Yep it is that time again.
For the new folks, about every two weeks or so I post a giant thread of good news from all around the world.
The best way to view this is to click on the hashtag and then "pin" that column. So you can just browse it when you need to.
As usual, if the infinite doom loop is appealing to you just filter the hashtag, and you will remain... ya know doomed.
Watch out this is a long thread.....
#CoSoGoodNews
Shorts
To start things off, a lot of very bad climate news has been hitting us all over the head. So the first few posts in this thread will be short Good News about the climate.
A former coal plant in the UK is being transformed into the world's largest battery storage project;
#CoSoGoodNews
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European renewables giant Octopus is planning to invest $20 billion in offshore wind by 2030
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Thyssenkrupp, Europe's second-largest steelmaker, has secured €2 billion from the German government for green steel investment
#CoSoGoodNews
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US regulators just opened the Gulf of Mexico to offshore wind leases.
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/07/21/biden-unlocks-wind-power-in-gulf-of-mexico
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Israel now requires all new non-residential buildings to be covered in solar.
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India is about to launch a staggering 20 GW tender for new battery manufacturing.
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4.4 GW of rooftop solar has been installed in South Africa in the last year.
https://twitter.com/laurimyllyvirta/status/1683528165744885762
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The Philippines just awarded a whole lot of new solar projects.
https://www.pv-tech.org/1-96gw-of-solar-pv-awarded-in-philippines-green-energy-auction
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Brazil says its solar industry has created around 960,000 jobs since 2012.
https://renewablesnow.com/news/brazil-tops-32-gw-of-installed-solar-pv-capacity-828687
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Barbados is now targeting a 100% carbon neutral economy by 2030.
In the last six months nearly every mainstream media outlet has pointed out that China is still building a lot of coal, implying that the country is hedging its bets on renewables. It's not. In the first half of 2023, around $5 billion has been invested in coal and fossil gas and a similar amount in both hydro and nuclear; $10 billion has been invested in wind, $18 billion in solar, and an astonishing $28 billion in transmission.
The IEA has a new report showing that renewables are on track to meet all the growth in global electricity demand over the next two years. This would represent a key milestone in the fight against climate change–once all new demand is met, renewables will start eating into fossil fuels' share of the power mix.
https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-market-report-update-2023
The global price of polysilicon (the stuff they make solar panels from) has dropped by 78% over the past year.
https://twitter.com/barnettenergy/status/1681316806173270017
The US offshore wind sector is booming. There has been a 272% increase in the number of offshore wind supplier contracts since 2021, and 47% of that growth has occurred since the passage of the IRA. Nine in every ten contracts are going to companies that are either headquartered or have a presence in the US. Industrial policy FTW.
https://renews.biz/87088/us-offshore-supply-chain-sees-major-growth
The 12.5% royalty rate that oil companies in the United States have to pay for the use of federal lands has remained unchanged for over one hundred years. The government is now reforming that system, raising the minimum rate to 16.7% and prioritizing renewables development on federal lands over fossil fuel development.
https://grist.org/regulation/biden-blm-raising-fees-oil-gas-drilling-federal-lands
In the first half of this year, wind and solar generated more power than coal in the United States. Wind and solar produced 343 terawatt-hours (TWh) from January through June 2023, while coal produced 296 TWh. Five years ago, coal’s share was quadruple that of wind and solar combined. Next step: fossil gas.
California, the seventh-biggest US crude oil producer, has put a near-halt on issuing permits for new drilling this year. The state's Geologic Energy Management Division has approved seven new active well permits in 2023. Compare that with the more than 200 it had issued by this time last year.
Australia’s big banks have turned their backs on the country’s largest coal miner, refusing to refinance a billion-dollar debt in a major rebuff that will force Whitehaven Coal to source loans offshore, potentially speeding up the demise of the sector. Couldn't have happened to nicer people.
The European Union has adopted new rules intended to make it easier for electric vehicle owners to travel across the continent. From 2025 onward, the new regulation requires fast-charging stations offering at least 150kW of power to be installed every 60km along the EU’s TEN-T system of highways, the bloc’s main transport corridors.
https://www.theverge.com/23806690/eu-ev-fast-charger-60km-law-regulation-requirements
A reminder from Hannah Ritchie. 'The internal combustion engine is shockingly inefficient. For every dollar of petrol you put in, you get just 20 cents’ worth of driving motion. The other 80 cents is wasted along the way, most of it as heat from the engine. Electric cars are much better at converting energy into motion. For every dollar of electricity you put in, you get 89 cents out.
A new analysis from Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based think tank, found that 43% percent of planned steelmaking capacity globally is now slated to use electric-arc furnaces, which use electricity to generate heat, up from 33% last year. 'Steel has moved from inertia to progress.
https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GEM_SteelPlants2023.pdf
BUTDAMINERALZ?
A report from the Energy Transitions Commission concludes that 'there is no fundamental shortage of any of the raw materials to support a global transition to a net-zero economy: geological resources exceed the total projected cumulative demand from 2022-50 for all key materials.
https://www.energy-transitions.org/publications/material-and-resource-energy-transition
@corlin good point but unless the electricity is renewable the calculation needs to contain powerplant efficiency. The best systems are 60% so electric car = .89×.6 = .53 0r 53% efficient at the vehicle. The average powerplant is 33% efficient so that calculates to 29% efficient at the electric vehicle.
All of this is better than the internal combustion engine - just not 4.5 times better.
I ignore wind and solar losses since the losses are not related to the burning of fossil fuel.
@corlin This is good, since South Africans can't rely on the national supplier.
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Egypt has brought its clean energy targets forward by five years and allocated land for a 10 GW wind project to provide electricity to 11 million households.
https://www.egyptindependent.com/minister-egypt-updated-ndc-plan-to-increase-electricity-generated-from-renewables-to-42-by-2030
https://renews.biz/87031/acwa-signs-land-agreement-for-10gw-egyptian-wind-project