Fri.Apr 10, 2020

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Has green hydrogen’s time finally come?

GreenBiz

Los Angeles is behind a two-phase, first-of-its-kind transformation that will turn a coal-fired power plant in Utah into one powered by green hydrogen by 2045.

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The many ways fungi are saving our planet

Inhabitat - Innovation

Find out how fungi are saving the planet, from cleaning the water and air to providing medicinal benefits.

Medicine 361
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Circular economy principles are alleviating COVID-19 shortages

GreenBiz

With medical supplies and personal protection in short supply, hospitals and companies are embracing refurbishment and reuse.

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California Gets Another 100MW Battery Project, as Competition with Gas Peakers Heats Up

GreenTechMedia

Big things are happening in California this week. In the political sphere, Gov. Gavin Newsom is invoking the powers of a “nation-state” to provide life-saving medical supplies that the federal government isn’t. In the power sector, another 100 megawatt battery just got contracted to support the grid near Los Angeles. Clean Power Alliance, a local power purchasing authority or “community choice aggregator” for 1 million customer accounts in the greater L.A. region, s

Batteries 246
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Electrofuels Are the Future: The Driving Force to Decarbonizing Heavy Transport

Speaker: Ayesha Choudhury - Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Infinium

With the first wave of the energy transition, renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) have begun replacing coal power generation. However, some sectors are lagging behind and struggling to decarbonize more than others, including large-scale transportation like commercial aviation, shipping, and rail transit. Electrofuels (aka eFuels) are the next generation of solutions to help the hardest-to-abate sectors pivot from their reliance on fossil fuels.

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Can regenerative agriculture deliver on its promise?

GreenBiz

Skeptics are sowing doubts about the carbon sequestration potential. The questions underscore the complexities of soil science.

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Will Pollution Pauses Have a Lasting Impact?

GreenTechMedia

The world is experiencing a sudden, dramatic drop in all kinds of air pollution. The skies are dramatically different. People can hear birds they didn’t even know were there, and see landscapes that have been shrouded for decades. It’s saved thousands of lives in averted asthma and heart attacks. When this is all over, will people clamor for cleaner air?

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New York’s Power Use Crumples During the Coronavirus Shutdown

GreenTechMedia

New York has closed all non-essential businesses to battle the country’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting effects on electricity demand are becoming starkly apparent. State grid operator NYISO released data Thursday showing significant drops in energy demand across the state as the lockdown entered its third week. The drop is particularly striking in New York City — down as much as 18 percent at times — where the commercial sector uses a much higher

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The case for exploring jute as an alternative to plastic

GreenBiz

For starters, it's a material that is readily available, biodegradable and affordable.

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NREL and Utilidata Bring Smart Inverter Optimization From the Lab to the Real World

GreenTechMedia

For years, the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been working on technologies that could turn distributed energy resources (DERs) — specifically, smart solar inverters and batteries — into tools for keeping the grid stable. It’s a tough task, requiring second-by-second coordination of behind-the-meter generators, batteries and loads to prevent them from throwing grid voltage and frequencies out of whack — or beyond that, to tap thei

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Dyper and TerraCycle make composting diapers accessible

GreenBiz

Leaders from the two companies hope others will be inspired to do more to reuse or compost their products.

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AR/VR Simulations for Sustainable, Regenerative, Circular Cities

Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor

With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.

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Resurrected greenhouse to honor father of modern genetics

Inhabitat - Innovation

International architecture and urban design practice CHYBIK + KRISTOF has unveiled designs for an energy-efficient greenhouse to commemorate Gregor Mendel, a scientist and Augustinian friar regarded as the founder of the modern science of genetics.

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Episode 215: Recyclable snack pouches, climate athlete-activists

GreenBiz

Plus, how COVID-19 could affect the future of building decarbonization.

Recycling 383
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Los Angeles air quality improves amid pandemic

Inhabitat - Innovation

One positive effect of the disastrous coronavirus is that air quality is improving in Los Angeles and cities around the world.

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How Much Does Smart Fleet Charging Save? 40%, for This California Bus Operator

GreenTechMedia

As more U.S. transit agencies take their first steps toward electrification , an ecosystem of companies is bursting to life to help them with that transition. But with such novelty, it can be hard to find field data on the difference it makes to hire a professional fleet charging service. Now we have an early case study to point to. Amply Power, the fleet charging concierge startup from Green Charge Networks founder Vic Shao, just published the results from its first transit customer, Tri Delta

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How Digital Transformation will Bend the Curve of the Linear Economy Toward the Circular

Speaker: Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director of SmartNations Foundation, Jimmy Jia, Venture Partner at Pi Labs, Fabienne Durand, Senior Advisor to the SmartNations Foundation, & Roger Strukhoff, Executive Director of the Tau Institute

The Climate 4.0 Economy. Climate change is here. We see it in many ways already. Weather catastrophes: Texas freezing over, the wildfires of California, the increasingly unpredictable violence and frequency of hurricanes, the rapid melting and disappearance of polar ice caps. Much more evidence all around us. What can we do in our corporate organizations, in our homes and communities, to change the current course?

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Office building uses 112 'smart' chimneys to regulate light, air and energy

Inhabitat - Innovation

More than 100 timber chimneys topped with solar panels help reduce energy demands for this public building.

Energy 235
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As oil crashes, ‘America’s untapped energy giant’ could rise

Grist

The coronavirus pandemic has mostly yielded bad news for renewable energy. Disruptions to supply chains and slowdowns in permitting and construction have delayed solar and wind projects, endangering their eligibility for the soon-to-expire investment tax credits they rely on. There’s another form of renewable energy, however, that might see a benefit from the recent global economic upheaval and emerge in a better position to help the United States decarbonize its electricity system: geothermal.

