Conservationists Sue to Stop the Planting of Giant Sequoias
The National Park Service is working to replant several groves of giant sequoias devastated by recent wildfires. But some conservationists say planting is unneeded and could damage forests.
Clearing Skies: Opening a New Path on Climate and the Future
Adapting to climate change does not address the societal systems and values that spawned the current crisis. What’s needed is “systemic adaptation” that fundamentally changes our economy, our politics, and our priorities in ways that put community and the planet first.
World Appears on Track to Triple Renewable Power by 2030
At the forthcoming UN climate talks, diplomats will push for a tripling of renewable power by 2030. A new analysis finds the world is likely already on track to hit this goal.
After the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future
When Cyclone Freddy walloped southern Africa last March, Malawi’s farmers — mostly women — lost their land, livestock, and livelihoods. Already desperately poor, they are struggling to recover in a nation considered one of the world’s most affected by extreme weather events.
Shifting Political Winds Threaten Progress on Europe’s Green Goals
Shaken by global instability and a populist backlash, European nations are retreating from plans to reduce greenhouse gases, promote sustainable farming practices, and boost biodiversity. Green advocates fear the EU will fail to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement.
World Making Too Little Progress on Climate — Except on EV Sales, Report Finds
While the world is making some progress on climate change, work to transform the energy system and curb forest loss is happening too slowly to keep warming to 1.5 degrees C, according to a new report. On only one measure is the pace of change sufficient: electric vehicle sales.
Uncounted Emissions: The Hidden Cost of Fossil Fuel Exports
Oil, gas, and coal exports are not counted when countries tally their greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement. This allows wealthy nations to report progress on emissions reduction goals, while shipping their fossil fuels — and the pollution they produce — overseas.
Greenland's Glaciers Melting Twice as Fast as They Were 20 Years Ago
Greenland's coastal glaciers are melting twice as rapidly as they were two decades ago, according to a study warning the glaciers have entered a new phase of rapid retreat.
Can 'Immortal' Sequoias Survive the Ravages of Climate Change?
California’s giant sequoias, some more than 1,000 years old, are facing an existential threat from increasingly intense wildfires linked to warming and drought. An urgent federal push to thin forests in an effort to save the big trees is drawing criticism from conservationists.
Ecosystems as Infrastructure: A New Way of Looking at Climate Resilience
Landscape architect Kate Orff works on rebuilding natural systems to help communities and cities reduce their climate risks. Places with interwoven ecological systems, she says, are more resilient and better able both to respond to emergencies and adapt for the future.
After Salmon Deaths, EPA Takes Aim at Toxic Chemical Issuing from Car Tires
The Environmental Protection Agency will review the use of a chemical found in tires that has been linked with the deaths of salmon on the U.S. West Coast.
As Climate Talks Near, Calls Mount for a ‘Phaseout’ of Fossil Fuels
With UN climate negotiations set for next month, a growing number of nations and business leaders are calling for a phaseout of fossil fuels. But with major fossil fuel expansion projects moving ahead around the globe, advocates of strong action face a daunting challenge.
Europe's Liquefied Natural Gas Buildout Collides With Waning Demand
As part of its efforts to wean itself off Russian energy, Europe has sought to import more natural gas from overseas, erecting new terminals for processing deliveries of liquefied natural gas. But this new capacity is set to far exceed demand, an analysis finds.
Without Warning: A Lack of Weather Stations Is Costing African Lives
A scarcity of weather stations in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South means millions of people cannot be alerted about impending extreme weather events. What’s needed is funding for equipment and early warning systems, which will reduce damage and save lives.
USGCRP is pleased to announce that Dr. Stacy Aguilera-Peterson will serve as the Deputy Director for Research. Dr. Aguilera-Peterson is on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Geosciences Directorate Ocean Sciences Division. USGCRP thanks NSF for making Dr...
USGCRP is pleased to announce that Dr. Julian Reyes will serve as the Deputy Director for Services. Dr. Reyes is on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he serves as Assistant Director for Climate Services. Dr. Reyes comes to OSTP and USGCRP from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he is the National...
