All life on Planet Earth faces threats from Global Warming, in a multitude of different ways. Our entire natural and built environment is threatened in a multitude of other ways, such as agricultural poisons and soil degradation, which are made much worse by droughts and flooding and fires. Agriculture is threatened in both sets of ways, and more.
Pennsylvania State University
Honey yields in the U.S. have been declining since the 1990s, with honey producers and scientists unsure why, but a new study by Penn State researchers has uncovered clues in the mystery of the missing honey.
Using five decades of data from across the U.S., the researchers analyzed the potential factors and mechanisms that might be affecting the number of flowers growing in different regions—and, by extension, the amount of honey produced by honey bees.
The study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that changes in honey yields over time were connected to herbicide application and land use, such as fewer land conservation programs that support pollinators. Annual weather anomalies also contributed to changes in yields. […]
Overall, researchers found that climate conditions and soil productivity—the ability of soil to support crops based on its physical, chemical and biological properties—were some of the most important factors in estimating honey yields. States in both warm and cool regions produced higher honey yields when they had productive soils.
Putting biochar into soils has multiple benefits, in addition to sequestering carbon. It holds air when dry and water when wet, to begin with, greatly reducing erosion and toxic runoff, and supporting more vigorous and healthy plant growth.
Renewable Friday: Our Land Can Save Us—Partly
There is much more to this story, of course.
Right now, humans are throwing away vast quantities of soil, and adding vast quantities of poisons and nutrients that wash into our rivers and seas, killing many beneficial plants and animals while supporting others that result in toxic algal blooms and oceanic dead zones.
Good News for the Planet
Analysis: UK electricity from fossil fuels drops to lowest level since 1957
The amount of UK electricity generated from fossil fuels fell 22% year-on-year in 2023 to the lowest level since 1957, Carbon Brief analysis reveals.
The 104 terawatt hours (TWh) generated from fossil fuels in 2023 is the lowest level in 66 years. Back then, Harold Macmillan was the UK prime minister and the Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney had just met for the first time.
Electricity from fossil fuels has now fallen by two-thirds (199TWh) since peaking in 2008. Within that total, coal has dropped by 115TWh (97%) and gas by 80TWh (45%).
U.S. ELECTRIC VEHICLES MADE UP more than 9% OF TOTAL NEW CAR SALES IN 2023
Much of the mainstream media’s electric vehicle news coverage lately has come across as almost gleeful over GM, Ford, and Honda retreating on some of their multibillion-dollar plans for battery factories and reducing their plans for manufacturing hundreds of thousands of EVs immediately. Accompanied by numerous stories about lowered demand, under-par EV reliability, fatal crashes by users of Tesla’s AutoPilot as well as the company’s lowered profit margins, this retreat makes it seem like the transition to EVs is in deep trouble.
In fact, a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency notes that fully battery-electric car sales rose from 1.8% of the total U.S. auto market in 2020 to 3.2% in 2021, 5.2% in 2022, and an estimated 9-9.8% in 2023.
Compared to lithium-ion batteries, the advantages of flow batteries for an electric car include non-toxicity, inflammability, longer range, and shorter fueling time. The latest version of the QUANTiNO electric car is ready to roll, with tanks built into the body itself and a driving range of up to 2,000 kilometers (almost 1,242 miles) on a single fuel-up.
Wikipedia notes
Because flow batteries can be rapidly "recharged" by replacing the electrolyte, they can be used for applications where the vehicle needs to take on energy as fast as a combustion engined vehicle.
We just jumped in! A whole house heat pump vs.18,000 gallons of heating oil (diesel)?
Initially oil was fairly cheap. It kept rising over the years and recently it was well over 5 dollars a gallon! That means to fill it right now is about $2,700 that just gets us through the cold months and the price keeps going up!
According to my numbers we had, over the years, burned right around 18,000 gallons!
We decided to set the thermostat at 64 F and not change it for one month. This was started on the first of December 2023. The house temperature doesn’t vary much and the heat boosting strips seem to come on when the outside temperature hits 35 F or lower. So far we are happy.
More to Do
How to get people to kick fossil fuels out of their homes
A new study of 10,000 Americans suggests decarbonization programs should focus on reducing upfront costs and emphasize health, comfort — and even aesthetic benefits.
The real substance of the report is, not this Captain Obvious statement, but specifics on regional differences in concerns, information sources, and more, and issues for renters.
