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Energy Week #544 – 10/12/2023
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, October 5
Rooftop solar panels (Jeroen van de Water, Unsplash)
Minute 2
¶ “Asia Pacific To Invest $3.3 Trillion In Power Generation Over Ten Years” • The Asia Pacific region is poised to invest as much as $3.3 trillion in power generation over the next 10 years, half of which in solar and wind power. India and China are leading the growth in power demand and investments, according to Wood Mackenzie analysis. [Oil Price]
Home sweet home (Vidar Nordli-Mathisen, Unsplash)
Minute 5
¶ “$4.3 Billion On The Table; Huge Benefits To Public Health And Wealth Lie Within Reach” • We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our homes and buildings, to win big on public health and reduce both housing energy costs and climate change pollution. Now $4.3 billion in new flexible funds are soon to be available from the US EPA. [CleanTechnica]
Temperature anomalies (C3S – ECMWF)
Minute 8
¶ “Unprecedented Temperature Anomalies In 2023 – Hottest Year On Record” • The Copernicus Climate Change Service, with funding from the EU, routinely publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting on the changes observed in global surface air temperature, sea ice cover and hydrological variables. The data for September has no precedent. [CleanTechnica]
Friday, October 6
Stanwell Clean Energy Hub (Queensland government image)
Minute 10
¶ “Octopus Buys 1,000-MWh BESS Project To Back Renewable Energy PPAs In Queensland, Australia” • Octopus Investments Australia has acquired Blackstone BESS, a 500-MW, 1,000-MWh project in Queensland. Octopus said the BESS will be used for power purchase agreements for “firmed blocks of energy” from by windpower and solar PVs. [Energy-Storage.News]
Wright Electric battery (Wright Electric image)
Minute 13
¶ “Wright Electric Targets 1,000 Wh/Kg Batteries For Electric Aircraft” • Wright Electric plans to make an electric airplane that can carry 100 paying passengers on short flights of an hour by 2027. In a press release , it said its focus has changed from fuel cells to lighter, more powerful batteries with a pack energy density of 1,000 Wh/kg. [CleanTechnica]
Car parks in Las Vegas (Satellite Vu image)
Minute 16
¶ “Novel UK Spacecraft Maps Heat Variations Across Earth” • A novel UK satellite has returned its first pictures of heat variations across the surface of the Earth. HotSat-1 can trace hot and cold features as small as 3.5 meters. In the initial imagery, a Chicago train is observed moving through the night and the flame fronts of Canadian wildfires are mapped. [BBC]
Saturday, October 7
House with an EV and a heat pump (Decarbonize Your Life)
Minute 19
¶ “A Heat Pump Water Heater Will Save All The Electricity You’ll Need To Power Your EV” • We should consider that some heat pumps are so efficient that their greater deployment will offset much of the electricity that we now use inefficiently. This saved electricity will allow new electrical loads, such as EVs, to be added to the grid seamlessly. [CleanTechnica]
Wind turbines in Uruguay (Matias Contreras, Unsplash)
Minute 22
¶ “Uruguay’s Power Grid Runs On 98% Green Energy. Here’s How” • Back in 2007, Uruguay had a growing economy but not enough energy to power the growth. It also had no fossil fuels. Now, typically 98% of Uruguay’s grid is powered by green energy. That change was enabled by the thoughts of a very bright man and powered by a lot of wind. [NPR]
Refugee camp (Julie Ricard, unsplash)
Minute 24
¶ “Floods, Storms, And Fires Displaced 20,000 Children Per Day During Six Years” • Over 43 million children were driven from their homes by floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires over the six years from 2016 to 2021, according to data from UNICEF. That works out to 20,000 children displaced per day due to extreme weather fueled by climate change. [CNN]
Sunday, October 8
Community garden (Filip Urban, Unsplash)
Minute 27
¶ “Individual Actions You Can Take To Address Climate Change” • Humans are driving climate change, and humans can change our trajectory. While governments and businesses have key roles in reducing planet-heating emissions, individual actions matter, too. The NPR Network has been reporting on individual actions that can make a positive impact. [NPR]
Mobile Power Station with BMW i3 EV batteries (Dannar image)
Minute 30
¶ “BMW Lends EV Batteries To Weird New Diesel-Killing Electric Vehicle” • EVs can be used as mobile energy storage devices. A US company, Dannar, developed a series of wheeled electric workhorses to knock out diesel generators and other equipment. They may look weird, but they have packs of powerful BMW EV batteries from BMW. [CleanTechnica]
