[GWSG] Yummy blades; new mines & factories; hydrate threat; Al-S battery; UK's cheap power; CA bans new ICE, 2035

[Tilley, Al]

1. A team at Michigan SU has developed a wind turbine blade which can be recycled into more turbine blades, or into gummy bears (among other things). https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/23/wind-turbine-blades-could-recycled-gummy-bears-scientists

2. The requirements for subsidies of electric vehicles in the US are driving mining in Canada and new factories in the US. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/08/23/policies-matter-volkswagen-mercedes-hyundai-react-to-inflation-reduction-act/

3. In the Eemian period 125,000 years ago a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) appears to have led to a warming of the continental shelf off Africa, destabilizing methane hydrates on the shelf and leading to a significant release of methane. The study leaves much room for speculation and hypothesizing. However, the AMOC is thought to be at the tipping point to a lower volume of circulation, and the methane hydrates on the shelves off Africa and around the Arctic are so pervasive that the news cannot help being a bit ominous. One reassuring recent finding is that most of the methane released from hydrates is converted, eaten, or absorbed in the water column and little makes it to the atmosphere. How much of a truly vast release would reach the surface is not known, though.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/24/methane-hydrates-ocean-global-warming/

4.  An aluminum-sulfur battery costs a sixth of the Li-ion battery, lasts well, charges quickly, can’t catch fire, and is made of some of the earth’s most common substances. It looks most apt for smaller uses—home power storage and vehicle charging stations, for example. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-08-aluminum-sulfur-battery-low-cost-backup-storage.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter

5. The record low price the UK will pay for 11 gigabytes of wind and solar power is 9 times cheaper than the equivalent power from commercial gas. The cheapest power will come from offshore wind. The UK intends to get 95% of their power from low-carbon sources by 2035 and to decarbonize their grid by 2035. They expect people’s power bills to drop.    https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-record-low-price-for-uk-offshore-wind-is-four-times-cheaper-than-gas/?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=20220825&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20Daily

6. CA is expected ban all new cars running only on gas as of 2035. Since the CA market is so large, this will add momentum to the national shift to electric vehicles. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/24/california-climate-cars/?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=20220825&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20Daily

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