Climate in the 21st Century

Will Humankind see the 22nd Century?

  • Not a fucking chance

    Votes: 45 28.0%

  • Maybe. if we get our act together

    Votes: 41 25.5%

  • Yes, we will survive

    Votes: 75 46.6%
  • Total voters
    161
Here is an obvious way to cheaply store excess solar power, or at least use it, put the excess to work heating domestic hot water, store energy even without a battery bank.

theconversation.com

Using electric water heaters to store renewable energy could do the work of 2 million home batteries – and save us billions

A heater with a 300-litre tank can store as much energy as a home battery at a fraction of the cost. Being able to store surplus solar energy at the right times helps grid stability and cuts emissions.
theconversation.com theconversation.com
 

Republicans pick a bad time to go to war against breathable air

32,050 views Jun 8, 2023 #nyc #air #wildfire
Alex Wagner points out the bad timing of Republicans making a political straw man stunt of defending gas stoves, shown to increase toxins in the air, while tens of millions of Americans are developing very serious, first-hand opinions on the value of clean, breathable air in the form of choking smoke from Canadian forest fires exacerbated by man-made climate change (to which gas stoves are a contributor).
 
cleantechnica.com

The Inflation Reduction Act Is Making America Great Again! - CleanTechnica

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, investments in clean technology in America are soaring as companies seek to claim its benefits.
cleantechnica.com cleantechnica.com

“What has taken place as a result of and since the Inflation Reduction Act can simply not be overstated,” said Aaron Brickman, a senior member of the clean energy team at RMI (formerly known at the Rocky Mountain Institute). “The United States is effectively now the most attractive destination for global capital in clean energy and cleantech.”

Nearly 100 new clean energy manufacturing facilities or factory expansions totaling almost $80 billion in new investment have been announced in the America since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed and signed into law last August. More are being announced every week.

Battery manufacturing will see an upsurge in those mostly southern states and solar manufacturing is headed to the South as well. The planned factories are concentrated in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, with some also coming to Ohio and solar giant Texas. Another 11 clean energy manufacturing projects that account for more than $7.5 billion in investment have been announced but don’t have a location.

Impressive as this explosion in clean energy manufacturing may be, it’s not happening without some serious help from abroad. In fact, it’s not currently possible for the US to meet its lofty “made in America” goals without relying heavily on clean energy tech and investment from firms based outside of the country, Canary Media reports.

US-based companies account for less than half of the clean energy manufacturing announcements made since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, and just about one-third of the promised investment dollars. Companies based in South Korea have announced more than $30 billion in US clean energy projects since last August, topping the US company total of around $26 billion.

Although several key solar and EV announcements have come from South Korean firms, the country’s impact is felt most when it comes to batteries. That’s because South Korea is one of only three countries with mature battery manufacturing sectors, China and Japan being the others. So if the US wants batteries right now (it does), and if it wants to avoid Chinese battery giants (it really does), it has few options other than purchasing from South Korean firms.

In fact, Panasonic is pretty much the only other game in town. The Japanese company is planning a $4 billion battery factory in Kansas. Last month, it said it would build at least two additional factories in North America by 2030. The key is the production credits baked into the Inflation Reduction Act — $45 per kilowatt-hour for battery packs made in the US, $35 per kWh for the battery cells, and $10 per kWh for battery modules.

“Before the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. was still taking a leadership role on R&D in cleantech and climatetech and clean energy, but oftentimes those technologies could not be commercially scaled here,” said RMI’s Brickman. “That’s changed now. And so instead of looking elsewhere, those South Korean and Japanese companies and those European companies…they’re going to scale up, and they’re going to make their next expansion decisions [and] capital allocation decisions here in the U.S.”

The exception is the deal between Ford and CATL. Ford has stressed that this is not a regular joint venture; instead, the automaker is licensing the tech, meaning that “zero tax dollars will go to CATL.” Four other projects involving Chinese firms are moving forward. Chinese solar panel manufacturer Longi and Invenergy have announced a plant in Ohio they claim will become the largest US solar manufacturing facility.

Three other Chinese companies have announced plans to construct their own plants in the US. JA Solar is building a 2 GW solar panel factory in Arizona (if there is enough water to support production). Hounen Solar is planning a 1 GW solar panel plant in South Carolina. Gotion is building a $2.4 billion battery plant in Michigan.

The benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act won’t last forever. Many of them begin to phase out toward the end of this decade, and so the majority of the benefits will flow to those who get production going quickly. Of the firms that have announced target production dates, nearly 70% plan to go live by the end of 2024. Most of the facilities aiming for 2025 or later are the big money battery plants like the $5.5 billion LG Energy Solution Arizona factory.

Even if all of these new factories get built and come online almost immediately, America will still rely on suppliers in foreign countries to meet surging demand. Domestic supply chains are not on track to meet the exploding demand for clean energy technologies — at least for the foreseeable future.

Dozens of gigawatts of solar, wind, and storage capacity are expected to be added to the US grid each year through the end of the decade, and not all of the hardware will be manufactured in the US despite the incentives offered by the Inflation Reduction Act. Just over 22 gigawatts of solar were added to the US energy grid in 2022 and BloombergNEF predicts that figure will exceed 40 GW each year starting in 2025. By 2028, Bloomberg says more than 50 GW of solar power will be added to that each year.

Wind is expected to grow more modestly, but annual additions will still double by 2027. Growth of grid-scale storage capacity is also projected to be slower than solar, but the industry is ramping up. In 2022, the US installed 4.7 GW of storage capacity. That’s expected to more than double to 10.2 GW in 2023 and rise to more than 15 GW in 2027.

