Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.

[eevee-fan]

It Will Cost Up to $21.5 Billion to Clean Up California’s Oil Sites. The Industry Won’t Make Enough Money to Pay for It.

An expert used California regulators’ methodology to estimate the cost of cleaning up the state’s onshore oil and gas industry. The study found that cleanup costs will be triple the industry’s projected profits.

www.propublica.org

An expert used California regulators’ methodology to estimate the cost of cleaning up the state’s onshore oil and gas industry. The study found that cleanup costs will be triple the industry’s projected profits.

Compounding the problem, the industry has set aside only about $106 million that state regulators can use for cleanup when a company liquidates or otherwise walks away from its responsibilities, according to state data. That amount equals less than 1% of the estimated cost. Taxpayers will likely have to cover much of the difference to ensure wells are plugged and not left to leak brine, toxic chemicals and climate-warming methane.

ProPublica reported last year, the major oil companies that long dominated in California and have the deep pockets necessary to pay for environmental cleanup are selling their wells and leaving the state, handing the task to smaller and less well-financed companies.

Then you add in the health cost incurred by individuals and it looks even worse. But hey, jobs, right? LOL

 

[mspohr]

Then you add in the health cost incurred by individuals and it looks even worse. But hey, jobs, right? LOL

Just another fossil fuel subsidy.

 

[eevee-fan]

Check out the ultimate all-electric, solar powered, storm-resilient neighborhood

Vermont's first all-electric, solar-powered, storm resilient neighborhood of 155 homes with microgrid backup power has broken ground.

electrek.co

 

[mspohr]

Invasion of Ukraine ‘has fuelled funding boom for clean energy’

International Energy Agency says investment will hit $1.7tn this year, well ahead of fossil fuels

www.theguardian.com

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has helped ignite a boom in clean energy investment which will significantly outpace spending on fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. A report from the IEA has found that clean energy investment is on track to reach $1.7tn (£1.4tn) this year as investors turn to renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage and other low-carbon technologies.

 

[mspohr]

Just say no to plastic

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are ‘vectors’ for toxins – study

Research provides a unique review of contact chemicals in packaging, utensils, plates, etc and how they contaminate food

www.theguardian.com

The study comes amid a debate over how to reduce the amount of plastic waste filling up the globe. The petrochemical industry, some governments and many environmental groups have pushed for improvements to the recyclability of plastic. Though some types of the material can be recycled, most cannot, and the study highlights how improving recyclability of the material comes with risks: it identified 853 chemicals used in PET recycled plastic and many of those have been discovered during the last two years. The most commonly detected were antimony and acetaldehyde, while potent toxins like 2,4-DTBP, ethylene glycol, lead, terephthalic acid, bisphenol and cyclic PET oligomers were also most frequently found.

Consumers can protect themselves by avoiding plastic as much as possible, bringing non-plastic carryout packages to restaurants and moving food products from plastic packaging to containers made of safer materials. But, ultimately, the most effective remedy is the elimination of plastic and the societal use of safer materials, the study’s authors wrote.

 

[DrGriz]

Just say no to plastic

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are ‘vectors’ for toxins – study

Research provides a unique review of contact chemicals in packaging, utensils, plates, etc and how they contaminate food

www.theguardian.com

The study comes amid a debate over how to reduce the amount of plastic waste filling up the globe. The petrochemical industry, some governments and many environmental groups have pushed for improvements to the recyclability of plastic. Though some types of the material can be recycled, most cannot, and the study highlights how improving recyclability of the material comes with risks: it identified 853 chemicals used in PET recycled plastic and many of those have been discovered during the last two years. The most commonly detected were antimony and acetaldehyde, while potent toxins like 2,4-DTBP, ethylene glycol, lead, terephthalic acid, bisphenol and cyclic PET oligomers were also most frequently found.

Consumers can protect themselves by avoiding plastic as much as possible, bringing non-plastic carryout packages to restaurants and moving food products from plastic packaging to containers made of safer materials. But, ultimately, the most effective remedy is the elimination of plastic and the societal use of safer materials, the study’s authors wrote.

I know it's been said before, but the whole "recycle plastics" thing is cynically designed to keep us using plastics, implying it is OK because they can be recycled. Terrible stuff in the end, especially for packaging where other things can be used. We seek to avoid using it where possible, like reusable grocery bags, or paper when possible. But overall it's a Sisyphean task.

 

[mspohr]

Cities don't need cars.

