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- 10-Second Climate - 10th March 2024
Climate is the overwhelming story of our generation. Each week, this email reports the science, often frightening, and the tech, mostly encouraging. Please share to help others appreciate the problem, and that we have solutions. Free sign up at www.maxaitken.com
What you need to know
$7 trillion subsidy to accelerate our own demise
What’s up? IMF reckons fossil fuel subsidies were more than the world’s education budget in 2023.
Why this matters? We need a level playing field between old energy and the new, please.
Read more: International Monetary Fund
World: Not sure clean trucks realistic
China: Sold 330,000 in 2023
Why this matters? While we’re still arguing - the Chinese are getting on with it. HGV numbers are particularly surprising: hit 10% in December.
Make it more unexpected 50% of heavy EV trucks are ‘battery-swap’ - they don’t recharge, they pick up a new battery (like your old Tamiya).
Read more: Bloomberg
US smashes solar: 2023 build-out same as 32 new nukes 🤯
Why this matters? The Americans: turn up late then hammer it.
How big? 32GWe solar installed last year, up 51% from 2022. Real-world output c57TWh - generating about 1.4% of US power demand.
Read more: WoodMac
One thing to worry about
Thawing permafrost is turning Alaska’s rivers orange. Pre-historic iron and sulphuric acid is coming out & killing vegetation, reports Scientific American.
One thing to be optimistic about
Who knew? 45% of new UK buses were zero-emission in 2023. Highest in Europe.
The Daily Telegraph seems to think it’s an elaborate scheme to subsidise China. 🤪
Yes, it’s Chinese. We don’t make anything anymore, remember?
If you’ve got a LOT more time, read this…
Vaclav Smil: everyone’s favourite energy intellectual: the one we nod when mentioned but haven’t actually read. His latest note for JP Morgan is pessimistic on the energy transition. Bottom line? Complex, slow.
“We should not underestimate the concatenation of challenges presented by practical engineering, material, organizational, social, political, and environmental requirements of the unfolding transition…
We cannot expect the world economy to become carbon-free by 2050: the goal may be desirable, but it remains unrealistic"
Will he be right? Sure, massive challenge. But technology often deployed far faster than forecasters forecast.
We’ve seen that many times - including solar and EV deployment. My favourite: solar beats the IEA’s forecasts again, and again, and again.
Faster and faster adoption of innovations.
Phones took decades to reach 50% - mobile phones under 5 years.
IEA’s forecasts are horizontal. Reality is vertical.
One click: Is climate part of your work?Thanks - it helps me understand who's reading. |
My new business is Beaverbrook Energy - supporting commercial & industrial companies in the energy transition. Follow us on LinkedIn ahead of our 2024 launch.