USGCRP is pleased to announce that Dr. Phillip Levin will serve as the Director of the National Nature Assessment . Dr. Levin brings an array of valuable career experiences from academia, federal government, and the non-profit sector to his new role. USGCRP thanks the National Science Foundation for making Dr. Levin’s detail possible. Dr. Levin...
On February 2, 2023, Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, named the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the 14th member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and its first new member in almost two decades. DHS will join the other...
The U.S. Global Change Research Program will be well represented at the AGU Fall Meeting 2022 from December 12–16 in Chicago, IL. We hope you will join us for the following talks and sessions: All times local (Central Standard Time) Bold denotes session Monday [8:00–9:00 AM] NH11B: Climate and Natural Disaster Risk Management for Human-Natural...
On November 7, 2022, USGCRP released a draft version of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) for public review and comment. To support this important phase of the report's development, USGCRP is hosting two webinars for people interested in learning more about NCA5, why public participation is vital to the process, and how to submit...
Through the efforts of USGCRP, authors, NOAA’s Technical Support Unit, and support staff, the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) has moved from the planning phase to putting pen to paper. Here is a look back at recent accomplishments: Gathering a diverse team of authors. In the spring and summer of 2021, the NCA5 Federal Steering Committee...
Work on the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) is underway. The Congressionally mandated report is the U.S. Government’s premier assessment of the science of climate change and its impacts on the Nation. It is written by hundreds of experts from around the country, who help ensure that the findings are accessible and useful to the widest...
The U.S. Global Change Research Program is pleased to announce that Allison Crimmins will serve as Director of the FIfth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). She is detailed to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation. As Director, Allison will oversee...
On May 19, 2021, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced that Dr. Mike Kuperberg is returning to USGCRP as Executive Director. This is his second stint in USGCRP leadership, having served previously as Executive Director from 2015 through November 2020. He is detailed from the Department of Energy’s Office of...
From the seemingly inexorable increase in atmospheric CO2 to the rapid growth in green energy, we explore the data as Cop28 begins
The level of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, has been rising since the Industrial Revolution and is at its highest in about 4m years. The rate of the rise is even more striking, the fastest for 66m years, with scientists saying the world is in “uncharted territory”.
“Final warning.” “Now or never.” “Crazy off-the-charts records.” “Absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.” “We are damned fools.”
As the Guardian’s head of environment, I read the words of climate scientists every day. They tell our reporters the facts, explain the science, and warn of what is to come. But when governments and corporations still don’t act with the urgency and ambition required, it feels like words are in danger of losing their power.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg received death threats for his work. He kept fighting anyway – video
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg’s pioneering research in the 1990s found increasing sea temperatures would damage the world’s coral reefs, killing them faster than they could recover. Hoegh-Guldberg speaks with Guardian Australia about being labelled an alarmist while championing one of the world’s richest ecosystems.
This video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists - Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.
East Anglian Fens were covered in yew trees 4,000 years ago, study finds
‘Bog oak’ study finds more than 400 well preserved yews, which could help solve mystery of historic rapid sea level rise
The flat landscape of the East Anglian Fens is known for its vast arable fields and absence of trees. But just over 4,000 years ago, these lowlands were dominated by dense woods of ancient yew trees.
A study of hundreds of tree trunks inadvertently dug up by fenland farmers has found that this woodland abruptly disappeared 4,200 years ago, probably because a rapid rise in the North Sea flooded the low-lying region with saltwater.
‘Hope has to be a strategy’: the scientist who refused to let the climate warmongers win
As one of Australia’s most influential voices on climate, Lesley Hughes has thought deeply about how to talk about the crisis and says hope has a key role to play
‘The antidote to despair is action’: Lesley Hughes on motivation through a climate crisis - video
Lesley Hughes was one of the first scientists to warn that global heating could lead to species extinctions. Now one of Australia’s most influential climate science advocates, Hughes speaks with Guardian Australia about the importance of hope in the face of a crisis.
This video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists – Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.
