Energy Week #554 – 1/4/2024

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 #554 – 1/4/2024

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, December 21

Toronto (Lukas Menzel, Unsplash)

Minute 2
¶ “Ontario’s Welcome About-Face On Renewable Energy” • Premier Doug Ford appears to have experienced a come-to-green-power moment. Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith put out the call for 2,000 MW – about 5% of all generation in the province – of non-emitting power generation, including wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy. [Toronto Star]

Friday, December 22

King’s College (Wayne Yao, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 5
¶ “Britain’s Roofs Can Be A Huge Resource For Solar Energy” • Roofs occupy an enormous amount of surface area in British cities and yet only a small fraction of this space is used for solar panels, despite the obvious benefits. There is the equivalent of thousands of hectares of suitable roofs. The chapel at King’s College, Cambridge is an example. [The Guardian]

Seattle (Stephen Plopper, Unsplash)

Minute 7
¶ “Seattle Gets Creative To Limit Methane Gas Pollution As Industry Pushes Back” • After an appellate court ruled that because the federal Energy Policy Conservation Act prevents cities and states from setting certain standards, local authorities can’t ban fossil fuel burning appliances, the city of Seattle decided to get creative. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, December 23

Pikes solar array (Courtesy of Colorado Springs Utilities)

Minute 10
¶ “Pike Solar Powers Up, Commences Commercial Operations In Colorado” • Independent renewable project developer, owner, and operator Deriva Energy, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced the start of commercial operation at Pike Solar in El Paso County, Colorado. Pike Solar will provide energy to Colorado Springs Utilities. [PR Newswire]

UK wind farm (Pixabay, CC0, Public domain)

Minute 13
¶ “Britain Likely To Generate More Electricity From Wind, Solar And Hydro Than Fossil Fuels For The First Year In 2023” • For three months Tech Xplore tracked data for Great Britain (though not Northern Ireland, which is on the Republic of Ireland’s grid). They believe the UK is on track generate more electricity from renewables than fossil fuels in 2023. [Tech Xplore]

Sunday, December 24

EtaVolt PV rejuvenation device (EtaVolt)

Minute 16
¶ “New Technology Can Rejuvenate And Extend The Life Of Old Solar Panels” • EtaVolt, a new company spun off from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, developed a nifty device that can rejuvenate and extend the life of old PV panels. The technology can be used on around 90% of all existing PV panels available worldwide. [Interesting Engineering]

Monday, December 25

Offshore wind farm construction (EDF Renewables image)

Minute 19
¶ “Deep Wind Offshore Reveals 70-Turbine Wind Farm Project Offshore Sweden” • Deep Wind Offshore, based in Norway, is submitting a permit application for construction and operation of an offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Bothnia, off the south coast of Sweden. The Olof Skötkonung wind farm will include up to 70 wind turbines. [offshoreWIND.biz]

Tuesday, December 26

Wind turbines (Luca Bravo, Unsplash)

Minute 22
¶ “Uruguay’s Green Power Revolution: Rapid Shift To Wind Shows The World How It’s Done” • In 2008, to escape high oil prices, Uruguay’s President Vázquez needed rapid solutions. He turned to Ramón Méndez Galain, a nuclear physicist, who would transform the country’s energy grid into one of the cleanest in the world, based on wind power. [The Guardian]

Wind farm (Clearwater Wind image)

Minute 25
¶ “In Montana, Wind Is About To Overtake Coal Generation Capacity” • Data from the Energy Information Administration show that Montana coal plants had 1,631 MW of nameplate capacity in October. In the same period, Montana’s wind capacity was 1,479 MW. But two new Montana wind farms will soon come online, changing the balance. [Electrek]

Wednesday, December 27

Columbia Energy Center (Courtesy of Alliant Energy)

Minute 27
¶ “Developers Hope A Balloon-Like Battery Will Aid Wisconsin Renewable Energy Efforts” • When Wisconsin’s largest coal plant, the Columbia Energy Center, closes in a few years, a carbon dioxide-filled “battery” developed by the Italian company Energy Dome will take its place. The facility will use carbon dioxide for energy storage. [Wisconsin Watch]

Thursday, December 28

Construction work for wooden wind turbine (Modvion image)

