In addition to CO2, burning carbon releases a wide variety of other pollutants that we will spare ourselves by going fully renewable. This is the year of Peak Carbon, so it is also the year of Peak Noxious Everything. It’s all downhill from here.
Sustainability by numbers: The world has (Probably) passed peak pollution
The health impacts of air pollution are often underrated. There are a range of estimates for how many people die prematurely from local air pollution every year.1 All are in the low millions. The World Health Organization estimates around 7 million.
The good news, then, is that the world is probably passed “peak pollution”. I say “probably” because confidently declaring a peak is, apparently, the best way to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Here, I’m talking specifically about emissions of harmful local air pollutants: gases like nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide which causes acid rain, carbon monoxide, black carbon, organic carbon, non-methane volatile organic compounds. I’m not talking about greenhouse gases.
The Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) recently extended its long-term dataset on emissions of air pollutants up to the end of 2022.
(Emphasis added)
The Stanford Solutions Project has published estimates, for years, of deaths that can be prevented by going over to non-polluting energy. In the US, for example, their number is
Lives lost to air pollution that we could save each year: 62,676
That’s entirely separate from money saved and jobs created.
This is not to say that any of our problems are over. It says that they are now at their very worst ever before things get any better. So we have both good news and bad news today—actually, more than we have room for. Isn’t that a wonderful problem to have?
Let’s start with the Good News.
Renewables
The great news keeps pouring in
A peak of 145% of California's main grid demand was met by #WindWaterSolar today, and #WWS met >100% of demand for 9.75 hours.
Yesterday's peak was 147%
Today was the 44th day straight and 68th of 74 where WWS exceeded demand for part of the day
Jacobson has been posting updates to this news every day, and bids fair to continue until California is running at 100% 24/7. Then perhaps we can move on to, I don’t know—Texas? Well, OK, probably not immediately. But somewhere.
Oh, wait!
Good morning with good news: Both Texas and California set yesterday new solar records at 19.1 GW and 18.9 GW. Wow! Credit @jdeely.
One in 5 Americans live in TX & CA!
CA & TX generated 34% & 28% of their power from wind & solar in 2023. W&S will soon generate more than 35%!
Portugal is averaging 91% renewable electricity in 2024, with Europe’s lowest power prices
Despite a recovery in electricity demand in [solar], fossil generation [is down] by 18% year-on-year for the first four months of 2024.
Meanwhile, wind and solar generation [are up] by 14% compared to the same period last year.
https://ember-climate.org/insights/in-br
In 2023, renewables comprised 13% of South Africa's electricity mix (the world average: 30.3%)Meanwhile, 0.3% of new cars sold in South Africa were fully electric or plug-in hybrids (world average 18%).We're falling further behind by the day.
But they are moving forward, even if slowly. We will look at the sad state of renewable energy all over Africa next week.
How the South Pole research station could run on 100% renewables
“For an example steady-state load of 170 kW, this hybrid system includes 180 kW-DC of PV, 570 kW of wind, and a 3.4 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system"
https://reneweconomy.com.au/how-the-south-pole-research-station-could-run-on-100-renewable-energy/ @renew_economy
RANKED: The world’s top wind generators
Does your country make the list?
ember-climate.org/...
Nuclear/renewables cost comparison.
That's why the finance market has fled new nuclear.
Good climate news this week
1 China: New EVs hit 44% of sales in April
2 EU: we're cutting trucks' emissions 90% by 2040
3 India: coal below 50% for 1st time since 1960s
4 US: New grid rules to speed energy transition
5 Court: Germany must amend bad climate plan
6 Philippines extends zero tariffs on EVs
7 Russian activists sue over weak climate policy
Good climate news this week
1 Wind+solar fastest-growing electricity sources in history
2 Renewables pass 30% of world electricity supply
3 Cleantech manufacturing investment up 70%
4 Vermont 1st to charge Big Oil for climate damage
5 UK's climate action plan unlawful, High Court rules
6 London mayor vows more climate action after win
7 Massive Shell Oil sales of phantom carbon credits exposed
EVs
Let’s repeat some of that last post.
1 China: New EVs hit 44% of sales in April
2 EU: we're cutting trucks' emissions 90% by 2040
But wait! There’s more!
