UNLICENSED BOULDER DUMPING

Stars including Thandiwe Newton, right, back Greenpeace efforts to drop boulders into the sea off Brighton - SUZANNE PLUNKETT/GREENPEACE; AXELLE/GETTY IMAGES

Among the many new categories of crime that the British government has introduced in recent years, dropping boulders without a licence must surely be one of the strangest.

Yet a case due to begin at Newcastle upon Tyne crown court on Tuesday (31/08/21) centres on a celebrity-packed group of environmental activists who staged an unusual protest in a protected marine zone off the Sussex coast near Brighton in February.

Actors, broadcasters and rock stars — among them Stephen Fry, Mark Rylance, Thandi Newton, Jarvis Cocker and the chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall — were among those who lent their names to an attempt by Greenpeace campaigners to block destructive trawling of the seabed by dumping large rocks to obstruct fishing nets - link - Greenpeace - link - more like this - link

(VES) VESTAS DULACCA

Together with RES in Australia, Vestas has secured a 181 MW deal for Dulacca Wind Farm in Queensland, Australia. The project will feature 43 V150-4.2 MW wind turbines which Vestas will supply and install.

Upon completion, Vestas will also deliver a 30-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreement. This agreement will optimise energy production while also providing long-term business case certainty.

In addition to providing clean energy to approximately 124,000 homes, Dulacca Wind Farm will have approximately 150 workers on site during the peak of construction - link - photo link - more like this - link

(REU) GM & HYUNDAI LINK FIRES TO LG BATTERIES

Aug 27 (Reuters) - Shares of Korean battery maker LG Chem (051910.KS) slid to a nine-month low on Friday as investors digested reports linking fires in General Motors Co (GM.N) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) vehicles to LG batteries from at least two Asia plants.

Documents filed by GM and Hyundai with the U.S. safety regulator show how the two automakers separately identified the same cause of battery fires in their newest electric vehicles, tracing them to similar manufacturing defects in battery cells made at at least two plants operated by a unit of LG Chem - link - more like this - link

PHILADELPHIA RETHINKS MASS TRANSIT

When the Democratic National Convention came to Philadelphia in 2016, officials at the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority touted their big bet on new green technology and offered visiting dignitaries rides on electric Proterra buses they were planning to buy.

A request by SEPTA officials for longer charges from additional heavy batteries, made before the million-dollar buses went fully into service in 2019, eventually led to cracks in their chassis that idled the entire 25-bus fleet. SEPTA’s experience served to underscore the nascent, imperfect state of EV mass transit technology.

Now, SEPTA has unveiled yet another high-profile makeover of its bus system, designed to improve service, restore post-pandemic ridership and help reduce Philadelphia’s greenhouse gas emissions without new technology. 

Calling the plan “SEPTA Forward: Bus Revolution,” the agency has begun redesigning more than 120 routes so that buses become a more dependable form of transportation, taking people from where they live to many new places where they work in a metropolitan area noted for its “job sprawl.” The authority’s fleet of 1,400 buses serves Philadelphia and four suburban counties with a combined population of 4.1 million - link - Daelin Brown - link - more like this - link

HEBEI PROVINCE PROJECT RECEIVES 100 H2 TRUCKS

A fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered trucks have been delivered for the Xiong’an New Area construction project in Hebei Province, China.

FTXT Energy Technology, a subsidiary of Great Wall Motor (GWM), along with partners Dayun, Dongfeng and Foton, today (August 23) handed over the fleet to help promote a green hydrogen transportation network nationwide.

Each of the trucks are fitted with 111kW hydrogen fuel cell engines, hydrogen stacks and hydrogen storage – all of which was boasted when the vehicles were unveiled the Great Wall Technology Centre.

Once operational the trucks will be refuelled at ten already developed service stations that are fitted with hydrogen stations.

It’s not just how green the vehicles are that is a bonus, however, the vehicles are thought to be approximately 28% cheaper than its diesel alternatives due to them featuring locally sourced components.

As H2 View heard earlier this year during an exclusive interview, GWM will roll out its first hydrogen-powered SUV this year, and deploy its hydrogen-powered cars during the Winter Olympics in China next year - link - the excellent Molly Burgess - link - more like this - link

EQUINOR HYWIND SCOTLAND

It took 10 years to develop the first floating windfarm and it seemed to some a dangerous gamble to put it 15 miles off Aberdeen in the stormiest waters of the North Sea. But after three years of being in operation it has broken world records for maximum output.

Its success even outstrips the speed with which Europe’s other offshore windfarms, those standing in shallow water, have gone from being an expensive renewable option to a mainstream power source. Floating windfarms’ worldwide potential is even greater.

The scale of the first five floating turbines is staggering– 175 metres above the sea with another 75 metres below to balance the weight of the tower and the rotor blade with a diameter of 154 metres. The enormous height makes them a commercial success because further out to sea they can catch a steadily blowing wind and deliver more power.