McNeal, Arizona (Ken Lund, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
Minute 32
¶ “Silicon Ranch, SSVEC Celebrate Opening Of New Solar Farm In McNeal” • Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative hosted a ribbon cutting Saturday to formally recognize the start of solar and battery “farm” with more than 60,000 panels in McNeal, Arizona. SSVEC has constructed a new substation to replace one built in 1940. [Sierra Vista Herald]
Monday, October 9
Construction costs (US Energy Information Agency image)
Minute 35
¶ “US Construction Costs Dropped For Solar, Wind, And Natural Gas-Fired Generators In 2021” • In 2021, average construction costs for US natural gas-fired generators fell by 18% from what it was 2020, though the costs of combined-cycle base-load plants increased 8%. Costs fell by 5% for wind turbines, and by 6% for solar PV systems. [CleanTechnica]
Amazon drought of 2010 (NASA and JPL-Caltech)
Minute 38
¶ “Drought In Brazil’s Amazon Is Sharpening Fears For The Future” • Extreme drought is sweeping across Brazil’s Amazon. The historically low water levels affect hundreds of thousands of people and wildlife. Experts predict the drought could last until early 2024, and the problems stand to intensify. One man noted, “Without water, there is no life.” [ABC News]
July flood of Montpelier (NASA Applied Sciences)
Minute 40
¶ “Vermont’s Flood-Damaged Capital Is Slowly Rebuilding” • Nearly three months after severe flooding in Vermont’s capital city, Montpelier businesses launched an event with food trucks, music, and street performers to celebrate how much they’ve rebuilt. They remind the public not to forget them as they struggle to make a complete comeback. [ABC News]
Tuesday, October 10
Renewable energy in Australia (Kshithij Chandrashekar, Unsplash)
Minute 43
¶ “Hope For Power Bill Relief As Eastern Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Price Tumbles” • Eastern Australia’s wholesale electricity prices fell sharply in the September quarter, a trend that if maintained could deliver power bill relief for households and businesses alike. Spot prices were down 70% after price caps took effect, especially on coal and gas. [The Guardian]
Wisconsin countryside (Dave, Unsplash)
Minute 46
¶ “The Midwest US Could Be A Hotspot For Deadly ‘Moist Heat Stress’ As Global Temperatures Climb” • Large parts of the world, including China and the Midwest US, are on track to become too hot for humans to handle as accelerating global temperatures expose billions to heat and humidity so extreme their bodies will no longer be able to cope, a study shows. [CNN]
Texas (NASA Earth Observatory, NASA)
Minute 48
¶ “Peak Hourly US Electricity Demand In July Was The Second Highest” • On July 27, 2023, peak hourly electricity demand in the continental US reached 741,815 MWh. This was the second highest since the Energy Information Administration began collecting this data in 2016, and just under high of 742,704 MWh recorded on July 20, 2022. [CleanTechnica]
Wednesday, October 11
Wind turbines in Washington (Murray Foubister, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Minute 51
¶ “People Are Okay With Wind And Solar Installations In Their Neighborhoods, Studies Say” • A major poll gave us a fascinating revelation: The majority of people in the US say they wouldn’t mind fields of solar panels or wind turbines being built in their communities. More surprisingly, these respondents are part of a large pool of bipartisan voters. [CleanTechnica]
Bill McKibben has only praise for Pope Francis (Vatican image)
Minute 54
¶ “Bill McKibben, Pope Francis, And The Warmest September” • The data from September, 2023 shows average temperatures for the month were 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels and 0.5°C hotter than any September ever recorded. But there is good news: “The planet is now adding a gigawatt a day of solar power. A nuclear plant’s worth every day of solar power.” [CleanTechnica]
House in Vermont (Craig Tidball, Unsplash, cropped)
Minute 56
¶ “Green Mountain Power Proposes Energy Storage For All Vermonters” • Vermont utility Green Mountain Power submitted a petition to the Vermont Public Utility Commission asking it to approve a Zero Outages Initiative costing $280 million. It aims to harden the grid and decentraleg energy by providing batteries to customers. [Utility Dive]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #544 – 10/12/2023
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 