Minute 30
“World’s Tallest Wooden Wind Turbine Starts Turning” • A Swedish start-up called Modvion says it has just built the world’s tallest wooden turbine tower. The 2-MW generator on top has just started supplying electricity to the Swedish grid, providing power for about 400 homes. Modvion claims that using wood for wind power is the future. [BBC]

Friday, December 29

GE Haliade turbine (Dogger Bank image)

Minute 33
¶ “2023: A Year In UK Energy Industry Successes” • This year has been full of twists and u-turns, but the UK energy industry has persevered towards a net-zero trajectory. To celebrate the energy industry’s collective efforts, Current± outlines some of the top decarbonisation successes of 2023 in the UK, with comments from key industry players. [Current News]

Battery storage system (Courtesy of Scatec and BYD)

Minute 35
¶ “Scatec’s 540-MW PV, 1,140-MWh Battery Storage Project In South Africa Begins Supplying Electricity” • Scatec announced that the Kenhardt plants in the Northern Cape Province, are sending power to the South African grid. The plant is designed to deliver 150 MW of dispatchable power to the national grid year-round, from 5 am to 9:30 pm. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, December 30

Laying a cable (Energinet image)

Minute 38
¶ “National Grid Announces Commercial Operations Of Viking Link – The World’s Longest Land And Subsea Interconnector” • National Grid’s new Viking Link electricity interconnector is operational moving power between the UK and Denmark. With a capacity of 1.4 GW, the link runs for 475 miles to join substations in the UK and Denmark. [National Grid]

Solar-powered truck (Image provided by GW)

Minute 40
¶ “Solar-Powered Truck Achieves World EV Altitude Record” • Gebrüder Weiss, a European logistics company, announced that the company’s Peak Evolution Team has achieved a remarkable feat: setting a new world altitude record for EVs. The team drove to the astonishing altitude of 6,500 meters (about 21,000 feet) above sea level on solar power. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, December 31

Storm (Felix Mittermeier, Unsplash)

Minute 43
¶ “The Year’s Most Extreme Weather Shows What A Warming Planet Is Capable Of, And What’s To Come” • In the hottest year on record, the fingerprints of a changing climate in a warming world were all over dozens of extreme weather events. Too much heat in the system raises the limits of what is possible in weather and pushes it toward the extremes. [CNN]

Monday, January 1

Solar panels (Pixabay, Pexels)

Minute 46
¶ “China’s Solar Sector Steams Ahead Of EU And US” • Chinese manufacturers have a huge cost advantage over international rivals, a Horizons report from Wood Mackenzie says. China’s dominance is the result of economies of scale of large facilities, and Chinese companies have easy access to funding and less restrictive policies. [DW]

QUANTiNO twentyfive EV (Courtesy of nanoFlowcell)

Minute 49
¶ “New Flow Battery Electric Car To Be Made In The USA” • The crazy dream of a flow battery EV really is not so crazy after all. The European firm nanoFlowcell set up a US office to pitch its new QUANTiNO twentyfive electric car with new flow battery technology. Now the company is hatching plans for a whole US flow battery ecosystem. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, January 2

Solar farm (Neoen image)

Minute 51
¶ “The Rise Of Renewables Is A Reason To Be Hopeful In 2024” • Recently, Canary Media asked six of its regular contributors to talk about something that gives then hope for 2024. Eric Wesoff pointed out that BloombergNEF’s now forecasts 413 GW of solar power capacity will be installed worldwide in 2023. That’s up from 260 GW in 2022. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, January 3

BYD Song Plus (Courtesy of BYD)

Minute 54
¶ “BYD Is The First Company To Sell Three Million Plugin Vehicles In A Year” • We note that BYD was targeting 3 million vehicle sales in 2023, and it just surpassed that target. It had 3,023,679 EV sales in the year, all of which are plugin vehicles. BYD’s EV sales were split in 2023, as 52% were full electrics and 48% were plugin hybrids. [CleanTechnica]

Agrivoltaic array and harvest (courtesy of Next2Sun)

Minute 56
¶ “Solar Panels Meet Saffron In New Agrivoltaic Project” • The allure of raising a spice crop that retails for $5,000 a pound is enticing. In the unlikely state of Vermont, there is a agrivoltaic experiment under way. If all goes according to plan, it could pave the way for for a saffron boom in the US while it helps save the country’s small farms. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #554 – 1/4/2024

