News Feeds | ecology.iww.org (2024)

Solar Industry Magazine - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 08:15

ComEd is planning an expansion of its 345 kV Elmhurst, Ill., transmission substation, with construction currently under way and an expected completion date by the end of next year.

“ComEd is proud to maintain and grow the most reliable grid in the country, which requires proactive planning to meet the future power needs of our customers,” says Mark Baranek, senior vice president technical services at ComEd. “Investments like the expansion of the Elmhurst substation will ensure the grid is primed to support local business growth for many years to come.”

Engineering and design for this $93 million project began last year. Construction of this substation is being completed by a local firm, Ruiz Construction Systems.

The post ComEd Announces Northern Illinois Substation Expansion Project appeared first on Solar Industry.

Categories:

Skeptical Science - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 08:12

This year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a fully hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from April 15 to 19. I decided to join the event virtually this year for the full week and I've already picked several sessions I plan to attend. Among them are two sessions, I'll be presenting in. This blog post provides an overview of my itinerary.

Monday

The week kicks off right away at 8:30 in the morning with a Union Symposia (US2) about the Climate emergency, human agency: making sense of the current state of scientific knowledge on climate change to strengthen climate literacy.

This Union Symposium will build on key findings from the Sixth Assessment Cycle of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It will place the current scientific understanding in this context of climate science history and lay out what is the current state of climate, with the observed intensification of global and regional changes, and what are physically plausible futures, unpacking how science underpins the understanding of the climate emergency. The presentations will be given by Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, France and Joeri Rogelj, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College, London, Great Britain.

Then it's time for a short course (SC2.2) starting at 10:45 providing an introduction to science for policy. This will be a repeat for me, but I found this session - convended by Chloe Hill - interesting when I attended it in previous years.

This session will provide an introduction into some key ‘science for policy’ themes and provide specific details about when and how scientists can engage with policy to increase the impact of their efforts. It will also provide resources and tips for scientists so that they can start their science for policy journeys. The last part of the Short Course will include a Q&A with those working on the science-policy interface. This session will be relevant to all career levels and scientific disciplines.

In the afternoon, I plan to join short course (SC3.3)Scared of giving presentations to a (geo-)scientific audiences?as this cannot hurt in the run-up to my own presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This short course deals with the various reasons and symptoms of stage fright and how they can be overcome. Scientists will share their experiences and what has helped them to deal with their fear of presenting. There will be practical tips and room for questions as well as exchange of experiences. This year, we're exploring a fresh angle: science communication. While the stage is set for scientific discourse, effective communication is key. Meet our speakers, Dr. Simon Clark and Dr. Heather Handley, seasoned communicators, sharing insights!

To finish day 1 of EGU24, I picked yet another short course (SC2.6) Climate change, morals and how people understand the politics of climate change

Update April 11: Unfortunately, session SC2.6 was withdrawn, but there is an interesting alternative, I plan to join instead and it's also a short course: SC2.5Ethics for geoscientists in a time of crisis:

What does 'ethics' mean and what is the role of ethics in your daily practices as a scientist? Where and how do ethics enter into your geoscientific research and teaching? Although ethics as a subject of study is traditionally the domain of social sciences and humanities, as scientists we are confronted with ethical questions and decisions every day. In the context of climate emergency, mass extinction and global social injustices, it is increasingly important to understand the role played by our research and the systems and structures within which our work is embedded. Ultimately, we could ask ourselves a question: does our research contribute to building a world that corresponds to our values?

In between these sessions - or if I find out that one I planned to attend isn't quite a good fit for my interests - I may pay a virtual visit toGather.town to check out some virtual posters or find some people to chat with.

Tuesday

The morning is mostly taken up by a "double slot" Education and Outreach session (EOS4.4) titledGeoethics: The significance of geosciences for society and the e nvironment. This session is convened by Silvia Peppoloni with Svitlana Krakovska, Giuseppe Di Capua and David Crookall as co-conveners.

Geoscience knowledge and practices are essential for effectively navigating the complexities of the modern world. They play a critical role in addressing urgent global challenges on a planetary scale (including, climate change and its social, humanitarian, and health impacts), informing decision-making processes and guiding education at all levels. However, the response to these challenges remains largely inadequate across the board. By equipping both citizens and the wider societal stakeholders with the necessary knowledge background, geosciences empower them to engage in meaningful discussions, shape policies, contribute to reduce inequities and injustice, and implement solutions for local, regional, and global social-environmental problems. Within this broad scope, geoethics strives to establish a shared ethical framework that guides geoscientists’ engagement with sensitive and significant issues concerning the interaction between geoscience and society.

