Weekend Reads - Smart Energy Decisions

July 30, 2022

Weekend Reads: The Movement Against Greenwashing Carbon Credits; The Bahamas Rebuild with Solar

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these must-read articles from around the web.

Why Isn’t There a Mass Movement for Climate Action in the US? (Bloomberg) Soaring temperatures, wildfires, flooding and drought have left the American public less uncertain than ever that manmade climate change is finally upon us. Public opinion polling has for several years documented a dawning but far from complete recognition of what scientists warned about for decades. And yet national climate policy doesn’t match public sentiment. Why? Two recent polls document the obvious climate chasm between Americans of different political stripes. 

High energy prices, Ukraine war and rising demand response potential spur energy efficiency efforts (Utility Dive) Energy efficiency, the cleanest, lowest cost, most overlooked resource in the climate fight, is now part of the world’s pushback against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the International Energy Agency. Energy efficiency, or EE, is fundamental to the clean energy transition, analysts have long agreed. But the Ukraine war-driven urgency for the European Union to end reliance on Russian natural gas and arbitrary Russian threats like the July 11 shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline to Germany, and avoid stopgap coal burning now makes EE vital, a June 10 statement co-signed by the U.S. and 25 IEA parties in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the EU recognized.

Webinar: How 24/7 Carbon Data Is Shaping The Travel & Tourism Industry (nZero) Wednesday, August 10, 2022, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Accurate carbon management and accounting has become critical. With greenwashing rampant and stakeholders demanding deeper carbon transparency and clear climate goals, organizations and governments are realizing 24/7 data is key to accurately track, report and communicate their carbon impacts. This is especially the case in the travel and tourism industry which, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, accounts for ~11% of the globe’s greenhouse gases. In this webinar, you will hear from nZero’s CEO Adam Kramer, Mayor of The Town Of Truckee Courtney Henderson, and Wynn Resorts’ Chief Sustainability Officer Erik Hansen on how 24/7 data is shaping their industry. REGISTER HERE

In carbon markets we trust? New global guidance aims to stop greenwashing (Thomas Reuters Foundation) For Mozambican conservationist Gabriela Curtiz, the key to making a new plan for carbon credits work in the remote mountains of Gorongosa National Park, ravaged by civil war in recent decades, is to involve the community living there. "Listening is the first part of changing people's minds - then they will hear you, too," Curtiz told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The park management wants to make it financially worthwhile for villagers to grow and protect indigenous trees alongside their coffee crops, while helping companies elsewhere slim their carbon footprints by buying offsets generated from the park.

How Africa could become a global hydrogen powerhouse (CNBC) Africa could supply the whole world with affordable low-carbon energy in the form of hydrogen, a new report suggests. In its Africa Energy Outlook 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says Africa’s rich renewable resources – particularly solar energy, but also onshore wind – are the key to unlocking this potential. Africa could produce 5,000 megatonnes of hydrogen a year at less than $2 per kilogramme – equivalent to “global total energy supply today,” the IEA says.

Storm-ravaged Bahamas rebuilding its power grid with emphasis on solar energy (CBS News) When Hurricane Dorian slammed into the northern Bahamas in 2019, the Category 5 storm caused nearly inestimable damage on a number of islands. There's a growing consensus among scientists that climate change is making hurricanes stronger and more destructive. That's very bad news for the Bahamas, a string of more than seven hundred low-lying islands stretching from Florida nearly down to Cuba, in the heart of what's come to be known as "Hurricane Alley." When we visited in late 2019, hurricane recovery was really just beginning, but we discovered that the Bahamas had found a ray of hope - specifically, a solar array - that can survive future hurricanes. And in the process, it may have important lessons for the rest of the world.

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