QUICK NEWS, January 2: Today’s Kids Will Pay For Climate Change Tomorrow; Sharing Wind And Sun In The West; Where Community Solar Is Working

Today’s Kids Will Pay For Climate Change Tomorrow Climate Change Places a Major Economic Burden on Future Generations

Brad Bergan and Chelsea Gohd, January 1, 2018 (Futurism)

“…[T]here is a growing body of research concerned with how rising temperatures will specifically affect humans…[and a new study looks] even farther ahead at how rising temperatures might affect our children…[It finds] there could be a link between heat waves during childhood and lower earnings in adulthood…[E]very day in a child’s life between conception and age one when temperatures rose above 32 ˚C (roughly 90 ˚F) is associated with a 0.1 percent decrease in average income at age 30…[T]his means that too many sweltering days of youth corresponds to a slightly lower chance of ultimately achieving a higher income…The paper notes that fetuses and infants are ‘especially sensitive to hot temperatures because their thermoregulatory and sympathetic nervous systems are not fully developed’…[but] doesn’t directly explain how this sensitivity leads to financial instability later in life…[but it suggests that] as with so many other things in life, our children may inherit our mistakes.” click here for more

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Sharing Wind And Sun In The West How to Get Wyoming Wind to California, and Cut 80% of U.S. Carbon Emissions; High-voltage direct-current transmission lines hold the key to slashing greenhouse gases.

James Temple, December 28, 2017 (MIT Technology Review) “…Once complete, the [1,000 turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project] could generate around 12 million megawatt-hours of electricity annually, making it the nation’s largest wind farm…[The developer also hopes to build the TransWest Express Transmission Project, a 730-mile, $3 billion, high-voltage direct-current transmission line to deliver] as much as 3,000 megawatts of Wyoming wind power to the electricity markets of California, Nevada, and Arizona. With the right deals in place, the transmission line could deliver solar-generated electricity back as well, balancing Wyoming’s powerful late-afternoon winds with California’s bright daytime sun…[Transmission isn’t sexy but a growing body of studies conclude that the time-consuming, expensive] building out a nationwide network of DC transmission lines could hold the key to enabling renewable sources to supplant the majority of U.S. energy generation, offering perhaps the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient way of slashing greenhouse-gas emissions…” click here for more

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Where Community Solar Is Working Chippewa County in Minnesota is solar industry's latest frontier

Tom Cherveny, January 2, 2018 (Duluth News Tribune)

“…[The latest frontier in the solar power industry's growth in Minnesota is] where workers are completing the third of three solar garden projects undertaken in the past year…Berkshire Hathaway Energy, working with Geronimo Energy, is developing the solar gardens as part of Xcel Energy's Solar Rewards Community Program.…[The companies have now developed three projects representing 8 MW of capacity and each] megawatt can power about 1,300 average Minnesota homes…[Xcel Energy] offers the country's largest community solar garden program] with 246 megawatts in service, and more than 400 megawatts of projects in the design or construction phase…The program allows customers to buy solar panels in the gardens, and receive a credit on their electric bills for the power produced by them. Originally, many community solar gardens required customers to pay the upfront costs of a panel, perhaps as much as $8,000, and recoup their investment over time…Current programs are more popular, allowing consumers a pay as-you-go option [with a full pay off of panels that produce for 25 years or more] in anywhere from 10 to 15 years…” click here for more

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