Good morning, folks. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Dr. King would have been 88 today, if he had been spared the hatred of this culture that expressed itself through the marksmanship James Earl Ray. This will be a hard year in many ways, folks. 50 years ago this April 4th, Dr. King was assassinated. 50 years ago in June Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Those two murders robbed our nation of a moral vision. The occupation of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by Drumpf is, perhaps, the ultimate result of the loss of that moral vision. But today we might remember that vision and be renewed.
Part of that renewal is the growth of clean, renewable energy and the transformation (despite Drumpf and Inhofe and their entire ilk) from a carbon-based economy to an economy powered by green energy. Here is my 3rd collection of news stories and updates in this series.
First off, Forbes notes that the renewables industry has matured enough that it is grappling with the geopolitical impact of the shift to green energy. The geopolitics of oil has been studied for decades. That we are now even interested in the geopolitics of clean, renewable energy is, itself, a good sign.
Sticking momentarily with Forbes, Dominic Dudley, the same reporter who wrote the previous article, also has a piece on a study showing that by 2020, renewable energy will be consistently cheaper than all fossil fuels. At that point, the transition to green energy sources is unstoppable.
On the bad news front, in Victoria, Australia may extend the Yallorn coal plant license despite its zero-emissions pledge. The activist group (Brits and Aussie’s say “pressure group” or “campaign group”) Environment Victoria says that extending this, Australia’s most polluting power station, “would pose an unacceptable risk” to the climate. Hopefully, Environment Victoria will prevail and they shut the Yallourn plant.
At the Cambridge University, researchers are developing algae-powered fuel cells that are 5 times more efficient than existing models and more cost-effective and practical.
Toyota and Honda is betting that the future belongs to hydrogen fuel cell cars, not electric vehicles. Like Elon Musk, I’m skeptical about this for cars (EVs can be mass produced globally while we are still developing fuel cell tech), but if this tech develops breakthroughs, it could be the answer for clean airplanes. So, I hope the investment here continues. Just my opinion.
Pueblo, Colorado is trying to transition to 100% clean energy, but the costs could be high.
Sadly, Japan’s foreign minister says that the nation’s clean energy goals lag those of the world.
In better news, and contrary to early reports, the coalition govt. that German Chancellor Angela Merkal is finally assembling will speed up the roll-out of clean energy projects and the phase-out of coal-fired plants. Earlier reports said that the coalition would slow-walk this transition. This is much happier news.
In Central Maine, the New England Clean Energy Connect is a well-designed and cost-effective path for the future. It’s a strategic transmission corridor from the Canadian border down to Lewiston.
As always, I welcome additions to these stories, especially local developments and/or personal stories in the comments. Thanks, and have a great MLK, Jr. day.