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California city launches instant online permitting for microinverter-based solar systems

Solar Power World

While many jurisdictions have adopted no-touch permitting in recent weeks, San Luis Obispo County has gone a step further. It is now one of the first jurisdictions in California to offer instant permitting for solar. According to the building department: “The county’s online E-permitting system has been temporarily modified to accommodate the current COVID-19 shelter-in-place… The post California city launches instant online permitting for microinverter-based solar systems appeared f

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How Will COVID-19 Affect Urban Planning?

The City Fix

The impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic are still being understood, but it does seem clear that this crisis will make a mark on cities, physically and socially, that will echo for generations. How we plan our cities has always. Continue reading on TheCityFix.com.

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Los Angeles County will construct 400-MWh lithium battery to aid in closing gas-powered plants

Solar Power World

Southern California electricity provider Clean Power Alliance (CPA) inked its first Energy Storage Agreement (ESA) this week. Approved by the CPA Board of Directors on April 2, the 100-MW Luna Storage standalone battery storage project is the largest ESA deal for a CCA in California and one of the largest in the entire state. The… The post Los Angeles County will construct 400-MWh lithium battery to aid in closing gas-powered plants appeared first on Solar Power World.

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The Paul-Fleming Rule for Green Growth

Forbes Green Tech

Rather than a one-time infusion of capital, the green stimulus should be automatically renewed at 4% of GDP per year until the economy is fully decarbonized and the unemployment rate is consistently below 3.5%.

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Baltimore, Rhode Island Argue They’re Suing Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Deception

DeSmogBlog

Read time: 5 mins At a time when fossil fuel companies are using a public health crisis to demand financial and regulatory support , the governments of Baltimore and Rhode Island are calling out a “decades-long campaign of deception” by these companies in urging courts to advance lawsuits trying to hold polluters responsible for climate damages.

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How Clean Air Cities Could Outlast COVID-19 Lockdowns

Forbes Green Tech

From LA to London, the lockdown is helping give the planet a much-needed breath of fresh air, with air pollution levels dropping dramatically in major cities worldwide, mostly due to travel bans and less cars on the roads.

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Kengo Kuma, K2LD win bid to design Founders Memorial in Singapore

Inhabitat - Innovation

The new memorial will honor the founders with a nature-inspired design.

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Agent of Impact: Darrin Williams, Southern Bancorp

Impact Alpha

Since the U.S. government’s $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program kicked in a week ago, Williams and his team have processed $42 million in loan applications. Working through last weekend, Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Ark., processed loans as small as $8,000 for an African American-owned radio station and less than $2,000 for a photography studio.

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EVBox and has·to·be link networks to offer seamless EV charging throughout Europe

Charged

Charging station manufacturer EVBox and eMobility platform provider has·to·be have teamed up to grant each other’s customers reciprocal access to the two companies’ charging networks. Both companies have integrated Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) standards into their software, so they can communicate with various charging station management systems.

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A Doctor Describes The Front Lines Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

R-Squared Energy

This is the front line crew working with Dr. Matt Tipton to care for COVID-19 patients. According to Dr. Tipton, “they do the heavy lifting.” Photo by MATT TIPTON. I typically do not digress into topics outside the energy sector. But I have spent a lot of time covering the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic because of the extraordinary impact it is having on the sector. .

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Critical battery metals could be mined from polymetallic nodules found on the ocean floor

Charged

The electrification of global transport and buildout of renewable energy storage will require hundreds of millions of tons of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese. As demand rises, so will concerns about shortages, and the environmental and social costs of producing these metals. DeepGreen Metals is a deep-sea minerals exploration and development company with a mission to supply metals for the green transition with minimal environmental and social impact.

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The Week in impact investing: Forgivable

Impact Alpha

TGIF, Agents of Impact! We’re taking a “brief” break on Monday. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, Apr. 14. Keep the news, tips and submissions flowing. Weekly Briefing. On ImpactAlpha’s weekly podcast, host Brian Walsh talks with Amy Cortese about how community banks and local lenders are getting small-business relief loans to underserved communities (see No. 1, below), and.

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Lab-Grown Tuna: Freaky Or Revolutionary? Either Way, It’s Here

Forbes Green Tech

California-based startup Finless Foods is growing endangered bluefin tuna in the lab - and it could soon be on your dinner plate.

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South Korea has fast chargers at 76 gas stations, is planning thousands more

Charged

No one can yet say exactly what the charging infrastructure of the future will look like, but there’s certainly logic in the idea of installing DC fast chargers at existing gas stations. A small but growing number of station operators in the US have installed fast chargers. Total, BP and Shell are experimenting with EV charging at locations in the UK, the Netherlands and Singapore.

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A More Intelligent Approach To Capitalism

Forbes Green Tech

Capitalism is the economic expression of our species’ most powerful advantage – Adaptation. But capitalism operates according to the rules of a self-stabilizing complex system. We must change the rules of the system to give capitalism a chance to help us now.

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A little-known solar racking problem: EPDM and asphalt

Solar Power World

By Sara Carbone and Ronald Jasmin. Originally posted on sunmodo.com and reposted with permission. That story can be found here. When planning to install a rooftop solar system for a business or home, it is important to make sure all the components of the solar mounting products are compatible with the roof. There are a… The post A little-known solar racking problem: EPDM and asphalt appeared first on Solar Power World.

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Future Transport Is The Subject For RCA’s 2020 Intelligent Mobility Show

Forbes Green Tech

Emerging transport designers are tasked to collectively examine the future of travel for their final year post-graduate show at the Royal College of Art’s Masters in Intelligent Mobility

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From big money to big tech, how major brands are responding to the climate crisis

EDF Voices

Under pressure, big brands are stepping up their climate commitments, but will it be enough?

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