The Norwegian company Equinor, which took the gamble on Hywind Scotland, has said the experience has allowed them to cut costs by 40%. The company is now building an even bigger floating windfarm off their home coast before looking for more sites around the UK.

They will have competition: firms are already scrambling to bid for floating wind sites off the Welsh coast and Cornwall - link - Paul Brown - link - more link this - link

LUNCH ROUND OUR HOUSE

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VISTRA MOSS LESF - LARGEST IN THE WORLD

MOSS LANDING — Monterey County is home to the largest battery energy storage system in the world as the Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility has completed Phase II of its project bringing stored energy to California’s grid when it is needed.

Phase I of the project saw Vistra’s 300 megawatt/1,200 megawatt-hours lithium-ion battery storage system in Moss Landing connected to the power grid, beginning operations in December 2020 with a capability of powering about 225,000 homes during peak electricity pricing periods. 

The system captures excess electricity from the grid, largely during high solar-output hours, and can release the power when energy demand is at its highest and solar electricity is declining, usually early morning and late afternoon.

Phase II adds an additional 100 megawatt/400 megawatt-hours to the facility, bringing its total capacity to 400 megawatt/1,600 megawatt-hours — enough energy to power 300,000 homes.

“This is exactly where we need to be not just as a community but as a state,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the second phase on Thursday. “With the disruptions that we’re seeing to our energy grid from wildfires to other extreme weather events, of course caused by climate change, we need these types of low-emission grids that are resilient and yes, that are very, very green.”

The Vistra Zero Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility utilizes and repurposes the 70-year-old property that has produced energy by various means throughout that time. Vistra takes the existing power plant site and existing transmission apparatus to bring in excess green energy from renewable solar and wind energy sources and charges utility-scale batteries, storing the excess energy until it is needed.

Vistra Zero is the company’s zero-carbon generation portfolio, including battery storage, solar and nuclear assets - link - James Herrera - link - more like this - link

ENERGY SUPERHUB OXFORD

UK’s largest public EV charging hub of 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers will deliver 100% renewable energy to EV drivers day and night.

Key milestone in the completion of UK’s £41m flagship city decarbonisation project, Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) – part of ambitious plans to decarbonise Oxford by 2040.

First of up to 40 Superhubs being delivered by Pivot Power, uniquely combining energy storage and high-volume grid connections to quickly charge large numbers of EVs at the same time and enable more renewable energy for the UK.

ESO is a world-first project providing a global blueprint for cities across the world seeking to cut carbon and improve air quality.

Superhubs will help ensure UK has enough charging infrastructure for the estimated 36 million EVs on the road by 2040.

European fast charging company, Fastned, will build one of the largest stations in its pan-European network as part of ESO.

UK-based Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, and Oxford City Council, have joined up with Fastned, the European electric vehicle (EV) fast charging company, Tesla Superchargers and Wenea, one of the largest EV charging services providers in Europe, to deliver Europe’s most powerful EV charging Superhub in Oxford.

The hub, initially featuring 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers in a single site, is the most powerful in Europe – with up to 10MW of power on site – and will scale up to help meet the need for EV charging in the area for the next 30 years. It is the first of up to 40 similar sites planned across the UK to help deliver charging infrastructure needed for the estimated 36 million EVs by 2040.

Unlike any other UK charging hub, the site, at Redbridge Park & Ride, is directly connected to the high voltage national electricity grid, to provide the power needed to charge hundreds of EVs at the same time quickly, without putting strain on the local electricity network or requiring costly upgrades. This innovative network, developed by Pivot Power, has capacity to expand to key locations throughout Oxford to meet mass EV charging needs, from buses and taxis to commercial fleets.

Fastned will initially install ten chargers at the Superhub with 300kW of power, capable of adding 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes for up to hundreds of EVs per day. The station will be powered by 100% renewable energy, partly generated by the company’s trademark solar roof, and all makes and models of EVs will be able to charge at the highest rates possible simultaneously - link - more like this (Superhub Oxford) - link

BEHOLD - THE MRB

Magnesium rechargeable batteries (MRBs), in which high-capacity Mg metal is used as the anode material, are promising candidates for next-generation batteries due to their energy density, safety, and cost. However, the lack of high-performance cathode materials impedes their development.

Like their lithium-ion counterparts, transition metal oxides are the staple cathode materials in MRBs. Yet the slow diffusion of Mg ions inside the oxides poses a serious problem. To overcome this, some researchers have explored sulfur-based materials. 

But sulfur-based cathodes for MRBs have severe limitations: low electronic conductivity, sluggish Mg diffusion in solid Mg-S compounds, and dissolubility of polysulfides into electrolytes, which results in low-rate capability and poor cyclability.