I may pop-out of that session for a bit to listen to apress conference starting at 10:00 about Unveiling Antarctica’s secrets: new research brings us one step closer to predicting the future of the icy continent.

At 14:00 it's time for Education and Outreach session (EOS1.8) Telling climate stories: platforms, tools, and methodologies for accurate and engaging science communication.

Scientists, communicators, citizens, and the media: public awareness of climate change calls for interdisciplinary collaboration to create clear and cohesive narratives to reach a wide and diverse audience and create a real impact. Climate change narratives can take different paths and focus on different perspectives, professions, sectors, and the audience addressed. The role of trust is also pivotal, as different publics are likely to reject information, regardless of its accuracy, if the message doesn’t resonate with an individuals' personal experiences. [...] This session is also designed to host a space of dialogue among researchers, fact-checkers, and communications experts to assess how disinformation affects science credibility and society and present tools to tackle it, enhancing the quality of information with a positive effect on public trust in science and resilience.

My slot to presentResources to give facts a fighting chance against misinformation is from 16:50 to 17:00 with 8 minutes alloted for the presentation itself. I'll briefly introduce participants to Skeptical Science, mention ourrebuttals updates factory andquick debunking of "Climate the Movie" before mentioning the Debunking Handbook, the Conspiracy Theory handbook, theFLICC taxonomy of science denial techniques and how to learn about them with the help of the Cranky Uncle game. Sounds like a lot? Yes, but it all fits within the 8 minutes, if only barely! You can take a "sneak peek" at my presentation here.

Wednesday

Wednesday will be a rather interesting day for me. It starts at 8:30 with Union Symposia (US6) Misunderstanding or malice? Getting to the bottom of geoscience disinformation and much to my surprise I was invited to be one of the panelists for this almost 2 hour long session. This will obviously be a first for me, so I'm still not quite sure what I'm getting myself into with agreeing to being on the panel. However, given that the conveners are well aware of my background, I'll be able to talk about the "stuff" I'm familiar with, including at least some of the items mentioned in the presentation for EOS1.8 or other comparable presentation I already did at EGU and/or elserwhere. This Union Symposia is convended by Flora Maria Brocza with Chloe Hill, Viktor J. Bruckman, Kirsten v. Elverfeldt and Christina West as co-conveners. Apart from myself, the confirmed speakers for the session are Vita Crivello (Science-Policy & Science Communication expert), Gaura Naithani (Project Manager & Researcher, European Journalism Centre) and Simon Clark (Science communicator & author).

In the afternoon, I plan to join the closely related short course (SC2.10) From Misunderstanding to Malice: Countering Mis- and Disinformation. The course is convenced by Kirsten v. Elverfeldt with Flora Maria Brocza, Maida Salkanovic, Chloe Hill and Simon Clark as co-conveners.

The research we conduct doesn’t fall into a vacuum. Once published, it enters a large information ecosystem, where we hope that our findings will resonate. As researchers, we devote our whole careers to the study of a narrow field of knowledge. This devotion is not shared by other players in this ecosystem who engage with our research, which might lead to misunderstandings and thus unintentional misinformation. Even others in the ecosystem intentionally seek to spread false information or foster ideologically driven disinformation campaigns. Thus, the players in the ecosystem range from fellow scientists from the same or other disciplines, journalists, politicians, social media influencers, the general public, to troll farms. Clearly, not all of them have or seek an in-depth understanding of the scientific context in which a particular piece of information slots into, and some merely seek to generate attention or outrage with their writing.

Many scientists feel somewhat uneasy in this ecosystem - lacking the tools to engage meaningfully. For example, when talking to journalists, information on the uncertainty of data may not be conveyed for the sake of clear and easy-to-follow storylines. Facts may be simplified or even misrepresented, which might lead to a certain reluctance of scientists to talk to journalists. However, especially this type of direct science-media-interaction is crucial for the debunking of mis- and disinformation.

In the late afternoon - starting at 16:15 - I tentatively plan to join the first part of Education and Outreach session (EOS1.1) Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection. Based on previous years' experiences, I'm expecting to learn about several interesting projects related to science communication in this session convended by Solmaz Mohadjer and Roberta Bellini, Francesco Avanzi, Usha Harris and Maria Vittoria Gargiulo as co-conveners.

