“Although most high-profile energy investments have been in batteries and energy storage, recent funding rounds have favored novel technologies from fusion and graphene to solid-state circuit breakers, direct-air capture of CO2, and geothermal drilling.”
Battery Prices Are Falling Again as Raw Material Costs Drop
"The big question, as always, is what happens next. BNEF’s energy storage team expects prices to closely follow the trajectory of raw material prices. We’re projecting pack costs will fall to $133/kWh next year in real 2023 terms. In the long-term, based on the same learning rate as the previous year, battery pack prices are expected to fall below $100/kWh in 2027."
The progressive climate plan is heavy on symbols and burdens
Instead of promoting pragmatic policy proposals, the plan relies on mandates and subsidies that hinder economic and environmental prosperity.
California Needs Common Sense to Fight Fires
Policymakers at the state and federal level are pursuing a "zero burn emissions" policy. They would rather pretend that they will have the ability to extinguish wildfires than to admit that they need to eliminate fuel through controlled burns before fire season starts.
A Conservative Supreme Court Will be Better for Climate Action
"A more conservative Court will assure that federal climate action is firmly rooted in laws crafted by Congress. It also will force climate activists to choose a path to tackle climate action based on well-established federal and state jurisdictions."
Designing batteries for easier recycling could avert a looming e-waste crisis
“Creating pathways for battery manufacturers to build sustainable production-to-recycling manufacturing processes that meet both consumer and environmental standards can reduce the likelihood of a battery waste crisis in the coming decade.”
How Buffett’s $10 Billion Pipeline Deal Is Doing Environmental Double Duty Helping Dominion Energy Turn Acres Of Manure Into Clean Power
“Over the next decade, Dominion aims to invest $650 million into agriculture-derived gas projects. Smithfield will contribute another $250 million. The expected result: 8 billion cubic feet per year of livestock gas—thus preventing the emissions equivalent of 3.5 million tons per year of carbon dioxide. That’s like taking 750,000 cars permanently off the road, or planting 60 million new trees every year.”
Pressed for Space, Solar Farms Are Getting Creative
"As solar gains momentum, its champions are getting more creative about where to place panels. There are solar arrays on top of big-box stores, solar arrays on yachts and solar farms that float. There are panels small enough to work on a balcony and even small enough to attach to a smartphone. To minimize clearing land, engineers are also working on incorporating the technology into existing infrastructure. From landfills to art installations, here are five unexpected places you can find a solar farm — or at least some strategically placed panels."
The Green Energy Transition Could Mean More Reliance on China
"Coordinating and scaling such a supply chain would take time, money and significant negotiation, both in Washington and overseas. For a Biden administration’s clean energy vision to become a reality, it will likely be much cheaper, faster and easier to go through China."
Amazon is funding a recycling robots startup
"Market revenue for recycling robots is forecast to reach more than $10 billion by 2030, as materials recovery facilities (MRFs) struggle with understaffing and the sheer volume of unique materials — nearly 300 million tons in 2018 for the U.S. alone — that they are expected to process."