754 #ClimateEmergency #Energy #IRAout is #BillsUp

"Gutting clean energy incentives would drive up electric bills"
by Jeff St. John for Grist [Mar 22, 2025] [audio available]

https://grist.org/energy/gutting-clean-energy-incentives-would-drive-up-electric-bills/

Quotes:
"Rising energy costs are a problem in the U.S. Ending Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and ramping up fossil fuels would make it even worse."

"The Trump administration insists that renewables are making energy more expensive and that more fossil-fueled power will reduce utility bills. But those claims are false../\..Americans will suffer the consequences in higher electric bills.
So finds a report released Thursday by think tank Energy Innovation warning lawmakers of the costs of repealing the clean-energy tax credits created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s signature climate law."

"Key members of the Trump administration have disparaged clean energy as a wasteful distraction while praising fossil gas and coal."

“We looked at a state-by-state level at energy bills as well as jobs and economic growth,” said Robbie Orvis, Energy Innovation’s senior director of modeling and analysis. ​“Across the board, repealing the IRA is going to make it more expensive for the average household — and in some states, dramatically.”

"...Under the ​“repeal” scenario, annual consumer energy bills would be more than $6 billion higher for U.S. households in 2030 and more than $9 billion higher in 2035. Translated to individual households, energy costs would increase by an average of $48 per year in 2030 and $68 per year in 2035, and continue to rise in future years."

"Republican leaders have committed to slashing federal spending to pay for the cost of extending the multi-trillion-dollar tax cut passed during the first Trump administration, which primarily benefits corporations and wealthy individuals."

"Why clean power is cheaper power
The reason repealing these tax credits would drive up costs is simple, Orvis said. Solar and wind energy can supply U.S. power grids with electricity at lower long-term cost than alternatives such as coal, gas, and nuclear power plants."

"Over the past decade, solar and wind power have become the cheapest source of new electricity generation across the majority of the world,..."

"A study from think tank RMI found that portfolios of solar, wind, and batteries paired with utility energy-efficiency investments can serve grid needs at a lower cost than newly built gas-fired power plants."

"That lack of fuel cost, along with lower operations and maintenance costs, make wind and solar a long-run winner financially."

"Energy developers and utilities are following the money. Last year, solar, batteries, and wind made up more than 90 percent of the 56 gigawatts of power capacity built in the U.S."

"An ​‘energy emergency’ — false claims versus real solutions
... It [Trump admin] has also declared a ​“national energy emergency” that casts renewable energy as a threat to grid reliability and calls for expanded use of fossil fuels as the solution."

"And while the variability of wind and solar power generation is intimately tied to weather, traditional power plants have proven to be far less reliable than their backers have claimed, particularly during winter cold snaps like those that led to massive grid outages in Texas in 2021 and across the U.S. Southeast in 2022."

"As for clean energy’s relationship to rising electricity prices, an Energy Innovation report last year highlighted that surging electric utility costs in recent years are linked not to renewables but other factors, including spikes in fossil gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increasing cost of expanding and maintaining utility power grids."

"Other states with aggressive clean-energy mandates, such as California and Massachusetts, also have some of the country’s most expensive electricity, the report says. But those costs are more closely driven by aging infrastructure, ​“expensive imported fossil fuels” in the case of Massachusetts, or in California, ​“natural disaster damage” — namely, the massive costs of wildfires, many caused by utility grid failures, and the investments meant to prevent more of them."

"Wright [Trump admin] also mocked the idea that wind, solar, and batteries could completely replace fossil fuels for providing reliable round-the-clock generation capacity."
"The U.S. is experiencing a first-in-decades boom in demand for electricity, driven by new data centers and factories in the short term,"

"New solar, wind, and battery projects can be built in roughly half that time, making them a vital near-term solution to rising power demand, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told The New York Times at CERAWeek, adding that ​“if you take renewables and storage off the table, we’re going to force electricity prices to the moon.”

#TakeCareForLife #TakeCareForEarth
#StopBurningThings #StopEcoside #StopThePlunder
#ClimateBreakDown #StopRapingNature

740 #ClimateSolutions #NorwayBergen #Cities #Bikes

"How is a Bike Tunnel this Freak'n Great!?" [27:04 min]
by Not Just Bikes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCedclz03uI

Quote by NJB:
"Mar 16, 2025
Bergen is a city on the West coast fjords of Norway, surrounded by mountains. And they just built the best bicycle tunnel in the world."

