Notices tagged with renewables, page 4

Even solar energy’s biggest fans are underestimating it

https://www.vox.com/climate/372852/solar-power-energy-growth-record-us-climate-china

> We’re still underestimating the potential for solar power. New data shows how rapid solar energy expansion has become.

#solar #renewables #climatechange #science #tech

Possible for #Japan to increase from present 22% #renewables to 80% by 2035 by increasing battery storage and grid transmission while phasing out coal and nuclear, new study says
#energytransition #ClimateCrisis https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240922/p2g/00m/0na/020000c https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240922/p2g/00m/0na/020000c

While calls are growing for #Japan to prioritize #renewables, #China’s dominance of key components – such as #lithium, cobalt #solar & nickel – is linked by forced labor of #Uyghurs in the #Xinjiang region and other #humanrights concerns in places like #Indonesia and the #DRC.

For my story for @thejapantimes I explore how Tokyo is balancing with the social cost and geopolitical risks as it, cautiously, moves forward on its #cleanenergy transition

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2024/09/16/energy/china-supply-chain-energy-transition/

On Wed: German Foreign Office posted on X mocking #TFG.

TFG criticized Harris’s clean energy approaches -cited Germany.

“Germany tried that & within 1 year -back to building normal energy plants. We’re not ready for it -can’t sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision” -TFG.

Germany refuted that claim: “Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with >50% #renewables. We're shutting down coal & nuclear plants. Coal: off the grid by 2038 at the latest.”
#USPol https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-germany-energy-presidential-debate-b2611812.html

"Could these ‘motionless’ turbines solve wind energy’s noise and wildlife problems?"

#Energy #Renewables #WindTurbines

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/09/05/could-these-motionless-turbines-solve-wind-energys-noise-and-wildlife-problems

More positive #climate news:

Big battery market charges beyond expectations, now the grid just needs more wind and solar. #Renewables #ClimateCrisis https://johnmenadue.com/big-battery-market-charges-beyond-expectations-now-the-grid-just-needs-more-wind-and-solar/

#Russia today attacked Kyiv Hydro Power Plant in #Ukraine with rockets and I can’t pass this opportunity to demonstrate another popular media bias related to electricity generation.

Kyiv HPP reservoir is almost 1,000 km2 and the dam is 12 m high with a capacity of 1,500 m3/s. The potential energy of this mass of water is 1.5 GJ, or - if one likes comparisons to nuclear weapons - roughly half a kiloton of TNT per second. In terms of energy released, it’s like a small tactical nuclear weapon exploding every second for days, until all water escapes.

While everyone is getting excited about a hypothetical #nuclear meltdown in Zaporizhzhia or Kursk, the risks of #renewables have already materialised - the Russian destruction of the Novaya Kakhovka hydroelectric plant resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and the contamination of thousands of km2 of land and the Black Sea. The Russians have already attacked hydropower plants in Dnipro and now Kyiv, and have successfully stopped power generation (but not destroyed the dams themselves). Historically, the biggest energy-related disaster is also not any Chernobyls or Fukushimas, but also hydroelectric plants - the destruction of the Banquiao dam chain in China in 1975, which killed between 50’000 and 200’000 people.

The story of the Russian invasion of Ukraine shows that renewable energy - and hydropower is one of the key renewables because it’s dispatchable - is a source of risks not just hypothetical, like NPPs, but real.

Please do not take what I wrote above about kilotons as an attack on renewables itself, just me poking the media bias and a polite reminder that any source of energy is a potential threat. A sound analysis of the risks associated with these sources involves a quantitative comparison of these risks converted into kWh of energy produced based on facts, not mythology wholesale manufactured by Greenpeace & friends.

Encouraging for #climate:

97% of new US power plants are carbon-free. The US is pretty much only building #cleanenergy these days, & mostly solar & batteries -but the pace still needs to pick up.

In the 1st half of this year, developers & power plant owners built 20.2 GW of electricity gen. capacity, a 21%⬆️from the 1st half of last year.

The majority of new capacity added this year is from solar, battery storage, wind, & nuclear projects.