Now, researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have developed liquid-sulfur/sulfide composite cathodes enabling high-rate magnesium batteries. Their paper has been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

The liquid-sulfur/sulfide composite materials can be spontaneously fabricated by electrochemically oxidizing metal sulfides, such as iron sulfide, in an ionic liquid electrolyte at intermediate temperatures (~150 ˚C). The composite material showed high performance in capacity, potential, cyclability, and rate capability - link - link - more like this - link

INDIA'S NATIONAL HYDROGEN MISSION

Smoke rises from brick kiln chimneys on the outskirts of New Delhi. India is the world's third-largest carbon emitter, and under the Paris Agreement has pledged to reduce its emissions intensity to between 33 per cent and 35 per cent by 2030. AP

India is increasingly looking towards hydrogen as an alternative source of fuel to reduce its carbon footprint and meet its growing energy needs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India's national hydrogen mission on August 15, the country's Independence Day, saying: “The thing that is going to help India with a quantum leap in terms of climate is the field of ​​green hydrogen.

“We have to make India a global hub for green hydrogen production and export,” he added, in his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi.

However, achieving such ambitions will be challenging, given the relatively high cost of hydrogen production, analysts and industry insiders say.

Despite obvious headwinds in terms of regulations, costs and technology, the sector needs development efforts and investment from India's public and private sectors, as it can potentially change the country's energy landscape.

Hydrogen is going to make a significant contribution towards decarbonisation as well as making India self-sufficient in energy,” says JP Gupta, managing director of Greenstat Hydrogen India.

“India has a number of obstacles [to overcome] in terms of technology, storage, transportation, new materials research, electrolysis development, safety standards and a regulatory framework”, adds Mr Gupta, who is also the chairman of the environment committee at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

India's hydrogen strategy is part of its plan to develop alternative sources of energy to move away from its costly dependence on fossil fuel imports and as a way to reduce its carbon output.

Under the Paris climate change agreement, India, which is the world's third-largest carbon emitter, has pledged to reduce its emissions intensity to between 33 per cent and 35 per cent by 2030, from 2005 levels.

It is also critical for the country to boost its power generation capacity. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast that demand for energy in India will grow more than any other country over the next 20 years, driven by expanding economic activity and urbanisation.

In his speech, Mr Modi highlighted that India spends more than 12 trillion rupees ($161.3 billion) a year on importing energy - link - Rebecca Bundhun - link - more like this - link

CMB.TECH & LUYCKX PRESENT

CMB.TECH and Luyckx present - the hydrogen-powered excavator.

26.08.2021 - Today CMB.TECH and Luyckx present the first hydrogen-powered dual fuel excavator. This machine provides gradual ecological development within the heavy construction and earthmoving sector. 

With this machine, companies within the sector can embark on energy transition with today's machines without being permanently dependent on the availability of hydrogen.

It is the first solution within the entire heavy excavator sector that allows concrete greening without limiting the machine's power or autonomy. Traditional fuel remains available and the machine can continue to operate if the supply of hydrogen is not available.

In other words, the machine can be purchased and put into service today, even if the hydrogen issue for the customer or site has not yet been fully worked out. With these first generation dual fuel machines, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by up to 50% - link - more like this - link

HYGEAR - INDIA BIOMETHANE

Organic waste and landfill gas in India will be converted into green hydrogen at a state-of-the-art biomethane plant with downstream Bio-CNG installations and on-site steam methane reforming-based products.

Believed to be a first-of-its-kind waste-to-hydrogen infrastructure development in the country, the modernised plant will be located at a withstanding biomethane plant owned by GPS Renewables.

A waste management cleantech firm, GPS Renewables has teamed up up with on-site hydrogen generation and supply company HyGear for the effort that will support India on its decarbonisation journey and help to develop its evolving hydrogen economy.

For the selected site, HyGear will implement its on-site steam methane reforming-based Hy.GEN products, which are currently deployed at over 30 locations worldwide.

On the project, Marinus can Driel, CEO of HyGear, said, “As we work towards building the circular economy around the world, green hydrogen from organic waste and landfill gas is an exciting opportunity to create this next-generation, low carbon fuel.

“Steam methane reforming of renewables natural gas represents one of the lowest emissions and cost-effective production pathways available today for hydrogen. We look forward to contributing to India’s decarbonisation goals with a local biogas leader such as GPS Renewables.” - link - Molly Burgess - link

A TRILLION REASONS TO LIKE THE TALIBAN

With the its takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of a vast trove of metals and minerals vital to clean energy development.

The mountainous, war-torn Middle Eastern country sits atop rare earths and other strategic metals that U.S. experts valued at more than $1 trillion and are expected to grow more valuable as major economies shift to renewable energy and electrify transportation.

In a 2010 memo, the Department of Defense detailed previously unknown deposits of copper, cobalt, gold and iron large enough to transform the war-ravaged nation’s economy (Greenwire, June 14, 2010).

So extensive is the nation’s untapped mineral wealth that the Pentagon dubbed Afghanistan the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” referring to a critical metal in electric vehicle batteries.

The U.S. Geological Survey, with help from its Afghan counterpart and the country’s Ministry of Mines, has also determined that Afghanistan could have a million tons of rare earth elements (Greenwire, Sept. 15, 2011) - link - James Marshall - link

XPENG'S EUROPEAN INVASION BEGINS

GUANGZHOU, China — Xpeng on Tuesday began shipping its flagship P7 sedan to Europe, underscoring the Chinese electric carmaker’s ambitions to expand internationally.

