Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Biden to propose 20-year drilling ban around Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Source: Washington Post

The Biden administration on Monday will propose a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling in Chaco Canyon and surrounding areas in northwestern New Mexico, a sacred tribal site that also contains valuable oil and gas. President Biden will announce the move at the opening of the White House Tribal Nations Summit, one of several steps intended to strengthen the relationship between the federal government and American Indian tribes. Administration officials said Biden will also issue an executive order directing his Cabinet to develop a strategy to improve public safety and justice for Indigenous Americans.

The plan for Chaco Canyon, which is in the home state of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the nation's first Native American Cabinet secretary, would direct the Bureau of Land Management to start the process for removing from leasing federal lands within a 10-mile radius around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. "Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community," Haaland said in a statement. "Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations."

The area now known as Chaco Culture National Historical Park was one of the hubs of the Ancestral Puebloan civilization from about 850 until it was abandoned in the 13th century, leaving behind its settlements' majestic remains. The agricultural society built houses with hundreds of rooms, using sawed timber. Excavations have found elaborate pottery, conch shell trumpets, beads, turquoise and other artifacts. The remains of these settlements are considered among the most important cultural sites on public lands in the United States. The plunder of artifacts from this area led to the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the authority to designate protections for public land without congressional approval.

The prospect of oil and gas drilling in the area has repeatedly drawn opposition from tribes and environmentalists. In 2018, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke postponed a proposed lease sale on more than 4,000 acres in the region, calling for a detailed analysis of cultural sites there before the auction could take place. The Trump administration then released a plan to allow the drilling of more than 2,300 oil and gas wells in the area. Late last year, Congress passed a one-year moratorium on drilling in the area. But tribal leaders and environmental groups say the landscape needs more permanent safeguards.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... ing-biden/

[Yuli Ban]

South Australia produced nearly twice as much wind and solar as it could use at times on Sunday, forcing renewable plant operators to massively curtail their output. The total amount of curtailed at one point nearly equalled total demand.

South Australia leads the world in the share of wind and solar in its grid, but it wasn’t the only state affected by a big surplus of wind and solar over the weekend, with curtailment records falling across the grid.

According to Geoff Eldridge, a data analyst who provides the NEMLog service, the levels of curtailment hit instantaneous records in both South Australia and Victoria, and daily average records across the main grid.

The simple reason is that supply exceeded demand.

And whereas this is not unusual – the capacity of coal and gas plants has always far exceeded average demand (and many gas plants operate at less than 2 per cent of their capacity) – curtailment of technologies with zero marginal cost (the sun and the wind) does seem a bit of a waste.

There is probably no better case for added storage, or to use the excess for technologies such as green hydrogen, but the latter is a few year’s away at least from a rollout of significant scale, and storage capacity remains minimal.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

The World's Largest Organism Is Slowly Being Eaten
by Richard Elton Walton
November 24, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-world- ... ntist-says

Introduction:

(Science Alert) In the Wasatch Mountains of the western US on the slopes above a spring-fed lake, there dwells a single giant organism that provides an entire ecosystem on which plants and animals have relied for thousands of years.

Found in my home state of Utah, "Pando" is a 106-acre stand of quaking aspen clones.

Although it looks like a woodland of individual trees with striking white bark and small leaves that flutter in the slightest breeze, Pando (Latin for "I spread") is actually 47,000 genetically identical stems that arise from an interconnected root network.

This single genetic individual weighs around 6 million metric tons. By mass, it is the largest single organism on Earth.

Aspen trees do tend to form clonal stands elsewhere, but what makes Pando interesting is its enormous size. Most clonal aspen stands in North America are much smaller, with those in western US averaging just 3 acres.

[caltrek]

Why Putting Solar Canopies on Parking Lots Is a Smart Green Move
by Richard Connif
November 22, 2021

https://e360.yale.edu/features/putting- ... y-solution

Extract:

(Yale Environment 360) Fly into Orlando, Florida, and you may notice a 22-acre solar power array in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head in a field just west of Disney World. Nearby, Disney also has a 270-acre solar farm of conventional design on former orchard and forest land. Park your car in any of Disney’s 32,000 parking spaces, on the other hand, and you won’t see a canopy overhead generating solar power (or providing shade) — not even if you snag one of the preferred spaces for which visitors pay up to $50 a day.

