The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its September Electric Power Monthly, which includes data through July 2024.
Solar generation has increased by nearly 26% year over year, with a 1% rise in electricity consumption in July 2024 compared to July 2023 and a 4.5% increase in electricity generation from January to July 2024, while residential electricity prices have climbed 4.6%.
Nationally, solar has seen a steady increase, now accounting for 6.22% of all electricity generated over the past 12 months, as shown in PV Intel’s national solar data summary. This represents a 20% increase from the previous year when solar constituted 5.16% of all electricity.
Iron ore billionaire and green energy evangelist Andrew Forrest has struck a $4 billion deal that will see hundreds of giant electric trucks, excavators and dozers installed at its huge iron ore mines to help eliminate the burning of fossil fuels.
Forrest has set a target of reaching “real zero” terrestial emissions for the Pilbara iron ore operations of Fortescue Metals, and he wants to achieve that by 2030. The deal announced overnight with Leibherr – the biggest in that company’s history – will take a big step towards that goal.
The $US2.8 billion ($A4 billion) agreement with Liebherr includes the purchase of 360 autonomous battery electric haul trucks – the T264, some 55 electric excavators, and 60 new battery electric dozers under development, the PR 776.
The 240 tonne haul trucks and the dozers will use electric power and propulsion systems developed by Fortescue, and Fortescue will also supply the hundreds of giant batteries needed for the machines.
“This is an important next step in our 2030 Real Zero target – to eliminate emissions from our Australian iron ore operations by the end of the decade,” Forrest said in a statement after the announcement at a mining expo in Las Vegas.
“The world needs Real Zero now – it simply cannot afford to wait. The green solutions we need are here today, and Fortescue Zero is supplying them and rolling them out across our massive mining operations.”
Fortescue’s targets are way more ambitious than its mining peers, such as BHP and Rio Tinto, even though they are also trialling electric haul trucks and other equipment. But Forrest, who opposes the use of offsets as “greenwashing”, says the industry must move more quickly.
“We invite all companies in the mining, heavy industry and haulage sectors to join us. The solutions are there, and the missing ingredient is leadership,” he said.
It is interesting to see what some people with lots of money are doing with that money!
Jamaica is now in the throes of a “crisis”, with its total fertility rate falling below replacement-population level, a matter that has grave implications for the country’s economy, experts in the policy, medical, and academic fields are warning.
Jamaica, with a population of roughly three million, for the first time in December 2023 recorded a fertility rate of 1.9, falling below the internationally accepted 2.1 fertility rate required for maintaining the population at replacement level.
This has triggered concerns for its strategic and development outlook as the country hastens to determine the resources and policies required to maintain a sustainable population.
Where some people see a crisis, I see a blessing in disguise!
“This might be a very infrequently occurring phenomenon,” Morgado said. “But the amount of methane that’s being released could have quite a big impact on global warming.”
Solar generation up 26%, but electricity demand outpaces growth
Forrest strikes $4 billion deal for electric trucks and dozers to eliminate fossil fuels at giant mines
It is interesting to see what some people with lots of money are doing with that money!
Fertility crisis
Jamaica facing economic threat due to falling replacement-population level
Where some people see a crisis, I see a blessing in disguise!
https://news.agu.org/press-release/new-yamal-craters-explanation/
New Research!
Methane Burps! always an exciting topic.
“This might be a very infrequently occurring phenomenon,” Morgado said. “But the amount of methane that’s being released could have quite a big impact on global warming.”