This week's Seriously Risky Business looks at the FTC fining Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile nearly $200M for selling location data, resistance from the cloud industry to the Biden admin's know-your-customer EO, and more. Read the weekly newsletter by Tom Uren: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-ftc-is-the-tip-of-the-spear
To become climate neutral until 2040 the state of Bavaria needs to build 104 wind turbines every year. With the first quarter of 2024 coming to an end we should be at 26 turbines. To keep track of the actual progress, Greenpeace has installed a counter in the Munich city center. Below is a picture I took today of the counter
#PPOD: Earth hangs above a large boulder examined by Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmidt in December 1972. A recent analysis of freshly opened samples from Apollo 17 found that the Moon is at least 4.46 billion years old, or roughly 40 million years older than revealed by other samples. Credit: NASA
Four years ago, Trump continued his dereliction of duty in the face of national crisis, telling governors they were on their own in the fight against Covid. “Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment – try getting it yourselves,” he told them.
Scientists warn a poorly managed hydrogen rush could make climate change worse.
A growing body of scientific research is highlighting the indirect ways hydrogen could worsen climate change — and critics say the risks are largely being ignored by the federal government. #ClimateChange
Peter Dutton's nuclear plan is just terrible public policy.
The truth is that, in an Australian context, with nuclear power more expensive per kilowatt hour than either grid scale solar & storage or coal, nuclear just doesn't make economic sense.
The UK has a mature nuclear industry. Its new Hinkley Point C plant, started in 2016, is now expected to not be complete until 2031, and costs £35bn.
So how much would it cost to replace all of Australia's coal power plants with nuclear ones?
We'll, at current exchange rates, £35bn — that's the cost of just one Hinkley Point C sized reactors — works out to A$67.6 billion.
So building just 10 nuclear reactors the size of Hinkley Point C costs $A676bn, making the AUKUS subs look like Home Brand corn flakes in comparison.
(Just for comparison, ScoMo's AUKUS subs cost $368bn, and Daniel Andrew's Suburban Rail loop is estimated at around $100bn.)
That's assuming Australia, starting from scratch, could build nuclear plants as quickly and cheaply as the UK, which was one of the first nations on Earth to split the atom.
So is it debt & deficit to fund this? Big new taxes? Even by the LNP's own measuring sticks, it's a crap policy!
The big thing that's changed since it was published is that grid solar + storage is now cheaper than coal or nuclear power.
So would you support holding up the closure of coal plants for 15 years until nuclear plants are completed, then paying substantially more on your power bills, while the federal government pays hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies, while also hiring thousands of additional public servants to regulate it all?
With the slight exception of San Luis reservoir, every major reservoir in California is at or above average in terms of water storage for this time of year. This augurs well for a decent water year in California.
Which is just as well, because hydrogen mostly comes from fossil fuels today.
I can maybe see a case for hydrogen for fleet vehicles, if the operators actually have hydrolysis plants powered by renewables, because it allows for lighter and cheaper vehicles compared to BEVs, but retail hydrogen is not viable.
The Hydrogen Insight investigation uncovers concerning trends in hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCEV) registrations across Europe. Despite efforts to expand hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, most European markets are seeing stagnating or declining FCEV registrations. Here are the key findings:
Data from European countries with hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) shows declines or flat registrations in FCEVs, except for three nations. Germany experienced a drastic 70% drop in new FCEV registrations in 2023. France, the UK, and Czechia are exceptions, with over ten FCEV registrations per HRS. Despite having many HRSs, Switzerland and the Netherlands also saw FCEV registrations decline.
France saw a 56% increase in FCEV sales, driven by strategic initiatives.
The UK witnessed a remarkable 261% increase in FCEV registrations in 2023.
Legislative mandates in the EU aim to bolster hydrogen infrastructure by 2030.
Despite challenges, optimism remains for future growth in the hydrogen mobility sector. While FCEV registrations face hurdles in Europe, collaborative efforts and legislative support pave the way for a promising future in hydrogen mobility. 🌱🚗