This is how it typically goes with solar arrays: We build them on open space rather than in developed areas. That is, they overwhelmingly occupy croplands, arid lands, and grasslands, not rooftops or parking lots, according to a global inventory published last month in Nature. In the United States, for instance, roughly 51 percent of utility-scale solar facilities are in deserts; 33 percent are on croplands; and 10 percent are in grasslands and forests. Just 2.5 percent of U.S. solar power comes from urban areas.

…The appeal of parking lots and rooftops, by contrast, is that they are abundant, close to customers, largely untapped for solar power generation, and on land that’s already been stripped of much of its biological value.

A typical Walmart supercenter, for instance, has a five-acre parking lot, and it’s a wasteland, especially if you have to sweat your way across it under an asphalt-bubbling sun. Put a canopy over it, though, and it could support a three-megawatt solar array, according to a recent study co-authored by Joshua Pearce of Western University in Ontario. In addition to providing power to the store, the neighboring community, or the cars sheltered underneath, says Pearce, the canopy would shade customers — and keep them shopping longer, as their car batteries top up. If Walmart did that at all 3,571 of its U.S. super centers, the total capacity would be 11.1 gigawatts of solar power — roughly equivalent to a dozen large coal-fired power plants. Taking account of the part-time nature of solar power, Pearce figures that would be enough to permanently shut down four of those power plants.

And yet solar canopies are barely beginning to show up in this country’s …parking lots.

[weatheriscool]

Ancient juniper trees illegally cut in New Mexico monument
Source: AP

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Several dozen ancient alligator juniper trees have been illegally cut down at El Malpais National Monument in western New Mexico and authorities with the National Park Service are trying to find out who’s responsible.

Known for their unique furrowed bark, alligator junipers grow very slowly. A seed can take up to 18 months to mature after pollination and the growth rate for young trees is about 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) per decade, slowing as they get older.

Officials said the trees that were cut down were likely hundreds of years old.

Lisa Dittman, a spokeswoman for the national monument, said Tuesday that officials don’t know why the trees are being targeted or what they’re being used for. Rural New Mexico residents frequently cut wood in the fall to help with winter heating needs, but cutting trees at El Malpais is illegal.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-tr ... 45542f4d15

[caltrek]

Nine Democrats in Congress Urge Department of Justice to Free Steven Donziger
by Kenny Stancil
November 30, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/ ... ree-steven

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Nine U.S. House Democrats on Monday urged the Justice Department to "take immediate action" to secure the release of Steven Donziger, a human rights attorney who helped thousands of Ecuadorians win a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against oil giant Chevron and is now incarcerated on a contempt of court charge that experts say is retaliatory—and which followed two years of pre-trial house arrest, a violation of international law.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the progressive lawmakers—Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), and Raúl M. Grijalva (Ariz.)—wrote that Donziger's case "has shocked the worldwide community of environmental justice and human rights advocates and creates a distinct chilling effect on this type of advocacy going forward."

"Mr. Donziger," noted the lawmakers, "has done nothing but uphold the highest professional ethics in representing and protecting his clients but has since been thrown in federal prison for petty contempt charges, a first in United States history. Mr. Donziger began serving a six-month sentence for petty contempt of court at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut on October 27, 2021, despite the many calls from the international legal community that his pre-trial detention for over 800 days was a violation of international law."

"Mr. Donziger sits in a crowded federal prison because a Chevron attorney made it so, without Executive Branch supervision or ever seeing a jury of his peers," the lawmakers continued. "As the United States is a party to the District Court case against Mr. Donziger, we request that you act immediately to reclaim control of this case, dismiss the charges, and free Mr. Donziger from his imprisonment."

"The international legal community," they added, "is appalled by what has transpired in the Southern District of New York and the Department of Justice's commitment to a just rule of law requires immediate action."

[caltrek]

Renewables See Record Growth in 2021, but Supply Chain Problems Loom
by Justine Calma
December 1, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/1/2281 ... n-problems

Introduction:

(The Verge) 2021 is on course to break a global record for renewable energy growth, according to the International Energy Agency’s latest Renewables Market Report. That’s despite skyrocketing commodity prices, which could bog down the transition to clean energy in the future.
With 290 GW in additional capacity expected to be commissioned by the end of the year, 2021 will smash the record for renewable electricity growth that was just set last year. This year’s additions even outpace a forecast that the International Energy Agency (IEA) made in the spring.