The shipment of P7 models will be sent from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to Norway. It’s the first time Xpeng has shipped its flagship sedan to a market outside of China.

Norway is Xpeng’s first international market, and it has already delivered some units of its G3 SUV to customers there. In 2020, 54% of all new cars sold in Norway were electric, according to official government data, making it an attractive market for automakers.

Xpeng’s rival Nio also plans to begin delivering cars to Norway this year.

Xpeng said a localized Norwegian version of the P7 rolled off its production line at its Zhaoqing factory in south China’s Guangdong province. The carmaker expects to deliver P7 models to customers in Norway in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Guangzhou-based automaker also said in a press release that it is accelerating its move to establish a full-scale Norwegian operation that includes customer experience, sales, delivery, services and charging facilities.

Xpeng has been ramping up its production capacity and model launches as competition in China’s electric vehicle market intensifies. This month, Xpeng said it plans to double its production capacity at one of its key plants. 

Earlier this year, it launched another sedan called the P5, which starts at a cheaper price than Tesla’s Model 3. - link - Arjun Kharpal - link - more like this - link

(NAT) MINGYANG UNVEILS THE 16 MW 242

China's MingYang Smart Energy has announced an offshore wind turbine even bigger than GE's monstrous Haliade-X. The MySE 16.0-242 is a 16-megawatt, 242-meter-tall (794-ft) behemoth capable of powering 20,000 homes per unit over a 25-year service life.

The stats on these renewable-energy colossi are getting pretty crazy. When MingYang's new turbine first spins up in prototype form next year, its three 118-m (387-ft) blades will sweep a 46,000-sq-m (495,140-sq-ft) area bigger than six soccer fields.

Every year, each one expected to generate 80 GWh of electricity. That's 45 percent more than the company's MySE 11.0-203, from just a 19 percent increase in diameter and swept area. No wonder these things keep getting bigger; the bigger they get, the better they seem to work, and the fewer expensive installation projects need to be undertaken to develop the same capacity.

The overall result should be a drop in offshore wind energy production prices – a sorely needed drop, too. Current levelized costs of energy as estimated by the US Energy for new energy generation assets going live in 2026 place offshore wind as the most expensive way of generating a megawatt-hour right now, at US$120.52, where ultra-supercritical coal is more like $72.78 and standalone solar is around $32.78 before subsidies - link - Loz Blain - link - more like this - link

POWER ARKS - ENERGY TRANSPORTERS

Is there an alternative to bringing offshore wind power to shore via subsea cables? Japanese start-up PowerX thinks so. 

It says that new Japanese government targets for renewable energy will require a boost of offshore wind power from the current 20 MW to 10 GW by fiscal 2030 and to 30-45 GW by fiscal 2040. PowerX is offering a solution aimed to allow a greater flexibility for offshore wind farm locations, especially for an island country like Japan.

PowerX plans to design and build a range of automated power transfer vessels, called Power Arks, with massive battery payloads to transport offshore wind power to shore.

The company argues that an undersea power cable typically requires expensive construction that comes with substantial environmental impacts. In comparison, the power transfer vessel is resilient to natural disasters, requires less time and cost for development, leaves minimal impact on the environment, and is therefore is able to expand the potential of offshore wind power significantly.

Most of the world’s energy is transported by ships, in the form of fuel such as oil, gas, and coal. Currently, 84.9% of Japan’s power is generated by burning carbon-based fuels imported by ships.

“As the world shifts away from fossil fuels,” says PowerX, “the energy ship of the future will carry electricity from clean and renewable sources, replacing the fuel-carrying carbon ships of today.” - link - Nick Blenkey - link - more like this - link

UK SOLID STATE BATTERY START UP

A Jaguar Land Rover worker in Castle Bromwich, West Midlands. The company is building a range of electric cars in the UK. Photograph: Jaguar Land Rover/PA

British manufacturers believe the UK could become a significant exporter of solid-state batteries that could pave the way for lighter, longer-range electric cars within a decade, as a group of companies teamed up to develop prototypes.

The FTSE 100 chemicals company Johnson Matthey, the battery startup Britishvolt, which is backed by Glencore, and Oxford University are among the seven institutions that have signed a memorandum of understanding promising to work together on the technology.

Solid-state batteries are considered by many analysts to be the most likely technology to offer significant improvements in range and charging times for electric vehicles. Almost all electric vehicles in production use variations on lithium ion batteries.

“It’s an export opportunity for UK plc,” said Maurits van Tol, Johnson Matthey’s chief technology officer. “There’s such a strong need for batteries that I’m not afraid of there being one winner and one loser. There is space for many players and there is space for the many applications that we need to electrify.” - link - Jasper Jolly - link - more like this - link - more like this (UOX) - link

EV BATTERY TIMEBOMB

A tsunami of electric vehicles is expected in rich countries, as car companies and governments pledge to ramp up their numbers – there are predicted be 145m on the roads by 2030. 