Science communication includes the efforts of natural, physical and social scientists, communications professionals, and teams that communicate the process and values of science and scientific findings to non-specialist audiences outside of formal educational settings. The goals of science communication can include enhanced dialogue, understanding, awareness, enthusiasm, improving decision making, or influencing behaviors. Channels can include in-person interaction, online, social media, mass media, or other methods. This session invites presentations by individuals and teams on science communication practice, research, and reflection, addressing questions like: What kind of communication efforts are you engaging in and how you are doing it? How is social science informing understandings of audiences, strategies, or effects? What are lessons learned from long-term communication efforts?

Thursday

While putting together my itinerary it looked as if Thursday morning would be an empty slot, but only until I realized that session EOS1.1 had 3 timeslots all told, with two of them happening on Thursday morning starting at 8:30! So, the same description as above applies for Education and Outreach session (EOS1.1) Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection. To see the list of presentations clickhere for part 2 and here for part 3.

In the afternoon it's time for short course (SC3.2) Elevate your Pitch: Developing Engaging Short Scientific Presentations. Perhaps this will also contain some helpful tips for non-scientific presentations which based on the learning objectives of this short course could well be the case:

• Structuring a killer elevator pitch – learning from 1/2/3-min examples
• Knowing your audience – harnessing the power of tailored openings/closings
• Captivating delivery – leveraging body language to your advantage
• Harnessing creativity - choosing the right medium
• Enunciating to engage – communicating across borders
• Effectively practising your pitch – making the best of your time

The final session for me on Thursday will most likely be Education and Outreach session (EOS4.1)Science Policy Interface: Shaping Debates and building bridges. I picked this for two reasons: it's another repeat for me and earlier sessions were interesting. And, it's a session in the fun - if somewhat hectic - PICO format, with a whirlwiind of 2-minute long pitches followed by longer discussions with abstract authors at their onsite or virtual screens. The session is convened by Marie Heidenreich with Susann Birnstengel, Giorgia StasiECS, Chloe Hill and Maria Vittoria Gargiulo as co-conveners.

Friday

Right now, it looks like I might have a "late start" to the day on Friday (unless I hang out in Gather.town!) with a Great Debate (GDB8) aboutArtificial Intelligence in scientific publishing: blessing or bane? This may or may not be of interest for me, so I'll take a look and then decide if I watch it or not.

The rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, including Large Language Models (LLM), presents both challenges and opportunities for scientific publishing. How can we use these tools responsibly and effectively?

The discussion will explore several aspects of the topic, including:

• Best practices in employing AI tools for scientific writing
• The potential of AI to assist in the peer review process
• Responsibilities and ethical considerations for authors, reviewers, editors and publishers

In the afternoon Great Debate (GDB6) If informing is not enough, how should scientists engage to accelerate the social transformation required by climate change and biodiversity collapse? will most likely be my last session for this year's EGU conference.

Numerous geoscientists are producing and disseminating knowledge about climate change and contemporary environmental degradation to increasingly wider audiences, from civil society to policymakers. This knowledge is notably gathered in alarming reports by scientific institutions such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and it indicates that rapid and radical transformations of our societies are simply vital.

Still, ongoing efforts to trigger such transformations, whether by political, economic, or civil society stakeholders, often fall short of the urgent actions recommended. It has increasingly been suggested that putting most efforts into ever-improving knowledge and communication is a strategy that can only address part of the obvious gap between Science and the required societal change (see review articles by Stoddard et al., 2021 and Oreskes, 2022).

Summary

As you can see, I'm planning for quite a busy week and will most likely not be twiddling my thumbs much! In addition to attending the sessions above, I also plan to offer a few Networking Pop-Up Events to talk about our resources and Cranky Uncle if people take me up on the offer. This year, these events can be scheduled to happen somewhere in Gather.town so that should bef fun to try out!

Like in previous years, I intend to write up my take on the sessions attended and also keep an eye on how well things work in this fully hybrid conference format. We'll then see how much of the week goes as planned!

Categories: I. Climate Science

Solar Industry Magazine - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 08:06

After testing at CFV Labs and the Renewable Energy Test Center, Origami Solar has released data it says demonstrates that modules incorporating the company’s steel module frames passed frame-related industry-standard tests required to support module maker certifications.

