It is hard to believe that it is almost May. Of course, here in eastern Iowa the problem with spring is that it has felt a lot more like the end of winter than anything else. Record low temps a couple of nights, frost in the morning, and just a gloomy day after a gloomy day. Everyone is starting to get a little squirrely.
On to the links…
The Future of American Conservation Lies in Restoration, not Just Protection—Yes.
Biden Reverses Trump Move to Open Up More Oil Drilling in Arctic—Just leave this chunk of land alone.
Under a New Policy, Federal Agencies Will Have to Weigh the Climate Costs of their Actions—Seems like common sense, so people like Lauren Boebert will hate it.
Parched Southern California Takes Unprecedented Step of Restricting Outdoor Watering—The drought scenarios just keep getting worst for the American west. California is in the lead right now, but if the situation on the Colorado River does not improve the southwest is in for a long haul.
Turns Out Biofuels Aren’t All They Were Cracked Up to Be—Biofuels have turned out to be a net loser on a lot of different levels. It is time to move on.
Drive Easy—So, if we just chilled the f out everyone would save a lot of fuel and, probably, a lot of stress.
Renewable Generation Surpassed Nuclear In The U.S. Electric Power Sector In 2021—The chart speaks for itself:
The bounce in coal concerns me a little bit, but I think we can start bending the curves downward for both natural gas and coal in the coming years. Just keep building out those renewables.
Xcel Energy Agrees to Shut Down Comanche 3 Early, Ending Use of Coal in Colorado by 2031—The Comanche coal plant in Pueblo, CO was supposed to be a showcase for next generation coal fired power. However, it has been nothing short of a disaster. Now it looks like it is less than a decade from ceasing operation.
Texas Solar Buildout Is A Case Of ‘Batteries Not Included’—28 gigawatts of solar is a monster numbers. It is too bad that Texas is not figuring out a way to load balance as well.
Data Reveals Tremendous Growth In Volumetric Energy Density Of EV Batteries—The batteries are going to keep getting better at a fairly steep rate, so the EVS are going to be going farther at a much cheaper cost.
Lithium Costs a Lot of Money—so Why Aren’t We Recycling Lithium Batteries?—As the industry grows this will turn into a gold mine for someone who figures out the economies of scale and process.
China Electric Car Market Reaches 26% Plugin Market Share In March—China is one of the largest car markets in the world. Greater than 25% market share for plug in vehicles is amazing.
Where Forests Disappeared Last Year—You just need to ask where is the beef and palm oil.
European Union Plans “Largest Ever Ban” on Toxic Chemicals—How can we make this a global movement?
The Planet Needs its Peat Moss. Use These Gardening Alternatives Instead.—The preservation and restoration of existing peatlands is a low cost, high impact carbon emissions mitigation strategy. We can figure out other ways to amend the soil in our gardens.
Why Old-Growth Forests Matter So Much in the Fight Against Climate Change—Preserve what we have and restore what we have lost.
Plastic-Eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste—I would love this to be true, but I have visions of an apocalyptic scenario where plastic everywhere starts getting eaten by this enzyme.
How to Go Zero-Waste at the Grocery Store—Start small.
The Difference You Make When You Eat Less Meat—One of the single biggest changes you can make every day is choosing to eat less meat.
Why Being Anti-Science Is Now Part Of Many Rural Americans’ Identity—I would just blame Facebook and Fox News.