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The Super Bowl for Meteorologists
On December 14, 2020, at a little past 1 p.m., meteorologist Matthew Cappucci sat down in the middle of a random field near the Chilean-Argentinian border and cried because it was cloudy. “To say I was devastated would be an understatement,” he told me. Cappucci had traveled from his home in Washington, D.C., to Pucón, Chile, to experience a total solar eclipse, only to be denied by an atmospheric river. Under normal circumstances, he could have driven into Argentina, where there were clear skies on the other side of the Andes, but COVID travel restrictions were still in place and...
What’s Behind Tesla’s Faceplant?
The electric vehicle market is anyone’s game. That’s the takeaway from this year’s first tranche of EV sales data, which saw the two global market leaders — Tesla and BYD — turn in dismal sales for the first three months of the year. Those were in contrast to other automakers including Rivian, Hyundai, and Toyota, all of which reported healthier numbers. Tesla’s deliveries, which Wall Street uses as a decent proxy for sales, came up well short of analysts’ expectations at 386,810 vehicles for the quarter — down about 9% from the first quarter of 2023. Analysts have consistently...
What Analysts Expect From Q1 EV Sales
Current conditions: The Ohio and Tennessee Valleys could experience long-track tornadoes today • Gale-force winds killed at least four people in China’s Jiangxi Province • A winter storm watch is in effect across New England. THE TOP FIVE1. It’s a big week for EV sales numbers Major U.S. electric vehicle manufacturers including Tesla and Rivian are expected to report on their first-quarter sales and deliveries this week. Expectations for Tesla are pretty low, according to Bloomberg, with analysts forecasting global deliveries of about 449,080 vehicles, down 7%. “Some on Wall Street are even braced for Tesla’s first sales decline since...
The Coal Was Destined for India. Now It’s Polluting the Air in Baltimore.
For those living near the Port of Baltimore, the transportation and storage of coal on its way from mines in the Appalachian Mountains to far-flung foreign kilns is “a mundane but ever-present imposition,” Chloe Ahmann, a Cornell University anthropologist, told me. Ahmann once worked as an elementary school teacher in Curtis Bay, a residential neighborhood adjacent to the working port, and wrote a book on the area’s post-industrial present. “There are stories going back generation,” she said. “Coal dust covering everything in the neighborhood — bicycles, porches, windowsill. People wipe coal dust off their windows as a daily ritual.”With...
A Climate Superfund Law Might Be Crazy Enough to Work
Dozens of cities and states have tried to sue the oil industry for damages related to climate change over the past several years, and so far, none of these cases has been successful. In fact, not one has even made it to trial.In the meantime, the price tag for climate-related impacts has climbed ever higher, and states are growing more desperate for help with the bill. Out of that desperation, a new legal strategy was born, one that may have a better chance of getting fossil fuel companies to pay up. And Vermonters may be the first to benefit.It’s...
Landfills Are Bigger Climate Culprits Than We Thought
Current conditions: Cyclone Gamane killed at least 18 people in Madagascar • A Saharan dust storm is choking tourist hot spots in the Mediterranean • It’ll be wet and stormy across large parts of California for Easter weekend.THE TOP FIVE1. Study: Methane from landfills is underreportedA new study suggests America’s landfills are releasing 40% more methane than what’s being reported. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas responsible for about one-third of global warming since pre-industrial times. It spews from landfills as organic waste breaks down. Most U.S. landfills have to measure their methane emissions, but this new study suggests...
The Tiniest Nuclear Reactors Are Untried, Untested, and Gaining Legions of Fans
When politicians tell the CEO of Radiant Nuclear that they love small modular reactors, he groans inwardly and just keeps smiling. Doug Bernauer’s Radiant is not trying to make SMRs. His company — a VC-backed startup currently in the pre-application phase with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — is designing a portable nuclear microreactor, which is intended to replace diesel generators. The politicians don’t always know the difference, Bernauer told me.The SMR-microreactor confusion is common outside the world of nuclear. While they are both versions of advanced nuclear technologies not yet built in the United States (all of our nuclear...
The New EPA Car Standards Could Mean Even More Hybrids
Last week, the Biden administration announced its final car emission standards, aimed at pushing the auto industry to create more zero-emission vehicles. While there’s plenty in the 1,200-page document for policy wonks, politicians, environmental advocates, and automakers to hem and haw over, there’s at least one thing no one seems too bothered about: The new emissions rules stand to boost plug-in and conventional hybrid sales, thanks in part to some small changes to how their emissions are considered within the mix of an automaker’s fleet. To recap: The biggest headline change from the proposed rule to the final one is...
Biden Just Approved Another Big Offshore Wind Project
Current conditions: Freeze warnings are in place across Missouri • Tourists heading to Spain’s Canary Islands over the Easter holiday have been told to brace for extreme weather • It is 82 degrees Fahrenheit in Gaza today, marking the region’s first heat wave of the season. THE TOP FIVE1. Biden approves another big offshore wind project The Biden administration approved its seventh commercial-scale offshore wind project yesterday. Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project will be located about 16 nautical miles south of Marth’s Vineyard and have a capacity of 924-megawatts (MW) of renewable energy to power more than 320,000 homes per year. It...
The Real Point of Republicans’ Energy Week
Republicans in Washington do not have a great track record executing themed policy weeks. Consider the Trump administration’s original 2017 Infrastructure Week, which had the misfortune of coinciding with former FBI Director James Comey’s live testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Or take the Infrastructure Week scheduled a few months after that, which Trump famously derailed by blaming “both sides” for the white supremacist-initiated violence in Charlottesville. Or take the Infrastructure Week after that one, when — well, you get it. Past attempts at holding an Energy Week haven’t fared much better, and unless you’re an incredibly close reader of...
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