QUICK NEWS, August 30: Why They Just Can’t Understand Climate Change; U.S. Offshore Wind Proves Doubters Wrong; Where Used EV Batteries Can Go To Serve

Why They Just Can’t Understand Climate Change Why people can't grasp climate change

Phil Plait, August 29, 2016 (Dallas Morning News)

“…Global warming is real, and almost entirely caused by human activities…The vast majority of scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying the climate agree on this…[But a] vocal minority of people won't accept that. Why? Some are sponsored by fossil fuel companies…[S]ome are ideologically inclined to dismiss science, or progressive politics…[But] some people honestly question the existence of global warming and its effects on the climate…[It is partly because we] see what's immediately around us, and have difficulty extrapolating to the greater world…[The Earth is five hundred million square kilometers of surface area with five] quadrillion tons of air…[But] we do have an effect…[C]limate change is] slow and patient…[If we keep our eyes on the long view, we can see the temperature trend is clearly] up…What can we do? We can charge companies that put carbon into the air. We can rely on more renewable energies…[And we] can vote…[The official Republican platform and Donald Trump dismiss climate change. Hillary Clinton's climate change strategy is much more realistic]…It's not too late. If we choose wisely…” click here for more

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U.S. Offshore Wind Proves Doubters Wrong The nation’s first offshore wind farm is ready to go, despite critics’ blowback

Brady Dennis, August 27, 2016 (Washington Post)

“…[The just-completed Block Island offshore wind project is about to go into service off the coast of Rhode Island. The modest five-turbine, 30-megawatt project is the] country’s inaugural foray into offshore wind power…But here’s what makes it momentous: It exists…[E]fforts to jump-start the industry have faltered…In part because of its deliberately small size, only the Block Island wind farm has successfully navigated the legal, regulatory and political hurdles that have tripped up others. Deepwater Wind, the Providence-based company behind the facility, views it as a steppingstone…There’s reason to believe offshore wind farms could soon see a U.S. boom…The federal government has awarded nearly a dozen commercial offshore wind leases…[Massachusetts now has a law requiring] 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power…[and] Deepwater Wind already is angling to build a proposed 15-turbine wind farm off the eastern coast of Long Island, the first phase of what it hopes will be more than 200 turbines…” click here for more

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Where Used EV Batteries Can Go To Serve Millions of used electric car batteries will help store energy for the grid. Maybe.

David Roberts, August 29, 2016 (VOX)

“…In four or five years, the batteries in the roughly one and a quarter million EVs currently on the road are going to start to wane. EV owners will either replace them, or replace the cars entirely…One possibility is repurposing the [batteries] to serve as grid-connected energy storage…Once a battery’s performance has degraded by around 30 percent, it could become available for stationary storage [according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF)]…[B]y 2018 these second-life batteries could cost as little as $49 per usable kilowatt-hour to repurpose, compared to the current new stationary battery price today of around $300 per kilowatt-hour. If so, they will further support the economics of both renewable energy and electric vehicles, acelerating the uptake of both…[But JB Straubel, battery expert and CTO of Tesla, questions the idea because there’s] no guarantee the economics will work out…Used batteries have lower energy density than new stationary-storage batteries and won’t last as long…[Also, stationary] storage is cheapest when its constituent battery cells are most uniform…By 2030 or so, 15-year-old batteries coming out of EVs will be competing with new custom-built stationary storage batteries that benefit from the intervening years of research, reduced costs, and increased performance…[But it] won’t be easy…” click here for more

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