Mon.Aug 17, 2020

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The many faces of energy resilience

GreenBiz

The many faces of energy resilience. Michelle Moore. Mon, 08/17/2020 - 00:30. This series explores how clean energy can deliver on finance and corporate social and governance goals alongside climate and environmental benefits. "Resilience" is a powerful word in 2020. Fires, floods, pestilence, pandemic — I don’t know about you all, but I was raised in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church and my Revelations bingo card is just about full.

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Five local authorities selected by Defra for nature recovery pilots

Envirotec Magazine

LNRS pilots will help kick-start the creation of over a million acres of habitats for wildlife and people, says Defra. Cornwall, Buckinghamshire, Greater Manchester, Northumberland and Cumbria local authorities were selected by the government on 14 August “to help kick-start nature recovery on a countrywide scale.” The selected authorities will receive a share of £1 million of funding to set up ‘Local Nature Recovery Strategies’ (LNRS) pilot studies to help map the most valuable site

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Sustainability leaders must celebrate the work of female mayors on racial equity

GreenBiz

Sustainability leaders must celebrate the work of female mayors on racial equity. Kimberly Lewis. Mon, 08/17/2020 - 01:00. Sustainability leaders are architects, designers, city planners, engineers, scientists, energy experts, lawyers, nonprofit leaders and business owners. The United Nations defines "sustainability" as meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of the next generation to meet their own needs.

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Modular Emergency Hospital 19 pops up in Italy in just 3 months

Inhabitat - Innovation

In the Milan commune of Rozzano, an inspiring pilot project for emergency healthcare architecture has popped up in just 11 weeks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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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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The Business Roundtable’s statement of purpose, one year on

GreenBiz

The Business Roundtable’s statement of purpose, one year on. Joel Makower. Mon, 08/17/2020 - 02:11. When the Business Roundtable updated its Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation a year ago this week, its members surely didn’t anticipate a global pandemic, a recession of historic proportions and a movement for racial justice becoming mainstream.

Politics 344
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Lost revenue is biggest Covid risk facing utilities

Envirotec Magazine

Non-payment of customer bills poses the biggest Covid-19 threat to water utilities worldwide, one of several water industry issues discussed at a technology consultancy’s recent webinar. Water utilities are “walking on a knife’s edge”, due to a significant loss of revenue caused by non-payment of water bills during the crisis, according to research presented at a recent webinar held by technology consultancy Isle.

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Environmental Engineering: Education, Career, and Impacts

The Environmental Blog

Engineers come from a diverse range of academic and professional backgrounds, which means that engineers are required in each and every industry. So, what exactly defines an environmental engineer? Is it a separate field of engineering altogether, or is the classification more of a job title? The answer is, it can be both, simultaneously and separately at that.

Education 195
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Elephant population in Kenya has doubled since 1989

Inhabitat - Innovation

Elephant populations are increasing in Kenya thanks to efforts in deterring poachers.

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How remote monitoring can contribute to operational success

Envirotec Magazine

Embracing digital technology will have a vital role to play in the safe, efficient and effective management of wastewater. Whether it is to minimise the impact of increasingly extreme weather events, reducing health risks or simply to streamline operational expenditure – digital monitoring and remote services can provide long term value. Here, William Jeal, Business Manager – Municipal & Digital Services at Veolia Water Technologies UK discusses the benefits.

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Super trawlers ravage UK's protected waters amid pandemic

Inhabitat - Innovation

Super trawlers have spent nearly double the amount of time in protected marine areas in half of 2020 compared to all of 2019.

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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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Selfridges unveils ambitious initiative incorporating new retail models and an attempt to shift shopping mindsets

Envirotec Magazine

Department store Selfridges has launched a new sustainability initiative, Project Earth, with a declared commitment to “change the way we shop by 2025.” The retailer says it aims to help customers change the way they shop in three ways: by addressing the materials used in products, launching and exploring new retail models such as repair and resell, and engaging with teams, partners and customers to inspire a shift in mindsets.

Retail 154
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Green-roofed California winery will blend into a beautiful valley landscape

Inhabitat - Innovation

Sustainability drove the design of this stunning winery in California's Santa Rosa Hills.