Time stamps
0:00 Intro
0:51 How the tunnel came to be
2:00 "Architectural psychologist" is a thing?!
2:33 Season-themed rest stops & safety features
4:02 Lots of thoughtful elements all come together
6:04 The centre is the best part
6:45 This tunnel is popular!
7:52 Sorry Yanks, but the Snoqualmie tunnel doesn't count
9:03 Surrounding bicycle infrastructure
9:55 Acoustic bikes & bikeshare
11:14 The LRT line that made this possible
13:35 Before you start making excuses about oil ...
15:01 Buses in Bergen
15:57 The insane parking garage
16:30 Trains in Bergen
17:32 The original LRT line
18:22 Damage done by car-centric development
19:24 Future LRT plans and "historic preservation"
21:51 Designing for humans makes cities feel alive
22:37 Historic streets
23:24 The funicular and terrible weather
24:20 Concluding thoughts
25:05 How to support this channel (Nebula)

#TakeCareForLife #TakeCareForEarth
#StopBurningThings #StopEcoside #StopThePlunder
#ClimateBreakDown #StopRapingNature

735 #ClimateSolutions #SolarForGaza

"The future of Gaza’s recovery may rely on solar power"
by Saqib Rahim for Grist [Mar 14, 2025] [Audio available]

https://grist.org/energy/the-future-of-gazas-recovery-may-rely-on-solar-power/

Quotes:
"Facing destroyed infrastructure and limited control of energy supplies, off-grid options like solar are helping Palestinians rebuild."

"Growing up, Mashharawi had been accustomed to life with inconsistent power — as little as three hours a day. “It’s not easy to describe unless you live it,” she said. “Your life is completely messed up. Everything is controlled by others. Your life is controlled by when power is on and off.”

"But in fact, the two parties’ dysfunctional relationship around energy has a long history. .. a land and sea blockade. This included electricity: Israel came to control 10 power lines running into Gaza, as well as the diesel fuel needed to run its one power plant."

"Israel’s security establishment thought this hammerlock over Gazan energy meant leverage over Hamas, said Elai Rettig, a lecturer in energy politics at Bar-Ilan University. As for Hamas, many Gazans felt the group was more interested in its crusade against Israel than addressing public works.
For the people of Gaza, the conflict meant energy poverty...who had to jam all their chores into these fleeting windows of opportunity."

"Gaza’s energy dependence wasn’t cheap. Years of Palestinian counterparties failing to pay Gaza’s power bill — for financial and political reasons — had by 2023 racked up a debt to Israel of 2 billion shekels, about $500 million."

"Satellite imagery soon showed solar arrays sprouting on thousands of buildings across the Gaza Strip, especially in crowded areas like refugee camps.
It occurred to her that unreliable power was not just a burden in households, like the one she grew up in. Thousands of businesses across Gaza — restaurants, workshops, bakeries — yearned for a source of energy more reliable than what they had. Mashharawi decided to get into the energy business. She started Sunbox,.. [Mashharawi JdeB]"

"...working doggedly with Israeli authorities to get the equipment approved../\..She soon helped supply bigger projects. Sunbox equipped 20 small desalination plants, the engines of Gazan water production, with solar. It set up solar-charged streetlights so girls could feel more confident walking to school in the wee hours."

"It was a renewable revolution born of political dysfunction. The total number of solar arrays in the Gaza Strip vaulted from about a dozen in 2012 to 8,760 in 2019, mostly in the form of small rooftop systems. The extraordinary growth made the Occupied Palestinian Territories one of the fastest-growing renewable energy markets in the world.
By 2023, solar represented 25-40 percent of daytime power generation on the ragged Gazan grid, Rettig, of Bar-Ilan University, estimated."

