Air travel is a relatively minor factor in Global Warming, but the shutdown gives me an excuse for focusing on it today. Hannah Ritchie of Our World in Data gave the best explanation of the science, and Robert Reich the best explanation of the politics involved. Apart from that, we have the usual good news on renewables/bad news on denial story today.
Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions. But it has contributed around 4% to global warming to date.
Along with emitting CO2 from burning fuel, planes also affect the concentration of other atmospheric gases and pollutants. They generate a short-term increase but a long-term decrease in ozone and methane and increased emissions of water vapor, soot, sulfur aerosols, and water contrails. While some of these impacts result in warming, others induce a cooling effect. But overall, the warming effect is stronger.
David Lee et al. (2020) quantified the overall effect of aviation on global warming when all of these impacts were included. To do this, they calculated the so-called “radiative forcing”. Radiative forcing measures the difference between incoming energy and the energy radiated back to space. If more energy is absorbed than radiated, the atmosphere becomes warmer.
Taking all of these effects into account, the authors estimate that aviation has accounted for approximately 3.5% of effective radiative forcing to date. Another study estimates that it has been responsible for 4% of global temperature rise since pre-industrial times.6
Robert Reich has been explaining that this 🌮🐔🌮 TACO 🌮🐔🌮 shutdown is going to end the same way as the last Trump shutdown, in his first term. Air Traffic Controllers, calling in sick, are bringing the pain to the well-connected. This idea is in very wide circulation on Bluesky, and I am sure that the Air Traffic Controllers are passing it around. Some airports are reportedly down to 50% of their usual ATC staff.
Robert Reich is, in short 😂 as he himself says, a national treasure.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that at times, air traffic staffing has been cut by 50% in some areas since the shutdown started last week. The FAA said air traffic control staffing issues are impacting flights at numerous airports including Newark, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and Burbank. FlightAware said more than 4,000 flights in the U.S. on Monday have been delayed, including 29% arriving flights at Denver, 19% of Newark flights and 15% of Las Vegas flights.
It doesn’t help the Trumpistas at all that the aforementioned Minimum Leader is proposing not to pay any furloughed workers, in violation of a law that he signed.
We knew that this next tipping point was coming, and here it is.
(This Bluesky post is blocked from embedding, as though I can’t just copy and paste it.)
In the exponential part of the logistic curve for market growth, such record growth rates are guaranteed every year unless there is some major disturbance, such as covid. The Minimum Leader’s attempted interference with renewables and EVs doesn’t count.
🎩 MCUBernieFan
Cement Supercapacitors Could Turn the Concrete Around Us into Massive Energy Storage Systems
Scientists from MIT have created a conductive “nanonetwork” inside a unique concrete mixture that could enable everyday structures like walls, sidewalks, and bridges to store and release electrical energy.
It’s perhaps the most ubiquitous man-made material on Earth by weight, but every square foot of it could, with the addition of some extra materials, power the world that it has grown to cover.
Known as e c-cubed (ec3) the electron-conductive carbon concrete is made by adding an ultra-fine paracrystalline form of carbon known as carbon black, with electrolytes and carbon nanoscales.
~~~
While batteries maintain a higher energy density, ec3 can in principle be incorporated directly into a wide range of architectural elements—from slabs and walls to domes and vaults—and last as long as the structure itself.
“The Ancient Romans made great advances in concrete construction. Massive structures like the Pantheon stand to this day without reinforcement. If we keep up their spirit of combining material science with architectural vision, we could be at the brink of a new architectural revolution with multifunctional concretes like ec3,” proposes Masic.
Major Midwest port begins electrifying operations to reduce emissions
Late last month, the Port of Cleveland began renovating its main warehouse on the shore of Lake Erie. When the work is complete, Warehouse A will have roughly 2 megawatts’ worth of rooftop solar panels, plus battery storage and numerous charging ports for cargo-handling equipment.
