Did You Know? 3/23/2023

Talking Points about Energy, Environment and Climate Change

Curator: Bob Kihslinger

Oceans

Unsplash Photos

"The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, between Mexico and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, where the mining test took place, has been estimated to have over 21 billion metric tons of nodules that could provide twice as much nickel and three times more cobalt than all the reserves on land."

The Conversation

"Antarctic sea ice shrank to an all-time record in February — the smallest it’s been since satellites started keeping tabs more than 40 years ago." Scientific America

"Oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth’s surface. They generate 50 percent of the atmosphere’s oxygen, capture more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and absorb between 25 and 30 percent of human-caused carbon emissions, so their role in stabilizing the climate is critical." Inside Climate News

Grist

Weather and Climate

Unsplash photos

"Atmospheric dust has increased by about 55% since the mid-1800s, an analysis suggests. And that increasing dust may have hidden up to 8% of warming from carbon emissions."

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

"The researchers found that more than 13.4 million properties will be exposed to tropical storm force or greater wind risk in 30 years that are not currently." Axios

"Between 3.3 billion and 3.6 billion people live in places “highly vulnerable to climate change,” and from 2010 to 2020, “human mortality from floods, droughts and storms was 15 times higher” in these regions than in less vulnerable regions." Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Renewable Energy

Wix photo

“Right now, over 1,000 gigawatts worth of potential clean energy projects are waiting for approval — about the current size of the entire U.S. grid — and the primary reason for the bottleneck is the lack of transmission,” Bill Gates wrote in a recent blog post about transmission lines. NBC News

"Batteries are also becoming an integral part of the increasingly renewable-powered U.S. grid. Utility-scale energy storage hit a record 4.8 gigawatts deployed in 2022, up from 3.7 gigawatts in 2021, putting the U.S. in the lead globally for grid storage capacity." Canary Media

"Solarcycle expects to expand its capacity to recycle 1 million solar panels annually by the close of this year. A ​“vertically integrated, advanced recycling factory” will follow in 2024, expanding capacity to ​“millions of panels.” Canary Media