Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Stupid, ignorant woman.

[Time_Traveller]

Stupid, ignorant woman.

Whomever goes on Murdoch Propaganda Network amd Little Britain Propaganda News definitely needs to have the guts to go on them.

[Time_Traveller]

Supreme Court dramatically shrinks Clean Water Act’s reach

05/25/2023 10:32 AM EDT

The Supreme Court on Thursday significantly shrank the reach of federal clean water protections, dealing a major blow to President Joe Biden’s efforts to restore protections to millions of acres of wetlands and delivering a victory to multiple powerful industries.

The ruling from the court’s conservative majority vastly narrowing the federal government’s authority over marshes and bogs is a win for industries such as homebuilding and oil and gas, which must seek Clean Water Act permits to damage federally protected wetlands. Those industries have fought for decades to limit the law’s reach.

The ruling comes less than a year after the high court issued a contentious ruling restricting EPA’s ability to regulate climate warming gases, and liberal Justice Elena Kagan decried Thursday that the court has appointed “itself as the national decision-maker on environmental policy.”

The 5-4 ruling in Sackett v. EPA creates a far narrower test than what has been used for more than half a century to determine which bogs and marshes fall under the scope of the 1972 law. Under the majority’s definition, only those wetlands with a continuous surface water connection to larger streams, lakes and rivers would get federal protections.

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, wrote in the majority opinion that only those wetlands that are “indistinguishable” from those larger waters should be covered.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/2 ... 81?cid=apn

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Scientists Argue that Setting Boundaries for a Safe Earth Requires a Consideration of Justice
by Kendra Leon
May 31, 2023

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — A biophysically safe planet cannot exist without justice and equity, scientists say in a new study in the journal Nature that assesses, for the first time, safe and just boundaries for the climate, biodiversity, freshwater and pollution.

The Paris Agreement set a goal of limiting global warming to a temperature increase of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but scientists with the Earth Commission — a global team of natural and social scientists — say the world has already passed what they call the "safe and just climate boundary" of 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Moreover, these scientists say there is also an urgent need to manage a wide array of biophysical systems and processes that determine Earth's habitability beyond climate change.

Human activities have altered the flow of water, released excessive amounts of nutrients into waterways from fertilizer use, and reduced the number of natural areas.

"The results of our health check are quite concerning: Within the five analyzed domains, several boundaries, on a global and local scale, are already transgressed,” said Johan Rockström, Earth Commission co-chair and lead author of the study. “This means that unless a timely transformation occurs, it is most likely that irreversible tipping points and widespread impacts on human well-being will be unavoidable. Avoiding that scenario is crucial if we want to secure a safe and just future for current and future generations.”

A just planet necessarily means there's less available space for humans on it, but justice is necessary for habitability, the study's authors said. That's why they considered how to avoid significant harm to humans and other species as they defined earth system boundaries that built upon what scientists know are the biophysical conditions to maintain a livable, stable planet.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/setting ... sts-say/

[wjfox]

The 'exploding' demand for giant heat pumps

2 days ago

There are 2.5 million litres of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

If for some reason you wanted to bring it from a pleasant 20C to boiling point, German firm MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) has a heat pump that could do it. And it would take less time than Kenneth Branagh's film version of Hamlet.

"We can do this in less than four hours," explains Raymond Decorvet, who works in business development at MAN ES. "Or we could freeze the whole thing in about 11 hours."

Theirs is among the largest heat pump units in the world. Heat pumps work by compressing gently warmed refrigerants to raise the temperature of these fluids. That heat can then be passed on to homes or industrial machinery.

Heat pumps require electricity to work but can produce around three or four kilowatt hours of heat for every kilowatt hour of power they consume.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65321487

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Saudi plans new oil cuts as part of OPEC+ deal, sources say

Source: Reuters

VIENNA, June 4 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will pledge new voluntary production cuts as part of a broader OPEC+ deal to curb output, sources told Reuters, as the group faces flagging oil prices and a looming supply glut. The group, known as OPEC+, reached a deal on output policy after seven hours of talks, the sources said.

Two OPEC+ sources said the group was likely to maintain an existing output agreement for 2023 and make additional cuts in 2024 if new production baselines for members, from which cuts are made, are agreed. It was not clear when Saudi would start making its voluntary cuts or how much Riyadh and OPEC+ as a whole would cut.

OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world's crude, meaning its policy decisions can have a major impact on oil prices. Since Friday OPEC+, sources have told Reuters that additional production cuts could amount to 1 million barrels per day on top of existing cuts of 2 million bpd and voluntary cuts of 1.6 million bpd, announced in a surprise move in April and that took effect in May.

The April announcement helped to drive oil prices about $9 per barrel higher to above $87, but they swiftly retreated under pressure from concerns about global economic growth and demand. On Friday, international benchmark Brent settled at $76. If approved, a new cut would take the total volume of reductions to 4.66 million bpd, or around 4.5% of global demand.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 023-06-04/

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

China Increasing Renewable and Fossil Fuel Energy
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/06/c ... nergy.html
June 15, 2023 by Brian Wang

China expects to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 18.3% in 2023, up from 17.5% in 2022, as part of its energy transition push, the country’s energy regulator said late-April 12.

China’s non-fossil based power generation capacity — which includes solar, wind, hydro and nuclear — was about 1,270 GW at end-2022, accounting for 49.6% of the total installed capacity of 2,560 GW, according to China Electricity Council.

The NEA also said the proportion of wind and solar power alone is expected to reach 15.3% of total power consumption this year, while wind and solar PV installed capacity is likely to rise by about 160 GW in 2023. This is expected to be one of the largest annual additions of renewable energy capacity in a single country and will outpace the coal power capacity growth in China. China should reach about 500 GW of solar and 430 GW of wind by the end of 2023.

The NEA expects China’s total installed power generation capacity to reach about 2,790 GW and total power generation volume to hit nearly 9,360 TWh in 2023, with the transmission capacity of the “West to East Power Transmission” reaching 310 GW, according to the guidance.

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Analysts Say Solar Is Saving Texans From Widespread Power Outages Amid Extreme Heat
by Julia Conley
June 24, 2023

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) A sweltering heatwave has gripped Texas over the last two weeks, pushing temperatures to 115°F in parts of the state—but its status as a new leader in the development of solar power has reportedly protected many in the state from a catastrophic loss of power.

An intense heat dome—in which an area of high pressure traps heat underneath it—has settled over northern Mexico and is expected to persist next week and potentially beyond, likely causing the heat index to reach high into the 100s across Texas and top 120° in the southern part of the state in the coming days.

Extreme weather has placed millions of Texans in harm's way before, notably during a winter storm in February 2021 that plunged much of the state into a prolonged blackout when natural gas power plants faced outages, as a federal review later found, contrary to claims by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that the state's wind turbines failed residents by freezing.

But this month, reported The New York Times on Friday, "the lights and air conditioning have stayed on across the state," and analysts have linked the continuation of power to Texas's doubling of the amount of solar energy it's generated since early 2022.

While Texas has built its reputation in recent decades as a center of oil and gas production in the U.S., "solar is producing 15% of total energy right now," University of Texas research scientist Joshua Rhodes told the Times. The state now leads the nation in renewable energy, with 17 gigawatts of solar power operational this year.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/sola ... xas-heat

[raklian]

Startup makes game-changing breakthrough that could change our roads and buildings for good: ‘We’ve shown that it’s possible’

A startup is producing some of the world’s first low-carbon concrete at a plant in Alabama. The company, Los Angeles-based CarbonBuilt — with its Alabama-based production partner, Blair Block — has already started production of its novel tech concrete, which it says can reduce the production of harmful planet-warming carbon by 70 to 100%.

https://news.yahoo.com/startup-makes-ga ... &tsrc=twtr

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

'Water Cremation offered in the UK to reduce funeral sector's environmental inpact

Monday 3 July 2023 02:55, UK

Co-op Funeralcare has announced plans to offer a new form of burial as a sustainable alternative to traditional burials or cremation.

The UK's largest funeral provider has announced that it will introduce the practice, called resomation - also known as water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis - later this year.

The practice consists of the deceased being enclosed in a biodegradable pouch then placed in a container filled with pressurised water and a small amount of potassium hydroxide.

This rapidly converts tissue and cells into a watery solution, with one cycle taking approximately four hours.

Soft bones remain and these are dried then reduced to a white powder, which can be returned to relatives in an urn.

https://news.sky.com/story/water-cremat ... t-12913748