[GWSG] What's growing; EU off Russian gas; US mining initiative; our bind; Theron's Li-S battery; IPCC's AR6 complete

[Tilley, Al]

1. The growth in the US power supply is increasingly in solar generation and batteries. A bar graph 2011-2023 makes the case. https://climatecrocks.com/2022/04/01/graph-of-the-week-solar-and-battery-deployment-in-us/

2. The EU has resolved to cut their consumption of Russian gas two-thirds this year and entirely within five years. Some in the US—even some in our administration—would like them to replace it with US gas. The EU’s energy commissioner, however, vows that they will do “whatever it takes” to rebuild their solar manufacturing industry. Their detailed plan is due next month. It won’t target 100% renewable by 2030, or even half, but it promises to head in that direction. We may hope to sell less and less gas to the EU.   https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/eu-will-do-whatever-it-takes-bring-solar-energy-manufacturing-back-europe-2022-03-31/

3. President Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to support the extraction of minerals used to produce batteries for EVs and storage of renewable energy. https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/eu-will-do-whatever-it-takes-bring-solar-energy-manufacturing-back-europe-2022-03-31/

4. At the same time, the President is still trying to ramp up oil and gas production. The future cannot lie with that, as he acknowledges. The headline of this CNN article says the world is stuck between item 3 above and the lure of gas and oil. We are assured that this is only a temporary dissonance occasioned by political necessity.   https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/climate-change-gas-prices-oil-what-matters/index.html

5. New German battery company Theron is offering its lithium-sulfur battery to aerospace applications, air taxis, drones, mobile phones, and laptops as it moves toward the electric auto market, planned for 2024. The batteries are much cheaper and much more powerful than the current Li-ion batteries. 900-miles range batteries could greatly reduce the scale of charging stations needed to electrify transportation, and greatly cheaper electric cars could lead to a conversion pace limited only by manufacturing capacity.  https://cleantechnica.com/2022/04/02/new-sulfur-battery-promises-300-more-ev-range/

6. The IPCC has released the third and final section of its Assessment Report 6, concerning mitigation. AR6 is likely to be the last report released by the IPCC while we still have a chance to avert a climate breakdown.  Imperial College’s Jim Skea, co-chair of the working group behind the report, said “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C. Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.” The Guardian story summarizes the necessary actions, and all sound quite possible. The final version of the 63 page summary for policymakers was approved by all 195 governments.   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/04/ipcc-report-now-or-never-if-world-stave-off-climate-disaster

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