When it comes to electric cars and trucks, more than 1 million are projected to be sold in the US this year, but the industry’s staggering growth is barely getting started, Canary Media says. BloombergNEF estimates nearly 5 million EVs will be sold in the US in 2026 and close to 9.5 million in 2030. A March report from the Environmental Defense Fund found that the US could be capable of producing nearly 4.4 million EVs by 2026. That’s a massive increase from just over 600,000 last year, and potentially enough to keep pace with the estimates made by BloombergNEF.

Whether or not the US is able to completely onshore its supply chains, one thing is for certain. In just nine short months, America has transformed the trajectory of its clean energy future. If you have a job in a cleantech industry, thank the “woke” Democrats in Congress. Woke means planning for the future. Anti-woke means wallowing in the past and blaming someone else for your troubles.

Republicans have no plan to rebuild American manufacturing. All they can focus on is whining about the decline in coal mining and steel production. If pocketbook issues are important to you, support those who are helping provide paychecks to American workers. If reactionaries regain control of the government, the first thing they will do is repeal the IRA, which will put tens of thousands of hardworking Americans out of work. Please vote responsibly.
 
There is a new battery chemistry from China that could last over 100 years in a typical car! There are a couple of plants to make it going up in the USA and it should be in mass production by 2024.

In a press release, Cheng said, “Our Astroinno L600 LMFP battery cell, which has passed all safety tests, has a weight energy density of 240 Wh/kg, a volume energy density of 525 Wh/L, a cycle life of 4000 times at room temperature, and a cycle life of 1800 times at high temperatures. The the volumetric cell to pack ratio has reached 76% after adopting the L600 cell, and the system energy density has reached 190Wh/kg, surpassing the pack energy density of current mass produced NCM cells. It is due to the high energy density of Astroinno battery that we can enable a range of 1000 km without relying on NCM materials.”

Gotion & Xenophobia
Gotion is planning to build a $2.3 billion battery factory in northern Michigan. The state has ponied up a long-term package of incentives to promote the idea, partly because the factory would add about 2,300 jobs to an area where employment opportunities are limited. But battery factories have become a flash point in the culture wars that are being promoted by xenophobic Americans.

According to MLive, last month a group of concerned citizens gathered in the rain to protest the proposed factory. “We’re wanting to push back because we don’t want this company here,” said Lori Brock, 58, who hosted the rally at her Majestic Friesians Horse Farm, which is near the proposed factory site. The land where the factory will be built has been zoned commercial for the past two decades.

Residents and Michigan Republicans have mobilized against the project citing concerns about Gotion ties to China and the possible environmental impact of a 500 acre battery park. “I don’t like communism. That’s a big thing. I don’t want our rivers to be polluted. I don’t want our air to be polluted. This is beautiful country; I don’t want it torn down,” said Dick Clark, who lives nearby. Chris Ward from Green Charter Township said she’s concerned about “the effects on the environment, the water and the politics of it all.”

Michigan GOP chair Kristina Karamo told the protesters, “To think they (China) will set up a battery factory in our state and they will just play by the rules, that makes no sense whatsoever.” Hard to argue with that, eh?

Gotion Introduces LMFP Battery With Energy Density Of 240 Wh/Kg - CleanTechnica

Volkswagen battery supplier Gotion has revealed a new lithium manganese iron phosphate battery it says can go 1000 km.
cleantechnica.com cleantechnica.com

1686398181067.png


A 2 Million Mile Battery And Other Crazy Pipe Dreams - It’s June ABN! | Everything Electric Show
 
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There is something quite disturbing about this image. Draining horseshoes of their blue blood. It’s like totally abusive and this abuse is an absolute disgrace. There is a beautiful bird that relies on eating the horseshoes eggs for survival. With no horseshoes eggs to eat they now on the endangered species list.
C11ACB31-8B52-4976-8361-453C89060938.jpeg
 
Dr.Amber Trichome said:
There is something quite disturbing about this image. Draining horseshoes of their blue blood. It’s like totally abusive and this abuse is an absolute disgrace. There is a beautiful bird that relies on eating the horseshoes eggs for survival. With no horseshoes eggs to eat they now on the endangered species list.
View attachment 5298452
Click to expand...
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/horseshoe-crab-blood-miracle-vaccine-ingredient.html

But there is hope: in the late 1990s biologists at the University of Singapore realised that a synthetic alternative could be created in a lab by cloning a molecule in the crab blood. This genetically engineered protein is called Recombinant Factor C, or rFC.

Some governments, including the Japanese and Chinese, have approved the rFc test for use. It is likely that a new Covid test manufactured in the UK will use synthetic ingredients, which are also approved by the European Union. Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company developing one of the biggest potential Covid vaccines, said they won't be using crab blood in their jab.

There's a catch in this story. Synthetic ingredients and alternative tests are not yet widely used in some countries. For instance, America still bleeds many crabs every year. A small percentage of them die after being bled, although medicine producers are becoming ever more careful about keeping population numbers healthy.

It's also arguable medicine manufacturers aren't the biggest problem facing horseshoe crabs: in America many more are killed for fishing bait and lots are struggling in Asia because their habitat is disappearing.

Being bled is apparently the least of their problems.
 
There is more to a smart green new grid than hooking up wind turbines and solar panels, there is long distance HVDC power transmission, battery storage in a variety of forms and domestic small-scale local generation and storage using plugged in EVs too.

news.yahoo.com

Britain’s green energy disaster should be an awful warning to Americans

Last year, the Biden administration set an ambitious new goal for the USA: to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by the year 2030, increasing US offshore capacity more than seven hundred times over. The UK already has 15 GW of offshore wind, more than 300 times as much as the...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 
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