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Energy

Climate Campaigners Hold ‘Tug-Of-War’ In Front Of Leinster House

Protesters gathered before the Dail today and staged a “tug-of-war” to highlight fracked gas imports and the climate implications of data centres. Members of Extinction Rebellion Ireland dressed as representatives of tech companies as part of their campaign, holding the rope on one end during a tug-of-war while children pulled on the other.

Global Call On Banks To Stop Financing Fossil Fuels

To stop the world descending into full climate chaos, the continued burning of fossil fuels must be brought to an end as soon as possible. Even burning all coal, oil, and gas reserves already in production will push global temperature rise far beyond 1.5°C and likely beyond 2°C, the stated goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. This leaves no space for further exploration or extraction, yet many fossil fuel companies plan to vastly expand their operations, posing a true existential threat to people and planet.

Kayaktivists Are Working To Permanently Close Coal Power Plant

Julie Macuga paints two scenes when describing the Merrimack River – the first as a scenic site, where kayakers and canoers alike can float in nature. The second image is an ugly industrial site crowding the waterway with tall, brown smokestacks spewing clouds of carbon, polluting the water and air. “It’s this beautiful place and it’s juxtaposed with this horrible coal plant,” she said. Macuga was one of a group of protesters who paddled up and down the river on Wednesday in protest of the Merrimack Station power plant in Bow. Just after the sun came up, she and eleven other “kayakativists” from the campaign No Coal No Gas took to the river at 6 a.m. in their latest demonstration in hopes of shutting down the plant. The coal stack burned as the group sang and chanted, paddling up and floating back down in front of the plant.

The Power Plant Of The Future Is Right In Your Home

Basalt Vista is designed to be an all-electric community that produces as much power as it uses. Each home comes outfitted with an electric vehicle charger in the garage, a large battery pack in the basement, and a roof covered with solar panels. The homes are linked together as a microgrid, a self-contained electricity distribution network that can operate independently of the regional electric grid. Their energy systems work together to balance the energy load across the neighborhood—the solar panels harvest energy, plugged in EVs can store electricity as needed, and large battery packs can supply power when the sun isn’t shining.

Tribe Is Now An Owner Of The Power Grid

A news release includes some almost hidden news. The lede: “Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, has completed its West of Devers transmission lines.” The company said the deal was important because it added more power, renewable and battery energy storage to serve Southern California. And, as Kevin Payne, the utility’s president put it, the new lines will make it easier to distribute “energy resources like rooftop solar and battery energy storage” and “will contribute to decarbonizing our electric infrastructure, large-scale generation and reliable delivery of renewable energy will be vital to achieving California’s ambitious climate goals.” OK so far. Reading further down it’s clear that a tribe is involved with the project.

Pennsylvania Town Battles To Shut Down Toxic Waste-To-Energy Plant

So-called waste-to-energy plants are the waste management industry’s way of describing toxic incinerators that burn trash and leave extremely toxic ash containing dioxin, mercury, arsenic and more. The Covanta incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania, is the largest one of its kind in the U.S. Chester is a low-income community near Philadelphia, with a population of 33,000 people, 72 percent of whom are African American.

Hijacking The Recovery Through Hydrogen

EU Covid-19 recovery funds are supposed to drive the ‘green transition’ and move us beyond fossil fuels – but industry lobbying at both national and EU level has ensured oil and gas firms and utilities remain some of the biggest beneficiaries in Italy, the Spanish State, Portugal and France. The European Commission has said it wanted to avoid giving billions in bailouts to the fossil fuel industry. Despite sending mixed signals, to its credit, in these four cases it has tried to exclude direct financing for fossil fuel projects, including controversial carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the hugely outsized role for hydrogen and renewable gases in national recovery plans has thrown a lifeline to the fossil fuel firms involved, as well as their main product: fossil gas.

Is Alternative Energy The Best Solution To Climate Catastrophe?

The world is threatened with environmental disaster and capitalists hope to make a killing off of it.  Fossil fuel (FF) companies claim they are “environmentally friendly.”  Other corporations promote nuclear energy, hydro-power (dams), and solar and wind power as the best energy alternatives.  Yet environmentalists have known for decades that reduction of useless and harmful energy is the “greenest” form of energy available.  Over 50 years ago, the first Earth Day recognized this with the slogan “Reduce; Reuse; Recycle.”  Today, corporate “environmentalism” chants “Recycle; Occasionally Reuse; and, Never Utter ‘Reduce.’”  Even mentioning the word “reduce” can be met with howls of derision that “Reduction means ‘austerity,’” as if any type of collective self-control would plunge the world into depths of suffering. 