Certifications included those of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), specifically IEC 61215 static mechanical load testing and IEC 61701 salt-mist corrosion testing and continuity testing of equipotential bonding.

CFV ran both required static load testing and optional test-to-failure tests.

RETC’s salt mist corrosion and continuity testing on modules using Origami’s steel solar frames demonstrated similarly successful results, says the company, confirming corrosion protection performance of its zinc-aluminum-magnesium coatings.

“As our modeling predicted, Origami steel module frames demonstrated excellent performance across the full range of certification tests,” says Origami Solar’s Lauren Ahsler.

“The tests prove to the industry that there is minimal risk to module makers’ ability to get modules certified when they switch to steel solar frames. These rigorous, third-party tests also show that switching to steel module frames has the potential to address the decrease in allowable loading specifications for large format modules and to improve overall PV plant reliability. The steel frames’ excellent performance in the salt-spray test sequence should resolve any concerns about corrosion protection. This independent testing demonstrates that Origami’s steel solar frames represent a big step forward for the solar industry.”

The post Origami Solar Releases Third-Party Testing Results of Module Frames appeared first on Solar Industry.

Categories:

Solar Industry Magazine - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 07:55

Excelsior Energy Capital has entered a multiyear agreement to acquire 2 GW of PV modules from Heliene, with the two companies expected to work closely as a part of the agreement.

The modules supplied under the agreement are slated to primarily be produced at a Heliene factory in Mountain Iron, Minn., and at a new factory Heliene plans to build in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“The Excelsior team is excited by the wide-ranging benefits of this new agreement, which materially derisks supply of PV modules for our projects and allows us to work collaboratively alongside an established industry player as they expand and innovate over time,” says Chris Frantz, partner at Excelsior.

A majority of the PV modules supplied by Heliene are slated to be produced in the U.S.

The post Excelsior Energy Capital Acquiring 2 GW of Solar Panels from Heliene appeared first on Solar Industry.

Categories:

Global Justice Ecology Project - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 07:39

Brook Thompson When the salmon numbers in the Klamath River dwindled, it wasn’t just a loss of wildlife, it was a piece of Brooke Thompson’s heritage slipping away. Our latest episode of Breaking Green features Brooke, a Yurok and Karuk Native American, water resource engineer, and PhD student, who unravels the deep ties between her […]

The post New Breaking Green Podcast: Fight for Salmon Conservation and Cultural Survival with Brook-Thompson appeared first on Global Justice Ecology Project.

Categories: B4. Radical Ecology

Mining.Com - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 07:23

Revival Gold (TSXV: RVG) said on Wednesday it has signed an agreement to buy privately held exploration company Ensign Minerals in an all-stock deal worth approximately C$21.9 million. This acquisition gives US-focused Revival a second gold exploration asset to complement its Beartrack-Arnett project in Idaho.

Ensign’s flagship Mercurprojectin Utah is located 57 km southwest of Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountainsregion, which is known to host sediment-hosted gold deposits. Bingham Canyon, one of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, is also situated there.

Historically, approximately 2.6 million oz. of gold were mined from the Mercur district, including 1.5 million oz. by Getty Oil Company and later Barrick Gold between 1983-1998, after which it closed due to low gold prices. Since then, Barrick completed reclamation of the Mercur site.

From 2020 to 2022, Ensign entered various agreements to consolidate the Mercurproject area, which now covers 62.55 square kilometres divided between private land, federal claims, and state leases. Amongst the deals was an option to acquire Barrick’s interest in the area for $20 million.

Work by past owners has resulted in the delineation of an inferred resource estimate that totals 89.6 million tonnes grading 0.57 gram per tonne gold for 1.64 million oz. of contained metal. This estimate has an effective date of Feb. 1, 2024, and is based primarily on exploration of the private land.

By adding the Mercurproject, Revival’s gold resource base would now grow to 3.8 million oz. in the inferred category, on top of the 2.4 million oz. measured and indicated categoryalready at Beartrack-Arnett, for which permitting preparations are underway.

CEO Hugh Agro says the combined mineral resource will vault Revival Gold ahead to become one of the largest pure gold development companies in the US. With Mercur, he believes the company is obtaining a “high-quality complementary project” at an attractive acquisition price of about $10 per ounce in situ.