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California’s Shift From Natural Gas to Solar Is Playing a Role in Rolling Blackouts

GreenTechMedia

California was beset by its first rolling blackouts since the 2001 energy crisis, as a heatwave slammed the Western U.S. Friday and Saturday. Electricity demand for air conditioning throughout the region stretched California's power capacity and limited the state's ability to import power from nearby states. But the blackouts were also a side effect of the state’s increasing shift to solar power and away from natural-gas-fired generators, according to state grid operator CAISO and

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Instrument specialist joins ultrasonic flowmeters firm

Envirotec Magazine

Martin Hardwidge joined Katronic in July. Martin Hardwidge joined clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter specialist Katronic Technologies at the beginning of July to take on the role of Global Sales Manager, working to grow business for their portable and fixed non-invasive systems in the UK and across the distributor network, especially in Southern Europe, Asia and South America.

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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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Canadian Solar to Construct One of the Largest C&I Solar Rooftop Projects in Malaysia

altenergymag

Muda Paper is the largest industrial-grade paper producer in Malaysia. The project will be powered by 13,000 pieces of Canadian Solar's high-efficiency KuMax modules. Once in operation, the plant is expected to generate approximately 6,700 MWh of clean, reliable solar electricity each year for 25 years. The Company expects the project to reach commercial operation by the end 2020.

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How stable isotopes help the fight against air pollution

Envirotec Magazine

By Mike Seed, Sales and Product Manager at instrumentation firm Elementar UK. Air pollution is not a new problem in the UK – the London smog of 1952 killed 12,000 people. Since then, the effects of climate change, major industry and lifestyle changes have altered the air that we breathe, for example, coal-burning has dramatically declined, while increased road transport has led to new air pollutants.

Pollution 130
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Enphase Energy and Sonnenstromfabrik Launch High-Efficiency AC Modules in Europe

altenergymag

The Excellent Glass/Glass PERC60 Enphase Energized ACM features Enphase IQ 7+™ microinverters with a 96.5% Euro efficiency and 295 volt-amperes (VA) peak power which optimizes the energy yield from the PERC60 ACM for all insolation levels.

Europe 154
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Creative financing to unlock COVID aid in Alabama

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, August 17 – The financial strains the COVID pandemic has caused in many cities and states can be seen in sharp relief in Alabama’s Black Belt, a swath of 18 counties originally named for the area’s once-rich soil. Even accessing federal relief funding is a challenge in the Black Belt which contains some of. The post Creative financing to unlock COVID aid in Alabama appeared first on ImpactAlpha.

Soil 142
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Can you mix lithium and lead-acid batteries on an energy storage project?

Solar Power World

There are pros and cons associated with the two main battery chemistries used in solar + storage projects. Lead-acid batteries have been around much longer and are more easily understood but have limits to their storage capacity. Lithium-ion batteries have longer cycle lives and are lighter in weight but inherently more expensive. Can one combine… The post Can you mix lithium and lead-acid batteries on an energy storage project?

Lithium 134
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When facts fail to convince, storytelling may do the trick

Grist

Facts are great and all, but sometimes you just need to tell a good story. Sharing personal anecdotes about how the climate crisis is changing our lives for the worse can persuade people to care, according to a new study. And that’s including conservatives. In two experiments, people listened to a short radio clip from 2015 about Richard Mode, a 66-year-old North Carolinian who enjoys hunting and fishing.

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Volkswagen expands EV engineering facility in Chattanooga

Charged

Volkswagen is expanding its Chattanooga factory to build a North American center for EVs—not only for assembly but for engineering the EVs of the future. VW’s Engineering and Planning Center (EPC) will soon feature a high-voltage laboratory designed to develop and test EV cells and battery packs for upcoming models assembled in the US. The company plans to use battery cells manufactured by SKI in Georgia for its Chattanooga-built EVs.

Batteries 122
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WEBS onshore wind industry report delivers insights to drive more profitable O&M strategies

altenergymag

Launched today, the WEBS Annual Publication 2020 has unveiled a number of critical deep dive insights into the onshore wind industry that will have a major impact on owner/operators driving better returns on asset O&M during the year ahead.