Weight of the world part 1: the climate scientists who saw the crisis coming – podcast
Pioneering Australian scientists Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg saw the climate crisis coming. Pearman predicted the increase of carbon dioxide levels, Hughes foresaw the alarming number of species extinctions and Hoegh-Guldberg forecast the mass coral bleaching events we’re seeing today. All three went on to become some of the country’s most respected experts in their fields, travelling the globe, briefing leaders, and assuming the world would take action having heard their alarming findings.
In part one of this three-part series, these climate change scientists reveal the moment they realised the planet was heading for certain catastrophe. What did they do when they found out? How did they think the world would respond? And how do they feel today, looking back on that moment of cognisance?
'Frustrating as hell': Graeme Pearman’s climate research should have warned the world - video
In the 1970s, Graeme Pearman measured rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, briefing three prime ministers on what that meant for the planet. After decades leading Australia’s climate research, Pearman, now 82, speaks of the frustration that the science didn't lead to meaningful change. ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
This video is part of Weight of the World: a climate scientist's burden. The series features three pioneering Australian climate change scientists - Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. The series tells the story of how the three scientists made their discoveries, how they came under attack for their science and the personal toll it has taken on them. And importantly, how they stay hopeful.
Suck carbon from the air? US facility launches novel climate solution
Direct air capture is a reality in California with plant that pledges not to take investments from oil and gas
Inside a vast new warehouse in the California town of Tracy, tall towers of trays containing a gray powder are stacked in neat rows.
It’s all part of Heirloom, a company that promises to use limestone to directly remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it deep within concrete, keeping it out of the atmosphere. The facility – the first commercial direct air capture (DAC) plant in the US – opened last week.
‘Like a 40-metre pizza’: the seaweed farms that could feed us all – at a cost
Efforts to grow seaweed are springing up in the Philippines and beyond, vying for a share of Elon Musk’s $100m Xprize. However, the Climate Foundation’s plans for the ocean have troubled some scientists
A white metal platform on the surface of the Pacific Ocean faces another, smaller one some distance away. Sam Donohue stands on the big platform, Gorio Pepito on the small one. They press buttons, and a high-pitched whirring sets in.
Pepito and Donohue release the buttons. The whirring stops. They communicate by walkie-talkie. Everything’s OK. A crab walks across the big platform: that’s their pet, Donohue says. They press the buttons again.
Emmanuel Macron pledges €1bn to fund research into melting ice caps
The French president has called for action at a climate summit in Paris attended by heads of state and scientists before Cop28
France will spend €1bn (£880m) on polar research between now and 2030, amid rapidly rising scientific concern over the world’s melting ice caps and glaciers.
A new polar science vessel will spearhead the effort, and France is calling for a moratorium on the exploitation of the seabed in polar regions, to which the UK, Canada, Brazil and 19 other countries have so far signed up.
‘Everything is parched’: Amazon struggles with drought amid deforestation
By now, the rivers should be full. But large-scale cattle farming, the climate crisis and weather events like El Niño mean Brazil is near the point of no return
Cows, dust and smoke. That was what greeted me on my return home to Altamira, after several weeks on the road. An unusually fierce dry season has taken a horrific toll on the Amazonian landscape, swathes of which are already denuded by cattle ranches. Together, they threaten the integrity of the world’s biggest tropical forest.
I will get to the science behind that horrifying statement shortly. But first, let me describe what is happening on the ground, in and around my home in Altamira, in Pará state, northern Brazil.
Right now, there’s something big spinning off the coast from Sydney – a giant rotating vortex of sea water, powerful enough to dominate the ocean currents off south-eastern Australia.
Oceanographers describe these spinning water bodies as “eddies” – but they’re not the small eddy currents you see in creeks or rivers. Ocean eddies are enormous. They’re usually hundreds of kilometres across (100km to 300km), up to 2km deep and can be visible from space.
Climate crisis: carbon emissions budget is now tiny, scientists say
Having good chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C is gone, sending ‘dire’ message about the adequacy of climate action
The carbon budget remaining to limit the climate crisis to 1.5C of global heating is now “tiny”, according to an analysis, sending a “dire” message about the adequacy of climate action.
The carbon budget is the maximum amount of carbon emissions that can be released while restricting global temperature rise to the limits of the Paris agreement. The new figure is half the size of the budget estimated in 2020 and would be exhausted in six years at current levels of emissions.
