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Can Hawaii Harness Its Volcanic Energy?
In 1881, King David Kalakaua of Hawaii and his entourage paid a late evening visit to Thomas Edison in New York. The king was unsure about electricity — he didn’t think the technology was reliable enough to light up Honolulu’s streets just yet — but after marveling at a chandelier buzzing with electric light, the group started bantering about how Hawaii could generate power. What about putting boilers atop a volcano? There was enough energy up there, a companion to the king mused, that it could illuminate the entire United States. He appeared to be joking, but Edison took...
The Eclipse Will Be a 3-Hour Boon for Gas, Batteries, and Hydro
Early April is typically a kind of goldilocks moment for solar power. Days are getting longer but the weather is still mild, meaning that higher solar power generation isn’t entirely eaten up by increased demand due to air conditioning.But that all depends on the sun actually shining.Today’s solar eclipse will take a big chunk of power off the grid. Since 2017’s eclipse, solar power generation has increased substantially, both locally (think rooftops) and at utility scale (think massive fields of solar panels). In 2017, the U.S. had around 35 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity, a figure that had increased...
What Electricity Providers Can Learn From the Eclipse
Current conditions: Wildfire season has started one month early in Greece • A Russian oil refinery in Orsk paused operations after torrential rains caused a dam to burst • It will be about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and partly cloudy in Glendale, Arizona, for the men's NCAA basketball championship game between Purdue and UConn. THE TOP FIVE1. Solar eclipse will offer power providers a ‘test run’ Happy eclipse day! The moon will block out the sun’s light for up to four minutes in some areas across the U.S. this afternoon. Millions have flocked to cities along the eclipse’s “path of totality,” which...
Is Tesla Even a Car Company, Anymore?
We may never get a super affordable Tesla.The electric-car maker has canceled its longstanding plan to build a $25,000 vehicle, usually called the Model 2, Reuters reported on Friday, killing a product that was — until today — thought to be central to the company’s growth. Heatmap was unable to independently confirm Reuters’ reporting. Tesla does not have a traditional communications office, and an email to a generic press address went unanswered. Tesla’s stock was down more than 3% when markets closed.But the cancellation, if true, is an earthquake. For years, Tesla has told investors that its path to...
Does Climate Change Cause Earthquakes?
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey shook the ground and blew up my group chats this morning. It’s somewhat unusual, but not unheard of, to experience earthquakes in this part of the country, and some may be wondering, is this yet another extreme event that will become more likely under a changing climate?The answer is maybe, but no one really knows yet. In case you don’t remember 4th grade science, what we experience as an earthquake is typically the result of sections of the earth’s crust colliding, separating, or sliding past each other. This movement is driven by...
The SEC Climate Fight Enters a New Round
The legal battle over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rule on climate-related disclosure has begun. On Thursday, the Commission issued a pause on the rule, which sets standards for publicly-owned companies to report their exposure to climate-related risks like extreme weather or future regulations in their annual filings. The rule finalized in early March was significantly weaker than what the Commission had originally proposed in 2022. Rather than make disclosure mandatory, the regulations say that companies only have to report certain types of information, such as their greenhouse gas emissions, if they deem the information “material.” Despite this,...
Whoa, Was That an Earthquake?
East Coast residents from Philadelphia to Boston all just looked up and went, “Did you just feel that?”Yes, they did: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Central New Jersey Friday morning — not strong enough to cause severe damage in most cases, and smaller than the 5.8 magnitude quake that struck the Washington, D.C., area in 2011 and rippled up north. But this one was certainly strong enough to feel. Earlier this year, a tiny, 1.7 magnitude quake hit in New York’s Astoria neighborhood, causing little to no destruction. (Reports of a transformer explosion due to the quake turned out...
Whoa, Was That an Earthquake?
East Coast residents from Philadelphia to Boston all just looked up and went, “Did you just feel that?”Yes, they did: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 1 kilometer below Central New Jersey Friday morning — not strong enough to cause severe damage in most cases, and smaller than the 5.8 magnitude quake that struck the Washington, D.C., area in 2011 and rippled up north. But this one was certainly strong enough to feel. Earlier this year, a tiny, 1.7 magnitude quake hit in New York’s Astoria neighborhood, causing little to no destruction. (Reports of a transformer explosion due to...
The $2 Billion Plan to Electrify American Homes
Getting fossil fuels out of your home is really hard. You have to find a contractor, ideally one who supports electrification and doesn’t ask why you won’t just stick with natural gas. You have to coordinate between multiple trades — electricians, plumbers, HVAC professionals — as well as lenders and utilities and permitting authorities, most of whom don’t talk to each other. You have to navigate a confusing array of finance options and incentives. You might be left feeling defeated, unable to afford the high up-front costs and unable to secure low-cost loans. And if you’re a renter, all...
An Electric Minivan Might Be the Perfect Car
If you survey Americans who are considering an electric vehicle, some of their opinions are perfectly predictable. New polling released last week by the car publication Edmunds found that U.S. car shoppers want more range, they want more affordable options, and they want lots of SUVs and crossovers. Few respondents were excited about electric pickup trucks. Hardly anybody — just 5% — wanted a minivan EV.Poor, poor pitiful minivan. Even as its bigger sibling undergoes a renaissance as the road-tripping influencer’s ride of choice, few people are out there posting thirsty #MinivanLife pics of a Chrysler Town & Country....
Why Renewables Aren’t Expanding Fast Enough
Current conditions: In Chile, Santiago’s 11-day heatwave has ended • Storm Kathleen could bring gale-force winds to the UK • New York City is littered with downed trees after a strong storm.THE TOP FIVE1. Biden administration unleashes $20 billion for green banksVice President Kamala Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan are in Charlotte, North Carolina, this morning to announce the award of $20 billion dollars for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. This is the official launch of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act — in fact, it is...
The Biden Administration Is Unleashing $20 Billion for Green Banks
Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan are in Charlotte, North Carolina this morning to announce the award of … wait for it … $20 billion dollars for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. This is the official launch of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act — in fact, it is the single largest and most flexible program in the IRA. (The remaining $7 billion is earmarked for “Solar for All,” a separate initiative that will launch later this year.)The money will go to eight organizations and...
A Skeptic’s Take on AI and Energy Growth
Will the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence break the climate system? In recent months, utilities and tech companies have argued that soaring use of AI will overwhelm electricity markets. Is that true — or is it a sales pitch meant to build more gas plants? And how much electricity do data centers and AI use today? In this week’s episode, Rob and Jesse talk to Jonathan Koomey, an independent researcher, lecturer, and entrepreneur who studies the energy impacts of the internet and information technology. We discuss why AI may not break the electricity system and the long history...
U.S. Steel Is Trying Carbon Capture. Experts Aren’t Impressed.
Last week, the Department of Energy announced $6 billion in awards to help clean up some of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries in the U.S., including $1.5 billion to transform iron and steel manufacturing. U.S. Steel, one of the biggest American steelmakers, was not among the recipients.On Wednesday, U.S. Steel made an announcement of its own: It is signing a 20-year agreement with CarbonFree, a Texas-based company, to capture carbon dioxide from Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in the country, and turn it into a marketable product. The $150 million project is the first to capture and...
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...
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