May, 2019

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ThorCon Advanced Nuclear Reactor -- More Than Worth Its Weight In Salt

Jim Conca

ThorCon is a nuclear reactor with molten salt fuel containing thorium+uranium that is walk-away-safe. ThorCon would be completely manufactured in 150 to 500 ton blocks in a shipyard, assembled and towed to a site, with order of magnitude improvements in productivity, quality control, and build time.

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100% Clean is 100% Achievable

Defend Our Future

Climate change threatens our economy, our health and our children’s future. The United States can address this great challenge by moving to a 100% clean economy. Transforming to 100% clean means shifting the country away from polluting sources of energy. We need to stop adding climate pollution to the atmosphere by 2050 — producing no more than we can remove.

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Solar Jobs Creating Opportunity Across The Country

Mosaic

It has been a challenging couple of years for the solar industry, including the threat of solar tariffs creating uncertainty over much of 2017 and then implementation of these damaging tariffs in 2018. But just like the sun keeps shining, our industry has gotten up every day and worked hard to keep building the clean energy economy despite these obstacles.

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Brandon Cosinteno Named CleanTX Executive Director

CleanTX

Press Advisory from the CleanTX Organization. Contact: Ryan Edwards (CleanTX Board Chair). Brandon Cosinteno Named CleanTX Executive Director. Austin, TX – Brandon Cosinteno has been named the new Executive Director for CleanTX. Brandon comes to Austin from Idaho where he has experience as a social media and public relations manager, executive director of a nonprofit and television journalist.

Organic 76
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How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

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EV charging sites now outnumber petrol stations in UK

Renewable Energy World

Newly released figures from Zap-Map, a charging point platform, reveal that the number of public charging locations in the country has now surpassed the number of petrol stations.

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2019 Legislative Review: Wins and Steps towards Climate and Environmental Justice

Front And Centered

Front and Centered believes in a future that is not just cleaner and safer for all, but where our communities and the earth are healed and thriving, people of color and those with lower incomes have dignified work opportunities, and our government values, respects and represents us. To bring us closer to that future, we pursued four priorities in the 2019 legislative session.

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Press Release – Mayor Eric Garcetti and LACI Announce First Cohort for New Impact Acceleration Program for Small Businesses and Startups in City of Los Angeles

LA CleanTech Incubator

13 Small Business and Startup Founders from Low Income Neighborhoods and Underrepresented Populations Participate in Inaugural Founders Business Accelerator Program Created with the City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, May 30, 2019. The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) announces the first cohort of 13 small business founders selected to participate in the Founders Business Accelerator.

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The Blue Economy: Importance of Ocean Conservation

Green Tech Challenge

The Blue Economy is sustainable use of ocean resources for: economic growth, improved livelihoods, job creation, and ocean ecosystem health. Achieving a sustainable Blue Economy requires amplified conversation, education and intentional efforts in ocean conservation. The world relies on the ocean for survival, and its human inhabitants all participate in at least one daily activity, which affects the ocean ecosystem.

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People Are Telling Us What They Want From Cities, We're Just Not Listening.

Varuna

We speculate a lot about what people want from their cities. But for the most part, the conversations about what people want are based on the perspective of entities with biases about residents’ needs. People in city government assume citizens want more services and for the city to spend more, but suggest there are not enough funds to do what is required.

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Renewables set to outspend oil and gas exploration in APAC by 2020

Renewable Energy World

Renewables energy investment in Asia excluding China will overtake spending on upstream oil and gas projects in the region as soon as next year, according to Rystad Energy.

Asia 72
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The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

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Analysis: How did the 2019 legislative session fare on climate justice?

Front And Centered

Front and Centered envisions a more just future that is not only cleaner and safer, but where our communities and the earth are healed and thriving, our people have dignified work opportunity and prosperity, and our government values, respects, and represents us. In order to reach this vision, policies in the Washington State Legislature must address equitable governance , a prerequisite to effective action; healthy communities rooted in place , strengthening our relationship to place to prevent

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Climate Change, Capitalism And Nuclear Power -- The Closing Of Duane Arnold

Jim Conca

NextEra Energy will close Iowa’s only nuclear plant in 2020. Officials say closing the nuclear plant will save as much as $42/year in savings for residential customers. What? Save $42 to lose 5 billion kWhs of carbon-free electricity by building gas plants, or to spend $2 billion on new wind farms?