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Overcoming obstacles to Navajo entrepreneurship

Impact Alpha

ImpactAlpha, August 17 – What do Zimbabwe, Central African Republic and Navajo Nation have in common? They’re all ranked among the hardest places in the world to do business. Lack of access to land, property and finance, and inadequate dispute resolution processes, means Navajo Nation, which spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, ranks with the. The post Overcoming obstacles to Navajo entrepreneurship appeared first on ImpactAlpha.

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Power For Humanity Generates Electricity Out of Thin Air

Greentown Labs

What if you could harness the air around you to power your cell phone? You’d never have to find a wall outlet, or dispose of a near-unrecyclable battery. You could power your most-used electronic in a truly renewable way. It sounds incredible, even impossible—and when researchers stumbled onto the core of this revolutionary technology, no one could believe it.

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Wildfire season is here: What to do if your solar project gets scorched 

Solar Power World

By Andrew Sundling, Head of Downstream Business Development, PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) Wildfire season has arrived in California. As a native Californian, I know personally that the fire seasons we face today are longer, more unpredictable and more destructive than they were in the past. There are many reasons for this, but an historic five-year… The post Wildfire season is here: What to do if your solar project gets scorched appeared first on Solar Power World.

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New Mexico Utility PNM Wanted to Replace Coal Power with Gas. The State Went All-In on Solar and Storage [GTM Squared]

GreenTechMedia

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Going Low-Carbon Can Help Brazil Build Back Better

The City Fix

Brazil faces a fundamental choice of how to address the convergence of multiple crises it is now seeing: health, economic and environmental. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and multiplied the risks and weaknesses in our societies and economies, disproportionately impacting poor. Continue reading on TheCityFix.com.

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How Planet is Powering xarvio’s Ambition to Support Growers in Optimizing Crop Production Globally

Planet Pulse

The importance of resilient food supply chains is more evident than ever as seen with disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding to this, the impact of climate change is becoming more apparent each season, with record warm droughts and flooding. Global events throw into relief the big question on everyone’s minds: How can we feed the global population, while avoiding irreparable harm to the planet?

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What’s the Potential ROI of Investing into Green Data Centers?

Green Living Guy

A record-breaking heatwave in Siberia would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change, a study has found. The Russian region’s temperatures were more than 5C above average between January and June of this year. Temperatures exceeded 38C in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk on 20 June, the highest temperature ever. The post What’s the Potential ROI of Investing into Green Data Centers?

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Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America Reschedule Upcoming Event to July 14-16, 2021

altenergymag

The event has been pushed back by six months with the goal of providing a more safe, productive, and enjoyable in-person gathering in accordance with state, city, and venue guidelines.

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UK whisky industry toasts £10m fund to help distilleries go green

Business Green

Applications open for £10m government funding pot to help distilleries switch to low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and repurposed waste. Whisky is already associated with some of the UK's wildest and greenest places, with iconic lines such as Glenfiddich and Bushmills made in distilleries dotted across the Scottish and Northern Irish countrysides.

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Sweat Crystals And Petal Sequins: Meet The Biomaterialist Growing Fashion In Lockdown

Forbes Green Tech

Could the future of fashion be growing in our gardens or even produced by our own bodies? Alice Potts creates unique, lab-grown materials from surprising sources that could help create a more sustainable future.

Fashion 84
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National Lottery funnels £14m into community-led climate action projects

Business Green

Projects covering farming, transport and behaviour change are the first to secure support from National Lottery's ten-year £100m Climate Action Fund. A range of green projects geared at galvanising community climate action around the UK have been awarded a share of £14m announced by the National Lottery today. The 14 sustainability projects to have secured funding, which marks the first portion awarded through National Lottery's £100m Climate Action Fund, include local food, farming,

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The Brief: Unlocking COVID aid in Alabama, Indonesia’s smallholder fish farmers, impossible food financing, clean energy takeover, Navajo entrepreneurship

Impact Alpha

Greetings, Agents of Impact! Featured: ImpactAlpha Original Creative financing to unlock COVID aid in Alabama. The financial strains the COVID pandemic has caused in many cities and states can be seen in sharp relief in Alabama’s Black Belt, originally named for the area’s rich soil. Tax receipts have plummeted while spending on public health has. The post The Brief: Unlocking COVID aid in Alabama, Indonesia’s smallholder fish farmers, impossible food financing, clean energy takeover, Navajo en

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