Many components of renewable energy have settled into a rhythm of exponential growth, brushing aside Fossil Foolishness on the part of denialists and lack of imagination on the part of many governments. Have some more. Wind, solar, geothermal, mining, batteries, EVs, even real carbon capture. Texas is a fascinating case study in these conflicting trends. Ideologues and some CEOs battle fiercely against renewables there, while Real MoneyTM frequently carries the day in wind, solar, and battery storage.
- In 2023, the U.S. added more solar capacity that ever before, at 32.4 gigawatts.
- This added capacity surpassed any other energy source in 2023, marking the first time a renewable energy source outpaced fossil fuels since World War II, when the U.S. experienced a hydropower boom.
- The Inflation Reduction Act, along with the Biden Administration’s push for U.S. solar manufacturing, means these record-breaking years will hopefully be the year-after-year norm.
That represents 52 percent of all added energy capacity in the U.S., with natural gas coming in a distant second with only 18 percent.
According to the environmental website Grist, California and Texas led the charge, with large utility-scale solar projects going online in 2023. With residential and commercial sectors also reaching new milestones, the solar energy industry had an all-around stellar year.
Our Regular Sources
Utah developer quadruples battery storage to meet new electricity demand
As data centers and electrification increase power use across the country, it’s a move that will likely become more common.
Salt Lake City–based rPlus Energies made this move with its Green River Energy Center in eastern Utah. Utility Rocky Mountain Power had awarded a contract from a 2020 proposal for 400 megawatts of solar paired with 200 megawatts/400 megawatt-hours of energy storage — a substantial battery, to be sure.
But since then, electricity demand has switched into major growth mode to supply data centers, AI and electrification of vehicles and buildings. To deal with that, the utility asked for more from the Green River project. RPlus complied, and earlier this month, it announced it had amended its contract to include 1,600 megawatt-hours of storage capacity, four times the previously agreed-upon amount. It’s an unprecedented leap for a large-scale grid storage project, and it says a lot about the crucial storage market’s propulsive new era.
Analysis: UK emissions in 2023 fell to lowest level since 1879
Energy efficiency minister Martin Callanan praises DeSmog’s investigation uncovering “false and misleading stories” planted by the gas boiler industry as he reaffirmed the policy in parliament.
In his comments, Callanan praised a July 2023 investigation by DeSmog, which revealed the UK’s largest gas boiler trade association, the Energy and Utilities Association (EUA), had paid a PR company to “spark outrage” about heat pumps in hundreds of articles and media appearances.
The Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) aims to roll out 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. Experts see the policy as essential to tackle emissions from the UK’s carbon intensive homes, which account for 15 percent of greenhouse gases nationwide.
Impossible Foods Rebrands to Attract More Meat Eaters
“For a long time, meat eaters didn’t see us as something for them. But our mission relies on attracting meat eaters, so we wanted to do what we could to be more inviting in our approach and messaging,” Chief Marketing and Creative Officer Leslie Sims said in a press release. “We’re confident that once they try us, they’ll be in.”
No date has been set for general availability.
VegNews: Impossible Hot Dogs Have Arrived, and New Research Says They’re a Heart-Healthy Swap for Meat
Impossible Foods’ new hot dogs launch as mounting research points to the health benefits of swapping processed animal meat with plant-based alternatives.
Bangladesh Govt Starts Raising Energy Prices In Its Subsidy-Cut Move
The government has launched its move to mitigate the stress of subsidies on the economy by increasing the prices of energy and power. The policy decision has been to relieve the energy and power sector completely free from subsidy in three years.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that there is no alternative to getting rid of subsidies for the power and energy sector. However, the tariff increase will be done in phases to mitigate stress on the consumers.
The generation cost has increased significantly because of the Taka-US dollar exchange rate fluctuation in the recent past. It is anticipated that such fluctuation will continue.
There is, of course, an actual alternative: build out renewables fast enough to counter the cuts.
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Former Volunteer Conservation Chair (1982–2019)Sat
It’s not fear. It’s knowledge. The fossil and nuclear industries recognized more than 40 years ago that they would eventually fail to compete with wind and solar and have spent half a billion dollars per year on false promotion of lies and misinformation intended to delay the time when they lost the economic war.
