Massive melon-sized hail could be a Texas record - The brick-sized chunks of ice surpass the DVD-sized hail that fell last week, By Matthew Cappucci
June 3, 2024
"...How is such large hail created?
The production of giant hail requires exceptional thunderstorm updrafts that can suspend a large hailstone as more layers of ice accrete on it. Once a stone grows too heavy for an updraft to keep in midair, it plummets to Earth at speeds often topping 100 mph.
In the case of Sunday’s hail, copious instability, or storm fuel, lead to explosive thunderstorm development. Warm, moist air probably ascended at speeds in excess of 110 mph for a time, lofting stones that weighed between one-half and three-quarters of a pound..."
At some point homeowners insurance is going to stop paying for this stuff crashing through your roof at 100mps, class.
The chart in this article illustrates the "bang for buck" for electricity generation options. Unsurprisingly, renewables come out ahead, fossil fuels come in the middle, and nuclear is the worst. Don't take my word for it; this comes from scientists who've been working on it for decades at the CSIRO. Another takeaway: don't take Peter Dutton's word for it, either.
The world's biggest renewables & storage project, in northern Australia, will have 12 GW of wind, 12 GW of solar, and 32 GWh of storage. It will supply both Singapore & Australia. The project will likely be rolled out in two stages – with the first sized at 12 GW of wind & solar and 16 GWh of battery storage.
#Senate#Democrats opened an investigation on Thurs into #Trump’s meeting w/ #oil & #gas execs last month to determine whether Trump offered a “policies-for-money transaction” [#bribe ] when he asked for $1B for his 2024 campaign so he could retake the White House & delete #POTUS#Biden’s #climate#regulations.
The investigation is the 2nd congressional inquiry into the April 11 fund-raising dinner…. Trump told ~20 oil & gas execs that they would save far more than $1B in avoided #taxes & #legal fees after he repealed #environmental regulations….
Milestone for floating offshore wind as world-first auction names winner and price
France has announced the winner of the world’s first commercial scale floating offshore wind auction which will see 250MW built off the coast of Southern Brittany in the country’s west.
It looks like it will be an extra, extra, extra windy day in the Windy City (and everything to the west of Chicago). #wind#chicago#ILwx WIwx #INwx#MOwx#IAwx
Without celebrating the climate progress that we've made we send a signal to young people that we've not been trying to address the problem and that's a problem.
Already, the rollout of clean generation, led by solar and wind, has helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the last 10 years. As a result, half the world’s economies are already at least five years past a peak in electricity generation from fossil fuels.
What's old is new again! World’s first MODERN wooden wind turbine blades (contrast with windmills of the past) have been installed in Germany by Voodin Blade Technology to make #wind power even more renewable! https://t.co/QttGEG2xZ6#ClimateAction h/t @cision
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On a statistical basis, China’s newly-built wind and solar capacity figures are impressive, but their performance consistently lags that of renewable assets in other countries. China gets low utilization rates for its wind and solar because it has built a lot of capacity in parts of the country that have average-at-best natural wind and solar resources. Furthermore, much of the solar is on rooftops, which also see lower capacity factors than ground-mounted solar.
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