Scientists discover hidden landscape ‘frozen in time’ under Antarctic ice
Hills and valleys carved by ancient rivers in area the size of Belgium has remained untouched for more than 34m years
Scientists have discovered a vast, hidden landscape of hills and valleys carved by ancient rivers that has been “frozen in time” under the Antarctic ice for millions of years.
Earth’s ‘vital signs’ worse than at any time in human history, scientists warn
Life on planet is in peril, say climate experts, as they call for a rapid and just transition to a sustainable future
Earth’s “vital signs” are worse than at any time in human history, an international team of scientists has warned, meaning life on the planet is in peril.
Their report found that 20 of the 35 planetary vital signs they use to track the climate crisis are at record extremes. As well as greenhouse gas emissions, global temperature and sea level rise, the indicators also include human and livestock population numbers.
The frequency of hailstorms has increased by about 40% around Sydney and Perth over the last four decades, while hail activity has decreased across much of the rest of the country, new research has found.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales and the Bureau of Meteorology analysed trends between 1979 and 2021, finding that hail-prone conditions had increased significantly over Australia’s south-east and south-west.
A novel program reimburses landowners for replenishing groundwater, in a bid to add regularity to the state’s boom and bust water system.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant
In recent decades, as water has grown increasingly precious, Californians have tried countless ways to find more of it and make it last longer, including covering agricultural canals with solar panels to prevent evaporation, building costly desalination plants and pulling out tracts of water-hungry grass.
Peter Martin spent decades guzzling water around Lāhainā. Then came the fire.
By Anita Hofschneider and Jake Bittle, Grist
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.
This year’s U.N. climate summit could be an especially important one as carbon emissions continue to reach historic highs, bringing the planet closer to critical tipping points.
By Kristoffer Tigue
More than 70,000 diplomats, politicians, business leaders and environmental advocates from all around the world are expected in Dubai on Thursday for COP28, the United Nations’ flagship climate change summit.
Planners stress the need for ongoing community input from underserved communities as proposals evolve to reduce flooding from extreme weather.
By Kathiann M. Kowalski
CLEVELAND—Climate resiliency proposals could help reduce flooding on Cleveland’s east side while increasing recreational access to shoreline and stream areas for people in underserved communities. But, planners stress, ongoing input from underserved communities will be vital for final decisions—including whether some proposed work moves ahead at all.
More than 70,000 diplomats, politicians, business leaders and environmental advocates from all around the world are expected in Dubai on Thursday for COP28, the United Nations’ flagship climate change summit.
Each year, delegates from nearly 200 nations gather at the conference to discuss how they can limit rising global temperatures through the end of the century in hopes of avoiding the most dire consequences of climate change, including upwards of three-quarters of Earth’s species disappearing for good.
But this year’s conference could be an especially important one as carbon emissions continue to reach historic highs and the planet approaches potential tipping points that scientists fear could send global warming spiraling out of control. With climate and energy experts stressing the need to immediately reduce the use of fossil fuels if nations hope to keep the Paris Agreement targets alive, and with wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, world leaders face significant challenges at the talks.
These six indicators help illustrate the extent of those challenges and what’s at stake if nations fail to reach some key agreements, including a deal to phase down fossil fuels.
1 percent
That’s how much of the global investment in renewable energy last year came from fossil fuel companies, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency, a nonpartisan energy watchdog group and one of the world’s most respected energy analyst firms.
Clean energy saw record growth last year, with new capacity increasing nearly 10 percent globally from the previous year, data shows. But 2022 was also a blockbuster year for fossil fuel companies, which took in $200 billion in profits—more than double what the industry made the prior year.
Taken altogether, the numbers show that fossil fuel companies, whose products are largely responsible for causing the climate crisis, are not taking the clean energy transition seriously and are in fact planning to dramatically expand their oil and gas production decades into the future.
That’s a major problem if nations actually want to achieve the Paris Agreement targets of limiting the planet’s average warming to at least 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with the hopes of keeping it below 1.5 degrees, the IEA’s new report said. The agency has previously said that global installations of renewable energy must triple by 2030 to keep those targets alive.