Revival Gold considers the large regional package at Mercur to “hold attractive potential for additional discoveries” based on the project’s track record of past production and the results of recent fieldwork undertaken by Ensign.

In the short term, its primary objective with Mercur over the next 6-12 months will be to advance metallurgy, optimize the project’s geological model and pursue a potential preliminary economic assessment (PEA), the company said.

While advancing towards a PEA, Revival Gold expects to continue the compilation of historical data, property-wide prospecting, geological mapping and planning for potential future exploration drilling.

Agro said the addition of Mercur will shorten the estimated timeline to heap leach gold production while increasing the potential production scale of the company’s heap leach gold business to approximately 150,000 oz. per year.

To complete the deal, nearly 61.4 million Revival Gold shares, more than half of those outstanding, will be used to acquire Ensign’s 52.6 million outstanding stock. This share exchange ratio (1.1667:1) gives Ensign an implied value of C$0.4164per share, a 17% premium over its 20-day volume weighted average of C$0.3569.

Upon completion, current Revival Gold shareholders would own 65% of the new company, with former Ensign holders owning 35%.

Ensign had previously agreed to a takeover by Vancouver-based Taura Gold (TSXV: TORA)in October 2023 for an implied value of C$24 million. However, the deal fell through earlier this year due to disagreements over how the Mercur project resource was calculated.

Revival Gold’s shares were up 1.1% at C$0.38 by 10:30 a.m. ET on the news, giving the Toronto-based gold developer a market capitalization of C$42.4 million ($31m).

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 07:02

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact
Sarah Bucic
Policy Consultant
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
sarah@envirn.org
302.383.6811

Nurses applaud First-Ever National Standard to Address Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Drinking Water

Washington, D.C.– Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the first-ever national, legally enforceable, scientifically supported drinking water standard to protect communities from exposure to harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals.’ Under this standard, EPA is establishing legally enforceable levels, or “maximum contaminant levels” (MCLs), for six Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances or “PFAS.” Five PFAS, including PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA, will have individual MCLs while the rule also sets a limit for mixtures of any two or more of: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and HFPO-DA – these are commonly known as “GenX chemicals.” Today’s rule also requires public water utilities to monitor for PFAS with utilities having three years to complete initial monitoring. Beginning in 2027, utilities will be required to provide the public with information on the levels of these PFAS in their drinking water and by 2029, public water systems will also be required to implement solutions to reduce these PFAS if levels exceed the maximum contaminant levels.

Most people are exposed to mixtures of PFAS and there is sufficient evidence that certain PFAS are associated with health outcomes including decreased antibody responses and dyslipidemia in both adults and children as well as decreased infant and fetal growth and increased risk of kidney cancer in adults.

In response to the announcement of today’s standard, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Executive Director Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN issued the following statement:

“Today’s release of National Primary Drinking Water Standards for PFAS is an important step toward fulfilling the Biden Administration’s commitment to tackle these toxic forever chemicals as well as advance environmental justice. Communities of color and low-income communities have historically faced disproportionate exposure to pollution and cumulative adverse health effects from multiple co-occurring contaminants. By regulating dangerous PFAS in drinking water, these final standards will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses. As drinking water is a significant pathway of PFAS exposure, addressing contamination before it reaches our taps is key to reducing associated health problems. We therefore applaud EPA’s recognition that both individual PFAS and chemical mixtures of PFAS can threaten human health.

“It is important to note that the PFAS addressed by EPA’s final standard are just a few PFAS among a class of forever chemicals of which there are thousands. As nurses and healthcare providers quickly educate themselves on how to adequately assess patients and communities for PFAS exposure and provide resources on how to reduce exposure and take proactive steps to monitor for potential health outcomes, we urge EPA to continue to expedite efforts to prevent these forever chemicals from polluting the environment in the first place.”

In addition to today’s historic first-ever national legally enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS, EPA is also making unprecedented funding available to help ensure that all people have clean and safe water with $1 billion in newly available funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This funding will help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address PFAS contamination. For more information, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments has created a PFAS Toolkit for Clinicians which provides health professionals with information to guide their clinical practice and decision making regarding PFAS.