“Exceptionally high growth” would be the “new normal” for renewable sources of electricity, the IEA said at the time. Solar energy, in particular, was on track to take the crown as the “new king of electricity,” the IEA said in its October 2020 World Energy Outlook report.

SOLAR CONTINUED TO DOMINATE

Solar continued to dominate in 2021, with an expected record growth of nearly 160 GW. It made up more than half of all the renewable energy capacity added this year, a trend that the IEA thinks will continue over the next five. Renewables will likely make up 95 percent of new power capacity globally through 2026, according to the new report. The IEA also predicts explosive growth for offshore wind capacity, which could more than triple over the same time period.

By 2026, the IEA says, the amount of renewable electricity capacity globally will likely be equivalent to today’s fossil fuel and nuclear energy capacity combined. That’s a huge shift. In 2020, renewable energy only made up 29 percent of electricity generation globally.

The remainder of the article discusses potential negative effects of affordability caused by increases in commodity and shipping prices for solar energy components.

[caltrek]

Trends in Energy and Biodiversity – Threats and Opportunities
by Mary Hoff
November 29, 2021

https://ensia.com/articles/conservation ... sity-2022/

Extract:

(Ensia) Floating Solar…In recent years the notion of siting them on water rather than land has taken off dramatically, with more than 300 installations in place around the world today...

Energy Through the Air…Powerlines and the poles and towers that hold them are staples of civilization. Imagine being able to replace them with devices that transmit electricity through the air instead of along wires?...

Satellites…More than 2,000 communications satellites currently orbit our planet, and with current plans, the total could reach 100,000 in the next 10 years. The process of deploying and decommissioning these extraplanetary objects can disrupt the stratospheric ozone layer; deposit aluminum in, and otherwise modify the chemical composition of, the upper atmosphere; and alters Earth’s albedo — its ability to reflect sunlight...

(Amonia) …Recent attention has turned to ammonia as a fuel for shipping.

[Yuli Ban]

Last year was an unusual one for the global electricity sector. Despite massive and in many cases near-immediate changes in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, global power generation fell only two-tenths of a percent for all of 2020. Coal-fired power generation fell 3% year on year; gas-fired power fell 1%, and nuclear power declined 3%. Wind, solar, and hydropower all grew, however, and the result is something new for the power sector.

BloombergNEF recently analyzed a decade worth of data from 137 individual power markets and aggregated data from the rest of the world, and found something significant. Last year was the first year in which renewable wind, solar, hydropower, and biomass and waste power provided the entirety of growth in global power generation.

[Yuli Ban]

The growth of renewable capacity is forecast to accelerate in the next five years, accounting for almost 95% of the increase in global power capacity through 2026. We have revised up our forecast from a year earlier, as stronger policy support and ambitious climate targets announced for COP26 outweigh the current record commodity prices that have increased the costs of building new wind and solar PV installations. Globally, renewable electricity capacity is forecast to increase by over 60% between 2020 and 2026, reaching more than 4 800 GW. This is equivalent to the current global power capacity of fossil fuels and nuclear combined. Overall, China remains the leader over the next five years, accounting for 43% of global renewable capacity growth, followed by Europe, the United States and India. These four markets alone account for 80% of renewable capacity expansion worldwide.

China and the European Union are set to overshoot their current targets, setting the stage for a more ambitious growth trajectory. China’s commitment to reach carbon neutrality before 2060 has led to new nearer-term targets, such as 1 200 GW of total wind and solar PV capacity by 2030. We forecast that China will reach this target four years early thanks to the availability of long-term contracts, improved grid integration, and the cost competitiveness of onshore wind and solar PV compared with coal generation in many provinces. The trajectory of renewable capacity growth over the 2021-26 period indicates that renewable power growth in the European Union as a whole is set to outpace what the current National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) envision for 2030. This trend supports the ambition of reaching the stronger targets being finalised under the “Fit for 55” programme. Rapid deployment is being driven by member countries implementing larger auction volumes, corporations contracting for more renewable electricity, and consumers continuing to install large amounts of solar panels.

[weatheriscool]

Coral reefs of western Indian Ocean at risk of collapse: study
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-coral-ree ... ocean.html
by Nick Perry

The findings warn that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken.

