Plus: A battery breakthrough from IBM?
Hi Everyone,
Well, this is it. We’ve come to the last issue of Energy Shift for 2019. Looking back at the year, and after more than 3 years of delivering these updates to inboxes, I have to say 2019 leaves me wanting more progress. Don’t get me wrong, there has been progress for sure…just not the kind of exponential growth in the deployment of technologies and policies that have a material impact on lowering emissions, especially in places where it really matters: Asia generally but specifically China and India, as well as Africa. Among the bright spots for 2019, I have to say, are cities and towns…and youth.
Where national or regional governments have failed, it is great to watch how cities and towns all across the developed world have taken up the challenge by pursuing low emission pathways and agendas. So if you are wondering where to start, aiming local is likely to be more fertile.
Maybe our youth have always offered more hope for the future, though perhaps more so as we look to the next decade. Certainly their voices have grown louder, mobilizing for causes at a speed and scale that commands attention. Their views will shift public opinion in time and so that’s why what they care about matters. I expect it will also show up in the vocations they choose and the innovations produced by their passions. Anyone wanting to hire top talent better be thinking about aligning their corporate purpose with the expectations of the next generation.
Which brings me to the question of “what is the one story to read”. Certainly read the first post, an op-ed by Ed Whittingham. With some down time over the holidays, I challenge you to go a little further and at least skim the reviews of 2019 and the past decade. The other headlines offer a sweep of the stories I found interesting over the last two weeks. The IBM one in particular caught my attention.
And hey, why not give one more gift. When you are meeting with friends and family over the holidays, tell them about these great updates and encourage them to subscribe. Energy Shift is now read in most Canadian provinces, about a third of the US states and a handful of other countries. Help me expand it’s reach! Watch for the next update on January 5th.
With that, I wish you all blessed Christmas and a fulfilling 2020!
Peter
Op-Ed: Alberta and Ottawa can find common ground in a scary word: ‘transition’ | The Globe and Mail
Comment: Ed Whittingham has what I consider to be among the more clear-eyed takes on energy and climate in Canada. So you should hear what he has to say. Finding common ground in a polarized context has to start with actually wanting to find it. Ed offers a great place to start: governments, industry and academia coming together to credential a new set of competencies to speed the transition needed.
2019 and the Decade in Review
Sorry…a surprisingly paltry list of stories to pick from, but this is all I came across so far. That said, they are worth skimming for sure.
- A decade in review: the most underrated clean energy stories | GreenBiz
- 3 Trends That Shaped the Grid Edge in 2019 | Greentech Media
- School strikes, science-based targets and climate emergency declarations: Recapping the sustainability stories of 2019 | Edie [fairly UK focused]
‘It’s pretty staggering’: Returned online purchases often sent to landfill, journalist’s research reveals | CBC
Comment: OK, by the time you’re reading this it comes too late – you’ve already ordered what you hope to give for Christmas presents. But I still thought this finding was shocking enough to draw your attention to it…and the ideas for minimizing waste.
Other headlines of interest…
Energy Storage
- IBM announces battery technology breakthrough | TechRepublic
- $9 Billion Battery Project with BMW, BASF Gets EU Green Light | Bloomberg
- Gates, Bezos bet on flow battery technology, a potential rival to big bets on lithium-ion | CNBC
- Large-scale energy storage by “liquid air” proposed for Vermont | Granite Geek
Solar (& Battery)
- NV Energy has more solar coming than 37 states have installed | pv magazine USA
- Shell snaps up Esco Pacific in major push into big solar in Australia | RenewEconomy
- Bill Gates’ solar startup interests 1,600 companies | Electrek
Wind (& Battery)
- Renewables ‘hit a wall’ in saturated Upper Midwest grid | Wind Watch
- Vineyard Wins as Connecticut Chooses 804MW Offshore Wind Project | Greentech Media
- Xcel to begin construction on $900M wind farm in New Mexico | AP News
Transport
- $5bn fund unveiled for climate-friendly shipping | BBC
- Hyundai to focus on autonomous and electric vehicles in $24 billion push | The Driven
- Kansas City, MO to eliminate transit fares | Smart Cities Dive
- Vietnam’s richest man bets $2B to sell cars to Americans | SCMP
- Petro-Canada completes ‘electric highway’ of more than 50 charge stations from B.C. to N.S. | JWN Energy
- Google Maps now filters searches for EV charger plug types | The Verge
- A Self-Driving Freight Truck Just Drove Across the Country to Deliver Butter | Popular Mechanics
- New York transit authority to invest $1.1B for 500 electric buses | Utility Dive
- GM expects Cadillac to be majority, if not all, EVs by 2030 | CNBC
- Spurned by Tesla, NVIDIA’s new Orin self-driving processor ups the game by 7x | Electrek
Transition
- Big oil, big banks and environment leaders link up in Toronto to solve energy future | JWN Energy
- As the climate crisis grows, Big Oil finds itself over a barrel | GreenBiz
- LNG Industry Long Way Off with Plan to Help Meet Climate Targets, [Canada] Environment Minister Says | The Globe and Mail
- Capital Power to build carbon nanotube facility at Genesee, test use in concrete | JWN Energy
- Tidal energy project in Canada gets green light from authorities | CNBC
- Australia-wide energy management trial to give power to consumers, visibility to networks | One Step Off The Grid
- Collapse in Queensland renewables investment – the canary in the coal mine | RenewEconomy
Buildings
- U.S. ignores climate benefits of heat pumps — study | Scientific American
Hydrogen
- Orsted aims to invest in ‘green hydrogen’ pilot projects | Reuters
- L.A. wants a hydrogen-fueled power plant. It’s never been done Los Angeles Times
- World’s First Liquid Hydrogen Ship Debuts in Green Economy Boost | Bloomberg
- Scientists Develop Exciting New Way to Produce Hydrogen Fuel That’s Safe, Cheap, and Ultra-Efficient | Good News Network
- Amid transport mayhem, France rolls out world-first hydrogen bus fleet | rfi
Net Zero
- Australia’s biggest steel city, Wollongong, targets net zero emissions by 2050 | One Step Off The Grid
- Ottawa attempts to do what no city in the world has yet done | MSN
Pricing Carbon