Just a quick hit of some videos that crossed my path this week.
First up, I feel every mood Robert has in this video.
May 19, 2024Join Robert for May’s Almost Breaking News! This episode tackles misinformation about electric vehicles spread by the BBC, busts myths surrounding secondhand EVs, and delves into the world of BIG electric trucks. Robert also explores Amazon’s extraordinary charging network, wooden wind turbines, the surge in EV chargers in the UK, gas leaks from old oil wells, the ongoing issue with Tesla and the Supercharger Network and some good news on Gigabatteries.Get ready for a whirlwind tour of all the essential news from the world of EVs and clean energy from the past month, peppered with Robert’s signature rants! @fullychargedshow @EverythingElectricShow
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A compilation of energy storage in rocks (mostly via heat) and its viability:
Climate Solutions: New Grid Rules and Big Bison
I don’t remember when I stumbled on Beau – he describes himself as a southern journalist and his takes are thoughtful – but this morning there was this nugget I was unaware of, so I went searching for more information. This is why I’m posting a quick hit climate post this morning before I run off to take care of my long list of things-to-do today.
Here’s the announcement:
There is a lot to disseminate, but you can read more here, here, and here.
FERC’s new transmission and cost allocation rule, Order No. 1920, continues the essential work of the Commission – ensuring a reliable grid – by requiring the nation’s transmission providers to plan for the transmission we know we will need in the future.
This rule adopts specific requirements addressing how transmission providers must conduct long-term planning for regional transmission facilities and determine how to pay for them, so needed transmission is built. The final rule reflects more than 15,000 pages of comments from nearly 200 stakeholders representing all sectors of the electric power industry; environmental, consumer and other advocacy groups; and state and other government entities.
The grid rule contains these major elements:
- Requirement to conduct and periodically update long-term transmission planning to anticipate future needs.
- Requirement to consider a broad set of benefits when planning new facilities.
- Requirement to identify opportunities to modify in-kind replacement of existing transmission facilities to increase their transfer capability, known as “right-sizing.”
- Customers pay only for projects from which they benefit.
- Expands states’ pivotal role throughout the process of planning, selecting, and determining how to pay for transmission facilities.
Now back to how transforming soil and rewilding is an important part of climate solutions:
Climate Solutions: New Grid Rules and Big BisonPost + Comments (94)
Climate Solutions: Beavers Doing Beaver Things
Okay, there are a lot of beaver videos here. Some general information, but most are how ordinary folks are changing their habits to rewild their land. I find that the most encouraging. Gnaw away at this post as you have time.
This guy has a great intro into all things Beaver and Climate:
Nov 30, 2022Beavers are dam-building, furry little cuties but did you also know that these adorable rodents can help protect landscapes from wildfires and drought and fight climate change?
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Jul 17, 2023When beavers build dams, the changes they make to their habitat can improve everything from biodiversity to drought resilience. Researchers at Boise State University and Utah State University, in collaboration with NASA’s Applied Sciences Ecological Conservation program area, are adding remote sensing data to a suite of tools to measure what happens when beaver are reintroduced to an area. For people managing water resources and conservation efforts, predicting which streams can support beavers and monitoring how water and vegetation change once they return is critical. Using satellite data makes it possible to monitor large areas and track changes over time. Learn more about how NASA helps strengthen ecosystems: https://nasa.gov/feature/researchers-… For more information about NASA Earth Science Division’s Applied Sciences Program, visit our website: https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/ Credits: NASA Applied Sciences Video footage: Boise State University
More on NASA project:
Researchers Become “Beaver Believers”
After Measuring the Impacts of RewildingAries C. Keck
Researchers are using NASA Earth observations to monitor impacts of beaver restoration on water availability in drought-prone ecosystems.
Ecologists and ranchers alike know that rivers and streams with healthy beaver populations support more biodiversity, are more drought resilient, and keep water available on the land for more days of the year. But witnessing the impact of nature’s engineers on a single stream is easier than measuring it across a region, or choosing which of a hundred streams is an ideal site to reintroduce beavers.
Now a NASA-supported effort in Idaho adds remote sensing data to the suite of tools used to predict which streams can support beavers and to monitor how water and vegetation change once they return. Read more here
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Jun 8, 2022Beavers can be a nuisance — but they might also offer some real climate benefits. David Haakenson thinks about water a lot. That’s because the farm he owns in western Washington experiences frequent, catastrophic floods. And climate change is making that trend worse. “We had floods in October. We had floods in November, December, January, February, and March,” said Haakenson, the owner of Jubilee Farm. “There’s this kind of anxiety that involves — like, when you look out on the field and say, ‘Wow, I make my living off that field and now it’s a lake.’” To protect Jubilee Farm, Haakenson is looking to an unlikely ally: Beavers. Because it turns out, beavers might actually offer some real protection against climate impacts like flooding and wildfires — if people can learn to live with them.
Climate Solutions: Beavers Doing Beaver ThingsPost + Comments (35)
Climate Solutions: Upgrading the Energy Grid
A reminder as we come up on Earth Day:
Climate scientist Michael E Mann & historian Timothy D Snyder define doomerism:
Doomerism is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.
It is how authoritarians win. Let’s try to fight the doom.
I’m going to start this post out with a caveat, while I’ve been a long time proponent of examining the United States electric grid and revamping it – everything about electricity traveling over long distances is way above my limited technical knowledge.
I have pulled together some experts I trust and am sharing their opinions on what needs to happen to the grid in order for alternative energy sources to be viable, and to meet the 2030 and 2050 climate goals.