“The oil and gas industry is facing a moment of truth at COP28 in Dubai. With the world suffering the impacts of a worsening climate crisis, continuing with business as usual is neither socially nor environmentally responsible,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement. “Oil and gas producers around the world need to make profound decisions about their future place in the global energy sector.”
3 percent
That’s how much U.S. carbon emissions are expected to fall by the end of this year, E&E News reports, marking some positive news for climate advocates after the nation failed to reduce its emissions in 2022 and 2021. In fact, it would be one of the largest annual emission declines of the last decade.
The projection comes from two recent analyses, one from the International Energy Agency and the other from Carbon Monitor, a multi-university effort to track emissions. But the outlook also comes with notable caveats.
For one, the U.S. was already trending downwards before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the global economy, and a 3-percent drop essentially resumes that previous trajectory rather than pointing to an accelerated effort to tackle climate change. And secondly, while that reduction is historic in its own right, the U.S. would need to reduce its carbon emissions by 6 percent every year through 2030 just to keep on track with its climate goals under the Paris Agreement.
Considering the U.S. is historically the largest contributor to climate change and wields outsized influence in global negotiations, this could be an ominous signal for the climate talks this week. Surely, other nations will be watching how the Biden administration addresses this gap and whether it offers any solutions to help close it.
16 percent
That’s how much of the total carbon emissions released in 2019 globally came from just 77 million of the world’s richest people, according to a new report from the Guardian, Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute. That means the activities of a tiny fraction of the global population contributed a whopping 5.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that year—more CO2 than released by the planet’s poorest 66 percent, the report added.
It has long been known that wealthy nations are largely responsible for causing climate change, releasing far more greenhouse gas emissions than developing countries, which disproportionately bear the brunt of climate-related harms. The new report is the latest to highlight just how astonishingly wide of a gap exists between wealthy and poor individuals with regards to their carbon footprints.
This will be a key issue delegates plan to address at COP28, as they attempt to map out the details for the United Nations’ loss and damages fund. The landmark fund was established during last year’s summit, but nations have yet to decide how exactly it will operate, including who must pay into the fund and by how much. It’s a touchy subject, and wealthier countries like the United States have frequently opposed such a fund, arguing that the effort should remain voluntary.
135 million
That’s how many metric tons of methane were released into the atmosphere in 2022, according to the U.N. It’s a significant amount with serious implications considering that methane is roughly 80 times more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
That’s why nailing down a deal on slashing methane emissions will be a priority at this year’s COP, Reuters reports. While more than 150 countries have promised since 2021 to reduce their methane emissions 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030 under the Global Methane Pledge, few have detailed how they will achieve this.
Climate scientists have said curbing global warming is impossible without addressing the world’s methane emissions, and advocates are watching closely on whether nations commit to robust plans to address this critical issue.
$150 billion
That’s the annual cost to the U.S. economy due to related disasters, including hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, according to the latest National Climate Assessment released earlier this month.
The White House report said it considers that estimate to be conservative. It also said that cost would only balloon further as climate change accelerates, making extreme weather events more frequent and severe across the nation. The U.S. now experiences a billion-dollar disaster every three weeks, on average, the report said, opposed to every four months during the 1980s.
That cost includes things like water stress, agricultural loss, tourism impacts, falling real estate value and damage to property and infrastructure. As delegates at COP28 debate how to best adapt to the new climate reality, the steep cost faced by the United States alone offers a glimpse at the growing scope of the problem.
1.8°C
That’s how much hotter the month of September was compared to pre-industrial levels, scientists announced last month, a stunning revelation that one researcher described as “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.”
Scientists now say there’s no doubt that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. Still, September was an especially notable month, shattering the previous record by half a degree Celsius, the largest year-to-year jump in monthly temperatures ever observed by humans.
The outcome of COP27 last year was widely viewed by climate advocates as underwhelming. With 2023 turning out to be a record-breaking year on several climate fronts, September’s outlandish temperatures may offer the best representation to date of what’s at stake if COP28 follows suit.