Cleveland, which received a $94 million award from the Clean Ports Program announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last fall, is one of three Great Lakes port groups benefitting from the funding. Although the agency has reneged on many other funding commitments under President Donald Trump, work and payments for the $2.9 billion ports program are still moving ahead.
~~~
The nearly $3 billion in Clean Ports Program funding nationwide “has transformative potential for U.S. ports,” said Jerold Brito, a program associate with the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit that helped coordinate a Sept. 25 event on regional port electrification hosted by the Port of Cleveland.
Indeed, Cleveland is not alone in its efforts to clean up its port. The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, for example, has an even more ambitious goal of reaching net-zero for its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, said its sustainability manager, Taylor Mitchell.
Because so much is shipped through ports, Mitchell says, electrifying these hubs of commerce is a “cool opportunity to have a really huge impact on the planet.”
EVerest here uses the Apache Open Source license, not the Free Software GPL.
x
NextStar Energy completes construction of EV battery plant in Windsor. With construction now complete, NextStar is preparing to ramp up battery cell production later this year.
Read the full story: shorturl.at/nycJt
#ElectricVehicles #EVBattery #EVSupplyChain #Ontario
[image or embed]
— Electric Autonomy (@electricautonomy.com) October 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Bluesky provides most of my Global Warming news nuggets. I keep finding more accounts to follow.
CEJA Action
Coalition of 10 grassroots orgs fighting for environmental justice in CA. We defend communities on the frontlines of pollution through advocacy and energy justice. Sibling org to
@ceja.org. Cover photo by @movementphotog.bsky.social
I often put in my own 2 cents worth.
And, even better, New York state puts in $10 million worth.
x
Announced by @governor.ny.gov : $10M is available through Clean Heat for All: Window Heat Pump Demonstration Program. Program provides incentives to advance affordable, cost-effective, plug-&-play retrofit solutions. Learn more and apply: PR https://on.ny.gov/48jH897
[image or embed]
— New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (@nyserda.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
This is 900% growth in a year, not a month. A little irrational exuberance is forgivable, though, when it’s about real growth, not an asset bubble.
x
This is about to happen here too when the little affordable Atto 1 (AKA Seagul) hits Australia next month. 👏👏👏
"BYD has just exploded in the UK — sales are up nearly 900% in a single month. From just over 1,100 vehicles last year to more than 11,000 in September 2025..."
#EVs #BYD
[image or embed]
— WyndhamVic (@wyndhamvic.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The upcoming Elettrica will be Ferrari’s first EV, but it will have some familiar sounding specs, like 1000 horsepower and a top speed of 193mph.
The fastest production car on Earth is an EV, at 308 mph. I have no idea where buyers would suppose they can run it all out. Maybe it’s just that they have more money than sense. 🎩 Rev. Abbess Jiyu Kennett, Shasta Abbey, my mentor in Zen Buddhism
YANGWANG U9X - FASTEST CAR ON EARTH, 496.22 KM/H - FULL FILM
x
New tech for geothermal energy has attracted ⬆️-ing levels of investment in this reliable, low-emission power source that can provide continuous electricity almost anywhere on the planet. That includes ways to harness geothermal energy from idle or abandoned oil & gas wells.
No pay wall.
[image or embed]
— 🎃 Fiona "Fi" Webster 🎃 (@fiona-webster22.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Using an EV3 equipped with a battery cell monitoring system from UK-based Dukosi, Kia could monitor live data for every cell in the battery pack and upload it to the digital battery passport.
Once uploaded, drivers can access the data in real-time through their vehicle’s infotainment system. The system will automatically update after repairs for the most accurate data.
Kia said the new tech can unlock new benefits for EV drivers, including extended battery life and more affordable maintenance.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFeP) has been the standard chemistry for rechargeable batteries for two decades, but there is a new challenger, NaFeP. Sodium is one space below lithium in the periodic table.
x
Researchers have created a breakthrough bamboo-based bioplastic stronger than many commercial plastics, heat-resistant, and fully biodegradable in just 50 days.🌱
tinyurl.com/59jmtrv6 #Bioplastics #Innovation #CircularEconomy #ClimateAction #ClimateHope
[image or embed]
— activist360 (@activist360.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
x
The Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center is still accepting cohort members for the upcoming Solar Array Lands Supporting Agribusiness (SALSA) program season! Connect if you're a grower, rancher, or food entrepreneur ready to build your vision under solar panels.
www.coagrivoltaic.org/agribusiness...