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 #553 – 12/21/2023

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 #553 – 12/21/2023

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, December 14

Ming Yang wind turbine (Ming Yang image)

Minute 2
¶ “This New ‘World’s Largest’ Wind Turbine Makes Power In Severe Typhoons” • China’s Mingyang Smart Energy rolled out the world’s largest offshore wind turbine. Mingyang designed the MySE 18.X-20MW to lower the Levelized Cost of Energy and ensure long-term returns. It has a modular, lightweight design, with high efficiency and reliability. [Electrek]

Doris Brown at home (Courtesy of Solar United Neighbors)

Minute 5
¶ “Solar Energy And Its Cheaper Bills Are Coming To More Disadvantaged Communities” • When a lightning storm knocked out power in Doris Brown’s neighborhood, her solar-powered home suddenly became a refuge for frantic neighbors without electricity. Non-profits had installed a solar system to make her home into a “hub home.” [Stateline.org]

Jenny Ueberberg in her Tesla (Jenny Ueberberg, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “Electric Vehicle Prices Get MUCH Closer To Conventional Vehicle Prices!” • Most of a Cox update on the average sale prices of new cars is just trends in the overall auto industry. But they decided to slip in some big notes regarding EVs at the end, and they buried a huge gem in the very last line: EV prices have fallen almost to those of traditional cars! [CleanTechnica]

Friday, December 15

Solar panels (Markus Spiske, Unsplash)

Minute 10
¶ “Solar Power Usage Shines Bright” • China is expected to add 160 to 180 GW of solar power in 2023, a record annual rise in capacity, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association said. For the first ten months of this year, the output value of China’s PV manufacturing sector has already reached 142.56 GW, a year-on-year increase of 156%. [China Daily]

Wind turbine (Vestas image)

Minute 13
¶ “Offshore Wind Miracle Happening In USA” • For better or worse, the offshore wind profile of the United States has broken down cleanly along partisan political lines. However, one huge crack has finally appeared. Officials in the deep red state of Louisiana approved not one but two new offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico. [CleanTechnica]

Floating solar array (Duke Energy Image)

Minute 16
¶ “Duke Energy Completes Its First Floating Solar Project In Florida” • Duke Energy’s first floating solar project in Florida is now producing clean, renewable energy while helping the company better understand the capabilities of innovative clean energy technologies to benefit Florida communities and customers, now and in the future. [Duke Energy]

Saturday, December 16

Electric cargo bike (Fiido image)

Minute 19
¶ “This Electric Cargo Bike Can Go Up To 248 Miles Per Charge” • The Fiido Titan fat tire electric cargo bike is available with an option that can allow for really long rides between charging — up to 248 miles, which is remarkable for an e-bike. The specs on the Titan are impressive. For starters, it’s rated for 440 pounds of total carrying capacity. [CleanTechnica]

Siemens hydrogen fuel cell train (Courtesy of Siemens)

Minute 22
¶ “More Diesel-Killing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Trains Heading For Germany, Plus India Piles On” • In September the Siemens Mobility announced completion of the first round of testing for its Mireo Plus H hydrogen train. If all goes according to plan, fuel cell electric trains will begin ferrying passengers sometime next summer. [CleanTechnica]

Hyundai EV (Hyundai image)

Minute 24
¶ “US BEV Sales Up 143% Over Q3 2021” • US full battery EV (BEV) sales continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Despite all the hype about “weak” electric vehicle demand and sales, they are actually strong and growing. Compared to Q3 2021, BEV sales in Q3 2023 were up 143%. Compared to Q3 2022, BEV sales in Q3 2023 were up 44%. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, December 17

Wind farm in NSW (Grahamec, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 27
¶ “Energy Shift In Action: Brown Coal Hits New Low In Victoria, Renewables Hit New High In NSW” • As the Australian Energy Market Operator unveiled its draft 2024 Integrated System Plan, Victoria and New South Wales set energy generation records, showing rapid shifts in Australia’s energy landscape. In Victoria, brown coal use hit a record low. [Renew Economy]

Volvo shipping (Courtesy Volvo Cars)