But while electric vehicles can play an important role in reducing emissions, they also contain a potential environmental timebomb: their batteries.

By one estimate, more than 12m tons of lithium-ion batteries are expected to retire between now and 2030.

Not only do these batteries require large amounts of raw materials, including lithium, nickel and cobalt – mining for which has climate, environmental and human rights impacts – they also threaten to leave a mountain of electronic waste as they reach the end of their lives.

As the automotive industry starts to transform, experts say now is the time to plan for what happens to batteries at the end of their lives, to reduce reliance on mining and keep materials in circulation.
A second life

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into recycling startups and research centers to figure out how to disassemble dead batteries and extract valuable metals at scale.

But if we want to do more with the materials that we have, recycling shouldn’t be the first solution, said James Pennington, who leads the World Economic Forum’s circular economy program. “The best thing to do at first is to keep things in use for longer,” he said.

“There is a lot of [battery] capacity left at the end of first use in electric vehicles,” said Jessika Richter, who researches environmental policy at Lund University. These batteries may no longer be able run vehicles but they could have second lives storing excess power generated by solar or windfarms.

Several companies are running trials. The energy company Enel Group is using 90 batteries retired from Nissan Leaf cars in an energy storage facility in Melilla, Spain, which is isolated from the Spanish national grid. In the UK, the energy company Powervault partnered with Renault to outfit home energy storage systems with retired batteries - please follow this link - there's more to this article - more like this - link

(WAM) WASTE DOWN UNDER GOING UNDERGROUND

As scavenging, noise pollution and odour hazards complicate conventional waste management systems in cities across the world, underground high-tech bins offer a smart solution to the problem.

Last June, Evac set up its bespoke underground waste collection network system in Maroochydore City on the Sunshine coast.

The Swedish-based underground waste collection specialist is responsible for installing high tech waste inlets that can suck municipal waste underground from apartments and commercial buildings at a speed of 70 km/h through a subterranean network of pipes thereby eliminating the need for waste collection trucks.

The new system is set to beatify the cityscape as well as contribute to general cleanliness as it will eliminate the need for wheelie bins, considered a nuisance particularly in the summer on account of their tendency to overflow. Envac’s smart waste solution may also help prevent congestion while helping to decrease carbon emissions occasioned by daily waste collection rounds.

Emptying roadside bins via high-powered suction takes mere minutes unlike the hours devoted by waste management fleets, the high-pressure suction system thereby enabling a sustainable as well as time efficient waste collection operation.

In the case of Maroochydore, a Queensland based commercial hub, Envac facilitated the building of an underground pipe network that stretches out for more than 6 km, paid partly by a $21 million fund.

So far, the project is a work in progress, with several bin inlets and collection stations as well as the first parts of the underground piping, intended to process organic, general as well as recyclable waste, having already been finished.

The futuristic waste system functions as follows-waste dropped through individual inlets across city wide collection points falls into a sealed underground compartment. Upon activation of the vacuum pump, this waste is sucked through a pipe network and delivered into compactors contained within the relevant central facility, there awaiting pick-up for recycling.

It will be the first of its kind, automated underground household waste system to be built in Australia - link - more like this - link

£91 MILLION TO GREEN MOTORING PROJECTS IN UK

Four UK firms have been awarded a total of £91million in funding from the Government to ramp-up their green motoring projects.

Among the companies to receive financial backing is BMW's UK-BEV department in Oxford, which is currently developing electric vehicle batteries that will have driving ranges to match a petrol or diesel on a full tank of fuel.

Another company based in Birmingham has been handed almost £10million to continue the development of ultra-fast charging batteries that can be fully replenished in just 12 minutes.

The fresh funding drive has been announced this morning by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The four projects chosen were winners of the Advanced Propulsion Centre Collaborative Research and Development competition, which supports the development of innovative low carbon automotive technology and is backed by both government and industry.

Officials say they were handpicked because they are either addressing consumer concerns about switching to EVs - namely range and charge times - or are making future models more affordable, efficient and convenient - link - photo link - Rob Hull - link - more like this - link

DALLAS-FORT WORTH WELCOMES RIVIAN

Fort Worth city officials have approved a $440 million package of tax incentives for electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive, saying the company’s proposal to build a $5 billion factory in the Walsh development would forever change the landscape of the once-rural western side of the city.

In return, Rivian would create 7,500 jobs by 2027, which would make it one of the largest employers in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The California company is looking at several cities for its proposed manufacturing plant, although Fort Worth is considered a front-runner.

The project would be built on 2,000 acres of undeveloped land on the south side of Interstate 20, just east of the Interstate 20/I-30 split near Aledo. It would be part of the master-planned Walsh community, an area city officials say will eventually be home to 50,000 residents — although the car factory would be about a mile south of those homes.

