[GWSG] High wind; Jakobshavn unstable; E Ant. news; Hydrostor; fuel cells emerge; Chomsky speaks; desert water box

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Germany's EON is backing a test of power production from a drone tethered in high altitude winds.  The technology has the potential to halve the cost of offshore wind.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-11/flying-drones-that-generate-power-from-wind-get-backing-from-eon



2.  Jakobshavn, Greenland's largest glacier, is configured for more rapid ice loss than previously thought.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/11/scientists-just-uncovered-some-troubling-news-about-greenlands-most-enormous-glacier/?utm_source=rss_energy-environment&utm_term=.4ecbb9ec269a



3.  Recent research has shown that "almost everything we thought we knew about East Antarctica has turned out to be wrong." Vast areas lie beneath sea level and are susceptible to melt from warm waters.  Subsurface lakes flood to the coast.  Its past is marked with large melts in warm periods. Models have not yet been adjusted for the new research.  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antarctica-rsquo-s-sleeping-ice-giant-could-wake-soon/



4.  Canada's Hydrostor offers to use shuttered coal plants to house a compressed air power storage system. Their design is competitive with batteries and natural gas in price, does not degrade in capacity with time, and is scalable up to hundreds of megawatts. Hydrostor proposes not only to use the coal plants but to employ coal miners, who have the skills necessary to construct and tend the caverns used to store the compressed air.  https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Plan-to-Turn-Shuttered-Coal-Plants-Cutting-Edge-Compressed-Air-Storage?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=GTMDaily



5.  Amazon is ordering hydrogen fuel cell powered forklifts.  Several auto manufacturers may offer fuel cell vehicles, and Toyota has discussed organizing a string of fueling stations.  http://www.triplepundit.com/2017/04/amazon-hydrogen-fuell-cell/?utm_source=WEEKLY+TriplePundit+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=c403ab8ad3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d50d22c4a-c403ab8ad3-220517653  Whether this is good news depends on how the hydrogen is generated.  If from natural gas, as almost all presently is, it's likely to be bad news for the climate; if Toyota finds some way to, say, efficiently fractionate water with renewable energy, it could be good news.



6.  Last month at MIT Noam Chomsky spoke for an hour and answered questions for twenty-four further minutes on climate change and nuclear weapons: Racing to the Precipice.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK0R_06zOOY  It is an informed review of and meditation on the situation, an antidote to small thinking. What better project for the weekend?  At first you may be inclined to despair.  Refrain, and recommit to the battle, with support from the master. Is it better to be smart or stupid? We have an imperative to answer that for ourselves.



7.  A new device the size of a tissue box uses solar heat to draw enough water from even dry air to sustain a person.  It promises to be scalable.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/13/this-device-pulls-drinking-water-straight-out-of-the-air-and-it-runs-entirely-off-grid/?utm_term=.e08fbfce94bb  ?

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