As negotiators met in closed-door sessions, thousands of activists filled the streets to remind them the world has less than a decade to get greenhouse gases under control. Emissions need to fall around 45% by 2030 to give the world a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Instead, they're expected to rise almost 14% over the next nine years.
11/12/21 by FiveThirtyEight, 538, ABC News, Nate Silver
Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/131193213
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/ESP7425552792.mp3?updated=1636750172
On the final day of COP26, we look at whether these types of international agreements actually shape countries’ climate policies and whether there are other factors that are more important.
International relations is a fascinating business, I enjoyed studying them in college.
Anthracite coal home heating, aka smokeless coal is fairly common in Northern Pennsylvania. Bitmous coal for rural home heating is much more common in Southern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Bitmous coal is pretty nasty fuel to burn with a home coal stoves, it burns black and sooty like some plastics until its up to temperature when you can see the blue color of the sulfur in the white smoke. Makes wood smoke look clean.
To protect its revenue, NextEra Energy Resources is blocking the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) line, a transmission project designed to import hydro power from Canada, by failing to agree to upgrade a circuit breaker at the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire, according to Avangrid and NECEC Transmission, the companies developing the power line.
The Lincoln Memorial, on an island surrounded by churning Potomac waters; Nationals Park, a bathtub surrounded by mid-rise office buildings flooded by the Anacostia River; the Pentagon, accessible by boat, with State Route 110 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway underwater.
10/23/21
Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/130253979
Episode: https://rss.art19.com/episodes/ee39aaf6-8e67-46b7-9a28-06200998c31e.mp3
At the beginning of the pandemic, energy prices crashed. We did an episode of this show trying to figure out how oil prices fell to negative $40 per barrel. Times have changed. Oil is up over $100/barrel. But far more acute is what’s happening with natural gas, particularly in Europe and Asia. In the US, natural gas prices have doubled in the last year. But in parts of Europe, the price has risen more than 5 times. The disruptions are clear. We’re seeing stories of power shortages in China, fertilizer plants being shut down in the UK, and fears about home heating costs in the Northeast US as winter approaches. So what the heck is going on? How long might it last? And what does it tell us about the future? To answer those questions Shayle turns to Leslie Palti-Guzman. the President of Gas Vista and a non-resident fellow at the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy. Shayle and Leslie cover the many demand-side and supply-side issues. Then they talk about what comes next: What does this crisis reveal about the vulnerability of the energy system? And will countries double down on renewables, gas, or both to shore up their resiliency? The Interchange is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Are you building a microgrid? With a microgrid you can store electricity and sell it back during peak times. Keep your power on during an outage. Integrate with renewables. Control energy on your own terms. Having built more microgrids in than anyone else, Schneider Electric has the expertise to help. The Interchange is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future.