###

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment. The mission of the Alliance is to promote healthy people and healthy environments by educating and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating evidence-based practice, and influencing policy.

http://enviRN.org

Categories: A2. Green Unionism

The Revelator - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 07:00

Acts like plastic, but made of plants? As the plastic pollution crisis grows in scale and urgency, consumer product and packaging companies are increasingly relying on so-called “bioplastics” to replace conventional fossil-fuel plastics. These bioplastics are made from many different types of ingredients, and it can be hard to keep up with all the developments. But we ignore them at our peril.

The most popular type of bioplastic made today is PLA, or polylactic acid, made from corn or sugarcane.

Performing similarly to conventional plastics, PLA is commonly marketed as a compostable, plant-based material well suited for single-use products like cups, cutlery, and takeout containers. In the hospitality industry, where the use of single-use products is prevalent, the shift toward bioplastics is seen as a step toward sustainability. Yet this “green” alternative is not as environmentally friendly or healthy as it seems.

A new report from our organization, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and the environmental research group Eunomia takes a closer look at the production and disposal processes for PLA and reveals that these sustainability claims are often overstated and run the risk of contributing to greenwashing. In reality PLA is harmful to people and the planet in ways similar to conventional fossil-fuel plastics.

Bioplastics like PLA are developed from feedstocks that often use intensive agricultural practices, which contribute to ecological problems like deforestation, water pollution, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and displacement of Indigenous peoples and foods. While bioplastics only make up 1% of global plastics, they require about 800,000 hectares of arable land (nearly 2 million acres) to produce the feedstock necessary for their development. If bioplastics like PLA fully replaced plastic in packaging, their development would require 61 million hectares (235,000 square miles) of arable land, roughly equivalent to the landmass of Texas.

Being synthetic, bioplastics are produced and manufactured in industrial, typically fossil-fueled facilities that pollute air, soils, and waters and warm the climate. Industrial facilities are disproportionately built in communities that are predominantly poor, rural, Black, Indigenous, and of color. Residents of these fenceline communities face elevated health risks from chemical emissions, explosions, and fires. Like fossil fuel plastics, PLA is made and formed into small, round pellets for melting and molding into products, which easily spill into surrounding environments and communities, with serious effects on local plants and wildlife.

PLA and other bioplastics may contain thousands of chemical additives, many of which, such as hormone disruptors, are also found in conventional plastics and are harmful to human and environmental health. PLA products and pellets can contain hundreds to more than 20,000 different chemical features, many of which are toxic to living cells like those in our bodies.

Of the thousands of composting facilities that exist in the United States, just 125 accept bioplastics. While bioplastics like PLA can technically biodegrade, composting is only possible at a few carefully controlled, high-temperature industrial facilities. PLA does not break down at the same speed as other organic materials in composting facilities, which can lead to contamination of the final compost product. In fact, some composting facilities do not accept any bioplastics due to contamination issues.

What’s more, PLA’s marketed biodegradability can confuse consumers into thinking it’s home-compostable or can be safely tossed into the natural environment. It can’t.

While the PLA industry claims its bioplastic is recyclable, at current quantities the cost and complexity of sorting and recycling the low volume of PLA in the market render it economically unfeasible. Even when PLA is recycled, like conventional plastics, it produces a downgraded product that requires additional input of feedstocks and additives to be usable. This remains in contrast to infinitely recyclable materials like aluminum, glass and paper, which do not deteriorate in quality and can retain their value through an infinite number of recycling loops.

When PLA is landfilled or enters the environment, which is where it most frequently goes, it fragments into chemical-laced microplastics that pervade our environment and contaminate food and water. About 90,000 tons of PLA products — including packaging, food service ware, and other single-use products — were discarded as U.S. waste in 2018 alone. Such pollution will only rise with continued PLA production, which grew from about 200,000 tons in 2015 to 300,000 tons globally in 2019, the most recent years for which data is available. Complicating our understanding of PLA production is a lack of industry transparency and the prevalence of forward-looking industry statements. Such statements are based on assumptions, not tangible data, designed to please investors, and mislead the public without substantiation.

Finally, PLA perpetuates the same single-use mindsets and systems that cause plastic pollution in the first place.

To solve plastic pollution, we need plastic-free, nontoxic, reusable, and refillable materials and systems that eliminate wastefulness — not more wasteful single-use synthetic materials like PLA.