Rising sea temperatures and overfishing threaten coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean with complete collapse in the next 50 years, according to a groundbreaking study of these marine ecosystems.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Sustainability on Monday, warned that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken.

For the first time, researchers were able to assess the vulnerability of individual reefs across the vast western reaches of the Indian Ocean, and identify the main threats to coral health.

They found that all reefs in this region faced "complete ecosystem collapse and irreversible damage" within decades, and that ocean warming meant some coral habitats were already critically endangered.

"The findings are quite serious. These reefs are vulnerable to collapse," lead author David Obura, founding director at CORDIO East Africa, a Kenya-based oceans research institute, told AFP.

[caltrek]

Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability
December 8, 2021

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... ainability

Introduction:

Executive Order 14057 - By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to reestablish the Federal Government as a leader in sustainability, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 101. Policy. The Federal Government faces broad exposure to the mounting risks and costs already posed by the climate crisis. In responding to this crisis, we have a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity to create and sustain jobs, including well-paying union jobs; support a just transition to a more sustainable economy for American workers; strengthen America's communities; protect public health; and advance environmental justice. As the single largest land owner, energy consumer, and employer in the Nation, the Federal Government can catalyze private sector investment and expand the economy and American industry by transforming how we build, buy, and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings, and other operations to be clean and sustainable.

We also must build on past progress and pursue new strategies to improve the Nation's preparedness and resilience to the effects of a changing climate, including advancing the Federal Government's strategic planning, governance, financial management, and procurement to ensure climate resilient operations.

It is therefore the policy of my Administration for the Federal Government to lead by example in order to achieve a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. Through a whole-of-government approach, we will demonstrate how innovation and environmental stewardship can protect our planet, safeguard Federal investments against the effects of climate change, respond to the needs of all of America's communities, and expand American technologies, industries, and jobs.

[weatheriscool]

The first true millipede has been discovered in Australia. It has the most legs of any living animal
By Katie Hunt, CNN
Updated 12:11 PM EST, Thu December 16, 2021
The first true millipede, with more than 1,000 legs, has been discovered in Australia.

(CNN) Millipedes have lots of legs. It's defining feature of this creature, which is neither worm nor insect.

However, despite a name derived from the Latin for thousand (mille) and feet (pes), no millipede has been found with more than 750 legs -- until now.

Scientists have discovered the first millipede that has more than 1,000 legs -- 1,306 to be precise -- and the most legs of any living creature on Earth. It was found living 60 meters (200 feet) below ground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration in Western Australia.

The eyeless invertebrate -- it's 3.7 inches (9.5 centimeters) long and 0.04 inch (1 millimeter) wide -- has 330 body segments, antennae, a beak for feeding and a cone-shaped head.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/12/16/asia ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Cobalt's human cost: Social consequences of green energy must be assessed in addition to environmental impacts
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-cobalt-hu ... green.html
by Northwestern University

While driving an electric car has fewer environmental impacts than gasoline-powered cars, the production of the parts necessary for these green technologies can have dire effects on human well-being.

After studying the impacts of mining cobalt—a common ingredient in lithium-ion batteries—on communities in Africa's Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Northwestern University is calling for more data into how emerging technologies affect human health and livelihoods.

Such data can inform policymakers, industry leaders and consumers to make more socially and ethically responsible decisions when developing, funding and using green technologies.

The case study and perspective paper will be published on Dec. 17 in the journal One Earth.

"We have the framework and tools available to compare the environmental costs of automobiles that run on fossil fuels to battery-powered vehicles," said Northwestern's Jennifer Dunn, who led the study. "I can tell you the greenhouse gas emissions per mile for either one. But when it comes to the social effects, we don't have the same capability for direct comparison. For many engineers, it's easier to measure or calculate environmental effects than to understand the social conditions in a faraway country that they have never set foot in."

[caltrek]

This (see below) is taken from a public document, so size restrictions related to copyright concerns do not need to apply.