Good morning with good news: Global peak ICE fleet is likely by 2026 to 2028, the year when total ICE vehicles on world's roads peaks, then falls. ICE vehicle sales peaked in 2017 and were down to 2011 levels in 2023.
Peak ICE Fleet Is Closer Than We Believe - CleanTechnica
That’s one tipping point in 2017, and another predicted in 2-4 years.
Good morning with good news: Global EV sales rose 21% in April 2024, compared to April 2023.
EV sales in China are jumping, up 30% in 2024 through April. In Europe & North America, sales grew 8% & 7%.
EVs are near 45% of China's auto sales.
https://bit.ly/3OnZNWf
Shenzen is the first city in the world to [make] all its public transportation electric. 16,000 buses, 20,000 taxis all without combustion engines. Who's next?
We have so many solutions. Dump fossil fuels and implement them. #ActOnClimate
#Climate #Energy #Evs #renewables
Oakland has done it.
It is the first U.S. school district to transition to a 100% battery-electric school bus fleet (74 buses).
The buses provide electricity back to the grid as well.
Will improve the health of everyone and the climate.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/15/oakland-is-now-first-in-the-us-to-have-a-100-electric-school-bus-fleet-and-its-v2g/ @ElectrekCo
Battery recycling shatters the myth of electric-vehicle waste
- EV recycling is already profitable and capable of recovering more than 95% of the key minerals
Wow! Ethiopia is jumping to EVs & will ban importing ICE. Why? It can't afford to spend annually $5 billion on oil imports!
EVs are already ~10% of Ethiopia's auto FLEET!
Ethiopia Shows Us Just How Fast The Transition To Electric Mobility Can Happen In Africa - CleanTechnica
Many sunny countries have yet to unleash the potential of solar power.
Chile shows what can be done, with 20% [solar] electricity in 2023, up from 2% in 2015.
And even less sunny countries, like the Netherlands (17%), can benefit from solar.
https://ember-climate.org/insights/resea
Global Warming Disasters Continue
Now the bad.
From our archives: Rising seas are pushing saltwater into river deltas, while soaring temperatures are drying out farmland, leaving salt behind.
Though rarely discussed, mounting salt levels pose a major threat to farms and fresh water worldwide.
Giant Hail Is the Weather Threat Keeping Insurers Up at Night
Powerful hail storms are wreaking more destruction in the US and Europe, at a cost of billions of dollars a year.
On May 9, hailstones the size of baseballs pummeled San Marcos and Johnson City, Texas, taking down power lines and cracking car windscreens.
Only weeks before, hail pounded a solar farm in the state, damaging many panels. And in mid-March, grapefruit-sized hail pelted down from the skies over Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, leading to damages on the ground exceeding $4 billion.
For insurers, the first half of 2024 has underscored the growing threat posed by hail, which accounts for more and more of the industry’s losses in the US and Europe.
(emphasis added)
The Greenland ice cap is losing around 30 MILLION tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis - 20% MORE than what scientists originally thought.
No time to waste. Stopfossifuels. #ActOnClimate
#climate #energy #renewables #go100re
About a fifth of America’s petrochemical production is concentrated on a stretch of land along the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana. That production comes with serious risks.
Including premature and low-birth-weight babies.
Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought.
The Wildcat Fire burning through saguaro forest northeast of Scottsdale last night. Unlike Arizona’s fire-adapted pine forests, the Sonoran Desert isnt adapted conflagrations. Climate change &invasives like buffelgrass are bringing new fire regimes. https://azcentral.com/story/news/loc
Denial Also Persists
That 97% meme from 2010 is irrevocably, immovably stuck in the public consciousness, regardless of any later facts.
From Daily Kos
Meteor Blades
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
146
29
May 19th 2024, 2:05:18 pm EDT
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
34
9
May 19th 2024, 2:00:25 pm EDT
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
187
109
May 18th 2024, 11:12:10 am EDT
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
475
153
May 17th 2024, 1:46:14 pm EDT
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
113
37
May 15th 2024, 2:01:02 pm EDT
-
Meteor Blades Daily Kos Staff Emeritus
142
39
May 12th 2024, 2:00:13 pm EDT