[image or embed]
— Colorado Renewable Energy Society (@corenewable.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
x
🇬🇧 The UK’s biggest battery yet: 1 GW / 8 GWh (8 hrs) Teesside Gigapark ⚡
Privately funded £1 bn LFP project = doubles the UK’s entire BESS capacity to date in a single site.
8 hrs of storage = grid + port electrification powerhouse. The gigascale era has arrived. 🔋 #BESS #EnergyTransition #Lithium
[image or embed]
— EV Curve Futurist (@evcurvefuturist.com) October 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
x
"solar wasn’t the only top performer this year. Battery storage has already set four discharge records in Texas this month, often charging up on solar power that floods the grid in the mornings and putting it back into the system when the sun sets." ☀️ Solar + batteries for the win! #solarenergy
[image or embed]
— Bright Saver plug-in solar (@brightsaver.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 3:57 PM
No New Nukes
x
In 2024, renewables added 582 GW (91% of new power) while nuclear added as much as renewables added in two days. "Nuclear costs are huge and rising," write Stanford's Mark Jacobson, Amory Lovins, and co-authors.
Read the full opinion piece: www.newcivilengineer.com/opinion/a-go...
#nuclear
[image or embed]
— Stanford Energy (@stanfordenergy.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Right, how is Duke fiddling its books to make this sound profitable? Note also that there are no commercial SMRs, only two research prototypes in China and Russia. There was another such project in Argentina that is now on hold.
In the fact-based world, this can only be a clear path for wind and solar.
Denial and Obstruction vs. Resistance and $$Real Money$$™
This would be failed, debunked, falsified, abandoned bogosity in a saner world.
Why would I lie? Life’s bad enough without making up more of it.
Marvin the Paranoid Android in HHGTTG
x
Leading oil and gas companies own less than 1.5 per cent of the world’s renewable power capacity – raising questions about how committed they are to the green energy transition, despite their public claims.
Marcel Llavero Pasquina and Antonio Bontempi at ...
#wind #solar #hydroelectric #geothermal
[image or embed]
— Desert Flower (@crystal159.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
x
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
[image or embed]
— jael holzman (@jael.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 10:36 PM
National Wind Watch remains one of the most persistent and bogus organizations denying everything good about renewable energy.
Wind power DOES deliver the expected emissions reductions, when combined with storage.
x
(archive: 2013) Why wind power does not deliver the expected emissions reductions: “It is frequently claimed, in the scientific or popular literature, that introduction of wind and other intermittent energy sources into utility and national electrical grids will […]
[Original post on mstdn.social]
[image or embed]
— National WInd Watch (@windwatchorg.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy) October 9, 2025 at 2:07 PM
“It is frequently claimed, in the scientific or popular literature, that introduction of wind and other intermittent energy sources into utility and national electrical grids will substantially, if not completely, decrease CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel sources. While wind power certainly has desirable attributes, this paper, based on data from two continents and a variety of sources, suggests that as wind penetration increases, the CO₂ reduction will gradually decrease due to cycling of the fossil fuel plants that make up the balance of the grid.”
Assuming that fossil fuel plants will not be shut down, as is happening with greater and greater speed, and assuming that a decrease in a positive good is equivalent to a disaster.
x
IRENA confirms that in the sector, no meaningful progress has been made in women’s representation over the years. The report found that the percentage has remained unchanged since IRENA’s first gender analysis in 2019.
Read more www.saurenergy.com/solar-energy...
#greenenegy #solarenergy
[image or embed]
— Saur Energy (@saurenergy.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 2:07 AM