More Top Climate News
UAE Planned to Use COP28 Climate Talks to Make Oil Deals: Leaked briefing documents reveal that the United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of the United Nations COP28 climate talks, which start Thursday, as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, Esme Stallard reports for BBC News. The documents, obtained by BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting, include notes prepared for meetings between UAE and at least 27 foreign governments to discuss potential deals for new oil and gas development, including liquified natural gas projects in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.
Biden Missing COP28 Could Raise Concerns Among Young Voters: President Joe Biden is not expected to attend the opening of the global climate summit in Dubai this week, with other officials, including Special Envoy John Kerry set to take his place, CNN reports. While it isn’t uncommon for a president to skip the summit, the move has the potential to frustrate climate advocates both at home and abroad at a time that Biden faces low approval ratings, especially among young voters who have accused the president of balking on key climate commitments.
People Are Buying Bigger Cars and Erasing Gains from Clean Tech: A new report from the Global Fuel Economy Initiative suggests that the world’s appetite for big cars is driving up global carbon emissions substantially, Alexa St. John reports for the Associated Press. Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, now account for more than half of all new car sales worldwide, the report said, resulting in a more than 30 percent increase in tailpipe emissions between 2010 and 2022 than if people had bought smaller cars like sedans. Transportation is responsible for roughly one-quarter of global CO2 emissions.
Indigenous and traditional groups in the forest are rarely consulted about carbon credit projects they see as the latest gold rush on their lands, and question the community and climate benefits the projects promise.
By Sam Schramski and Cícero Pedrosa Neto
“The first time I heard about carbon credits, I didn’t understand what they were about at all,” says Queila Couto, a lawyer, while staring into the Itacuruçá River in the Brazilian state of Pará, “and it was bad.”
The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act empowers the FDA to recall harmful cosmetics. Advocates want to know why manufacturers still don’t have to prove their products are safe before they’re sold to millions of consumers.
By Victoria St. Martin
In the arcane and often seemingly impenetrable bureaucracy of the U.S. government, few agencies have as broad of a mandate to keep the American people safe as the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA has finally proposed a ban on formaldehyde in hair straighteners, and new regulations on the cosmetics industry take effect next month. But one activist called them “a floor, not a ceiling.”
By Victoria St. Martin
Dereliction of Beauty: First in a series on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color.
A wildlife sanctuary holds up a mirror to the climate crisis, war and dispossession.
By David Sassoon
One of our readers recently asked us if we might write something about war and climate. Many thoughts came to mind. The first: that the biggest wars are fought over the geopolitics of fossil energy, often in disguise. There’s also the Paris climate accord, which fails to require the reporting of military emissions in national greenhouse gas inventories: The rain of exploding bombs and missiles, the tanks and trucks that guzzle diesel, the fighter planes that burn jet fuel, the forward bases and supply lines that swallow gasoline by the tanker. As if they don’t count. It’s permission to continue waging war on the natural world, turning a blind eye to all the casualties of the future.
Offshore wind projects cropped up all over the Great Lakes region in the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, all but one were gone. Developers, though still drawn to the lakes’ powerful winds, have been reluctant to return.
By Nicole Pollack
At the tail end of the aughts, as it became clear that the United States would need to create much more renewable energy, fast, many believed the transition would be bolstered by the proliferation of offshore wind. But not off the coasts of states like Massachusetts and California, where it’s best positioned today. They thought the industry would emerge, and then take hold, in the Great Lakes.
The European Parliament is expected to approve the new directive early next year. It’s not clear whether the emission of greenhouse gasses at certain levels could constitute crimes.
By Katie Surma
The European Union will ban environmental destruction tantamount to “ecocide,” outlawing acts that destroy or cause substantial damage to ecosystems.
As the world’s largest oil and gas producer, the U.S. could be a spoiler in global efforts to wind down the use of oil, gas and coal.
By Bob Berwyn
A decades-long push by small island nations and other developing countries to put fossil fuels squarely at the center of United Nations climate talks got a boost this week as the European Union Parliament passed a resolution calling for a “tangible phase-out of fossil fuels as soon as possible.”
