by Judith Curry
A few things that caught my eye this past week.
Energy
“The World’s Largest Solar Plant Just Torched Itself” [link]
Georgia Power gets green light on new nuclear plant [link]
Renewables just beat coal in the UK for the first time ever [link]…
“New form of carbon capture actually creates power, rather than consuming it” [link]
Cambridge: “CO2 can be stored underground for 10 times the length needed to avoid climatic impact” [link]
Nuclear power unaffected by extreme weather, even this unprecedented heat wave. Other sources not so good. [link]
Overselling California solar [link]
Analysis: Decline in China’s coal consumption accelerates [link]
Decentralized renewables & the rise of the micro-enterprise economy: [link]
Pumped Up: Renewables Growth Sparks Revival of Old Power-Storage Method [link]
Alex Epstein: How Opposition To Fossil Fuels Hurts The Poor Most Of All [link]
When Clean Energy is Dirtier Than Coal: [link]
Methane leaks: A dirty little secret [link]
No **** Sherlock: Renewable Energy a Disaster Says New York Times [link]
Garden grass could be source of cheap renewable energy [link]
Lomborg: Rethinking energy efficiency policies [link]
Can the US close its nuclear plants without raising emissions? Two @UCLA researchers explain how hard it will be [link]
Beyond Cap-And-Trade: Environmentalists Say California Will Have Fewer Emissions, Better Policy If Ditches Program [link]
Why #solar will wreck the economics of #power markets [link]
Pointman: The sun is setting on solar power, the money’s gone and nobody’s asking any questions. [link]
Moving To Renewable Energy Is More Costly Than You Think [link]
Renewables Subsidies Are Killing Nuclear and Threatening Climate Progress, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Study Shows [link]
Breakthrough: We need existing nuclear for near-term climate goals. We need advanced nuclear for deep decarbonization. [link]
Opening up electricity markets to advanced energy technologies: [link]
Shell is shifting to natural gas as the industry adapts to climate change [link]
Reflexive Realism: Talking with Shell about climate change [link]
Water
What Happens to the U.S. Midwest When the Water’s Gone? [link]
In wake of catastrophic floods, China questions whether #ThreeGorges Dam can stop disasters: [link]
More on the Three Gorges Dam’s flood control capabilities and its performance in one of the wettest seasons for China since the record-breaking El Niño event of 1997-98. [link]
Grain drain, Laos’ sand #Mining damaging the #Mekong [link]
Could China’s water harvesting “sponge cities” work in India? [link]
Looking to desalination as a way to reduce conflict in the Middle East [link]
Food
As Corn Devours U.S. Prairies, Greens Reconsider Biofuel Mandate [link]
Best piece of food journalism this year: “Welcome to Brazil, Where a Food Revolution Is Changing the Way People Eat” [link]
The fight for the future of food is here and the skies the limit for these hungry, hungry startups: http://bit.ly/2acsxP1
Jon Foley: Changing the global food narrative [link]
America Wastes Half The Food It Produces While Hunger Runs Rampant Around The Globe [link]
From field to fork: the six stages of wasting #food [link]
Filed under: Week in review