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- ⏳Italians in trouble, Arnie angry, Economist optimistic
⏳Italians in trouble, Arnie angry, Economist optimistic
Italians in trouble, Arnie angry, Economist optimistic
Max Aitken
June 23, 2024
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What you need to know
Italy: crops dying, water so scarce tourists turned away
How bad? Fruits growing areas in Sicily hasn’t had rain in a year, risking the entire fruit industry (Fruitnet). Across country various crops down 11%-17% (Reuters).
Why? Turns out 2023 was hottest European summer in 2,000 years.
Gets worse? Sicily turning away tourists (Times) as is Capri (Guardian)
Why did no-one warn us? They. Did. Even the Daily Mail!
Everyone: Do more, faster on climate
Why this matters? A global UN climate vote found 80% of people want their country to do more on climate.
The challenge? Politicians seeking votes from the ignorant - such as Cameron cutting ‘green crap’ that cost UK £22bn so far
Read more: UNDP’s survey; Carbon Brief’s UK election policy tracker
Arnie slams Germany for closing nukes
Why this matters? Not long ago public support for nuclear was rare.
The challenge? Deciphering myth and reality. Nuclear is low carbon, but construction too slow & expensive to be core to decarbonisation.
What will happen instead? Solar, wind and batteries have it on cost and speed, and will compete on reliability. Still, existing nukes should run & be replaced. Small, modular designs? Maybe.
Incredible speech: Arnold Schwarzenegger slams Germany for closing nuclear plants while claiming a fossil fuel emergency to its citizens!
Schwarzenegger, the most famous living Austrian, speaking Thursday in Vienna, also praises California for saving Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.
— Mark Nelson (@energybants)
9:11 PM • Jun 21, 2024
One thing to worry about
Emissions are still rising. Despite everything. 😞
The UK’s Energy Institute showed overall energy consumption up 2%. Fossils’ share down only 0.5% to 81.5%. Long way to go.
One thing to be optimistic about
How big can Heat Pumps get? Big. This one warms a Danish town of 100,000 people. Powered mainly by offshore wind. Well done MAN. 👏
We. Have. The. Tech.
If you’ve got more time, read this…
Finally, mainstream media is getting it: this week The Economist is all over solar.
My mantra, again and again: We humans rise to challenges.
That human ingenuity finds useful things to do with better access to energy is one of the clearest messages of the past 200 years.
If real energy costs drop dramatically across the global economy, and access to energy expands, to bet against great things is to bet against the innovative engines of capitalism. It is not a wager history encourages.
Remember, more energy from the sun falls on the earth in 90 minutes than humans use in a year. The challenge is converting it.
Might as well add their version of my favourite graph:
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