What’s That on Top of the Building? A New Solar Water Heating System Goes Online as Its Developer Enters the US Market
What’s That on Top of the Building? A New Solar Water Heating System Goes Online as Its Developer Enters the US Market
Clean energy stories behind the headlines reported by Dan Gearino
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The solar water heating system at Creighton University absorbs heat and then transfers it to a water storage tank in the building. Pictured is one of two groups of solar collectors on the roof. Credit: Naked Energy
From a distance, the energy system on top of a college residence hall in Omaha, Nebraska looks like photovoltaic panels.
But as you get closer, it becomes clear that this is something different, with rows of vacuum-sealed glass tubes that are collecting heat, as opposed to light, from the sun.
The project, which went online this summer at Creighton University, is a carbon-free system for heating the water used by the 400 or so freshmen who live inside.
The system is an example of solar thermal energy, something at the fringes of today’s market that will need to grow a lot in the coming decades if the world is going to make a transition away from burning fossil fuels for heating.
“It’s very visible,” said Andrew Baruth, Creighton University’s director of sustainability and a physics professor. “You can’t walk down our central mall without seeing it. And so it gets students curious, it gets students thinking, it gets them to ask people like me, ‘What are those things?’”
The United States had 373,055 solar thermal systems in operation at the end of 2021, according to the International Energy Agency, which isn’t a lot considering the country’s size. For perspective, that’s less than one-tenth the number of solar photovoltaic systems in the country.
The system at Creighton, made by Naked Energy of the United Kingdom, absorbs heat from the sun and uses the heat to increase the temperature of a liquid. The liquid circulates in a closed loop between the roof and a water storage tank in the building. The process transfers heat to the water, which is then used in sinks and showers.
This is Naked’s first project in North America, a showpiece that the company plans to use to attract other customers.
The use of solar energy for water heating reduces the building’s need for natural gas, which is the backup heating source. The avoided emissions are about 40 metric tons per year for this project, which is like taking nine cars off of the road.
One reason I wanted to write about the Omaha project is that it provides an excuse to talk about solar thermal energy, which is an old technology that could be an important part of reducing emissions.
Global energy consumption for heating and cooling is about 50 percent of all energy consumption, and the share hasn’t changed much in recent years, according to the IEA.
There are many approaches to reducing emissions from heating and cooling. Often, the most cost-effective option is to get rooftop solar and pair it with a heat pump, which is an electric heating system.
The low cost of rooftop solar has helped it to grow globally, while solar thermal systems have had sluggish growth.
But there are some buildings, depending on their location and their patterns of energy use, where solar thermal makes economic sense, said Max Lainfiesta, a Guatemala-based program manager for RMI, the clean energy research and advocacy group.
He views solar thermal as a “sleeping giant” in the race to decarbonize heating. His larger point is that everyone is better off if there is competition and innovation in a variety of zero-emission heating technologies.
While I’m mostly talking about solar water heating, solar thermal also can provide space heating, although that’s not a common use in the United States. Most of the solar thermal systems installed here in 2021 were for heating swimming pools.
But it’s more instructive, I think, to look at the per-capita leaders. Cyprus is first, followed by Israel and Greece. These are places that get a lot of sun and where the markets for solar thermal have built momentum over time. They also tend to have high energy costs, which makes solar water heating more attractive.
“In Israel, you won’t believe it, you will see these things on top of every single house and building,” Lainfiesta said. (He’s exaggerating, but you get the point.)
Households in the United States can buy solar water heating systems from familiar brand names like Rheem, and from companies that specialize in the technology, like AET. The costs start at between $1,000 and $2,000, and can go much higher depending on size and features. This doesn’t include installation, which can add several thousand dollars.
As with buying rooftop solar, one of the key considerations is how much the system will reduce your energy cost and how long it will take for those savings to cover the equipment and installation.
Buyers of large solar water heating systems, like the one at Creighton, go through their own versions of this analysis.
It may seem random for a U.K.-based company like Naked Energy to make its North American debut in Omaha, but it makes sense when looking at who helped to put the project together.
The building is called Graves Hall, after Lee and Judy Graves, who made a major donation to Creighton. Lee Graves is founder and chairman of ELM Solar, which has a partnership with Naked Energy that includes manufacturing the systems for the North American market.