How to improve US cities and tackle the climate crisis? Get rid of parking spaces

New book details how New York could rid the city of rats and create more parks if it repurposed its 3m parking spots

www.theguardian.com

What could New York achieve if it repurposed some of its 3m curbside parking spots? It could get rid of rats by moving trash off the sidewalks and into containers. It could create safe, cool play spaces for the more than 1m New Yorkers without easy park access. It could build bioswales to collect rainwater and prevent flooding during heavy storms. It could even help drivers kick their addictions to cars and avert climate catastrophe, writes Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.

 

[mspohr]

Grand Appliance Party

 

[DrGriz]

Grand Appliance Party

Well done.

 

[mspohr]

Ukraine built more onshore wind turbines in past year than England

Revelation about war-torn country is ‘terrible indictment’ of UK government, says Ed Miliband

www.theguardian.com

Ukraine has completed more onshore wind turbines than England since it was occupied by Russian soldiers – despite the UK government’s promise to relax restrictions on onshore windfarms.

Ukraine’s Tyligulska wind power plant, meanwhile, the first to be built in a conflict zone, has begun generating enough clean electricity to power about 200,000 homes just 60 miles from the frontline in the southern region of Mykolaiv, with 19 turbines providing an installed capacity of 114MW.

Ukraine’s largest private energy investor, DTEK, said its Tyligulska windfarm was on track to become the largest onshore windfarm in eastern Europe once complete. Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s chief executive, said the farm was “a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to Russian attempts to freeze Ukraine into submission”, which would help to “build Ukraine back greener and cleaner and become a key partner in Europe’s energy future”

 

[mspohr]

Truck driver held after spilled potatoes cause chaos on Danish bridge

Spills occur as Danish parliament passes law to tax petrol and diesel trucks transporting heavy loads

www.theguardian.com

The Danish public broadcaster DR said the potato spills occurred on the same day as the Danish parliament passed a law to tax diesel trucks transporting heavy loads. The new measure has drawn protests from truck drivers. In recent weeks, they peacefully blocked highways and main roads throughout Denmark, claiming the tax will make their livelihoods unsustainable. A majority in the Danish parliament argue the tax is vital as the continued use of petrol and diesel trucks is environmentally unsustainable.

 

[eevee-fan]

T&E study: Europe’s growing use of animal fats in fuels is becoming increasingly unsustainable; 8,800 dead pigs for Paris-NY flight

Europe’s growing use of animal fats to power its cars and planes is becoming increasingly unsustainable, according to a new study by Cerulogy funded by European NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). The green group calls for greater transparency so that consumers know what is going into their tanks...

www.greencarcongress.com

Not just whale blubber!

Why not use human fat, like in Fight Club? We know there's an almost unlimited supply. LOL

 

[Kandiru]

Invasion of Ukraine ‘has fuelled funding boom for clean energy’

International Energy Agency says investment will hit $1.7tn this year, well ahead of fossil fuels

www.theguardian.com

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has helped ignite a boom in clean energy investment which will significantly outpace spending on fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. A report from the IEA has found that clean energy investment is on track to reach $1.7tn (£1.4tn) this year as investors turn to renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage and other low-carbon technologies

A BOOM with far reaching repercussions may happen when the Russkys get desperate and decide to blow up any of the the six Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

 

[mspohr]

A BOOM with far reaching repercussions may happen when the Russkys get desperate and decide to blow up any of the the six Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Unlike nuclear, the nice thing about wind and solar renewables is that they are distributed over a wide area so it is difficult to take out the entire installation.
They have a new wind installation (see post #3190) which is close to the front lines but has not attracted any attacks since it is hard to hit each of the windmill towers and even if you do hit one, it only takes out a small part of the power capacity.

 

[eevee-fan]

Lithium gold rush. LOL

 

[eevee-fan]

T&E study: Europe’s growing use of animal fats in fuels is becoming increasingly unsustainable; 8,800 dead pigs for Paris-NY flight

Europe’s growing use of animal fats to power its cars and planes is becoming increasingly unsustainable, according to a new study by Cerulogy funded by European NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). The green group calls for greater transparency so that consumers know what is going into their tanks...

www.greencarcongress.com

Not just whale blubber!

Why not use human fat, like in Fight Club? We know there's an almost unlimited supply. LOL

Free liposuction before the flight. Win-win!

 

[Kandiru]

Unlike nuclear, the nice thing about wind and solar renewables is that they are distributed over a wide area so it is difficult to take out the entire installation.
They have a new wind installation (see post #3190) which is close to the front lines but has not attracted any attacks since it is hard to hit each of the windmill towers and even if you do hit one, it only takes out a small part of the power capacity.

