Excerpt, RMI, 2/18/21… Wind turbine icing is the “least significant factor” in driving the outages, according to an ERCOT spokesperson. Additionally, it is notable that this is a relatively straightforward problem to solve. For example, in Canada “cold weather packages” allow wind turbines to operate in very low temperatures. Moreover, grid planners know and expect that wind power is often unavailable during system …
50 years after Earth Day we’ve learned that big steps and rapid system change are essential
By Gustav Speth, Truthout, Feb 2021 – The New Environmentalism Must Demand Systemic Change BYJames Gustave Speth, Truthout ebruary 7, 2021 Fifty years ago, my young daughter and I were on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the first Earth Day. A group of us were then launching the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Since then, the NRDC and other …
U.S. regulates vehicle greenhouse gas emissions on the basis of an automaker’s average fuel efficiency across its entire catalog
The U.S. regulates its greenhouse gas emissions on the basis of an automaker’s average fuel efficiency across its entire catalog, rather than setting hard caps on the allowable emissions for individual automobile models. In practice, that means that every electric vehicle that GM introduces will give it a little more room to release a high-polluting vehicle that could erase the …
Systematizers
While everyone has a Systemizing Mechanism, it’s tuned especially high in people who are inventors and in those drawn to fields like science, engineering, music, competitive sports, high-level business and often, too, in people with autism. By Christine Kenneally, NY Times Book Review, Dec 2020 THE PATTERN SEEKERSHow Autism Drives Human InventionBy Simon Baron-Cohen At the end of the 20th …
CU Boulder’s Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) Dec 2020 report outlines solutions for curbing U.S. carbon emissions
Published: Dec. 16, 2020 • By Julie Poppen Researchers at CU Boulder’s Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) on Thursday released a report outlining key steps the U.S. can take to drive carbon dioxide emissions to zero. Download the full report The report, Accelerating the U.S. Clean Energy Transformation: Challenges and Solutions by Sector, explains why urgent and comprehensive action is needed to avoid the worst impacts …
DOT Transition
Agency transition teams are in charge of reviewing current projects and ongoing initiatives, meeting with career federal employees and preparing the members of the incoming cabinet for their roles and priorities, according to Federal News Network. The rest of the DOT transition team is: Dave Barnett, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters of the U.S. and Canada Austin Brown, Policy Institute at …
Great ideas…
Great ideas: Rights of streams, nature, all… Universal health care and right to healthy food…Universal Child Care: The Scandinavian country was one of the first to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and it now offers universal child care to all families with children from ages 1–12. Subsidized in part by national and municipal taxes, …
As Coal Giant Peabody Warns Of Return To Bankruptcy — How Biden Infrastructure Programs Could Save Miners
Ken Silverstein Senior Contributor The world’s largest coal producer, Peabody Energy BTU -23%, is at risk of going bankrupt for the second time in five years. It’s all a function of the demand for coal, especially now during the coronavirus. But the potential trouble is indicative of something much bigger — the transition from coal to natural gas and renewables. The future …
Bosselman: Colorado doesn’t need a useless rail line. It needs true high-speed rail
By ANDY BOSSELMAN Denver Post, November 8, 2020 Momentum is building for a new passenger rail line that would extend 191 miles from Fort Collins to Pueblo. According to a survey for the Front Range Passenger Rail Commission, such a line has overwhelming public support. Significant federal funding could become available, too. But don’t imagine yourself zipping around on a high-speed …
Building a carfree neighborhood in an auto-centric area
Culdesac Tempe is a 17-acre lot just across the Salt River from Phoenix. Currently a mess of dust and heavy equipment, the site will eventually feature 761 apartments, 16,000 square feet of retail, 1,000 residents — and exactly zero places for them to park. The people who live there will be contractually forbidden to park a car on site or …