Energy Storage, GHG Emissions, Solar, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  May 18, 2024

Weekend Reads: Solar Tariffs Double; Carbon Capture Batteries

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

Wind farms can offset their emissions within two years (Forbes)  After spinning for under two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan, when compared to thermal power plants. That's according to a new peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand — which also shows within six months a turbine can generate all the energy consumed across its life-cycle.

Biden administration ends solar tariff exemption (The Hill)  The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it’s ending an exemption to import tariffs for solar panels that are double-sided, noting that since the exception was implemented, nearly all solar panel imports have been two sided. The move comes just one day after the administration doubled tariffs on solar panel imports. The moves come as part of an effort to demonstrate support for U.S. manufacturing and parry Republican criticism of its climate agenda.

‘Game-changing’ electric factories will reshape heavy industries, says European developer Coolbrook (Forbes)  At the Brightlands Chemelot Campus, near the Dutch city of Geleen, a kindred group of engineers are plugging away on a novel pilot project they describe as "game-changing" industrial technology — the replacement of conventional fossil fuel dependent high temperature equipment by a low carbon solution that uses only electricity.

WEBINAR | The New Math: Balancing Decarb with Your Business & Mission Imperatives (TRANE)  Sooner or later, every organization that sets out on the path to decarbonization asks the same big question: How can we meet our decarbonization targets while keeping our business goals intact? In The New Math: Balancing Decarbonization with Business & Mission Imperatives, you’ll learn what other organizations are doing to balance these critical needs. You’ll also learn to develop a holistic planning approach to decarbonization that balances energy efficiency with other critical factors including shareholder value, employee retention, and brand perception. REGISTER HERE

ORNL working with new kind of battery meant to combat climate change (ORNL)  Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide.

‘Magical thinking’: Hopes for sustainable jet fuel not realistic, report finds (The Guardian)  Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned. There is currently “no realistic or scalable alternative” to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted “sustainable aviation fuels” are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found.

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