Green Energy Times

Headline News:

• “Florida Is Ditching Palm Trees To Fight The Climate Crisis” • When you think of Florida, beaches and palm trees come to mind. But what if those palm trees were slowly replaced with other trees? That could happen over time because of climate change, and communities in South Florida are trying to save the world from the climate crisis. [CNN]

Live oak draws down 200 times the CO₂ that palms can. (Ashley Knedler, Unsplash)

• “Weather Whiplash: A Series Of Storms Could Ease California Drought, But Also Unleash Flood Hazards” • Parts of the West Coast will go from extreme drought to facing a series of bomb cyclones, and an atmospheric river. The Pacific Northwest and Northern California will have rains, flash floods, debris flows, and potential hurricane-force winds. [CNN]
• “Caltrain Pushes For Renewability With Electric Trains” • After a period of delayed funding, Caltrain’s electrification project is finally coming into place. Its mission is to transform all of Caltrain’s diesel trains into fully electric ones. The change will see benefits of quieter, faster, and less polluting train service, according to one employee. [Scot Scoop News]
• “Fox Weather Channel To Embrace Climate Change” • Fox Weather, a new 24-hour sister network of Fox News, will strongly embrace climate change as part of its coverage, multiple press reports say. “If you’re asking about climate change, climate change is part of our lives,” Sharri Berg, the Fox executive who will head the division, told Variety. [Newsmax]
• “The Bar For Climate Ambition Must Be Set By Science, Not Congressional Politics” • Precisely because the present emissions gap is so great, we cannot solely lean on the incredible progress enabled by leading states, localities, businesses, and individuals. To truly bend the curve, we need federal action – action, not spun words or justifications. [CleanTechnica]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Headline News:

• “This Might Just Look Like Grass, But It Has The Power To Absorb A Load Of Our Carbon Emissions” • Forests, peatlands, deserts, and tundra can all absorb and hold stocks of CO₂. Of all the carbon held in land-based ecosystems, around 34% can be found in grasslands, data from the World Resources Institute show. That’s close to the 39% held in forests. [CNN]

Grassland (Jonathan Farber, Unsplash)

• “Record Levels Of Renewable Energy Drive Down Electricity Prices Across Australia” • Record levels of renewable energy drove down electricity prices across Australia in the September quarter, with prices zero or lower a sixth of the time, AEMO said in a report. Solar, wind, and hydro power supplied a record 31.7% of the electricity. [The Guardian]
• “Tesla Switching To LFP Batteries For Standard Range Model 3 And Model Y Cars” • Tesla started using LFP batteries in Model 3s made in China last year. Tesla will use lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO₄) chemistry for all standard range cars globally from this point forward. It is also using LFP battery cells in its grid-scale energy storage products. [CleanTechnica]
• “Merchants Fleet Pivots To Help Fleet Managers Electrify Their Fleets” • Merchants Fleet, a fleet management company based in Hooksett, New Hampshire, is transitioning to EVs. CEO Brendan Keegan made it clear that the time for planning a transition to EVs is now, as the cost of operating an EV fleet close to parity with combustion vehicles. [CleanTechnica]
• “Hanover Joins Newly-Formed Community Power Coalition Of New Hampshire” • Hanover joined the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. The coalition, which includes twelve other municipalities and Cheshire County, aims to help member governments pool their resources to transition to more renewable forms of electricity. [The Dartmouth]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Headline News:

• “Instead Of A Coal Mine, This Alberta Mountain May Now Become A ‘Green Energy Complex'” • Montem Resources gave up a plan to develop an open-pit coal mine on Tent Mountain. It has a new proposal to use the mountain for pumped-hydro energy storage, powered by nearby wind turbines, along with a green hydrogen production facility. [CBC.ca]

Tent Mountain in southwestern Alberta (Montem Resources)

• “Don’t Buy Another Gas Car!” • Maybe you normally let your cars run five years, ten years, or longer before you replace them. However, when the time comes to replace your car, don’t buy another gas car! The car companies are increasingly making EVs. Within 10 years, we will look on gas cars like we now look on film cameras and tube TVs. [CleanTechnica]
• “Study Shows Recycled Lithium Batteries As Good As Newly Mined Lithium Batteries” • There’s a new study out that found that recycled lithium-ion batteries are as good as and even better than new batteries made with newly mined materials. The study showed that recycled NMC111 cathodes actually are superior in both rate and cycle performance. [CleanTechnica]
• “Document Leak Reveals Nations Lobbying To Change Key Climate Report” • Leaked documents seen by BBC News show countries are trying to change a crucial scientific report on how to tackle climate change. Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia are among countries asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels. [BBC]
• “Grassley Calls On Biden To Support Renewable Energy Industry” • Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called on President Biden to support renewable energy as green manufacturing jobs are now leaving Iowa. In a letter, Grassley asks the President to do everything in his power to ensure workers are not hurt by federal policies moving forward. [Senator Chuck Grassley]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Headline News:

• “Democrats Are Developing A Replacement For Cornerstone Climate Measure In Sweeping Economic ” • Sen Tina Smith of Minnesota affirmed that Democrats are creating a replacement for the clean electricity program in the economic package. The program will likely be dropped from the bill due to opposition from Sen Joe Manchin of West Virginia. [CNN]

Wind turbines (Daniel Morris, Unsplash)

• “Billionaires Beating The Government In Race To Net Zero ” • The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero is now “collectively holding assets under management of a staggering $90 trillion to invest in alignment with a 1.5°C trajectory,” said the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Billionaires are not waiting for political leadership. [CleanTechnica]
• “Iberdrola Earmarks £6 Billion For UK Offshore Wind Hub” • Spanish utility Iberdrola will commit £6 billion to subsidiary ScottishPower’s 3-GW East Anglia Hub off the UK’s east coast. The funding is in addition to the £10 billion UK investment being made by Iberdrola between 2020-2025 to double its renewable generation capacity. [reNews]
• “What The Global Gas And Coal Crisis Means For Clean Energy” • Energy shortages and price spikes are roiling markets around the globe. This continued risk of supply disruptions and high prices for fossil fuels – which drive up electricity costs – are a signal to countries that it’s time to invest in clean and domestic energy resources. [CNN]
• “Equinor, BP Select Vestas 15-MW For Empire Wind 1&2” • BP and Equinor chose Vestas as the preferred turbine supplier of 15-MW units for the 2100-MW Empire Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind complex off the coast of the state of New York. Vestas will provide 138 V236-15.0MW turbines for the projects. Empire Wind 1 and 2 will be 24 km to 48 km off Long Island. [reNews]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.