QUICK NEWS, June 20: Welcome To The Heat Dome; The Crucial Concept Of Storing Solar; Pacific Ocean Windpower Coming On

Welcome To The Heat Dome Learn a New Climate Change Phrase: 'Heat Dome'; As the Southwest faces scorching temperatures, this phrase is dominating weather discussions.

Jessie Guy-Ryan, June 18, 2016 (Atlas Obscura)

“…[Behind skyrocketing temperatures prompting the National Weather Service’s Excessive Heat Warning is an] increasingly common meteorological phenomenon…[Heat domes] are created when a high-pressure system forms in the mid- to upper-atmosphere; the air pressure pushes warm air down towards the surface and traps it there, resulting in higher — often much higher — than normal temperatures…[Heat bubble] better describes the shape…[I]t’s difficult to understate the extremity of a heat dome’s effects; last year, a heat dome over the Middle East resulted in a heat index of 165º — the second-highest heat index ever recorded anywhere — in Iran…

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"This weekend’s heat dome has the potential for similar record-shattering effects [because its height is] well outside the normal climate range…As with many other extreme weather events around the world, climate change may be making heat domes more common…[ Meteorologist Ryan Maue examined climate data going back to 1953, concluded that heat domes are getting both more frequent and more extreme, and] believes the overall rise in global temperatures due to climate change has created an environment more conducive to extreme weather, including heat domes…In 2013, National Climatic Data Center scientist Jake Crouch made a similar assertion…” click here for more

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The Crucial Concept Of Storing Solar How is Solar Energy Stored

Benedette Cuffari, June 14, 2016 (AZO Cleantech)

“…[S]olar energy technologies are easy to install, and require little maintenance compared to other energy sources…[Over 22,700 MW of cumulative solar energy is currently being operated in the U.S., enough to power more than 4.6 million average American homes but storing it cost-effectively remains] a challenge engineers are striving to overcome…Current technologies that allow the storage of solar energy include [thermal storage, or storing its heat], compressed air energy storage (CAES), hydrogen storage, pumped hydroelectric storage, flywheels, and batteries…While solar energy storage systems can be expensive, research organizations such as the Department of Energy’s Energy Storage Program and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the United States are looking towards enhancing the development and deployment of current and future energy storage technologies…FERC has created a pricing structure called Pay-for-Performance, in which the agency regulates the electricity grid by paying storage technologies and other resources a higher price for their services, allowing for more cost-effective options to be available…” click here for more

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Pacific Ocean Windpower Coming On California tries to capture offshore wind energy; Proposal off Morro Bay looks for approval

Rob Nikolewski, June 16, 2016 (San Diego Union-Tribune)

"…[Offshore wind, already richly developed and growing in Europe, is beginning to face the technological, economic, and political challenges on the Pacific coast…Trident Winds LLC, has applied for a lease to construct an offshore facility in California…that would dwarf offshore sites proposed along the East Coast or the Great Lakes…The company is targeting 2025 as its startup date…That's nine years beyond the expected debut this fall of the country's first offshore wind project, the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island…[The Golden State lags behind because of the Pacific Ocean’s] underwater terrain…[T]he West Coast's continental shelf plunges quickly and steeply…[making largely still-unproven floating wind farms the only option. Floating] wind projects are tethered, or moored, by cables to the ocean floor…Trident Winds plans to build a floating array of about 100 [2 to 3 MW turbines 33 nautical miles off Morro Bay]...One transmission cable running along the seafloor would send electricity to the shore…Trident sees its flotilla of turbines eventually growing to a net capacity of 1,000 MW…” click here for more

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