Absotely right, but if the contained meltdown at Chernobyl goes full blown half of EU will be irradiated.

 

[mspohr]

Debt Ceiling Agreement Mostly Spares Biden’s Investments in Clean Energy, Infrastructure

The president’s new economic paradigm for large-scale government intervention is largely untouched by the deal with Republicans.

capitalandmain.com

The debt ceiling agreement reached by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — and now passed by both the House and Senate — largely preserves Biden’s major signature investments and the administration’s focus on reinvesting in America through government programs and incentives.

The deal is an “important down payment on much-needed reforms to improve the efficiency of the permitting process,” Jason Grumet, president of the renewable energy lobbying group American Clean Power, told Reuters. The debt ceiling pact helps preserve some of the administration’s biggest initiatives, drawing praise from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International President Kenneth W. Cooper, who said the bill “maintains the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate and clean energy provisions.” The agreement also expands an infrastructure bill from 2008 to include energy storage projects that are key to the development of solar, wind and other renewable energy

 

[mspohr]

Opinion | The Climate Solution That’s Horrible for the Climate

Corn ethanol and soy biodiesel accelerate food inflation and global hunger, but they’re also a disaster for the climate and the environment.

www.nytimes.com

It’s fairly well-known that farm-grown fuels like corn ethanol and soy biodiesel accelerate food inflation and global hunger, but they’re also a disaster for the climate and the environment. And that’s mainly because they’re inefficient land hogs. It takes about 100 acres worth of biofuels to generate as much energy as a single acre of solar panels; worldwide, a land mass larger than California was used to grow under 4 percent of transportation fuel in 2020.

That’s a huge waste of precious land the world needs to store carbon that can stabilize our warming climate and grow crops that can help feed the growing population. The Environmental Protection Agency could help rein in that waste when it updates America’s sweeping mandate encouraging biofuel production later this month. It probably won’t, though, because in Washington, where cornethanolism is one of the last truly bipartisan ideologies, nearly everyone loves to pretend biofuels are green.

America is no longer an agrarian nation, but it remains an article of faith among its political elites that agrarian interests in the heartland require constant handouts. Government support for blending biofuels into U.S. gasoline is often rationalized on the wink-wink-nudge-nudge grounds of reducing reliance on foreign oil or saving the climate, but it’s mainly a way to suck up to farmers and enrich agribusinesses. Like direct payments, countercyclical payments, loan deficiency payments and other U.S. farm programs, biofuel subsidies redistribute tax dollars from the 99 percent of Americans who don’t farm to the roughly 1 percent who do.

 

[DrGriz]

Opinion | The Climate Solution That’s Horrible for the Climate

Corn ethanol and soy biodiesel accelerate food inflation and global hunger, but they’re also a disaster for the climate and the environment.

www.nytimes.com

It’s fairly well-known that farm-grown fuels like corn ethanol and soy biodiesel accelerate food inflation and global hunger, but they’re also a disaster for the climate and the environment. And that’s mainly because they’re inefficient land hogs. It takes about 100 acres worth of biofuels to generate as much energy as a single acre of solar panels; worldwide, a land mass larger than California was used to grow under 4 percent of transportation fuel in 2020.

That’s a huge waste of precious land the world needs to store carbon that can stabilize our warming climate and grow crops that can help feed the growing population. The Environmental Protection Agency could help rein in that waste when it updates America’s sweeping mandate encouraging biofuel production later this month. It probably won’t, though, because in Washington, where cornethanolism is one of the last truly bipartisan ideologies, nearly everyone loves to pretend biofuels are green.

America is no longer an agrarian nation, but it remains an article of faith among its political elites that agrarian interests in the heartland require constant handouts. Government support for blending biofuels into U.S. gasoline is often rationalized on the wink-wink-nudge-nudge grounds of reducing reliance on foreign oil or saving the climate, but it’s mainly a way to suck up to farmers and enrich agribusinesses. Like direct payments, countercyclical payments, loan deficiency payments and other U.S. farm programs, biofuel subsidies redistribute tax dollars from the 99 percent of Americans who don’t farm to the roughly 1 percent who do.

I refuse to buy ethanol based fuel for my ICE trucks and equipment wherever I can avoid it. Fortunately, ethanol-free is readily available where I live. I definitely pay a tax for that. But we minimize the use of ICE, which would happen anyway. It's a self-imposed incentive.