#NeverAgain #StopTheGenocide
#TakeCareForLife #TakeCareForEarth
#StopBurningThings #StopEcoside #StopThePlunder
#ClimateBreakDown #StopRapingNature

#Rewilding #Mangrove #FloodDefense

Hé you...
do you sometimes 'look'-up-things-on-the-web' ?
or do 'some-serious-research' ?
Still using those data-mining giants like 'Google' or 'Bing' ?
AND YOU STILL LIKE POSTS LIKE THESE ?
Start using 'Ecosia' instead. Also free but plants trees instead of lining pockets.
It requires you only to change your settings on your phone, lap- or desktop. So you'll use Ecosia as your standard search engine !
Come on. Plant some trees [without even noticing it]

OK back to the video:

"We're Losing Nature's Best Flood Defense"
by Ecosia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWcROsbZJ4

Quote by E:
"Feb 28, 2025 #Rewilding #Documentary #Kenya
To support our work you just need to switch to Ecosia as your search engine. It’s easy and for free: -> ecosia.co/join <-
Wetlands and mangrove ecosystems specifically are literally nature’s home-made flood protection. But most mangrove landscapes have disappeared and about 70 mangrove species are at risk of extinction. Restoring mangrove sites isn’t all that easy and, in fact, even us at Ecosia weren’t doing everything right. We realized we had missed something crucial…

️Time stamps
00:00-02:18 Why are mangroves crucial?
02:18-4:34 Mangroves, explained
4:34-5:50 Mangroves VS seawalls
5:50-8:03 When mangroves disappear
8:03-9:02 The mistake we made
9:02-11:50 Won’t the trees be cut down again?
11:50-12:27 Will rising sea levels kill mangroves?
12:27-13:00 Surprising, positive news
13:00-13:30 What else can we do?
13:30-13:59 The easiest way to protect landscapes

#TakeCareForLife #TakeCareForEarth
#StopBurningThings #StopEcoside #StopThePlunder
#ClimateBreakDown #StopRapingNature

712 #ClimateSolutions #Recycling #NuclearWaste

I'm still AGAINSTt nuclear power as an energy solution, because it's so very expensive. Where durable energy is so affordable.
But at least the waste problem seems to be solved.

"The Big Lie About Nuclear Waste" [13:03 min]
by Cleo Abram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzQ3gFRj0Bc

Quote by CA:
" May 10, 2023
What if we could actually USE nuclear waste?
Nuclear waste is scary. Maybe you’ve seen it as glowing green goop in The Simpsons, or as a radioactive threat on the news. Either way, you likely know it has been a major block to the use and improvement of nuclear power. Over the last few decades, experts, politicians and the public have had heated debates over what to do with this radioactive material created by nuclear power plants.
But what if there were a way to not just store nuclear waste, but actually USE it?
This video is about the effort to make electricity out of nuclear waste. Really. It turns out, we developed the tools to do this decades ago. This story is about a technology we left behind and the people who want to bring it back.
For this video, I had the privilege of visiting one of the largest and oldest research centers in the US, the Argonne National Laboratory. I’m incredibly grateful to the researchers and staff I met there, and for their time in showing me their work. I also had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Oklo, a company working on new forms of nuclear power, including recycling nuclear waste as fuel. One of the best parts of making Huge If True is meeting and learning from people pushing what we can do in the hopes of improving the world for everyone else.

Time stamps:
00:00 Nuclear waste isn’t what I thought
02:21 How I got obsessed
03:27 How much energy is in nuclear waste?
06:20 How do you get electricity?
06:50 What is uranium?
07:28 How does a nuclear reaction work?
08:05 Why is nuclear waste dangerous?
08:40 What do we do with nuclear waste?
09:35 How do you make electricity from nuclear waste?
11:21 Why doesn’t the US reuse nuclear fuel?
12:20 Is recycling waste feasible?
13:41 What is Huge If True?

Correction:
07:09 The number refers to the total number of nucleons (either a proton or a neutron) in the atom, not the neutrons alone. A U-235 atom contains 92 protons and 143 neutrons (an atomic mass of 235). The U-238 atom also has 92 protons but has 146 neutrons (an atomic mass of 238). I should have said these differ by the number of neutrons in the atom. Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out!"

#TakeCareForLife #TakeCareForEarth
#StopBurningThings #StopEcoside #StopThePlunder
#ClimateBreakDown #StopRapingNature