Bioplastics are not the solution. Combating plastic pollution does not mean using more biodegradable and compostable plastics, but rather:

• • Eliminating single-use products and systems and building regenerative markets around values of reusing, refilling, repairing, and sharing.
  • Shifting the approach from substituting conventional plastics with bioplastics to significantly reducing plastics production and increasing use of more circular materials to promote long-term sustainability.
  • Prioritizing the use of materials with infinite recyclability, such as aluminum, glass, and paper to maintain resource value and reduce waste through endless recycling loops.
  • Improving our national recycling infrastructure to collect and manage infinitely recyclable plastic-free materials, mitigating these materials’ environmental
  • Regulations that hold industries responsible for preventing and eliminating pollution and toxic chemicals, such as extended producer responsibility laws and the Global Plastics Treaty.

Real solutions to plastic pollution exist today. Our world must stop greenwashed false solutions and stay focused on plastic-free, nontoxic, reusable, and refillable materials and systems instead of harmful single-use synthetic materials like PLA.

The opinions expressed above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of The Revelator, the Center for Biological Diversity or their employees.

Previously in The Revelator:

‘We Found Plastic on the Seabed in Antarctica and I Just Cried’

The post Bioplastics Are Not the Solution appeared first on The Revelator.

Categories: H. Green News

Solar Industry Magazine - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:55

RWE Clean Energy has established a strategic relationship with WhiteRock Renewables, with the aim of accelerating the company’s expansion of its onshore U.S. pipeline.

WhiteRock is expected to originate and develop up to 5 GW of onshore wind, solar and BESS projects, with RWE having the option to acquire such projects as they reach maturity.

“RWE is investing billions to expand our U.S. portfolio, which will make up 30% of the company’s global green installed capacity by 2030,” says RWE’s Hanson Wood.

“To support our world-class development team in executing towards RWE’s ambitious U.S. growth strategy, we are enlisting WhiteRock — a top-tier developer with a proven track record of delivery and more than 70 years’ combined development experience — to help supercharge our growth trajectory over the next five years.”

RWE currently has 36 GW of onshore wind, solar and BESS projects in its U.S. development pipeline.

The post RWE Taps WhiteRock Renewables to Support U.S. Expansion Plans appeared first on Solar Industry.

Categories:

North American Windpower - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:53

RWE Clean Energy has established a strategic relationship with WhiteRock Renewables, with the aim of accelerating the company’s expansion of its onshore U.S. pipeline.

WhiteRock is expected to originate and develop up to 5 GW of onshore wind, solar and BESS projects, with RWE having the option to acquire such projects as they reach maturity.

“RWE is investing billions to expand our U.S. portfolio, which will make up 30% of the company’s global green installed capacity by 2030,” says RWE’s Hanson Wood.

“To support our world-class development team in executing towards RWE’s ambitious U.S. growth strategy, we are enlisting WhiteRock — a top-tier developer with a proven track record of delivery and more than 70 years’ combined development experience — to help supercharge our growth trajectory over the next five years.”

RWE currently has 36 GW of onshore wind, solar and BESS projects in its U.S. development pipeline.

The post RWE Taps WhiteRock Renewables to Support U.S. Expansion Plans appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

North American Windpower - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:37

ITI Group has signed a three-year contract with TotalEnergies to manage the real-time data systems that monitor TotalEnergies’ U.K. North Sea assets.

The new agreement is expected to see ITI Group providing support services for TotalEnergies’ North Sea AVEVA PI System infrastructure, as well as technical expertise. The support remit will cover more than 80 PI System interfaces.

“Great credit must be given to the wider pursuit team within ITI Group, and in particular our digital innovation manager, Liam Douglas, who saw this opportunity all the way through to award,” says Chris Stones, sales director of energy at ITI Group. “Well done all.”

The post ITI Group to Support TotalEnergies’ Real-Time Data Infrastructure appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

Biofuel Watch - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:33

Cliquez ici pour télécharger le rapport completIn EnglishCoupe rase en Pyrénées atlantiques, près de LacqIntroduction

Le projet E-CHO est un plan ambitieux impliquant trois projets différents mais interconnectés à Lacq et ses environs, dans le département des Pyrénées-Atlantiques en France. Ce projet est porté par Elyse Energy, une startup fondée en 2020, qui détient les deux tiers des actions d’E-CHO. Les autres partenaires et actionnaires sont Avril, Axens et IFP Investissem*nts. Les trois usines prévues ont pour objectif de:

• Produire 72 000 tonnes d’hydrogène par an à partir d’électricité renouvelable et d’autres électricités « bas carbone » (probablement de l’énergie nucléaire) ;
• Produire 75 000 tonnes de carburants aviation et 35 000 tonnes de naphta à partir de bois, via la gazéification et le procédé Fischer-Tropsch, avec captage du carbone ;
• Produire 200 000 tonnes de méthanol à partir d’hydrogène et de dioxyde de carbone capturé (« e-méthanol »).