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4 Easy Ways to Pitch Solar to Your Management Team

Sun Valley Solar

Going solar can be a sizable investment for some, especially small and medium sized businesses. But, unlike many property additions, solar starts returning money to your bottom line the moment it's turned on and will keep producing free energy for decades. In addition to all the positive financial benefits, a solar energy investment also adds to the "green" reputation for your company, which will appeal to an increasingly environmentally-savvy marketplace.

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E2, Businesses Unite for Clean Water

E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs

You could say water is the lifeblood of the environment and the economy. Few places know this better than Michigan. Now, the state has chance to lead on developing policies and technology that ensure clean, reliable and affordable water. In Michigan, tourism and outdoor activities generate $40 billion annually and employ more than 400,000 workers. Other water-dependent businesses, from breweries to family farms, generate tens of billions more in economic benefits.

Health 60
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Electrofuels Are the Future: The Driving Force to Decarbonizing Heavy Transport

Speaker: Ayesha Choudhury - Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Infinium

With the first wave of the energy transition, renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) have begun replacing coal power generation. However, some sectors are lagging behind and struggling to decarbonize more than others, including large-scale transportation like commercial aviation, shipping, and rail transit. Electrofuels (aka eFuels) are the next generation of solutions to help the hardest-to-abate sectors pivot from their reliance on fossil fuels.

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Driving Electric Vehicle Awareness, Envy and Purchases

Enervee

New results on transforming everyday car shoppers into EV Champions People in the business of transportation electrification know that a major barrier to electric vehicle (EV) adoption is the fact that the vast majority of people still don’t know what EVs are. Or, if they do, they think they’re too expensive. While EV technophiles – the super early adopters – have been buying electric for nearly a decade, their enthusiasm has yet to go viral.

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Is a 500W solar module in sight?

Renewable Energy World

LONGi Solar this week said that it has invented a new “seamless soldering” technique that could help it produce a more efficient solar module. As a reminder, the more solar cells you can pack into a module, the more efficient it is. And the more efficient your modules, the fewer you need to achieve the wattage you seek in an array. By using less modules, you reduce the overall installed cost of solar.

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Why There Won't Be A 'Nest For Water'.

Varuna

With news yesterday that Google is finally figuring out how to fully integrate Nest products into its hardware suite of products (lovely ad below), I thought it would be a good time to dig into a thesis I have about the water industry. I believe the things that worked for Nest will not work for most of the hardware startups that are trying to ‘ catch lightning in a bottl e’ for the water utility industry.

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Nuclear Waste Disposal -- Isn't Science Supposed To Reduce The Uncertainty?

Jim Conca

If science is supposed to reduce uncertainty in making important decisions for our society, why did we pick a rock for deep geologic nuclear waste disposal that has so many uncertainties? Because science wasn’t what those politicians used to choose Yucca Mt.

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AR/VR Simulations for Sustainable, Regenerative, Circular Cities

Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor

With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.

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Clean Energy Efforts Start At The Local Level.

Jigar Shah

Clean Energy Efforts Start At The Local Level. Here Are 3 Ways You Can Make A Difference In Your Town’s Footprint You’ve probably seen it recently in the news: a group of activists referring to themselves as the Extinction Rebellion stripping down to their underwear in the British Parliament to advocate against government apathy in the fight against climate change.

Energy 52
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Climate Action in the Pacific Northwest

E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs

Washington State’s legislature ended the 2019 session by passing a strong suite of climate policies, sending Gov. Jay Inslee a number of bills that place the state in a true leadership position in clean energy. Successful policies of note include bills focused on 100 percent clean electricity (SB 5116), super pollutant mitigation (HB 1112), building decarbonization (HB1257), EV incentives (HB 2042), and energy efficiency (HB 1444).

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The Future of Food

AFN Sustainable Protein

This two-day business conference will identify the main areas of opportunity and innovation within the food and beverage industry. We’ll assess how business can react to consumer trends and expectations, whilst building sustainable, resilient agricultural supply chains. Farmers. This track will look at how business can work with farmers to build resilience down the supply chain and ensure a business model that attracts the farmers of the future.

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India's largest coal-fired power producer appoints renewables head to speed transition

Renewable Energy World

State-run NTPC Ltd., India’s largest coal-fired power producer, is appointing a new head of its renewables team to speed up its expansion into clean energy, according to a company official with knowledge of the plan.