Supporters of Rivian’s proposal compare it to the arrival of General Motors’ assembly plant in Arlington in 1954. That project ushered in a new era for Arlington — a much sleepier suburb at the time — and paved the way for other neighboring projects such as Six Flags Over Texas in 1961 and the Texas Rangers baseball club in 1972.

“With an anchor tenant like Rivian that is technology-focused, forward-thinking and really building for the future, you’re going to attract like-minded businesses and offices that want to have corporate campuses near a hub of technology,” Greg Miller, a spokesman for the Walsh Companies, said in a phone interview after the City Council vote - link - Gordon Dickson - link - more like this - link

NIO LOOKS TO THE MASS MARKET

Chinese electric car manufacturer Nio will soon launch a new ‘mass-market’ sub-brand that will arrive as a more affordable alternative to Nio’s premium market cars. 

In a recent statement, the company’s CEO, William Li, said: “The relationship between Nio and our new mass-market brand will be like that of Audi-Volkswagen and Lexus-Toyota.”

Li also expressed an ambition for his new sub-brand to undercut and outperform Tesla, saying: “We want to provide better product and service at prices lower than Tesla.”

Nio has only just started its advance on the European market, with the recent launch of the ES8 SUV and ET7 saloon in Norway. The brand hasn’t yet made a move on the UK, but the firm has hinted that it’s a possibility if there’s enough interest. However, Nio has not revealed or hinted at any plans to bring its upcoming sub-brand over to Europe as well.

Currently Nio’s vehicles are positioned towards the premium end of the market, with prices for the ET7 saloon starting from the equivalent of around £51,000 in China. The ES8 starts from about £54,000.

The announcement comes as the firm reveals its earnings for the second quarter of 2021. The company delivered almost 22,000 vehicles during the period, representing around a 112 percent increase year-on-year.

Nio is also working on expanding its innovative battery-swap network, with plans to more than double its current capacity from 361 stations to more than 700 by the end of 2021, as it moves into the European market.

By 2025, Nio aims to go global with the technology, with 4,000 stations worldwide - link - Luke Wilkinson - link - more like this - link

BEHOLD - EL DORADO NATIONAL

CANTON, Ohio -- Each morning at a transit facility in Canton, Ohio, more than a dozen buses pull up to a fueling station before fanning out to their routes in this city south of Cleveland.

The buses — made by El Dorado National and owned by the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority — look like any others. Yet collectively, they reflect the cutting edge of a technology that could play a key role in producing cleaner inter-city transportation. In place of pollution-belching diesel fuel, one-fourth of the agency’s buses run on hydrogen. They emit nothing but harmless water vapor.

Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, is increasingly viewed, along with electric vehicles, as one way to slow the environmentally destructive impact of the planet’s 1.2 billion vehicles, most of which burn gasoline and diesel fuel. Manufacturers of large trucks and commercial vehicles are beginning to embrace hydrogen fuel cell technologies as a way forward. So are makers of planes, trains and passenger vehicles.

Transportation is the single biggest U.S. contributor to climate change, which is why hydrogen power, in the long run, is seen as a potentially important way to help reduce carbon emissions.

To be sure, hydrogen remains far from a magic solution. For now, the hydrogen that is produced globally each year, mainly for refineries and fertilizer manufacturing, is made using natural gas or coal. 

That process pollutes the air, warming the planet rather than saving it. Indeed, a new study by researchers from Cornell and Stanford universities found that most hydrogen production emits carbon dioxide, which means that hydrogen-fueled transportation cannot yet be considered clean energy - link - MARK GILLISPIE and TOM KRISHER Associated Press - link

THE PRICE OF WATER

The Spanish government has launched an inquiry after it emerged that a power company drained two reservoirs during a heatwave and drought in order to profit from exceptionally high electricity prices.

Iberdrola, the country’s second biggest producer, drained the dams in Zamora and Cáceres provinces in western Spain over a period of a few weeks to produce cheap hydroelectricity while the price to consumers is at a record high.

Air conditioners and fans are going flat out as Spain remains in the grip of a heatwave. It recorded its highest ever temperature on Saturday, 47.2C (117F), in Córdoba in Andalucía.

The minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, described Iberdrola’s actions as scandalous and has written to the company.

“This can’t be allowed to happen,” she said in a televised interview. “Water is a scarce resource which is just as important for the wellbeing of families and the economy as it is for generating electricity.” - link - more like this (Spain) - link - Stephen Burgen - link

HARWELL NEWS

Quality led and proudly privately owned rubbish firm Grundon has been replaced at Harwell. 

The move will clearly come as a disappointment to the company which prides itself on its attention to detail; a representative confirming "we make sure information and signage for the public is easy to understand" - link - more like this - link - more like this - link

WET BULB TEMPERATURES RISING

 

On July 1, 2021, Delhi experienced a heatwave, when the maximum temperature rose to 43.5 degrees Celsius. At the same time, Ganganagar, in west Rajasthan, reported India's highest temperature at 44.5°C.

Some pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh still continue to face heat wave conditions.