Regarding Planning for Establishment of a Program to Support the Availability of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for Civilian Domestic Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial Use

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... upport-the

Extract:

(Federal Register) The U.S Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is issuing this RFI (Request for Information) to invite input on the planning for establishment of a DOE HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) Availability Program and to gather information to consider in preparing the required report to Congress describing actions proposed to be carried out by DOE under the program. The Energy Act of 2020 authorized the Department to establish and carry out, through the Office of Nuclear Energy, a program to support the availability of... ( HALEU) for civilian domestic research, development, demonstration, and commercial use.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
The Department is working to enable the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors as part of meeting the Administration's job creation, energy security and climate goals. DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program was established to partner with domestic private industry to help accelerate the development and demonstration of advanced nuclear reactors in the United States. Most advanced reactors, including several designs selected for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, are designed to be fueled by HALEU. The Secretary of Energy was authorized in Sec. 2001 of the Energy Act of 2020 to establish and carry out, through the Office of Nuclear Energy, a program to support the availability of HALEU for civilian domestic research, development, demonstration, and commercial use (HALEU Availability Program). A HALEU Availability Program, leading to the deployment and commercialization of clean energy technologies and infrastructure, could secure a critical domestic supply chain for meeting the Administration's climate, economic, and energy security goals. This program would include substantive engagement by stakeholders, including State, local, and Tribal governments. The program would prioritize addressing long-standing and persistent energy justice issues and be responsive to President Biden's Justice40 Initiative… by targeting 40 percent of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities, considering rural communities and communities impacted by the market-based transition to clean energy, and include substantive stakeholder engagement.

Currently, there is very limited domestic capacity to provide HALEU from either DOE or commercial sources. This lack of capacity is a significant obstacle to the development and deployment of advanced reactors for commercial applications.

Specifically, DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) provides highly enriched uranium (HEU), HALEU, and Low Enriched Uranium for its defense and nonproliferation missions. Most of NNSA's HEU is reserved for the Naval Reactors program and for use in the nuclear weapons stockpile, and is therefore unavailable for down-blending to use in advanced reactors used for commercial applications. Other HEU in the inventory is allocated to supply research reactors and medical isotope production facilities worldwide, and to meet critical defense and space requirements. After accounting for these requirements on the inventory, the remaining amount of HEU to be down-blended to HALEU for advanced commercial reactors is very limited. If these supplies were redirected to fuel advanced commercial reactors, they would not be sufficient to meet the projected near-term demands for advanced reactor demonstration and deployment. Furthermore, diverting these resources to support advanced reactor demonstration and deployment would compromise vital nuclear security and nonproliferation missions.

Likewise, on the commercial side, there is no domestic assured source of HALEU to be used to produce fuel for advanced reactors in sufficient quantities to meet anticipated demand. In turn, uncertainty regarding the commercial deployment of advanced reactors and future demand for HALEU undermines private investment to develop an assured HALEU supply capability and related infrastructure.

The HALEU Availability Program envisioned in the Energy Act of 2020 is intended to address this problem by temporarily securing a supply of HALEU to support research, development, demonstration, and equitable deployment of advanced reactors for commercial applications. This action, in turn, could spur demand for additional HALEU production and private investment in nuclear fuel supply infrastructure and ultimately remove the government from any role as a supplier of HALEU for industry. The development of a viable domestic commercial supply of HALEU for advanced commercial power reactors could also supply the needs of medical isotope producers and civilian research reactors. The program outlined in Sec. 2001 of the Energy Act of 2020 would sunset on September 30th, 2034, or 90 days after adequate supply is established.

[Yuli Ban]

The blast at a Texas oil refinery early Thursday will probably push already high gasoline prices even higher — although not immediately.

The blast and resulting fire at the ExxonMobil (XOM) plant in the Houston-area city of Baytown, Texas, injured at least four workers. The accident could hamper output at one of America's largest refineries for months, weighing on gasoline supply at at time when US refining capacity has already been reduced, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service.
"They're not going to have all systems go for a couple of quarters," he said.
The average price for a gallon of regular gas now stands at $3.29, down 11 cents from a month ago, but still up $1.05 per gallon, or 47%, from a year ago. Gas prices have been a major factor in the rate of inflation hitting a 39-year high.

[weatheriscool]

First power achieved on world's largest offshore windfarm

by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-12-pow ... dfarm.html

Officials with the Danish energy company Ørsted have announced that they have achieved first power on the Hornsea 2 project—a new windfarm off the coast of England in the North Sea. As part of their announcement, posted on the company's web page, officials noted that once the windfarm is fully operational, it will represent the largest windfarm in the world.