Energy 64
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How Digital Transformation will Bend the Curve of the Linear Economy Toward the Circular

Speaker: Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director of SmartNations Foundation, Jimmy Jia, Venture Partner at Pi Labs, Fabienne Durand, Senior Advisor to the SmartNations Foundation, & Roger Strukhoff, Executive Director of the Tau Institute

The Climate 4.0 Economy. Climate change is here. We see it in many ways already. Weather catastrophes: Texas freezing over, the wildfires of California, the increasingly unpredictable violence and frequency of hurricanes, the rapid melting and disappearance of polar ice caps. Much more evidence all around us. What can we do in our corporate organizations, in our homes and communities, to change the current course?

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What Utilities Can Learn, About Decision Making, From The Police.

Varuna

Quality issues tend to fan out within the distribution system of most water utilities. It never truly starts or belongs in one place. That would be too easy. With the zebra mussel problem in Austin TX in Q1 of 2019 , residents had to call in to inform the utility of where they lived and what the condition of their water was when they smelled the foul odor coming out of their taps.

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Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge to Oregon’s LCFS Program

Latham's Clean Energy Law Report

High Court’s action clears pathway for low-carbon fuel standard programs. By Joshua T. Bledsoe , Kimberly D. Farbota , and Brian F. McCall. On May 13, 2019, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari in American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), et al., v. O’Keeffe, et al ( O’Keeffe ), effectively affirming a US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision that upheld the constitutionality of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program (CFP).

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The EPA Chief Says Clean Water Is Our Top Environmental Concern.

Jigar Shah

The EPA Chief Says Clean Water Is Our Top Environmental Concern. Here’s How That Can Impact Climate Change, Too Recently, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler commented that combating climate change wasn’t his top environmental concern ; rather, he wanted to focus on the lack of clean drinking water plaguing towns across the country. The outrage in response was quick and understandable.

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Solar Panels & Home Battery Storage Can Help Mitigate Wildfire Impacts

Sunrun

What is the Problem? As extreme weather events are increasingly common and destructive across the U.S., the impact of wildfires on electricity distribution has become a prominent problem. In Western states, the wildfire season is noticeably longer. Fires that can forever change public lands and destroy private property occur nearly year-round. Plus, these harrowing wildfires are much more frequent and larger over the past few decades.1,2 In upcoming years, such climate change effects are anticip

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Fuming Over Fumigation

Unsustainable

words and photographs by Christina De La Rocha My eyes are burning as I write this, and not just with rage. This morning, I went for a walk. Where I live, that means traipsing down country roads and the ancient paths between fields of grass, wheat, maize, rye, oil-seed rape, and fava beans. Even with the miraculous, multi-million dollar, labor-saving machinery of modern farming, the farmers are often out there doing things to their fields.

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US government study indicates 60 GW of geothermal energy capacity under our feet

Renewable Energy World

This week, the U.S. Department of Energy released an analysis that shows how the United States could benefit from the vast potential of geothermal energy. The analysis culminated in a report, GeoVision: Harnessing the Heat Beneath Our Feet, which summarizes findings showing that geothermal electricity generation could increase more than 26-fold from today — reaching 60 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by 2050.

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Best Practices for Managing Technological Change in The Utility Industry.

Varuna

The water utility industry is glacial in its adoption of technology. There is evidence of this in never-ending pilot projects with startups that lead nowhere and in product design crowdsourcing campaigns that take a year and end up with products that remind one of the failed healthcare.gov project. But change the industry must. The new type of consumer demands it (push) and it is what technology wants (pull).

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CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development

Latham's Clean Energy Law Report

2018 Year in Review: Public agencies prevailed in 65% of CEQA cases analyzed. By James L. Arnone , Marc T. Campopiano , Christopher W. Garrett , and Lucinda Starrett. Over the course of 2018, Latham & Watkins lawyers reviewed all 57 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases, both published and unpublished, that came before California appellate courts.

Law 52
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Looking For A Long-Term Career? Here’s Why Clean Energy’s A Good Place To Start

Jigar Shah

What constitutes a “career” has changed drastically over the years. With the rise of the gig economy, especially, the days are gone where an employee would work for only a few companies over their entire career. Gone are pensions, corporate ladders, and even the security of saving reliably for retirement. Many prominent companies are trying desperately to hire people as contractors and prove that they are not employees.

Energy 52
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[Article] Overcoming Obstacles to Advanced Air Sealing

Home Energy

We all know the basics of energy efficiency. Air seal high in the building, then low, then insulate. Seems simple, right? Stop the air from leaking into or out of the building. Save money. Increase comfort. Promote healthy indoor air quality (with the appropriate ventilation system, of course). However, when you go to execute these simple principles on a complex house, you find that this black-and-white directive dissolves into seemingly endless shades of gray.