This issue is now prevalent world over. But the world is not only getting hotter but also more 'wetter' or humid.

We usually consider the dry-bulb temperature to describe how hot or cold a place is. Scientists, however, have been stressing upon taking into account humidity and other factors to assess how weather conditions will affect human health and activity.

Humidity is measured as wet-bulb temperature. Factoring in the humidity along with the heat, called the heat index, helps us determine what the temperature actually ‘feels like’.

Humidity combined with heat is deadlier for human health and wellbeing. Currently, one phenomenon is severely testing the human tolerance of this heat-humidity balance. Climate Change! - link - DTE staff - link

VESTAS INCREASES AUSTRALIAN PRESENCE

Vestas has secured service agreements with EDL covering Senvion turbines at three Australian wind farms with a combined capacity of 47MW.

The projects are the Coober Pedy in South Australia, Cullerin Range in New South Wales and Wonthaggi in Victoria.

Vestas will deliver maintenance to 23 Senvion MM82 and MM92-2.05MW machines at the three sites.

All the agreements will start immediately and feature the active output management 4000 service programme, which is designed to maximise uptime and ensure optimised performance, the company said.

The new agreements take Vestas’ service portfolio of Senvion turbines in Australia to 287MW, and to over 300MW across the Asia Pacific region - REDaily link - more link this - link

ECO ANIMAL CREMATION

Dr. Daniel Annin asked his partner four years ago to buy out his share of their veterinary practice in Omaha, Nebraska, so that he could dedicate more time to his deceased patients.

While Annin still cares for living patients part-time, his primary focus now is Eco Animal Cremation, an enterprise offering aquamation. Technically called alkaline hydrolysis, the process involves dissolving bodies of the deceased in water.

Annin and others describe aquamation as an increasingly popular alternative to conventional burial and cremation, and say it is better for the environment because it has a relatively small carbon footprint - link - Emma Scher - link

NEVER ALLOW REGIME CHANGE TO HINDER A CONTRACT

      China hews to a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries - link

EAG OPS FOR H2

UK-based Electric Aviation Group (EAG) has selected a hydrogen fuel cell-based powertrain for its future H2ERA regional aircraft, citing the technology’s promise of delivering zero greenhouse gas emissions.

But the change in architecture will mean that the 90-100-seater now enters service in 2030, rather than 2028 as previously planned.

Although the H2ERA was launched last year with a hybrid-electric powertrain, start-up EAG has since been evaluating numerous possible alternatives.

Chief executive and founder Kamran Iqbal says the decision was driven by the “true zero” potential of fuel cells, as they do not produce carbon dioxide (CO2) or nitrogen oxide (NOx), both of which contribute to global warming.

While burning hydrogen in a conventional engine in place of jet fuel does not produce CO2, NOx emissions remain a problem.

“We have opted for the technology that offers the maximum benefit to the environment,” Iqbal says. “It is challenging, but it is full of exciting opportunities as well.”

Hydrogen fuel cells have been used to power small aircraft – for example a six-seat Piper PA-46 Malibu converted by ZeroAvia – but so far have not been tested in an aircraft of the H2ERA’s size.

EAG’s plans to call for an aircraft that can carry up to 100 passengers, cruise at 360kt (666km/h), with a minimum range of 1,200nm (2,220km) – essentially competing against the De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 and similar aircraft - link - Dominic Perry - link - more like this - link

SHELL COUGHS UP 45.9 BILLION NAIRA

Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay the Nigerian community 45.9 billion naira ($111.68 million) to resolve a dispute over an oil spill that occurred more than five decades ago, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

The company will pay the Ejama-Ebubu community in Nigeria's Ogoniland the "full and final settlement" to end the case over a spill that took place during the 1967-70 Biafran war.

Nigeria's Supreme Court in November last year denied Shell's bid to challenge a 2010 award of 17 billion naira that with accruing interest the community had said was worth more than 180 billion naira.

Shell has said it never got a chance to defend itself against the substance of the claims, and early this year initiated international arbitration against Nigeria over the case.

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, in a statement, said it maintained that the spills were caused by third parties during the war and that it had fully remediated the sites in the Ebubu community.

The company, the most significant international oil major operating in Nigeria, has faced a string of court losses over the past year over oil spills and is in talks with the government to sell its stakes in onshore oil fields - link - Nigerian Civil War - link

CLIMATE CHANGE - SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE

Migrants and refugees are being praised for assisting with emergency efforts during the disastrous heatwave in Greece.

The Greek Refugee Forum collected goods such as water bottles and toilet rolls after thousands of people were forced to flee the fires.

Boxes of donations were piled up at a refugee centre in Athens to offer support for those affected by the fire.

Further supplies were gathered at a multilingual library run by We Need Books, an NGO that helps refugees and migrants.

“Migrant and refugee communities are on the front line in supporting this act of solidarity,” said forum president Jean-Didier Totow.