Hornsea 2, as its name implies, is the second segment of a four-segment project. Hornsea 1 became operational last year and is currently the largest offshore windfarm—with its 174 turbines, the farm has a capacity of 1.2-GW—enough to power over a million homes in the U.K.

Hornsea 2 was approved for construction back in 2016—it will feature 165 8-MW turbines made by Siemens, which will give it a capacity of 1.32 GW. The offshore substation and reactive stations have been installed and tested while construction continues on the turbines. The windfarm will be located approximately 90 kilometers off the coast of Grims, England, which is not far from Leeds and Sheffield. Once the windfarm is fully operational, it will deliver power to a substation at Killingholme. The project will involve stringing cable under 390 kilometers of ocean water and then 40 kilometers of land before reaching the substation. Hornsea 2 will also be breaking another record—it will be located farther away from shore than any other large-scale windfarm.

[caltrek]

Wind & Solar Amounts to 86% Of New US Power Capacity in January Through October, 2021
by Zachary Shahan
December 27, 2021

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/12/27/wi ... y-october/

Introduction:

(CleanTechnica) Wind and solar power have dominated new power capacity additions in 2021. They’ve also been at the forefront of power capacity growth in the United States in the past three years.

The latest installation data come from October 2021, which was, incidentally, a rare month in which fossil gas (aka “natural gas”) led the show. Such months have been a very uncommon occurrence in the past few years, but especially in the past year. In 2021, wind and solar power have absolutely dominated new power capacity additions, accounting for a whopping 85.9% of new US power capacity (see chart below). That was despite fossil gas getting 51.1% share of the market in October (see chart in linked article).

Actually, aside from wind power plants, solar power plants, and fossil gas power plants, no other source of power production was added to the US electricity grid (which is, technically, a few grids) in October 2021. Other sources were essentially rounding errors in the first 10 months of the year as well, with hydropower, geothermal power, biomass, and oil accounting for a combined 0.4% of new power capacity in the country.

Looking at the big boys, large-scale solar accounted for 37.2% of new US power capacity in the first 10 months of 2021, wind power accounted for 33.2%, small-scale solar accounted for 15.5%, and fossil gas accounted for 13.7%. (Note that this is an imperfect estimate since utility-scale power plant data come from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) while small-scale solar power additions are estimated based on US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) forecasts and data for Q3 2021).

[caltrek]

Peak Oil & Coal Demand Means Peak Shipping Demand Too
by Michael Barnard
December 24, 2021

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/12/22/pe ... emand-too/

Introduction:

(CleanTechnica) In recent months I’ve been looking at the hard-to-decarbonize segments of the transportation industry. My assertion for years has been that all ground transportation will electrify with grid- and battery-electric, that short- and medium-haul aviation would be completely viable to electrify by 2100, and that short- and medium-haul water shipping would electrify as well.
But what did that mean for long-haul aviation and shipping? My assessment in 2017 was that roughly 3-4% of the total transportation fuel cycle would not be easy to electrify, and that other fuels would be required. I recently dove deeply enough into the former to make a projection of aviation refueling through 2100, one which makes it clear, at least to me, that hydrogen has no place, biofuels will be used extensively through 2060, but that the entire segment will be approaching 100% battery-electric by 2100.

I’ve been starting to assess shipping more directly in recent months. I wasn’t nearly as rapturous about Maersk’s methanol-ship investment as most other commenters appeared to be, pointing out that sufficient green methanol was being acquired to fuel one of the eight dual-fuel ships for half of a single journey per year, and that methanol would cost at least four times as much per journey as a fuel. And this week I looked at the fantasies that hydrogen advocates have of shipping hydrogen in tankers between sun-kissed poor nations and energy-intensive rich ones, finding that the delivered hydrogen would cost five times as much as delivered LNG in the absolute best possible scenario, making it economically non-viable compared to obvious alternatives such as HVDC.

But this triggered many questions, of course. For example, how much shipping is bound up in fossil fuels and commodities which are going to diminish in the future? And while everything must decarbonize in order to address climate change, there are no biofuels, synthetic fuels, or batteries that will ever be as cheap as readily available fossil fuels. As a result, transportation costs for the harder to electrify segments will increase until and if batteries develop to the energy density and price ratios necessary to shift to electric, and we have $20 per MWh renewable electricity widely available.