Drought-Stricken Communities Push Back Against Data Centers

On May 17, the City Council of Mesa, Arizona, approved the $800 million development of an enormous data center -- a warehouse filled with computers storing all of the photos, documents and other information we store “in the cloud” -- on an arid plot of land in the eastern part of the city. But keeping the rows of powerful computers inside the data center from overheating will require up to 1.25 million gallons of water each day, a price that Vice Mayor Jenn Duff believes is too high.“This has been the driest 12 months in 126 years,” she said, citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We are on red alert, and I think data centers are an irresponsible use of our water.” Duff was the only Mesa City Council member to vote against the development.

Report Details Fossil Fuel Industry’s Deceptive ‘Net Zero’ Strategy

A new report published Wednesday by a trio of progressive advocacy groups lifts the veil on so-called "net zero" climate pledges, which are often touted by corporations and governments as solutions to the climate emergency, but which the paper's authors argue are merely a dangerous form of greenwashing that should be eschewed in favor of Real Zero policies based on meaningful, near-term commitments to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The report—titled "The Big Con: How Big Polluters Are Advancing a "Net Zero" Climate Agenda to Delay, Deceive, and Deny" (pdf)—was published by Corporate Accountability, the Global Forest Coalition, and Friends of the Earth International, and is endorsed by over 60 environmental organizations.

Venezuela’s Oil Production Bounces Back

Guayaquil, Ecuador – Venezuela’s crude output increased in May, recovering from the previous month’s fall. The latest Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) monthly report placed the Caribbean country’s May production at 531,000 oil barrels per day (bpd), a rebound from April’s 486,000 bpd, according to secondary sources. In contrast, state oil company PDVSA communicated a higher number of 582,000 bpd. The May figures are the highest in 12 months and put the nation back in the steady growth trend it has been experiencing since the beginning of the year after reaching historic lows in the second half of 2020.

Puerto Rican Workers: No Peace If Energy Is Privatized

Union organizations today warned Governor Pedro Pierluisi and the Financial Oversight and Management Board that they will paralyze the country if the LUMA Energy contract — that increases rates, allows the consortium to leave Puerto Rico if a hurricane strikes and displaces thousands of workers — is not canceled. “We are warning the attorney for the Financial Oversight and Management Board, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, that there will be no peace in Puerto Rico if the contract is not repealed and they listen to the people who demand, not only a public and more efficient PREPA, but also one free of fossil fuels. Right now there is a favorable atmosphere for paralyzing the country, and if the governor continues to be deaf to the people, we will do so.

Communities Of Color Want Wood Pellet Byproducts Out Of Their Neighborhoods

Belinda Joyner describes her home of Northampton County as a dumping ground for undesirable uses—hog farms, landfills. Northampton was also slated to host the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s compressor station before the project was canceled. When Joyner stood at a podium in the North Carolina legislative building on Wednesday, she was most concerned about wood pellet facilities. “We have other states that have taken into consideration the cumulative impact, the health impact, on these communities and they’re saying no to these companies that are coming,” Joyner said. “You know what? North Carolina has become a cesspool, because everything that everyone else doesn’t want, we don’t have the laws to protect us.”

Puerto Rico Unions Close Ranks Against LUMA Energy

Union organizations today warned Gov. Pedro Pierluisi and the Financial Oversight and Management Board that they will paralyze the country if the LUMA Energy contract that increases rates, allows the consortium to leave Puerto Rico if a hurricane strikes, and displaces thousands of workers, is not canceled. “We are warning the attorney for the Financial Oversight and Management Board, Pedro Pierluisi, that there will be no peace in Puerto Rico if the contract is not repealed and they listen to the people who demand, not only a public and more efficient Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), but also one free of fossil fuels. “Right now there is a favorable atmosphere for paralyzing the country and if the governor continues to ignore the people, we will do so.

Activist Investors Score Surprise Win With ExxonMobil Board Seats

During Exxon's annual shareholder meeting, an activist hedge fund called Engine No. 1—which "owns only about 0.02%" of the oil company's stock, according to climate reporter Emily Atkin—ran four of its own director candidates in opposition to the fossil fuel corporation's hand-picked board members. At least two of Engine No. 1's candidates won, with the races for additional boardroom seats too close to call as of this writing.

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