Minute 30
¶ “Nations Begin Tightening The Screws On Chinese Electric Car Imports” • China today has dozens of electric car makers who crank out EVs at an astonishing rate. But as China gets closer to meeting its own electric car needs, its car makers are looking to export markets. For some countries, China is seen as a threat to local industry, and they are reacting. [CleanTechnica]

Wind Turbines on Farm (KSRE Photo, CC BY 2.0)

Minute 32
¶ “Here’s How Wind Farms In The US Impact Nearby Home Values” • A study by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab examined a dataset of 500,000 home sales near 428 wind farms in 34 states. It found home sale prices within a mile of a wind farm tend to dip post-announcement, but they bounce back to what they were within three to five years of project completion. [Electrek]

Monday, December 18

Form Energy battery installation (Form Energy image)

Minute 35
¶ “Form Energy To Supply Storage Batteries For California Solar Project” • A Form Energy plant in Weirton, West Virginia, will supply iron oxide batteries for a PG&E energy storage project in Mendocino County. A grant of $30 million will support the project to use Form iron-air batteries to store electricity that it can discharge at 10 MW for 100 hours. [WV News]

Technician (WorldSkills, Flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Minute 38
¶ “Why China Didn’t Sign Global Pledge To Triple Renewables” • China Dialogue asked experts why China, despite being a world leader in renewables, has not signed a global commitment to triple renewable power capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. They said tripling renewables is achievable, but doubling efficiency is a sticking point. [Eco-Business]

Inner Mongolia (Audrius Sutkus, Unsplash)

Minute 40
¶ “First Batch Of Wind Power Projects In Inner Mongolia’s Gobi Desert Come On Stream” • The first batch of four wind power projects in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s Gobi Desert have come on stream. The area is rich in solar and wind energy resources. The installed capacity of the four projects is to be 3.1 million kW (3.1 GW). [Yicai Global]

Tuesday, December 19

Core of Ion Storage Systems solid-state battery (Ion Storage Systems image)

Minute 43
¶ “New Solid State EV Battery Deploys Ceramic “Brain” From Saint-Gobain” • US startup Ion Storage Systems is getting ready to launch a solid-state EV battery into a high volume commercial manufacturing line, with a little help from materials specialist Saint-Gobain. If all goes well, it will charge faster, cost less, and be better in other ways. [CleanTechnica]

Wind turbine (Gustavo Quepón, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 46
¶ “Seven European Countries Pledge CO₂-Free Power Systems By 2035” • Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland pledged to eliminate CO₂-emitting power plants from their electricity systems by 2035. Taken together, the countries account for nearly half of EU power production. [The Business Standard]

Mack electric refuse truck (WIN Waste Innovations)

Minute 48
¶ “WIN Waste Uses Refuse Collected By Mack EVs To Power Trucks” • Mack Trucks customer WIN Waste Innovations, a leader in the recycling and waste industry, received two Mack LR Electric Class 8 refuse vehicles. It is to be the first company in Massachusetts to power electric trucks exclusively by the waste collected by the trucks themselves. [NGT News]

Wednesday, December 20

Steetcar in Lisbon (Vita Marija Murenaite, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “Five Lessons From Portugal’s Six-Day Renewables Streak” • Years of renewables development set Portugal up for stunning success this fall when the country met all of its electricity needs with renewable sources for six days straight. So the grid can run on 100% renewables, but what else needs to happen to go from six days of clean energy to 365? [Canary Media]

Base of a floating turbine (US DOE, public domain)

Minute 54
¶ “Global Floating Wind Turbine Market Size Is Estimated To Reach $54,704 million By 2030” • Demand for floating wind turbines is growing. According to Straits Research, “The global floating wind turbine market size was valued at $5,655 million in 2021, projected to reach $54,704 million, and expand at a CAGR of 32.8% during the forecast period.” [Yahoo Finance]

Walmart electric semi (Courtesy of Walmart)

Minute 56
¶ “Walmart Starts Its Electric Semi Truck Transformation” • Walmart Canada is rolling out three electric semi trucks at a grocery distribution centre in British Columbia. It will use the Freightliner eCascadia electric semis. Each truck will travel about 110,000 km (68,350 miles) each year. Walmart intends to electrify 100% of its fleet. [CleanTechnica]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #553 – 12/21/2023