ELM worked with the university to make climate-friendly technologies part of the project, including the solar water heater. Neither Naked nor ELM would say how much the solar water heater cost.
Creighton has a goal to cut emissions 50 percent from 2010 levels by 2028, which would be in time for the university’s 150th birthday celebration.
As of last year, the university had cut emissions by 38 percent. The new building should help to increase that number in 2023, but it’s too soon to say how much, according to Baruth, the sustainability director.
Naked Energy is a small company, with just 20 employees, and it is young, having completed its first installation in 2018.
The partnership with ELM, which has about 1,200 employees across several U.S. divisions, gives Naked Energy the ability to make a strong push to build a following here.
I asked Frank Bruce, who leads Naked’s marketing, what’s appealing about the North American market.
One of the big factors, he said, is the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that has incentives for opening factories for clean energy components and for customers who buy the finished products.
“It’s a huge incentive for businesses and communities to decarbonize,” he said.
His company’s decision to begin operating here is one of many examples of how the law is having its intended effect.
Other stories about the energy transition to take note of this week:
New York’s South Fork Offshore Wind Project Installs First Turbine:The South Fork offshore wind project had begun erecting turbines in the sea, with the first of 12 turbines rising into the sky east of Long Island, as Sherin Elizabeth Varghese and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru report for Reuters. The project, developed by Denmark’s Orsted and the utility Eversource Energy, is beginning this phase of construction at a time when other projects, including several involving Orsted, have been scrapped because of a surge in costs. South Fork, which will have 132 megawatts of capacity, was further along in its timeline than other projects and has been able to remain on track. This sign of progress is welcome at a time when some people are questioning the economic viability of offshore wind.
Pumped Storage Hydro Could be Key to the Clean Energy Transition, But It Needs Lots of Water: A proposal for the 1,000-megawatt pumped storage hydropower project in Nevada is receiving pushback in the local community because of concerns about disruption of the environment and the need for vast quantities of water, as my colleague Wyatt Myskow reports. The project is one of several examples across the country in which a desire for a robust energy storage resource is running up against fears about water scarcity. I expect to hear a lot more about this in the coming years.
DOE Proposes Easing Environmental Reviews for Certain Storage, Solar and Transmission Projects: The Department of Energy wants to make environmental reviews less stringent for certain solar, energy storage and transmission line projects on federal land, as Ethan Howland reports for Utility Dive. The proposal, published this week in the Federal Register, will now go through a review period. If the rule takes effect, developers of some clean energy projects would no longer require an environmental impact statement, which would reduce the cost and time needed for development. I’m curious to see how strong the opposition to this will be, considering that many people don’t like the idea of large energy projects in their communities.
The UAW Ratifies a Contract That Has Helped Make Labor Much Better Off in the EV Transition: The UAW strike is officially over after ratification votes by workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, as Katie Myers reports for Grist. This is a labor action that I expect will be studied for how it sought to make sure that the transition to electric vehicles is not harmful to workers, and Myers speaks with experts who are trying to make sense of what just happened.
How Solar Sales Bros Threaten the Green Energy Transition: The rapid growth in rooftop solar is attracting some companies and individuals who are part of an aggressive sales culture that stretches the truth and leaves problems in their wake, as Alana Semuels writes for Time. Many of the hard sell tactics are familiar from other industries that rely on door-to-door sales. I don’t agree with the story’s headline that the sales practices are a threat to the green energy transition, but Semuels has assembled evidence that calls for increased regulation and consumer education.
Inside Clean Energy is ICN’s weekly bulletin of news and analysis about the energy transition. Send news tips and questions to dan.gearino@insideclimatenews.org.
The Tonawanda Seneca see the industrial development next door as a threat to the woods they depend on for game and medicines, and the failure of the company and permitting agencies to consult them as another assault on their treaty rights.
By Nicholas Kusnetz
When Chief Roger Hill speaks about the clean energy project going up along the border of the Tonawanda Indian Reservation, he turns quickly to the past. Hill’s Seneca ancestors once controlled a large territory across the rolling, wooded hills in what is now western New York, but most of their lands were taken through a series of treaties that shrank the reservation to its current size.