“The regional piece is going to be really key” for home decarbonization initiatives, Fuentes said, including the state-level rollout of the IRA electrification and efficiency rebate programs that’s expected to start this year. PNNL plans to make the study’s underlying data available later this year for local groups to dissect themselves, so they can tailor their campaigns to their own populaces.
Financing the Transition: Energy Supply Investment and Bank-Facilitated Financing Ratios 2022
In this second edition of our annual report on energy supply financing, we analyze the factors affecting both capital investment and financing, and update our analysis of bank-facilitated financing. In 2022, financing for low-carbon energy was 73% of that for fossil fuels – meaning that for every dollar supporting fossil-fuel supply, $0.73 supported low-carbon energy, a slight decline from $0.75 in 2021. Despite improvements in the ratio of real-economy investment, neither this nor bank financing is changing at the pace or scale required to hit the minimum 4:1 ratio needed this decade, as implied by commonly referenced climate scenarios that limit global warming to 1.5C.
The ratio of coal investment to fossil fuels is currently at 0.18:1 but needs to decline to 0.06:1 this decade to be on track for 1.5C warming. For bank-facilitated financing of coal, the ratio to fossil fuels is at 0.13:1, or $122 billion, 76% of which is within China.
BNEF: Climate Transition Plans Gain Momentum from Policy, Banks
Climate transition plans are entering the mainstream, as policy makers and financial institutions search for credible proofs that carbon-emitting industries and companies are moving toward net zero.
Fossil Fuel Executive Named President of COP29!
Mukhtar Babayev, ecology and national resource minister in Azerbaijan, will preside over COP29 this fall. Babayev’s career includes 24 years as an executive at Socar, the country’s state-controlled oil and gas company.
Authoritarian petrostate Azerbaijan will be the next host nation, because all of those with serious commitments to decarbonization were vetoed by OPEC or Russia.
More than 100 Lawmakers Urge Banking Regulators to Revise Basel III Tax Equity Provisions to Not Imperil Clean Energy Transition
Tax equity is a predominant source of financing in the U.S. renewable energy market, and it is critical that federal agencies immediately clarify a risk weight for renewable energy tax equity reflective of these investments’ loan-like characteristics, low-risk profile, and overwhelmingly positive historical returns. Near-term action is essential to avoid stifling crucial financing for the renewable sector at a time when it is needed most.
Like our interstate system, enacting sound policies that deliver a 21st century grid and spur interregional transmission development will drive tremendous economic benefits, increase resilience and national security operations, and maximize the ability to deliver affordable and reliable energy when we need it most. Given the nation’s aging grid infrastructure and our growing need for energy, there is no time to waste.
Drivers have been having problems, and Hertz said it’s backing out of the deal when execs realized that repair delays, repair costs, resale values, and other issues were eating at the bottom line.
Now we’re hearing from CNBC that there’s another big downside: people now don’t want to rent them.
Hertz is still very profitable, but the EV experience has been a challenge that brought them down a little. The learning curve is being climbed, and Hertz might be ahead of the competition in most ways.
From Daily Kos
Weekly Spotlight on Climate & Eco-Diaries by Meteor Blades
Earth Matters: Biden's IRA plan extends solar to low-income people, EVs surge by Meteor Blades
Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - January 2024 by gmoke
Dark Brandon Cleaned up the Great Lakes: Boosting Biden Day 5 by GoodNewsRoundup
The Great Lakes ice cover was 0.35 percent on New Year's Day by Pakalolo
Biden has made progress in holding Big Oil accountable
Only You Can Prevent Climate Change: Buy Electric!
Stratospheric Warming Disrupting Polar Vortex - Dangerous Storms Coming Next 6 Weeks
Multiple research reports have shown that winter has become shorter, but more intense, with human caused climate change. One of the factors in these intense winters is sudden stratospheric warmings that disrupt the polar vortex and give a surge of momentum to the jet stream. The combination of El Niño, a polar vortex disruption, and a blocking high over Alaska is a classic severe weather set up for much of the United States, especially coastal California, in January and February.
MAGA loses their minds over Mayorkas truth-telling on climate and migration; NYC sues bus companies
Eric Adams sues for $700 million from Texas bus companies in latest move against Gov. Abbott
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams is suing 17 Texas charter bus companies in his latest move to thwart Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s policy of busing thousands of migrants from his state’s border to New York City.
Everyone doesn't have to change at once, but WE can