-April 15,2020-
We’re in hot water!
The Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean waters have warmed to 88 degrees in some locations this month sending land temps soaring and increasing chances for violent storms, stronger hurricanes in coming months and flooding in the South and Midwest.Like last year farmers cant get into their fields. Last Friday, the state of Yucatan, Mexico tied its all-time high with 113°F in Motul…and on Sunday, Miami had its warmest April low on record: 81°F.
March 2020 was Earth’s second-warmest March in 141 years of temperature records, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reported in its monthly summary of global climate in the past few days.
NOAA’s report released Monday found that global land and ocean temperatures in March were 2.09 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. That was the second-highest monthly temperature departure from average for any March in 141 years of recordkeeping, and it tied with February 2020 and December 2015 as the third-highest departure from average for any month in the 1,683-month record.
Earth’s five warmest Marches have occurred since 2015.
What if every window in your house could generate electricity?
What if every window in your house could generate electricity? One Redwood City, California-based startup thinks its technology can achieve that by transforming the way solar power is collected and harnessed.
Ubiquitous Energy has developed transparent solar cells to create its ClearView Power windows, a kind of “solar glass” that can turn sunlight into energy without needing the bluish-grey opaque panels those cells are generally associated with. The company, spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, hopes to use that tech to turn practically any everyday glass surface into a solar cell.
From East Bay Times
WSJ: Oil price below zero?
“The coronavirus pandemic is turning oil markets upside down.While U.S. crude futures have shed half of their value this year, prices for actual barrels of oil in some places have fallen even further. Storage around the globe is rapidly filling and, in areas where crude is hard to transport, producers could soon be forced to pay consumers to take it off their hands—effectively pushing prices below zero.”
Coal production heads south
For the week ended April 4, 2020 the estimated U.S. coal production totaled about 10.2 million short tons.This production estimate is 6.9% lower than last week’s estimate and 22.5% lower than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2019. source EIA
Rail shipments down 16%
Lompoc Wind farm
Strauss Wind Energy Project is located on a 1561 acre site is 1.8 miles southwest of the City of Lompoc. It would feature 29 wind turbines producing 98-MW and would create approximately $40 million in tax revenue over its 30-year projected operation according to proponents. Opponents continue to file appeals against the project despite recent approval from California Fish and Game.
CPUC targets lower emissions
The California Public Utilities Commission recently set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 46 million metric tons by 2030, 56% below 1990 levels. The goal outpaces the state’s overall goal of slashing emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
California electricity providers will need to develop nearly 25 gigawatts of renewable energy and battery storage to achieve the goal, nearly double the amount the state has currently, CPUC Commissioner Liane Randolph said in a statement. The agency anticipates 8,900 MW of energy storage will be included in that total, or about eight times more than existed in the entire United States at the end of 2018.