February 10 NEC Energy News
¶ “Redefining Costly, Unproven New Nuclear Technology As ‘Clean’ Is Dishonest” • A Colorado legislative committee recently nixed a bill that sought to boost new, unproven nuclear energy technologies by redefining the fission process as “clean energy,” which it’s not. But proponents will likely keep on pushing new, speculative nuclear projects. [ColoradoPolitics.com]
¶ “Here’s Another, Often Overlooked Reason Why Nuclear Energy Is A Bad Thing” • Once commissioned, a nuclear power plant cannot be shut down without incurring enormous costs. The “payback time” for a nuclear power plant is between 10 and 18 years. Payback for windpower takes about a year, and for solar, it takes less than three years. [The Good Men Project]
¶ “‘Super El Niño’ Is Here, But La Niña Looks Likely” • This El Niño is one of the strongest on record, a rare “super El Niño,” but forecasters believe that La Niña is likely to develop in the coming months. The switch could get flipped to La Niña, with cooler than average conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific, as soon as summer, but more likely by fall. [CNN]
¶ “Critical Atlantic Ocean Current System Is Showing Early Signs Of Collapse, Prompting Warning From Scientists” • A crucial system of ocean currents may already be on course to collapse, a report says. The implications are alarming for sea level rise and global weather, with temperatures that plunge dramatically in some regions and rise in others. [CNN]
¶ “Electric Vehicle Sales Growing Fast!” • A full 16% of global auto sales were plugins vehicles last year, up from 14% in 2022, 9% in 2021, and 4% in 2020. Going from a negligible 4% to a notable 16% so quickly is a thing of S-curves and disruptive technology. For December of 2023, the plugin vehicle market share was up to 22% globally. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Greece Breaks Records In Renewable Energy For 2023” • The share of renewable electricity production, including hydropower plants, reached a historic high in 2023 in Greece at 57%. It was the first time more than half of the Greek electricity was generated by renewable resources. This came about as Greek windpower capacity exceeded 5 GW. [Greek Herald]
¶ “Michael Mann Awarded $1 Million By Jury In Defamation Suit” • Climate scientist Michael Mann is known for developing the image called the “hockey stick” graph. That image has been used in many papers and reports over the years. It also induced attacks on Mann that were funded by fossil fuel interests. Mann sued his attackers and won. [CleanTechnica]
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