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[hellofromuranus]

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tumble-storage-battery-costs-boost-shift-renewables-says-iea-2024-04-25/?user_email=fbe45e5f1f378f1ab2663bdacdc4603f4b2b2d7bd5ea0df675fc54f700035764

[hellofromuranus]

this is so funny

"but uh when we advocated for indigenous sovereignty we thought you guys were just going to make a big park or something"

"fuck you. ultradense housing that bypasses your stupid zoning rules"

[hellofromuranus]

[hellofromuranus]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

The first large offshore wind farm in New England has started producing electricity, a milestone for an industry that has struggled to get off the ground over the past year.

The power started flowing late on Tuesday. For now, the Vineyard Wind project, located off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., can send only five megawatts of power to the grid from a single towering wind turbine. But the companies behind the project, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, plan to install a total of 62 turbines with 800 megawatts of capacity, or roughly enough electricity to power 400,000 homes, by the end of this year.

The two projects are coming online at a turbulent time for the nascent offshore wind industry. To fight climate change, many Eastern states are hoping to install dozens of large wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean that can generate electricity without emitting any planet-warming greenhouse gases. But lately, developers of those projects have struggled with soaring costs, high interest rates, supply chain delays and bursts of local opposition.

Developers have already terminated contracts for several large, planned wind farms in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, saying that the deals were signed before rising inflation and interest rates upended the profitability of those projects. As a result, analysts at BloombergNEF say they expect that just 15,000 megawatts of offshore wind will be installed in the United States by 2030, about one-third less than they had expected as recently as June.

The latest cancellation came on Wednesday, when Equinor and BP announced that they were terminating a contract with New York to sell the state electricity from Empire Wind 2, a proposed 1,260-megawatt offshore wind farm that would be located southeast of Long Island.

The Empire Wind project is not necessarily dead, analysts said. The companies could still rebid this year for a new contract to sell power to New York State at even higher prices. Many Eastern states are now confronting the reality that offshore wind will probably prove more expensive than initially planned.

The Biden administration has made offshore wind a priority, essentially aiming to create an industry from scratch. But the United States remains far behind Europe, which has already installed more than 32,000 megawatts of capacity in its waters.

[hellofromuranus]

Holy shitballs, please do this.

"The bill would require hedge funds, defined as corporations, partnerships or real estate investment trusts that manage funds pooled from investors, to sell off all the single-family homes they own over a 10-year period, and eventually prohibit such companies from owning any single-family homes at all. During the decade-long phaseout period, the bill would impose stiff tax penalties, with the proceeds reserved for down-payment assistance for individuals looking to buy homes from corporate owners."

[hellofromuranus]

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - BP's renewables boss said on Wednesday the U.S. offshore wind industry is "fundamentally broken" as BP and its partner Equinor (EQNR.OL) study options to develop huge projects off the coast of New York after writing down $840 million of their value.

The offshore wind industry, one of the fastest growing energy sectors, has recently suffered a string of major setbacks due to equipment reliability issues, supply chain problems and sharp cost increases.

Orsted (ORSTED.CO), the world's largest offshore wind developer, on Wednesday flagged writedowns of up to $5.6 billion after halting the development of U.S. offshore wind projects.

[hellofromuranus]

Well that explains our electric bill this month.

[hellofromuranus]

We should be optimistic – however cautiously – that humans can get their act together and at least limit the damage from the climate crisis. ... Some important clean energy tech – solar energy, electric cars and battery production – is now being rolled out at a record pace, in line with what is needed to reach global net zero emissions by 2050. Under the IEA’s pathway to zero, solar and EVs could provide one-third of the global emissions cuts needed by 2030. This tells us that rapid change is possible. In the case of solar, it suggests that it can leapfrog fossil fuels as a primary energy source in the developing world, if influential countries tailor their support in that direction. The second point is that, more than ever, we have the technology. Two years ago the IEA estimated that the clean technology needed to provide nearly half the emissions reductions across the planet by 2050 was not yet available. That gap has now dropped to 35% as new technology – batteries and electrolysers, for example – has come on. It is likely to continue to fall. It means the main goal now must be rapid acceleration before 2030. That’s easier said than done, but it’s possible using proven and in most cases affordable strategies. The agency says global renewable energy capacity needs to triple, the pace of energy efficiency improvements needs to double, EVs and heat pump sales need to rise sharply, and methane emissions from fossil fuels – including leaks from coal and gas mines – need to be cut by 75% in that timeframe. For the clean tech to have the impact that’s required, the approval and development of new fossil fuels needs to stop. This is the third point. It’s consistent with what IEA chief, Fatih Birol, said when the first roadmap was released two years ago. ... The IEA now says a concerted expansion of renewable energy could cut global demand for fossil fuels by 25% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

[hellofromuranus]

“Between 1992–2003, $14.4 billion was spent in total in the 109 countries studied…That investment resulted in a 29 percent-per-country average decrease in the rate of biodiversity decline…”

This is one of the first large-scale studies to show that investment in conservation really does work. The study also examined how conservation dollars could be spent most effectively in different locations to slow biodiversity loss. 

[hellofromuranus]

Get back to nature, hug a tree and save the planet.

[hellofromuranus]

Man unable to install solar panels at home discovers clever solution that helps entire community: ‘The gift that keeps on giving’

[hellofromuranus]

Wind and solar power could significantly exceed Britain’s energy needs | University of Oxford

[hellofromuranus]

Solar Airship One !

Euro Airship reveals Solar Airship One mission: A non-stop world tour flight without fossil fuels!

Airship One will have 80 percent less fuel consumption and CO2 emissions than conventional aircraft.