decade

A big year for battery storage

January 29, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A decade ago, the ability of utilities to store large amounts of electricity in batteries was basically nonexistent. In the past several years, growth in battery storage systems has exploded. As of the end of November, the US had about 24 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity in place. This is 71% more than just a year ago. Nearly half of the battery storage in the US is located in California. Texas, Arizona, and Nevada are also leaders in deploying battery storage.

Battery storage allows solar and wind generating plants to keep operating when there is reduced demand for their output and have the electricity that they produce be available later when demand rises. Storing this excess electricity essentially extends the hours of the day when clean energy can be used.

Equally important, the existence of battery storage reduces the need for peaker plants, the fossil-fueled power plants that only turn on at times of peak demand, such as during hot afternoons.

There are 1,000 peaker plants in the US and they are generally heavily polluting, inefficient, and expensive to operate. Some 63 million people live within a three-mile radius of one of them and are exposed to harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. Peaker plants also release more greenhouse gases than other power plants do for every unit of electricity they generate.

Many battery storage facilities are co-located with, or otherwise support, solar energy plants. The amount of solar energy in the US is growing rapidly and surpassed the 100-gigawatt mark in 2024. As solar power continues to expand, so will battery energy storage.

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Battery projects soared again in 2024

Photo, posted August 3, 2024, courtesy of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Extreme geothermal power

November 25, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Krafla is one of the most explosive volcanoes in Iceland, which is home to many active volcanoes, including one recently in the news near Reykjavik that hadn’t erupted for 800 years . Krafla is the site of the Krafla Magma Testbed, which may end up being for geoscientists what the Large Hadron Collider has been for particle physicists.

For over a decade, researchers have been drilling straight into the ground at Krafla to study what goes on deep beneath an active volcano. Ten years ago, they encountered an unexpected magma chamber a little over a mile down. Their equipment was destroyed but the researchers decided that they had uncovered a unique opportunity to study magma dynamics and potentially be able to tap into a significant new energy source.

The plan is to use the tremendous heat energy contained in magma to dramatically improve the production of geothermal energy. Krafla is already the site of a geothermal energy plant that makes use of the heat beneath the surface to boil water that then drives turbines to generate electricity.

Forthcoming drilling projects will make use of new equipment that can handle the harsh conditions that will be encountered in the magma chamber. The goal is to tap directly into the magma to produce superheated steam that could produce ten times more power than conventional geothermal systems. Conventional systems access temperatures around 200 to 300 degrees; the magma is at 1,800 degrees.

It will take a few years to complete the project, but if it is successful, it could have implications well beyond Iceland. There are many active volcanoes all over the world.

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Drilling into magma: Risky plan takes geothermal to supercritical extremes

Photo courtesy of Landsvirkjun.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Increasing plastic recycling

August 15, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Recycling plastic is a complicated matter. There are many different types of plastic and knowing which things are made of which type isn’t easy. There are increasingly widespread recycling systems across the U.S., but the actual rates of recycling have been described as “abysmal”.

The plastic commonly used in beverage bottles is polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. The present nationwide rate of recycling PET is about 24% and has been about at that level for a decade.

A new study by MIT has found that with a nationwide bottle deposit program, the rates could increase to 82%. At that level, nearly two-thirds of all PET bottles could be recycled into new bottles at a net cost of just a penny a bottle.

The study looked at PET bottle collection and recycling rates in different states as well as other nations with and without bottle deposit policies, and with and without curbside recycling programs. The study is the first to look in detail at the interplay between public policies and the detailed end-to-end aspects of the packaging, production and recycling market.

Recycling of PET is highly successful in terms of quality. New products made from all-recycled material is virtually indistinguishable from virgin material. The crucial bottleneck is the collection of sufficient amounts of material to meet the needs of processing plants. So, the conclusion of the study is that with the right policies in place, significant improvements can be made. Several European countries manage to collect more than 90% of PET bottles for recycling. So, it can be done.

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How to increase the rate of plastics recycling

Photo, posted August 10, 2013, courtesy of Lisa Risager via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate change lawsuits

May 7, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For the better part of a decade, there have been lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for their actions related to climate change. The Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit that provides legal support to communities suing oil companies, has tracked 32 cases filed by state attorneys general, cities, counties, and tribal nations against companies including Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell.

There has been extensive news reporting about oil companies’ efforts to undermine the scientific consensus about the climate as well as revelations about oil companies hiding their own research over decades projecting the dangers of climate change.

Oil companies have long sought to shut down the lawsuits or move them from the state courts where they were filed to federal courts where they believe national regulations could override local governments’ claims against them. But a string of circuit court and U.S. Supreme Court decisions have ruled that the cases alleging violations of state laws do belong in state courts.

The first case to reach trial will likely be a Massachusetts case against Exxon Mobil and that could happen as soon as next year.

What do these lawsuits seek? Some seek to force oil companies to pay for the past and future damages caused by climate change that are costing states and communities billions of dollars. Others seek to stop defendants from making false and misleading statements about the effects of burning fossil fuels, from greenwashing their own activities, and to fund corrective education campaigns.

The first trials could lead to a tidal wave of new cases, similar to what happened in the 1990s when tobacco companies were forced to pay billions of dollars under legal settlements.

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After a long slog, climate change lawsuits will finally put Big Oil on trial

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Chad Davis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

An Agreement To Protect Biodiversity | Earth Wise

January 18, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in December concluded with a historic deal aimed at stemming the rising tide of extinctions. Nearly 200 countries signed on to the agreement to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and sea by the end of this decade.

Part of the agreement also pledges that countries will reduce fertilizer runoff from farms by 50%, reduce the use of harmful pesticides by 50%, and stem the flow of invasive species.

Of course, all of these promises are only words unless they are backed up by actions and actions cost money. The agreement promises to direct $200 billion a year towards biodiversity by the end of this decade. Wealthy countries were urged to provide $100 billion a year to fund the actions of poorer countries, but they resisted the pressure. Eventually, they did agree to send $30 billion a year to developing countries by 2030.

It is a significant step forward to establish clear targets for stopping biodiversity loss. However, the ultimate success of the pact will depend on the willingness of countries to cooperate and compromise.

According to UN estimates, about a million species across the globe face extinction as a result of rising temperatures, air and water pollution, invasive species, and habitat loss due to development. At present, only 16% of land and 8% of the oceans are within protected areas.

The UN Environment Program stated that “for far too long humanity has paved over, fragmented, over-extracted, and destroyed the natural world on which we all depend. Now is our chance to shore up and strengthen the web of life, so it can carry the full weight of generations to come.”

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In Historic Deal, Countries Agree to Protect 30 Percent of Earth to Halt Biodiversity Loss

Photo, posted August 13, 2015, courtesy of Andrew H via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio