February 18 Green Energy News

Headline News:

“World’s Upside Down Weather Causing Chaos” • A “wobble” in the weather has turned a chunk of the world’s climate upside down, leading to the bizarre situation where it is far colder in Texas than it is in Alaska. A temperature anomaly map from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute vividly reveals the peculiar situation. [NEWS.com.au]

Temperature anomaly map (University of Maine)

“Volta Trucks Picks Proterra For Batteries” • Volta Trucks, the new British commercial electric truck startup, has decided to get its vehicle batteries from Proterra, which just opened a next-gen battery production factory in California in December. The Volta Zero, designed for inner city freight distribution, will have a range of 125 miles. [CleanTechnica]
“Texas: Grids, Blackouts, And Green New Deals” • The failure of the electricity grid in Texas and the blackouts in the Midwest, are more consequences of climate breakdown. The root problem is that the Arctic is growing warmer. As it does so, paradoxically, there is less of a barrier preventing very cold weather in the far north from moving south. [The Ecologist]
“Two Transit Systems Increase Electrification Commitments” • This month, New Flyer of America did some brisk business with Westchester County, Minnesota, and King County, Washington. In one deal, the company added 20 new battery-electric buses to an existing contract, and in the other order they sold 66 hybrid-electric buses. [CleanTechnica]
“Weather Messed With Texas – And Your Town May Be Next” • There’s really only one clear lesson to be drawn from the cold weather and power outages in Texas, which is that in an era of climate change, extreme-weather disasters are getting more common and more costly. We need an infrastructure upgrade to deal with coming disasters. [Politico]

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