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Renewable Friday: More Tipping Points More [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-06

We are nearing Peak Everything. Peak Coal was back in 2013. Peak carbon per capita was several years back. We are just about at Peak Carbon, and closing in on Peak Gas and Peak Oil. Peak plastic going into the oceans. Peak Children, with Peak Humanity a few decades further off. Peak deforestation. Peak agricultural land. We are sliding down the other side of each of those curves, in some cases toward Net Zero (all fossil carbon other than chemical feedstocks), in some cases toward a sustainable level (agriculture, for example). I have written about each of them at various points in this series. Peak Denial and Peak Obstruction, too, even with Trumpish threats. Some things are just taking off, like electric ships and aircraft, and fossil carbon litigation.

Enjoy.

x EU On Track for 54% Emissions Cut by 2030, Sets Sights on 90% by 2040

->The Energy Mix | #Emission #ClimateChange | More info from EcoSearch



[image or embed] — Climate, Ecology, War and More by Dr. Glen Barry (@bigearthdata.bsky.social) June 3, 2025 at 12:26 AM

x Want to attract capital to AB?

Make it easy to invest in the energy attracting the most capital: clean tech.

Not what we're doing, chasing it away.

"Global energy investment is set to increase to a record US$3.3T this year, with clean technologies attracting 2x as much capital as fossil fuels"



[image or embed] — 🇨🇦Joe Vipond🇨🇦 (@jvipondmd.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:13 AM

x 2025 Global Energy Investment to Reach Record $3.3 Trillion, Driven by 'Clean Technologies': IEA Report

->EcoWatch | More info from EcoSearch



[image or embed] — Climate, Ecology, War and More by Dr. Glen Barry (@bigearthdata.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 10:02 PM

x .

This small Finnish city is showing the world how to become carbon neutral



Lahti is aiming for 80% cut CO2, with the rest offset by reforestation



We need to take urgent #ClimateAction to avoid the worst of Climate Change!



www.weforum.org/agenda/2023...



via @wef 🌎🌍🌏



[image or embed] — My Zero Carbon #ClimateAction (@myzerocarbon.org) June 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM

x The 1000+ acre site is a good match for the agrivoltaic plant, as it was already the location for Vatican Radio transmission facilities for digital broadcasting. Now the new plant can power the Vatican Radio with the larger goal to contribute to “complete energy sustenance of Vatican City State.”



[image or embed] — hopebuilding (@hopebuilding.bsky.social) June 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM

x News from E+E Leader ♨️ Geothermal is heating up.

A new USGS report shows the Great Basin could power 10% of U.S. electricity through enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). 🌋 135 GW potential

🌐 6 Western states

⚡… http://dlvr.it/TLB4W5 #GeothermalEnergy #ClimateTech #CleanPower #EnergyInnovation #EGS



[image or embed] — Environment+Energy Leader (@eeleader.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 5:24 AM

x It's been obvious for a few years that going all out on both clean energy & coal power would lead to a glut. The timing is problematic as new solar&wind projects have just been told to secure market contracts instead of being guaranteed the benchmark price for coal.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...



[image or embed] — Lauri Myllyvirta (@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 10:47 PM

x WATER IS LIFE . . . Gila River Tribes Intend to Float Solar Panels on a Reservoir. Could the Technology Help the Colorado River? insideclimatenews.org/news/0106202...



[image or embed] — tamchance.bsky.social (@tamchance.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 7:24 PM

Nanodomains are Key to Next-Gen Solar Cells

Researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) have found that dynamic nanodomains within lead halide perovskites – materials at the forefront of solar cell innovation – hold a key to boosting their efficiency and stability. The findings reveal the nature of these microscopic structures, and how they impact the way electrons are energised from the light and transported through the material, offering insights to more efficient solar cells. The study was led by Milos Dubajic and Professor Sam Stranks from the Optoelectronic Materials and Device Spectroscopy Group research group at CEB, in collaboration with an international network, with key contributions from Imperial College London, UNSW Sydney, Colorado State University, ANSTO Sydney, and synchrotron facilities in Australia, the UK, and Germany. Their research shows that by understanding the behaviour of these nanodomains, engineers could fine-tune the properties of perovskites to improve the performance and longevity of solar cells. Until now, the fluctuating nature of these nanodomains had not been fully understood, but this study suggests that mastering their behaviour could enable perovskites to reach their full potential.

Scientists Create Living Plastic Alternative

The material, which was created by a team from Empa in Switzerland, manages to balance biodegradability with toughness and versatility – a feat that is far from easy in materials science. The researchers processed fibers from the mycelium (the root-like part) of the split-gill mushroom (Schizophyllum commune) into a liquid mixture, without actually killing them off or destroying their natural biological functions. The resulting gel-like material is called living fiber dispersions, or LFD, and it can be molded into many different forms. It also makes full use of the extra substances produced by mushrooms, where other biomaterials might just use the core fungal cells. "The fungus uses this extracellular matrix to give itself structure and other functional properties," says materials scientist Ashutosh Sinha, from Empa. "Why shouldn't we do the same?"

x It turns out that people do want electric vehicles if they are given the chance to buy them.



[image or embed] — Daniel Chomsky (@danielchomsky.bsky.social) June 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM

A Single Gene in Rice Could Be Key to Feeding a Hotter World

Rising global temperatures are threatening rice, a staple food that nourishes billions of people around the world. But researchers say they may have discovered a way to improve harvests and grain quality: by essentially silencing a temperature-sensitive gene found in some common rice varieties. A team of scientists in China recently announced that they had identified a gene that, when overheated, appears to have a negative impact on crops, lowering yield and producing chalky-looking, pasty-tasting grains. But when that gene is deactivated — through gene editing or through breeding that capitalizes on a naturally occurring variant that doesn’t react to higher temperatures — rice plants produce more and better grains, according to a peer-reviewed paper published last month in the journal Cell. The finding represents “a breakthrough for breeding high-yield, superior rice varieties resilient to rising temperatures,” emailed Yibo Li, the paper’s lead researcher and a plant geneticist with Huazhong Agricultural University in China. Outside experts said there could be great potential in being able to tweak a single gene that is responsible for controlling both yield and quality.

Scientists Develop “Living Concrete” That Self-Heals

Concrete is an excellent and versatile material, but it's not without its limitations. One of the biggest problems materials scientists are keen to find a workaround for is its brittleness. Concrete doesn't have very high tensile strength at all, which means it's prone to cracking under stress. One way of resolving this issue would be to develop concrete that can fill in its own cracks, and a new method could be that panacea. A team led by mechanical engineer Congrui Grace Jin of Texas A&M University has developed concrete that can heal itself by harnessing the power of synthetic lichen. It improves on previous attempts at creating self-healing 'living' concrete made using bacteria, the researchers say, by being fully self sustainable. "Microbe-mediated self-healing concrete has been extensively investigated for more than three decades," Jin explains, "but it still suffers from one important limitation – none of the current self-healing approaches are fully autonomous since they require an external supply of nutrients for the healing agents to continuously produce repair materials."

x By investing in electric arc furnaces, Nippon Steel has shown it is willing to back proven, commercially ready solutions with significant emissions reduction potential. www.accr.org.au/news/nippon-...



[image or embed] — Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) (@accr.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 10:25 PM

x Heat pumps have become the norm in Germany’s new homes. New data shows the climate-friendly heating technology was installed in a record number of new homes in 2024. reneweconomy.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?... — Paul Brown (@pbrown4348.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Denial & Obstruction

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