Late-Breaking News

Don’t get depressed by the bad news – just read on and you will see the hope.

• Summer of 2023 was the hottest on record by a wide margin. Because of renewable energy that has been added to the grid, however, the serious power outages that can accompany hot weather did not happen. ()
• In late September, a study confirmed that the Gulf Stream has slowed by 4% in the last 40 years. The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters. ()
• Prices of gasoline have been going up quickly in some parts of the United States due to an increase in the price of crude oil. At some stations in the Los Angeles area, the price of a gallon of gas has hit nearly $7 per gallon. ()
• This summer has been the driest on record for Phoenix, Arizona, and the records go back to 1895. During the rainy monsoon season of over three months, the city had a total of 0.15 inches of rain. (https://abcn.ws/46KlBm0)
• Despite bad news on climate change, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency said the “staggering” growth of green energy resources gives him hope that we can limit global warming to 1.5°C. ()
• MidAmerican, a large utility in the Midwest, announced that its customers in Iowa got all of their electricity from windpower in 2022. ()
• Goats are helping prevent wildfires in Southern California. They can eat woody shrubbery, reducing the amount of fuel available for fires. ()
• New York State is moving ahead rapidly on renewable energy and electric vehicles. There are stories about some of the accomplishments in this issue of Green Energy Times. How many accomplishments?See pages 4, 7, 9, 21, and 35 of this issue.
• Deployments of battery energy storage systems in the United States is expected to be more than 10,000 megawatts this year. ()
• Wind power capacity is expected to grow 10.1% annually and hit 2.38 terawatts globally by 2032. That amount, 2.38 terawatts, is equal to 2,380,000 megawatts. ()
• Wright Electric says it is developing batteries with an energy density of 1,000 watts per kilogram. At that density, it should be possible to use aircraft carrying 100 passengers on flights of up to one hour. The first aircraft might be running commercially in 2026. ()
• Adding a heat pump water heater to a home could easily save enough electricity in a year to charge an electric vehicle for the same year. ()
• Uruguay was in economic doldrums in 2007 because its industries were growing faster than the electric supply. A decision was made to provide extra electricity from wind farms, and now the country is out of the doldrums in 98% powered by renewable electricity. ()
• To reach its sales goals for this year, Tesla is reducing its prices on some models of electric cars. (https://bit.ly/GET_LBN_12)

Caption:

Wind turbines in Iowa (Drew Hays, Unsplash, bit.ly/3rKySfq)