[GWSG] Turbine designs; JEA closes coal plant; VA cap-and-trade; NYT Ant. series; COP 23; uncovering corp. lobbyists

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Guardian has assembled photos of innovative wind turbine designs-dirigibles, kites, vortices, hummingbird wings. . ..  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/gallery/2017/may/08/renewables-wind-energy-turbines-tech-kites-drones-in-pictures?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=fb5707532c-Clean+Economy+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-fb5707532c-326454481



2.  Next year the Jacksonville Electric Authority is closing a large coal plant to the north of town, the 253rd US coal plant to be retired since 2010.  List member Tom Larson comments in the story on the opportunity this gives JEA to develop solar power.  In the recent past JEA has been more prone to increasingly unattractive natural gas and to involvement in the Vogtle nuclear plants in Georgia, now in serious difficulty. They have also developed modest solar projects, while colluding with The Southern Company and Florida Power and Light to obstruct the development of distributed solar power.  It is certainly time for a strong turn toward renewables. http://www.ecowatch.com/st-johns-coal-plant-retire-2410358867.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=ef3ed7baf5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-ef3ed7baf5-85965093



3.  Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has ordered state regulators to fashion a cap-and-trade program, defying current President Trump's attempts to shut down efforts to deal with climate risks.  Virginia Republican legislators may try to block the program.  Virginia would be the 11th state to develop cap-and-trade, and might join some of the others in a common system.  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052017/virginia-mcauliffe-climate-change-cap-and-trade-carbon-emissions-trading-trump



4.  The NY Times is running a three-part series on the Antarctic with some terrific graphics. The general message is that the continent has the potential to cause major sea level rise but the timing is uncertain.  (The worst-case projection of six feet of sea level rise by 2100 that the story uses was announced by NOAA over three years ago and may well be too conservative.)  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/18/climate/antarctica-ice-melt-climate-change-flood.html



5.  COP 23, scheduled for November 6-17 in Bonn, Germany, takes its organizational themes from Fijian culture and will highlight the concerns of smaller island nations.  http://newsroom.unfccc.int/cop-23-bonn/plans-for-un-climate-change-conference-cop23-in-bonn-in-november-on-track/



6.  Developing nations are succeeding in forcing fossil fuel interests attending UN climate talks to declare their conflicts of interest.  "As longs as your business model depends on extracting and burning fossil fuels, you have no place helping to craft climate policy," said Jesse Bragg of Corporate Accountability International. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/17/fossil-fuel-lobby-to-declare-interests-at-un-talks  ?

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