[GWSG] Kuwait's heat; global rise; adaptation efforts; solar footprint; dirty H; old wells; well shuck

[Tilley, Al]

1. As the heat rises, Kuwait is becoming unlivable. Yet because its considerable wealth comes from oil, Kuwait is showing little will to control the use of fossil fuels. https://climatecrocks.com/2022/01/18/what-happens-when-a-country-becomes-unlivable/



2. This WA Post story uses vivid graphics to illustrate the rise in global temperatures over the past century. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/18/2021-northern-hemisphere-temperature-records/



3. Most climate adaptation measures begin locally. While many societies are adapting, both in behavior and in material culture, researchers worry that the changes are insufficient to deal with the changing conditions. https://phys.org/news/2022-01-humans-climate-quickly.html



4. A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory-Bowdoin College study found that in the last decade utility-scale solar power has increased in efficiency by about a third to a half. Current projects will need to use that much less land area per unit of power produced, saving considerable money and easing siting difficulties. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/news/new-utility-scale-solar-needs-far-less-land-than-a-decade-ago-lbnl-says/?utm_source=rew_weekly_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022-01-19



5. Australia is shipping its first “clean hydrogen” made from low grade coal to Japan to be turned into ammonia and burned in current coal plants. Japan will be credited with lowered emissions, but those will show up with interest in Australia’s emissions. In fact, even though CCS is touted as part of the process, net emissions would be lower if Australia simply continued to export coal to be burned in Japan. If hydrogen is the fuel of the future, it’s not one we would enjoy. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/21/just-a-new-fossil-fuel-industry-australia-to-send-first-shipment-of-liquefied-hydrogen-to-japan



6. The infrastructure bill now being implemented supplies billions of dollars which could be used to cap abandoned wells, a major source of emissions. States are identifying those in great numbers. https://grist.org/energy/abandoned-oil-wells-cleanup-infrastructure-law/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily



7. The oil and gas companies ought to be paying for capping abandoned wells, but when the wells become less productive, they sell them to little companies which strip them, abandon them, and go out of business or simply complain that they cannot afford to cap or clean up the wells.  https://coloradosun.com/2022/01/21/colorado-oil-gas-well-orphaned/

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