Category: CONSEQUENCES_LAND_DEFORESTATION En_Ren_Solar_MN Mitigation_Deforestation NEWS_ARCHIVE Science_Land_CN

In Charlotte County, population 11,448, forests and farms slope gently toward pretty little streams. The Roanoke River, whose floodplain includes one of the most ecologically valuable and intact forests in the Mid-Atlantic, forms the county’s southwestern border.

CHARLOTTE COURT HOUSE, Va. — In Charlotte County, population 11,448, forests and farms slope gently toward pretty little streams. The Roanoke River, whose floodplain includes one of the most ecologically valuable and intact forests in the Mid-Atlantic, forms the county’s southwestern border.
On a recent driving tour, a local conservationist, P.K. Pettus, told me she’s already grieving the eventual loss of much of this beautiful landscape. The Randolph Solar Project, a 4,500-acre project that will take out some 3,500 acres of forest during construction, was approved in July to join at least five other solar farms built or planned here thanks to several huge transmission lines that crisscross the county. When built, it will become one of the largest solar installations east of the Rocky Mountains. Although she is all for clean energy, Ms. Pettus opposed the

When Carvey Ehren Maigue’s transition glasses darkened as rain clouds blanketed the sky, he realized something that the creator and manufacturers of solar panels have been missing for decades. Apparently, ultraviolet light still comes through the blanket of heavy rainclouds. He thought that it was such a big waste, since conventional panels could not absorb this energy. This realization prompted the 27-year-old electrical engineering student from MAPUA University in the Philippines to work on a new type of panel. His awesome invention, the AuREUS, went on to win the very first James Dyson Sustainability Award!

California leads the nation in rooftop solar installations by a long shot. But it has never managed to craft a viable community solar market for people who can’t put panels on their own roofs. That’s been a glaring oversight in a state where median home prices in major cities have soared above $1 million, pushing home ownership out of reach for millions of residents.

An innovative plan to conserve water by covering aqueducts with solar panels is about to undergo testing in drought-stricken California.
Why it matters: Water is becoming more precious by the day in the Golden State and the Western U.S. more broadly, in part due to climate change.

First Solar, a big solar panel manufacturer, said on Tuesday that it would invest up to $1.2 billion to build its fourth factory in the United States, in large part because Congress this month passed a major energy and climate bill that expands incentives for renewable energy.

US households will install a record amount of solar this year to help slash electricity bills, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. Residential solar installations will increase by about 5.6 gigawatts in 2022, led by Florida, Texas, the Midwest and California, according to a BNEF report Monday.

Puerto Rico’s troubled electric grid was recently thrust into the national spotlight yet again — not because of an islandwide blackout, but over blistering remarks made by one of the world’s biggest pop stars. Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny dubbed the grid the ​“worst electric system” and singled out its private operator, Luma Energy, during a concert in San Juan late last month. Only a week later, a major hospital in the capital city lost electricity for at least 16 hours, leaving patients and staff in the dark.

Now that the Democrats’ major climate and tax bill has been passed, the United States might actually end up with an effective industrial policy for the clean energy and electrification sectors.
The Inflation Reduction Act is a clean-power policy behemoth that will lower energy prices, benefit consumers with more clean energy choices, and provide a path to cut U.S. carbon emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. It includes $369 billion in support for clean energy and a stable climate, including provisions to promote EVs, heat pumps, energy storage, nuclear power, environmental justice and more.

If signed into law as written, the climate bill before the US Congress would change the calculus for American households thinking about going solar. The legislation stands to make that transition more affordable while also subsidizing purchases of electric cars, heat pumps, high-tech water heaters and battery-storage systems — clean-energy upgrades that will spur more household demand for electricity. There are so many incentives to install solar that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 might be more aptly titled the “Electrify Your Life Act.”