From Dave Roberts’ Volts Podcast:
Getting More Out of Current Transmission Infrastructer
One of the primary threats to the clean energy buildout spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act is a lack of transmission. Models show that hitting our Paris climate targets would involve building two to three times our current transmission capacity, yet new lines are desperately slow to come online. Meanwhile, existing lines are congested and hundreds of gigawatts of new clean energy sits waiting in interconnection queues.
Wouldn’t it be cool if there were some relatively cheap and speedy ways to get more capacity out of the transmission infrastructure we’ve already built? To ease some of that congestion and get more clean energy online while we wait for new lines to be completed?
As it happens, there are. They are called grid-enhancing technologies, or GETs, and they can improve the performance of existing transmission lines by as much as 40 percent. Full transcript here
Another from David (he has several you can search for more on his website):
Upgrading Current Powerlines
Utilities are not under constant pressure to improve their products, and consequently, power lines haven’t improved much over the years. The standard design used in the industry dates back to the early 1900s. The more “modern” design dates back to the 1970s.
Now, at long last, some companies are popping up with new power lines that can transmit more power, and leak less of it, than traditional lines. Simply replacing old lines (or “conductors”) with the latest technology — or “reconductoring” — could, according to some recent studies, double the capacity of the existing grid, or more. But that would involve persuading utilities to actually deploy the latest tech, which is no mean feat. Full transcript here
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Climate Solutions: Debunking EV and Battery Myths
Despair only limits future action – Simon Clark
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This is going to be a quick hit, but I know I got a little cranky in the last post with some of the persistent myths around EVs, so these two videos are a good at debunking those myths.
Join Quentin Willson and Dr. Euan McTurk as they explore the latest in electric vehicles battery advancements. As a consultant battery electrochemist who has been working on – and driving – EVs since 2009, Euan is one of the UK’s leading experts on EV batteries, and most definitely has his finger on the pulse when it comes to emerging battery technology.
During this enlightening discussion, Euan shares the real story on EV battery fires and talks about some of the new battery technologies to watch out for, including solid-state batteries with their impressive range and safety credentials. Could these go mainstream sooner than we think? Quentin and Euan also share views on the battery industry as a whole, and what governments and energy suppliers can do to help the transition to these cleaner technologies.
This one is from 8 months ago, but still relevant:
Climate Solutions: Debunking EV and Battery MythsPost + Comments (87)
Climate Solutions: Good People Doing Good Things
This is will be a quick hit, but I wanted to keep going on sharing good people working on climate solutions. There will be a couple more videos on regenerative farming practices from the Carbon Cowboys series and a few other videos on other topics.
I will branch out to other technology going forward, but I didn’t have time this week to do the serious dive into other topics. Batteries are my next idea for a post – some big steps this year already.
A reminder that all these post can be found here: Positive Climate News
Here are parts 3 and 4 of Carbon Cowboys (see all the videos here)
Husband and wife ranchers Emry Birdwell and Deborah Clark have been going against the grain of North Texas ranching for decades – hiding their ability to raise many, many more cattle per acre than any of their neighbors. They are a fiery couple, prone to snips as they get their field work done – they are in their 60s, and run the 14,000 acre place on their own, sometimes with one extra hand. Filmed in Henrietta, Texas
Don Jackson wanted to change his grazing methods, and he called Allen Williams, a top U.S. expert on regenerative agriculture for help. Allen helped Don transition from continuous grazing to AMP (Adaptive Multi-Paddock) grazing. This film captures Don’s first 6 months of the transition – in Don’s 1st growing season. Don (and his son Patrick) can see huge changes already, especially in the amount of forage they can produce, the improved health of their cattle, and the increase in beneficial insects. Filmed in Ware Shoals, South Carolina
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It was a toss-up between this great story and an amazing rancher/educator in Chihuahua Mexico, Alejandro Carrillo. The happy couple won today and next post will feature Alejandro. Tina and Orion Weldon have a great story. Let’s start with the video:
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Climate Solutions: Carbon Cowboys and Regenerative Farming
As I wrote previously, I want to start combining our good news posts with climate solutions. I want to highlight good people doing good things in regard to the climate crisis. It’s important to know, despite what is often a deluge of bad news on the climate, good things are happening. I’ll be highlighting regenerative farming for the next few posts because I love how it bridges generational issues, political divides and brings disparate folks together.
And quail. For some reason, as you will see, quail are a big deal in these farming communities. As someone who lived on a National Seashore property as a kid, which meant it had to be left as natural as possible, I can attest to the joy of seeing quail and their chicks walk across the yard and hear their calls. I was glad to see I am not alone.
Part 1 of 10
Gabe Brown, Allen Williams and Neil Dennis were all going out of business with their conventional grazing – then nature forced their hand to try grazing without chemicals because they couldn’t afford them anymore. They are now the pioneers in regenerative grazing – replacing the specter of bankruptcy with resiliency. These ranchers regenerate their soils which makes their animals healthier and their operations more profitable. Robust soils enable rainwater to sink into the earth rather than run off; and retain that water, so the ranches are much more resilient in drought. Filmed in Starkville, Mississippi: Bismarck, North Dakota; Wawona, Saskatchewan, Canada
I’m starting with the Carbon Cowboys documentary and their new one, Roots So Deep. I’ll break it up over a few posts, but you can go to their website here or their YouTube page here to watch all of it now, read more about their research, and see where they are at in understanding the carbon capture aspect of this journey.
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