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 #552 – 12/13/2023

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 #552 – 12/13/2023

Minute 0: Introduction

Thursday, December 7

Wind turbines (Harry Cunningham, Pexels)

Minute 2
¶ “Tripling Renewable Energy By 2030 Is Possible And Essential” • If we are serious about phasing out fossil fuels, we must replace them with renewable energy as soon as we can. At COP 28, some climate activists want to see an agreement to triple the amount of renewable energy in the world by 2030. That’s ambitious, but it’s entirely possible according to Bloomberg. [CleanTechnica]

Bullet trains (wu yi, Unsplash)

Minute 5
¶ “US Departments Of Energy And Transportation, Along With Transport Canada, Are Taking Action To Reduce Rail Sector Emissions” • On the margins of COP28, the US Secretaries of Energy and Transportation, and Canada’s Minister of Transport issued a statement saying the two countries have created a Rail Decarbonization Task Force. [CleanTechnica]

African scene (Thomas Bennie, Unsplash)

Minute 8
¶ “World Bank Unveils $5 Billion Renewable Energy Plan For Africa” • The World Bank will allocate $5 billion to deliver “reliable, affordable, renewable electricity” to 100 million Africans by the end of the decade, its president said. The World Bank estimates that around 600 million people in Africa do not have access to reliable electricity. [Macau Business]

Friday, December 8

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing director of IMF

Minute 10
¶ “IMF Head Advocates For End Of Fossil Fuel Subsidies At COP28 Climate Summit” • The gist of Kristalina Georgieva’s message at COP28 is that we don’t have to wring our hands and fret about how expensive addressing the looming climate crisis will be. Instead, we can stop directing trillions of dollars to fossil fuel companies that don’t need support. [CleanTechnica]

Blade installation (South Fork Wind)

Minute 13
¶ “South Fork Wind Is Also A Victory For Whales” • South Fork Wind is leading on offshore wind as the first full-size project to generate electricity in our federal waters. It shows that we don’t need to choose between clean energy development and wildlife protection. We can build on this important precedent at the start of this vital new US industry. [NRDC]

Mill tailings dam breach of 1979 (EPA image, public domain)

Minute 16
¶ “Navajo Nation Faces Possible New Threats After Decades Of Uranium Mining” • Just miles from the site of the 1979 Church Rock Mill spill, the largest nuclear release in US history, uranium extraction operations could resume near the Navajo Nation. Navajo leaders say the health and prosperity of their community could be in further jeopardy. [ABC News]

Saturday, December 9

Wind turbines (Priscilla Du Preez, Unsplash)

Minute 19
¶ “US Department of Energy Announces The Country’s Clean Energy Achievements at COP28” • The US DOE announced a range of initiatives on issues from zero-emissions transportation and building decarbonization to clean hydrogen and nuclear energy to spur the transition to clean energy systems and help keep the goal of 1.5°C within reach. [CleanTechnica]

Tesla Model 3 Highland

Minute 22
¶ “Tesla Giga Shanghai Hits New Production Record” • Tesla Giga Shanghai hit a monthly production record and rolled out 90,802 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in November, mostly for delivery in December, according to reports. They also say the Model Y is sold out for 2023 in China, and Tesla indicated it is still targeting 1.8 million vehicle sales in 2023. [CleanTechnica]

Ford Mustang Mach-E (Ford image)

Minute 24
¶ “Ford EV Sales Up 43%” • Ford’s EV evolution continues. Ford has three EV models: the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning, and the E-Transit electric van. Sales of these EVs were up a lot in November. Overall, they increased 43% compared to November 2022. The biggest jump in sales wsa the F-150 Lightning, which was up 113% for the month, YOY. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, December 10

Lighting America (NASA, Unsplash)

Minute 27
¶ “Fossil Fuels: Can Humanity Really Kick Its Addiction?” • The unprecedented productivity of the industrial world means most of us enjoy prosperity and health our grandparents would find astonishing. Our hunting and gathering ancestors got by on the equivalent of 277 kWh of energy a year. The average American uses 50 times that now. [BBC]

Renewable energy (Mark König, Unsplash)

