Weekly Update, 21 February 2023
The International Energy Agency site is a treasure trove of statistics about all aspects of energy generation and consumption, from electric vehicles to global generation investments. Their latest report on renewable energy brings good news. High fossil fuel prices combined with supply concerns related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made renewables more attractive both economically and from an energy security perspective. China, India, the EU, and the United States are all moving more quickly than previously anticipated.
Renewables 2022 - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.
Seagrass is wonderful stuff. It sequesters more carbon per acre than terrestrial rainforests, it provides food and habitat to support marine ecosystems, and it helps reduce coastal erosion. Unfortunately, seagrass meadows also face similar threats to terrestrial rainforests, thanks to dredging and agricultural runoff. As a step toward better understanding of this “blue carbon” resource, US Environmental Protection Agency scientists are examining how carbon storage in seagrass meadows varies across New England.
To get a better picture of how much carbon is stored in seagrass meadows, EPA researchers in New England sampled seagrass and sediments from
With more than 25 GW of capacity actively under construction, solar generation is now the centerpiece of US renewable energy plans, accounting for 70% of planned utility-scale capacity through 2025. As recently as 2013, the Energy Information Administration didn’t even bother to report solar generation. Now, further acceleration of solar deployment is a likely effect of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $370 billion investment in renewable energy and climate measures.
The capacity joins the existing 107 GW of solar on the U.S. grid, signaling that the energy transition is well underway.