🌙 Liverpool is building largest tidal power project, to power a million homes Andy Corbley, Good News Network
EPA’s hard-fought climate rule for cars expected next week subscriber.politicopro.com/...
The Biden administration is expected to unveil the final version of one of its most pivotal climate rules next week — a clean car rule that could result in two-thirds of new passenger vehicles sold in 2032 running on electricity.
In addition to carbon emissions, the rule also tackles ozone-forming emissions and toxics from passenger cars A separate climate rule for heavy-duty trucks is expected to be announced later.
The regulation on passenger cars and light trucks is a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s campaign to address climate change.
Schemes to harness the predictable power of the tides in Liverpool Bay date back to 1924, and with one of the largest tidal ranges of any coastal city in the UK, government utility Mersey Tidal Power believe that they can power 1 million homes and protect the city from floodwaters, all without disturbing the local estuarine ecosystem.
Mersey Tidal Power have released precious little information on the plans thus far, but Eletrek reports that a large dam would be a barrier between the Irish Sea and a tidal basin. Underneath the dam would be large turbines and sluice gates which would open as the tide comes in, pulling water onto the turbines to generate energy.
The gates would close as the 10-meter-high tide finishes, and as the gravity of the moon begins to pull on the water four hours later, the gates would open, causing it to rush past the turbines a second time, generating more clean energy.
Completion of South Fork Wind, First Utility-Scale Offshore Wind Farm in the United States Announced
All 12 Turbines Powered Up and Will Deliver Electricity Across Long Island and the Rockaways
This from Sustainable Energy Authority for Ireland (where I live now):
Wind energy is currently the largest contributing resource of renewable energy in Ireland. It is both Ireland's largest and cheapest renewable electricity resource. In 2020 Wind provided over 86% of Ireland's renewable electricity and 36% of our total electricity demand.
Real Carbon Capture
Scientists Discovered Tiny Underground Minions That Transform CO2 Into Stone
Researchers from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology claim that a certain Geobacillus bacteria species increases the mineralization of CO2 when stored deep underground. Under ideal geologic conditions, crystallizing carbon dioxide takes 7 to 10 years. But this particular bacteria sped up the process to just 10 days using an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase.
EVs
EPA’s hard-fought climate rule for cars expected next week subscriber.politicopro.com/...
The Biden administration is expected to unveil the final version of one of its most pivotal climate rules next week — a clean car rule that could result in two-thirds of new passenger vehicles sold in 2032 running on electricity.
In addition to carbon emissions, the rule also tackles ozone-forming emissions and toxics from passenger cars A separate climate rule for heavy-duty trucks is expected to be announced later.
The regulation on passenger cars and light trucks is a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s campaign to address climate change.
New electric car prices dropped $2,000 in the U.S. last month, bringing EVs close to price parity with gas-powered cars.
Two years ago, [new car buyers] would have paid about $17,000 more on average for a new electric car than for a new gas-powered car. But that gap has been rapidly closing, shrinking to $5,000 last month, according to data from Cox Automotive.
China and Norway Lead the World’s EV Switchover
Who else is aiming toward all (or mostly all) electric vehicles by 2030?
China, for one, is expected to meet its own 2030 EV adoption target: 40 percent of vehicles sold. By decade’s end, China is expected to be selling only EVs in regions like the island province of Hainan. Norway, more ambitiously still, aims to eliminate sales of new ICE vehicles by 2025. (Eighty percent of new vehicles sold there, as of 2022, are EVs.)
Globally, according to research by the Rocky Mountain Institute, EVs will comprise two-thirds of the world’s car sales by 2030. However, according to the World Resources Institute, “EVs need to account for 75 percent to 95 percent of passenger vehicle sales by 2030 in order to meet international climate goals aimed at keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).”
Analysts are optimistic that electric vehicle sales will reach the levels necessary to help avert climate disaster. WRI adds that because the average annual growth rate in EV sales was 65 percent over the past five years, the world needs an average annual growth rate of only 31 percent through 2032.
Thirty-three countries are signatories of the Global Commercial Vehicle Drive to Zero agreement for heavy- and medium-duty vehicles like tractor-trailers, buses, and box trucks. The group’s member states are “working together to enable 100 percent zero-emission new truck and bus sales by 2040 with an interim goal of 30 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2030.”
From Daily Kos
Meteor Blades
Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem Impossible to Kill