Minute 30
¶ “We Really Could Triple Renewables By 2030, But It Won’t Be A Breeze” • In the past week almost 120 global leaders have pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity before 2030. That is an “ambitious yet achievable goal”, according to the International Energy Agency. Nevertheless, it is not going to be an easy goal. [The Guardian]

Bear (Zdeněk Macháček, Unsplash

Minute 32
¶ “Bear Attacks In Japan Are At A Record High. Climate Change And An Aging Population Are Making The Problem Worse” • In Japan, experts say bears are increasingly venturing out of their traditional habitats and into urban areas in search of food. Some suggest this is because climate change is interfering with some of the animals’ traditional sources of food. [CNN]

Monday, December 11

Svanen (Van Oord image)

Minute 35
¶ “Van Oord To Upgrade Svanen Heavy-Lift Vessel” • Van Oord plans to upgrade its heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen. Among other things, the gantry crane will be extended by 25 meters, so the vessel is ready to handle the next generation of monopile foundations. This will make the Svanen one of the world’s largest heavy-lift installation vessels. [reNews]

Carbon capture equipment (Mission Zero Technologies image)

Minute 38
¶ “This Shipping Container Uses Water And Solar Power To Capture CO₂ From The Air” • A startup based in the UK, Mission Zero Technologies, wanted to find a cheaper, more efficient way to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Now it says it has done just that, and at a fraction of the cost of the methods used by other technologies. [Fast Company]

F-MAX fuel cell truck by the Turkish firm Ford Otosan

Minute 40
¶ “Clearly Ford Did Not Get The Fuel Cell Truck Memo: F-MAX Is Ready To Roll” • Despite the hydrogen fuel cell skeptics, the money just keeps flowing into new fuel cell ventures. In the latest positive sign for the technology, the Turkish firm Ford Otosan has a series of deals aimed to bring its F-Max heavy duty fuel cell truck to the European market. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, December 12

Pumping oil (David Thielen, Unsplash, cropped)

Minute 43
¶ “Making Oil Is More Profitable Than Saving The Planet. These Numbers Tell The Story” • Oil companies have long been under pressure to invest more money into renewable energy to help fight climate change. Here’s one simple reason why they don’t: They make a lot more money selling oil. That leaves them with little reason to save the planet. [WGCU]

Fruit under PV panels (Lisamiri, CC-BY-SA 4.0, cropped)

Minute 46
¶ “Dual-Use Solar Makes Best Use Of Renewable Energy And Farmland” • New York is looking at ways to impliment dual-use solar by combining solar panels with other land uses, ranging from shade canopies for cars or a house’s awning to common agrivoltaic practice. Crops are still being grown on land where solar panels are installed. [Public News Service]

Dubai (Mohammed Nasim, Unsplash)

Minute 48
¶ “‘Verge Of Complete Failure’ Climate Summit Draft Drops The Mention Of A Fossil Fuel Phase-Out, Angering Advocates” • In Dubai, climate advocates are warning the COP28 climate summit could be on the verge of failure after the latest draft of the core agreement removed a call to phase out fossil fuels, the one thing most driving the climate crisis. [CNN]

Wednesday, December 

Doctors at work (National Cancer Institute, Unsplash)

Minute 51
¶ “Training A New Generation Of ‘Climate Doctors’” • The Lancet called climate change the “biggest global health threat of the 21st century.” However, no one was being trained to deal it as a health issue. Now, a Colorado diploma program aims to turn working medical professionals into leading experts on climate and health. [CNN]

Offshore oil rig (Zachary Theodore, Unsplash)

Minute 54
¶ “COP28 Deal Pledges Global Transition Away From Fossil Fuels For First Time” • This is the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, UK climate minister Graham Stuart says. This “historic moment” that should inspire action across the globe, he says. “We’re now unified in a common commitment to move away from fossil fuels.” [BBC]

Wind farm in India (SuyogJoshiPhotography, CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Minute 56
¶ “Adani Group To Invest $100 Billion Over Ten Years In Green Energy Transition” • Adani Group released its half-yearly ESG compendium, showing progress in its decarbonization pathway. Five of its portfolio companies will invest $100 billion toward the energy transition. Adani Group is India’s largest developer of integrated infrastructure. [pv magazine India]

Minute 59: Finis

Notes: Energy Week #552 – 12/13/2023

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