[GWSG] Insurance woes; better EV battery; new rooftop wind; water hazards; Nomad Century; plastics & plankton

[Tilley, Al]

1. Florida is not alone in its property insurance crisis. 10% of the homes in Canada are uninsurable due to extreme weather.  Indonesia, Russia, and many other countries are facing similar problems. “The private market, on its own, cannot handle the level of risk that’s escalating in the system without some sort of formal government backstop or direct participation.”  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/13/the-uninsurables-how-storms-and-rising-seas-are-making-coastlines-unlivable

2. A research team at Penn State has announced a smaller, faster-charging EV battery with an internal cooling system. The result would be a cheaper car with good range which could recharge in ten minutes. The battery, which uses less of the exotic materials than currently required, is expected to last half a million miles.  https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/13/smaller-faster-charging-batteries-from-penn-state-will-turbocharge-ev-revolution/

3. Aeromine Technologies is producing a motionless rooftop wind power unit which it maintains can exceed rooftop solar power production by as much as 50% at the same cost. It is meant for a flat roof on commercial or multi-family structures, and takes about 10% of the space of a solar installation. https://www.aerominetechnologies.com/
An article in PV Magazine adds a bit more info. https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/10/14/rooftop-wind-energy-innovation-claims-50-more-energy-than-solar-at-same-cost/

4. The linked story from Nature points out the obvious, that sea level rise will contaminate ground water in coastal areas with sewage from any septic tanks still in use (and gasoline left in abandoned tanks, and pollutants from remaining brown fields, etc.). We now have an opportunity to clean up before we submerge, and we should make use of it while we can. https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/53670/20221015/rising-sea-levels-push-possibility-septic-waste-seeping-coastal-homes.htm

5. Gaia Vince was news editor for Nature and a science journalist for the BBC. Her book Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World (August, 2022) is ambitious to help us visualize our future and imagine accommodations which will construct a livable world. J. R. McNeil’s WA Post review is unsympathetic and points out several weaknesses in the book. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/09/how-deal-with-climate-refugees-probably-not-like-this/
I appreciated Vince’s strenuous and broad depiction of the forced relocations ahead, her provision of the long history of our species as nomads, her suggestion that the nation state is a recent, frail, and not especially useful frame for the actions now necessary. Nomad Century, whatever its slips, builds a hopeful vision of a global community with ample room for our differences. The Guardian, for which she writes, has its own reservations but conveys her reach. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/19/nomad-century-how-to-survive-the-climate-upheaval-review-humanity-on-the-move

6. Microplastics in the ocean interfere with carbon sequestration by plankton and with the health of the plankton themselves, oxygen producers and the base of the ocean’s food chain. The microplastics emit carbon continually. No efficient way has been found to reduce aquatic microplastics except by ceasing to produce their sources. https://grist.org/science/all-that-plastic-in-the-ocean-is-a-climate-change-problem-too/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

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