“Our office is full of love and solidarity,” staff at the refugee forum said. “Together we'll make it.” - link - Tim Stickings - link

HYZON PREPARING FOR TRIALS IN UNITED STATES

Hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck company Hyzon Motors said Wednesday it is ramping up operations in the wake of its merger with blank-check firm Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp., including shipping its first trucks to European customers.

The company, which reported second-quarter earnings Wednesday, said it is also preparing to start its first customer trials in the United States.

Like other transportation companies that have gone public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition fund, Hyzon doesn’t yet have any revenue to speak of. Instead, Hyzon is banking on the huge injection of capital from the transaction — more than $500 million — and growing customer orders to take it to positive cash flow.

In addition to manufacturing hydrogen fuel cell powertrains, Hyzon is also investing in hydrogen fuel production hubs, a key piece of infrastructure for technology uptake. In April, the company signed an MOU for a joint venture with renewable fuels company Raven SR for up to 100 hydrogen production hubs. Gordon confirmed the first two will be in the Bay Area - link - Aria Alamalhodaei - link - more like this (H2) - link - more like this (trucks) - link

BELISE, CROATIA - WASTE-2-ENERGY

EQTEC PLC (AIM:EQT) (AIM:EQT) said it has completed the acquisition of a 1.2 MWe waste-to-energy gasification plant in Beliše, Croatia.

The deal was carried out through Synergy Projects, a joint venture between the gasification solutions company and its Croatian project development partner Sense ESCO.

Originally commissioned in 2016, the plant was built around EQTEC's proprietary and patented Advanced Gasification Technology.

It will be recommissioned and repowered to convert forestry wood waste from local farms and forests into green electricity and heat for use in the local community, with operations starting towards the end of 2022.

EQTEC said the project will generate annual underlying earnings (EBITDA) of over €850,000.

Once operational, it is expected that EQTEC will become the plant's O&M contractor and that it will make it the second of its Market Development Centres (MDCs) and a showcase for EQTEC's technology in a fully operational, commercial setting - link - more like this - link

(REN) SPANISH-GERMAN GIANT INVESTS IN BRITAIN

The Humber’s burgeoning offshore wind industry has received a huge double boost with a second manufacturer confirmed for Able Marine Energy Park and Siemens Gamesa’s major Hull expansion backed.

GRI Renewables is to create more than 300 jobs as part of a £78 million investment at the South Bank site, building the huge tower sections for the massive turbines.

As anticipated, blade manufacturing will also expand significantly at Green Port, with a £186 million investment today committed - adding a further 200 direct roles.

Both projects have also been backed by the Government’s £160 million Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support scheme - link - David Laister - link - more like this - link

REFORESTATION COULD INCREASE RAINFALL BY 7.6%

Plant more trees! - This message has been one of the cornerstones of the European response to worsening climate change. 

A new study published in Nature Geoscience suggests that if Europe planted trees across all the land suitable for reforestation, it might not only sequester carbon, but also partially ameliorate the increasingly dry European summers predicted by climate change models. In all, mass reforestation could increase summer rainfall by an average of 7.6%.

“When planned carefully, reforestation could result in additional benefits in regions where it is implemented,” said Ronny Meier, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zürich), and lead author on the study.

Scientists have long identified a link between forests and rainfall, with scientists in the 1850s expressing alarm at reduced rainfall following deforestation. The exact mechanisms of this relationship are, however, still not fully understood. 

Meier and his colleagues used data from 3,481 rain-gauge stations across Europe to build a statistical model linking forest cover and rainfall levels. The research team then used the model to predict how much rainfall might change if forest cover increased - link - Jim Tan - link

ZEROAVIA TESTS POWERTRAIN

HOLLISTER, Calif., August 10, 2021 – After launching the development of its 600 kW powertrain for use in 19-seat aircraft late last year, ZeroAvia has achieved its first major milestone for the HyFlyer II program. 

The ground test, seen here, involved ZeroAvia’s flight-intent 600kW powertrain, pulling ZeroAvia’s new 15-ton HyperTruck mobile ground testing platform across the tarmac. 

The HyperTruck, developed based on heavy-duty military trucks, is sized for the company’s ZA-2000 2MW+ powertrain, which can be used to test systems for 40-80 seat hydrogen-electric powered aircraft. 

The ground tests of the 600kW propulsion system support the on-track development of the company’s HyFlyer II program, which will deliver a hydrogen-electric, zero-emission propulsion system for airframes 10-20 seats in size - link more like this - link

TURBINE LIGHTNING PROTECTION

Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a lightning protection system for wind turbine blades using a new composite and an innovative thermal welding process.

Created in partnership with General Electric and LM Wind Power and with funding from the US Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund, the wind turbine ”lightning shield” can divert about 80 per cent of a lightning strike’s current away from the metal heating elements, according to NREL.

Lightning protection systems exist for conventional wind turbine blades. But protection was needed for blades made from a new type of material—thermoplastic resin composites—and manufactured using an innovative thermal (heat-based) welding process developed by scientists at NREL - link - Adnan Durakovic - link - more like this - link

(IAN) OXFORD 155

Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG - link - more like this - link