Month: September 2024

One of the most pernicious myths about clean energy, particularly solar, is that “it replaces prime farm land”.
In fact, Solar (and wind, of course) saves prime farm land from development, something farmers emphasize to me over and over again. Farmers typically operate on a knife’s edge in the best of times, and being able to diversify their income with clean energy is a life saver for farms that have often been in the family for generations.

Moreover, solar in particular offers the added benefit of taking farmland out of cultivation for 30 years or more, while still providing a more than decent income for the farmer. This is something we’re going to have to be doing going forward if we think that preserving and maintaining productive soil is important. (it is)
For many years, the government has had Conservation Reserve Programs that pay farmers to take land out of production, allowing soil to regenerate. Solar fields make the same thing possible, but instead of taxpayers paying the bill, farmers get compensated generously from utilities, while producing a needed product, electricity.
While I applaud efforts to develop “Agro Voltaics” – the simultaneous use of farmland to produce electricity and crops, I hope that in promoting those practices we don’t amplify the false framing that land under solar is “lost” or “not productive”.
Soil that is not being farmed is renewing itself, providing habitat for insects, ground nesting birds and small mammals, thus addressing our biodiversity crisis at the very bottom of the food chain, recharging aquifers and even cleansing toxic chemicals out of them, and sequestering carbon. Fallow land is very much alive, active, and providing crucial services, even if a casual observer might not realize it.

Glad to see scientist Katharine Hayhoe, and writer Bill Mckibben, taking note.

Katharine Hayhoe on Linked In:

Many years ago, I was surprised to learn about the connection between solar farms and biodiversity through Rob Davis, formerly with Fresh Energy, a Minnesota-based organization that runs the Center for Pollinators in Energy. What’s the link?

Continue reading “How Solar Fields Yield Multiple Benefits for Soil”

Coastal Review:

“Seashore law enforcement rangers arrived on scene and confirmed that the unoccupied, one-story house—the same house that sustained damages as a result of the first house collapse of the day—had collapsed and apparently washed out into the ocean before the bulk of it returned to the beach at the south end of G A Kohler Court,” officials said in a press release.

Debris had apparently washed out into the ocean “before the bulk of it returned to the beach at the south end of G A Kohler Court.” Park officials urge visitors to stay out of the water and wear hard-soled shoes when walking on the beach to avoid injuries from hazardous floating debris and nail-ridden wooden debris. Due to potentially dangerous debris on the beach and in the water to the north and south of the collapse site, temporary beach closures for public safety may be necessary.

Storm’s exact track will make a big difference.

Tampa at some risk.

Deep dive below.

Continue reading “Helene Bearing Down on Florida”

Bloomberg report above refers to Nuclear power as “renewable energy”, so that’s an interesting usage.
We’re seeing a reboot of one of the 20th century’s most notorious brands.

Yahoo Finance:

Constellation Energy signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Microsoft on Friday (20 September) to help the restart of a unit of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, US.

Under the latest agreement, Microsoft will purchase energy from Three Mile Island to power its data centres in the state.

Technology companies have looked to nuclear energy, considered more reliable than solar and wind, to power their data centres for intensive activities such as cloud computing and AI.

Joe Dominguez, president and CEO of Constellation Energy, said: “Powering industries critical to our nation’s global economic and technological competitiveness, including data centres, requires an abundance of energy that is carbon-free and reliable every hour of every day, and nuclear plants are the only energy sources that can consistently deliver on that promise.”

Continue reading “AI Jump-Starting Three Mile Island: Is it Artificial, or Intelligent?”

Gulf of Mexico is at historically high temperature levels, especially in the region of the so-called “loop current”, which soon-to-be Cyclone Helene will be passing over on its way to landfall.

Jeff Berardelli:

All residents of the Panhandle, Big Bend & FL West Coast down to Tampa Bay should use this time being sure they have the hurricane supplies they need just in case. Soon to be #Helene will likely be an extremely intense hurricane with landfall Thursday.

“If you believe something, but you act like you don’t believe it, do you really believe it?”

Description:

When playwright David Finnigan launched a new play in 2014, controversially titled “Kill Climate Deniers,” he was not prepared for the blowback. But the conversations with climate skeptics of all stripes ultimately taught him a fascinating lesson about how many of us think about — and act upon — the climate crisis. (Recorded at TED2024 on April 17, 2024)

Project 2025 is the “Intellectual case” such as it is, or a roadmap, for a new Trump administration.
New NBC polling reveals the document, which has been discussed widely, has the approval of 4 percent of Americans.
The document calls for the dismantling of one of the world’s scientific crown jewels, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency.
PBS Newshour investigates, even as a new hurricane is building in the Gulf of Mexico.

Above, one model, the GFS, has a very strong CAT 4 system hitting the Florida panhandle later this week.

High chance (70 percent) for development in the Gulf, see KHOU Houston report below.

Because of course he is.
Not all climate deniers are horrible people, but most horrible people are climate deniers.
Donald Trump’s hand picked candidate for North Carolina Governor is even crazier, and sleazier, than you already knew.

Daily Beast:

An email account used by North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the self-proclaimed “Black Nazi” Republican running for the state governorship, was signed up to the language app Duolingo for German lessons, The Daily Beast has learned.

Robinson, who was revealed in a stunning CNN report Thursday to have posted on adult forums about his love of transgender porn and support for bringing back slavery, has indicated his affinity for Deutschland before — including in a 2012 post that said he preferred Adolf Hitler to Barack Obama for U.S. president.

“I’d take [Adolf] Hitler over any of the sh*t that’s in Washington right now!” he wrote on the forum “Nude Africa.” Robinson told CNN he denies posting the comments.

CNN:

Despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric, Robinson said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archived messages found in which he also referred to himself as a “perv.”

Clean Energy.org

Mark Robinson gave multiple speeches (i.e. this one and this one) last year mocking concerns about climate change, in which he called climate science, “lies,” “junk science,” and “pseudoscience,” and referred to science educators as “liars.”

Continue reading “North Carolina’s Pro Slavery, Self Described “Black Nazi” is (You Guessed it) – a Climate Denier”