Construction site of the Gemini solar project in southern Nevada. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife show the bureau’s Las Vegas field office drafted several versions of a “record of decision” that would have denied the permit application for Gemini. The drafts listed several objections, including harm to desert tortoises, loss of space for off-road vehicle drivers and disturbance of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, which runs through the project site. Photo: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Solar sprawl is tearing up the Mojave Desert. Is there a better way?

By Sammy Roth 27 June 2023 (Los Angeles Times) – High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields. From this vantage point, the sun-dappled Mandalay Bay and Delano hotels dominated the horizon, emerging like […]

A car moves through a neighborhood in West Austin that lost power on 18 February 2021 during blackouts that left millions of Texans without power or heat following a devastating winter storm. Photo: Jordan Vonderhaar / The Texas Tribune

Texas power struggle: How the top wind power state in the U.S. turned against renewable energy – State lawmakers push bills to support fossil fuel-burning power plants and restrict renewable energy development – “Right now, the wind blows strongly against renewables, and that’s where we are”

By Emily Foxhall, Kai Elwood-dieu, and Zach Despart 25 May 2023 (Texas Tribune) – State Rep. Jared Patterson disagreed with his Republican colleague that Texas should keep supporting the booming renewable energy industry here. Rep. John Smithee was arguing on the House floor in early May that certain solar and wind farms should be eligible […]

Map showing the heat index in the United States for 30 June 2023. Graphic: The Washington Post

Solar power bails out Texas grid during major heat wave – “This is what’s happening with 1 degree Celsius of global average warming. And we’re on track for 3 degrees.”

30 June 2023 (Reuters) – The Texas power grid comfortably met record demand during this week’s heat wave with abundant power supply from wind and solar plants, data from the grid operator showed. The Texas grid is a focus in the United States whenever it is tested by extreme weather after a catastrophic failure in […]

On 27 June 2023, Texas once again braced for a record spike in electricity demand as 110F heat spurred air-conditioning usage. An early heat wave gripped the second most-populous US state, buckling highways, stressing oil refineries and pushing up natural gas prices. At least two deaths were attributed to the searing temperatures and it was only expected to get hotter as the week wears on. It was not a new problem for Texas: The Lone Star State broke power-demand records 11 times in the summer of 2022. Graphic: Bloomberg

Texas power demand again forecast to peak amid Summer 2023 heat wave – “Texas is running about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it did during the 20th century”

26 June 2023 (Reuters) – Texas’ power grid operator on Monday again projected electricity use would break records this week as homes and business cranked up air conditioning amid soaring temperatures. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid for more than 26 million customers representing about 90% of the state’s power […]

Greta Thunberg stands outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm during her last School Strike for Climate on 9 June 2023. Photo: Reuters

Greta Thunberg takes part in her last school strike for climate – “We who can speak up have a duty to do so. … The fight has only just begun.”

By Tobi Thomas 10 June 2023 (The Guardian) – After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school. The protests, which led to many climate […]

Trucks transport bauxite on a red-dirt mining road in the Boké region of Guinea. Photo: Chloe Sharrock / MYOP / The Washington Post

On frontier of new “gold rush” quest for coveted EV metals yields misery – “I am frustrated. But even more than that, I have lost hope.”

By Rachel Chason and Chloe Sharrock 27 April 2023 KAGBANI, Guinea (The Washington Post) – One of the poorest countries on Earth has become a crucial player in the world’s green-energy transition. Guinea, a West African nation of more than 13 million people, is home to the world’s biggest reserves of bauxite — a reddish-brown […]

A heavy vehicle loads coal from the barge into a truck to be distributed, at the Karya Citra Nusantara port in North Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 January 2022. Photo: Willy Kurniawan / REUTERS

Drops of climate finance start to fill an ocean of need – “When you see the announcements, it never feels significant enough”

By Simon Jessop and Aidan Lewis 22 November 2022 SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – The biggest deal to date to forge the kind of private-public sector low-carbon collaboration sought at U.N. climate talks promises $20 billion to shut down Indonesian coal-fired power plants – and it’s a drop in the ocean. Estimates of how much external funding […]

Inside the King Abdullah research center in Riyadh, a space station-like compound powered by 20,000 solar panels. Photo: Iman Al-Dabbagh / The New York Times

Inside the Saudi strategy to keep the world hooked on oil – “People would like us to give up on investment in hydrocarbons. But no.”

By Hiroko Tabuchi 21 November 2022 (The New York Times) – Shimmering in the desert is a futuristic research center with an urgent mission: Make Saudi Arabia’s oil-based economy greener, and quickly. The goal is to rapidly build more solar panels and expand electric-car use so the kingdom eventually burns far less oil. But Saudi […]

Screenshot from a video showing the low water level at Kariba dam in Kariba Zimbabwe, 28 November 2022. Photo: Africanews

Water levels in Zimbabwe’s biggest dam too low for power – Zimbabweans without power for 19 hours a day – “The dam no longer has any usable water to continue undertaking power generation operations”

By David Henning 9 December 2022 Lake Kariba, the world’s largest artificial lake, has recorded low dam levels during the drought, currently standing at 4.6%, according to the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA). The ZRA limited the generation of Kariba’s hydroelectric power stations to 300 megawatts owing to the reduced water levels, and Zimbabweans are having to endure […]

This undated photo provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows a northern long-eared bat. On Tuesday, 29 November 2022, the Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered, a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by a deadly fungus. This is the third species of bat recommended for the designation in 2022 due to white-nose syndrome. Photo: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources / AP

U.S. bat species devastated by fungus now listed as endangered – “This species is in dire straits, but we never want to give up hope”

By John Flesher 29 November 2022 TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (AP) – The Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. “White-nose syndrome is decimating cave-dwelling bat species like the northern long-eared bat at […]

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