. [BBC]

Caterpillar 793 electric truck (Courtesy of Caterpillar)

Minute 5
¶ “Australian Mining Companies Chose Battery-Electric Over Hydrogen Fuel Cell Mining Trucks” • Both batteries and fuel cells provide the electricity needed to turn electric motors, so which is better? The companies have done their research. For them, the answer is clear. Battery-powered mining trucks are the way to go. Why? Efficiency. [CleanTechnica]

LionGlass (Courtesy of Penn State University)

Minute 8
¶ “Penn State’s New LionGlass Is 10 Times Tougher And Has Half The Carbon Emissions” • Penn State University announced a new product, LionGlass, which is ten times more resistant to damage than soda lime silicate glass. And it uses about half the energy to manufacture, because the melting temperatures are lowered by about 300°C to 400°C. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, July 7

Rendering of a 56-MW iron-air battery (Form Energy image)

Minute 10
¶ “State Regulators Approve Xcel Energy’s Plan For Battery Storage In Becker” • The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved an Xcel Energy project that will test a 10-MW Form Energy iron-air battery system. Xcel expects will begin operating in late 2025. The system will be able to store a 100 hour supply of energy. [MPR News]

Surface air temperature (CCCS & ECMWF)

Minute 13
¶ “Last Month Was The Planet’s Hottest June On Record By A Huge Margin” • Earth’s temperature was off the charts in June. An Analysis from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that last month was the hottest June by a “substantial margin” above the previous record. The nine hottest Junes have all occurred in the last nine years. [CNN]

Areas with risk of shortfall (EIA, Today in Energy)

Minute 16
¶ “High Summer Heat Means ⅔ Of North America At Risk Of Energy Shortfalls” • If temperatures spike this summer, parts of the US could face electricity supply shortages. The latest summer reliability report from NERC warns that two-thirds of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls this summer in times of extremely high electricity demand. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, July 8

Monopiles ready to go (Courtesy of EEW)

Minute 19
¶ “New Jersey’s Zombie Offshore Wind Industry Finally Sees Light Of Day” • New Jersey inched one step closer to its first offshore wind farm when a helpful tax bill squeaked through the legislature by the skin of its teeth. Passage of the bill should help launch the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 1 project, though there still may be trouble. [CleanTechnica]

Model of sailing ship (Oceanbird image)

Minute 22
¶ “What Would Net-Zero Shipping Look Like?” • At a United Nations summit, countries agreed to curb shipping emissions to net-zero “by or around 2050.” Shipping is a highly polluting industry, producing nearly 3% of global emissions. If it were a country, the shipping industry would be the sixth largest polluter in the world. [BBC]

Spot power prices (European Power Exchange image)

Minute 24
¶ “Negative Power Prices Reveal Market Is Still Unprepared To Tap On Full Renewables Potential” • Over the weekend electricity producers on European power exchanges offered to pay up to €500 per MWh to anyone taking their electricity. The record negative prices reflect the dynamic changes brought about by renewable energy. [Balkan Green Energy News]

Sunday, July 9

Wind farm (Johanna Montoya, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “1 GW In 1 Quarter: India’s Wind Energy Capacity Addition Sees Unprecedented Jump” • India’s installations of wind energy capacity have seen an unprecedented jump in the first quarter of the current fiscal as projects totalling 1.13 GW were installed in the country. This is more than the installations achieved annually for the last six years. [PSU Watch]

Sunset (Jason Blackeye, Unsplash)

Minute 30
¶ “Global Heat In ‘Uncharted Territory’ As Scientists Warn 2023 Could Be The Hottest Year On Record” • The world is blasting through climate records as scientists sound the alarm: The likelihood is growing that 2023 could be the hottest year on record, and the climate crisis could be altering our weather in ways they don’t yet understand. [CNN]

Johannesburg (tebogo losaba, Unsplash)

Minute 32
¶ “Reduced Eskom Load-Shedding Is Here To Stay, Electricity Minister Assures” • Speaking to reporters, the South African electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said improvements in the amount of load shedding are due to increased energy availability factor and the fact that Eskom has needed to burn less coal. [MyBroadband]

Monday, July 10

Daffodils (Mike Cassidy, Unsplash)

Minute 35
¶ “Daffodils Eaten By Livestock Could Address Climate Change” • Methane is considered the second most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and it is released by cows and sheep whenever they burp. A report on the BBC said that a chemical which can be extracted from daffodils could reduce methane production by a third. [Nature World News]

Salt field in Taiwan (Timo Volz, Unsplash)

Minute 38
¶ “South Korean Shoppers Hoard Salt And Seafood Ahead Of Japan’s Release Of Treated Radioactive Water ” • For the past month, Korea has struggled with severe sea salt shortages as shoppers snap it up in bulk, reflecting heightened public anxiety ahead of the planned release of treated radioactive water from Fukushima, Japan. [CNN]

Nautilus (Shaun Low, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “Crunch Talks Due On Deep-Sea Mining Controversy” • At global talks in Jamaica, deep-sea mining will be one of the hot topics. Scientists fear a possible “goldrush” for precious metals on the ocean floor could have devastating effects on marine life. But supporters argue that these minerals are needed if the world is to meet the demand for green technologies. [BBC]

Tuesday, July 11

Lightning (Leon Contreras, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “How Harvesting Electricity From Humid Air Could One Day Power Our Devices” • It’s an idea that has been around for many years. Nikola Tesla and others have investigated it in the past but never achieved promising results. However, that could be about to change. Research groups around the world are finding ways to glean electricity from humid air. [BBC]

Ambulance (Jonas Augustin, Unsplash)

Minute 46
¶ “Nearly 62,000 People Died From Record-Breaking Heat In Europe Last Summer. It’s A Lesson For The US, Too” • Nearly 62,000 people died heat-related deaths last year during Europe’s hottest summer on record, a study published in Nature Medicine found. It is heartbreaking evidence that heat is a silent killer, and its victims are greatly under-counted. [CNN]

Scientists at work (Courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

Minute 48
¶ “Better Batteries From Lawrence Berkeley Lab Research” • A research team led by Gao Liu, a senior scientist in the Energy Technologies Area at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, published a paper in the journal Nature Energy recently in which they report on new technology that could lower the cost of lithium-ion batteries and extend their service life. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, July 12 

Flooding in Vermont (National Weather Service)

Minute 51
¶ “US Storms: Vermont Governor Calls Floods ‘Historic And Catastrophic’” • Vermont has suffered “historic and catastrophic” flash flooding, the governor said after up to two months worth of rain fell in two days. Over 100 rescues have been conducted by emergency crews in the state, and over 100 roads were closed because of the inundation. [BBC]

Storm (NOAA, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “A ‘Perfect Storm’ Unfolding This Summer Is ‘Supercharging’ The Weather, Scientist Says” • A “perfect storm” is unfolding this summer, as atmospheric ingredients combine to create record-breaking weather. As the arctic temperatures rise faster than those in warmer areas, the reduced difference can make the jet stream get “stuck,” prolonging weather events. [CNN]

John Kerry (US Embassy Bern, Switzerland, public domain)

Minute 56
¶ “US Climate Envoy John Kerry Set To Travel To Beijing This Weekend” • US climate envoy John Kerry is set to travel to Beijing this weekend for climate talks with his counterparts in China, a Biden administration official told CNN. The meeting comes as the US and China seek ways to work together on the climate crisis. [CNN]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #531 – 7/13/2023

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