#ClimateCrisis #Renewables

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/chart-almost-all-new-us-power-plants-are-carbon-free

Heavy-lift #drones are flying cargo to #offshorewind turbines
#Danish #renewables giant #Ørsted is deploying heavy-lift #cargodrones for the first time in an operational campaign at a #Dutch #offshore #windfarm.
Heavy-lift cargo drone transport cargo from a vessel to all 94 #windturbines at the 752MW Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm.
Ørsted is using 70 kg drones – with a wingspan of 2.6 meters – to transport cargo weighing up to 100 kg, in an actual operations campaign.
https://electrek.co/2024/08/07/heavy-lift-cargo-drones-offshore-wind-farm/

This dual solar and wind powered device works around the clock — on sale now for about $0 and puts “Energy Star” appliances to shame! 😉

#climate #climatechange #nature #earth #environment #renewables #renewableenergy #homestead

⚠️ 😧 Desperate plea for help for this award-winning environment magazine-they have only 5 months of funding remaining so if you know of any possible sponsor(s) please make contact and pass this message along.

😣 In the meantime here's another article:

"Environmentally, Offshore Wind Is … Fine
How often can you say that about an energy generation system?"

#Oceanography #Energy #Renewables #Environment

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/offshore-wind-is-environmentally-fine/

Labour’s ‘rooftop revolution’ to deliver solar power to millions of UK homes - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/13/labours-rooftop-revolution-to-deliver-solar-power-to-millions-of-uk-homes this is really good news; keep it up, Ed.... #renewables

The World Climate Organization waves the red flag about the climate.
Their newest report shows that records were once again broken, and in some cases smashed, for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and #acidification , #SeaLevelRise , Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat.
2023 was the warmest year on record, with the global average temperature at 1.45 °Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline. It was the warmest ten-year period on record.

Here's their animated summary in 75 seconds with some uplifting back-ground music:

https://youtu.be/ES7eKWRRJ0o

Remarkably enough, after 1 minute of doom and gloom about the situation, the animation ends with the message "There is still hope". You know the gig, #renewables #GreenNewDeal #GreenWashing etc.

https://wmo.int/publication-series/state-of-global-climate-2023

Let me also share another video, which was made almost 40 years ago in 1985. It's Carl Sagan testifying before US congress:

https://youtu.be/Wp-WiNXH6hI?feature=shared

He tells us:

"... there are effects that have long time consequences. If you don't worry about it now, it's too late later on. So in this issue, as in so many others, we are passing on extremely grave problems for our children, when the time to solve these problems, if they can be solved, is NOW!"

#Climate #ClimateChaos #Collapse #CrashCourse

Japan can triple its renewables capacity and aim to phase out coal power by 2035, a group of companies and nongovernmental organizations has said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2024/07/08/energy/japan-climate-initiative-coal/ #environment #energy #climatechange #energy #renewables #coal #environment #japanclimateinitiative

Positive news for #climate in California:

"California Is Showing How a Big State Can Power Itself Without Fossil Fuels. For part of almost every day this spring, the state produced more electricity than it needed from renewable sources."

#ActOnClimate #ClimateCrisis #Renewables

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/california-is-showing-how-a-big-state-can-power-itself-without-fossil-fuels

This photo isn’t shared to highlight that wind turbines can provide livestock much needed shade.

This photo is shared to highlight the importance of trees.

#nature #climate #environment #climatechange #tree #trees #earth #renewables #renewableenergy #animals #animal

Massive renewable energy news from the Netherlands:
4 GW of beyond-subsidy-free offshore wind will be built by 2 consortia!
Together good for 16 TWh/year of electricity; that's 15% of current national electricity demand, and over 0.5% of EU27 electricity demand, which I find impressive as well.

Both 2 GW wind farms will be located in the IJmuiden Ver zone, 60 km off the North Holland coast.
#offshorewind #windenergy #windpower #renewables

I have a crazy, ground-breaking idea: stop funding our own destruction.

Between 2015 - 2022 fossil fuels were subsidized $40 trillion dollars.

Projections for fossil fuel subsidies between 2024 - 2030 is ~$70 trillion dollars.

Stop this insanity. Fund the solutions not our destruction.
#climate #climatechange #nature #earth #renewables #renewableenergy #cleanenergy #fossilfuels #environment #ecology