[GWSG] Fracking falters; Barclays ponders; oil & gas totters; Trump releases gas; eco-dipoles; India backs off; blue power; Ant. heat wave

[Tilley, Al]

1. If you have been watching the price of gas and crude oil struggling to drop yet further, you probably have assumed that fracking was in trouble. It is. “The largest cost of renewable energy is the financing.” That cost is declining as the debt market sours on fossil fuel prospects.  https://climatecrocks.com/2020/03/28/fracking-cracking-in-us-and-downunder/



2. Barclays is the largest European investor in fossil fuels. Its shareholders are backing a resolution to phase out investments which do not align with the Paris goals. The bank has responded with a plan for carbon neutrality by 2050. A shareholder group is calling for both resolutions to be approved. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/30/barclays-sets-net-zero-carbon-target-for-2050-after-investor-pressure-climate



3. The fossil fuel industry is crippled by declining sales, due largely to covid-19. Perhaps it will not recover. Whether it rebounds depends largely on our readiness to see it go.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/01/the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-broken-will-a-cleaner-climate-be-the-result



4. Trump’s rollback of auto emission standards can be read as an attempt to prop up the oil companies by supporting higher gasoline consumption. We may expect further reactionary support. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/31/trump-epa-obama-clean-car-rules-climate-change



5. Climate dipoles—compensatory changes in temperature and precipitation over great distances—can lead to ecological dipoles as species adjust to change. Citizen scientists have supplied the vast amounts of data necessary to track the patterns. https://eos.org/articles/how-climate-science-is-expanding-the-scale-of-ecological-research



6. After 10 years of development India has cancelled its tidal power program because it would produce energy at 10 to 20 times the costs of solar and wind power. https://cleantechnica.com/2020/03/30/india-gives-up-on-tidal-power/



7. While costs will need to decline if blue power is to become widely used, a number of countries are involved in developing various ways of generating energy with their oceans. https://climatenewsnetwork.net/blue-energy-revolution-comes-of-age/



8. Antarctica has just had its first heat wave of modern record. http://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-a-heatwave-how-antarctica-recorded-a-20-75-c-day-last-month-134550

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