Chacune de ces usines nécessiterait la mise en place de technologies dont le développement n’est pas encore abouti, où que ce soit dans le monde, à savoir :

• L’électrolyse de l’hydrogène (c’est-à-dire l’utilisation de l’électricité pour diviser des molécules d’eau) est une technologie à forte consommation d’énergie qui a été testée avec succès, mais pas encore à l’échelle proposée ici ;
• Toutes les tentatives passées visant à produire des carburants liquides pour le transport, y compris des carburants d’aviation, à partir de bois ont échoué ;
• Bien que la technologie de fabrication de l’e-méthanol ait été éprouvée, l’e-méthanol n’a jusqu’à présent été produit à grande échelle nulle part dans le monde, le coût de l’hydrogène et du dioxyde de carbone constituant les principaux obstacles.

Nous examinerons ci-dessous à la fois le risque, coûteux, d’un échec du projet et des risques environnementaux en cas de maintien du ou des projets.

Categories: G1. Progressive Green

North American Windpower - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:26

TenneT is taking the initiative to jointly house offshore infrastructure management and maintenance services in a new model, with the transmission system operator sharing information and ideas with wind farm and oil and gas operators, to gauge their interest in a collaborative system.

The growth in offshore infrastructure development creates a need for O&M services, the company says, adding that materials, maintenance and management are scarce.

“We notice that many parties are facing the same challenges as TenneT, which is why we want to investigate whether we can develop a new cooperation model,” says TenneT’s Erik Hiensch. “As an offshore transmission system operator, we play an important role in the development of offshore infrastructure and want to take the lead in this initiative.”

The post TenneT Gauging Interest in Offshore Maintenance Cooperation Model appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

Yale Environment 360 - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:14

Many of the biggest and richest businesses on Earth are coming up short in their efforts to tackle climate change, a new report finds.

Read more on E360 →

Categories: H. Green News

Solar Industry Magazine - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:10

Avangrid says construction has commenced at its 57 MW Camino Solar Project in Kern County, Calif.

“It is always exciting to see another important renewable energy project break ground,” says Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “With this major milestone, we are one step closer to delivering clean solar energy in California to go along with our six wind energy facilities in the state. This is yet another example of our commitment to developing projects that create jobs, support the local community, and accelerate the clean energy transition.”

The site is adjacent to Avangrid’s 189 MW Manzana Wind Farm, which reached commercial operation in 2012, and is slated to include 105,000 solar panels. It is located on a combination of private land and more than 200 acres of public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The post Construction Begins at Avangrid California Camino Solar Project appeared first on Solar Industry.

Categories:

Pittsburgh Green New Deal - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:06

สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บตรงได้เงินจริง จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม

สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บตรงได้เงินจริง จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม ในปัจจุบัน ต้องขอบอกเลยว่า เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ ได้รับการยอมรับ และได้รับความนิยม จากนักเดิมพันออนไลน์ เป็นอย่างมาก ด้วยรูปแบบเกมที่เข้าใจง่าย ไม่ซับซ้อน ไม่จำกัดทุนในการลงเดิมพัน ผู้เล่นสามารถเข้ามาร่วมสนุกกันได้อย่างครอบคลุม อีกทั้งยังสามารถเลือกเล่นได้หลากหลายค่ายเกม หลากหลายรูปแบบ หลากหลายความสนุกอีกด้วย จึงทำให้เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ เป็นเกม ที่นักเดิมพัน เข้ามาร่วมสนุกกันอย่างต่อเนื่อง เป็นจำนวนมาก

อีกทั้งแต่ละค่ายเกม ยังมีการพัฒนา และอัพเดทเกมใหม่ๆ ให้ผู้เล่น นักเดิมพัน ได้ร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน รับเงินรางวัล อย่างสม่ำเสมอ สำหรับท่านใด ที่กำลังมองหา เว็บไซต์ ที่จะร่วมลงทุน ร่วมทำกำไร ร่วมสร้างรายได้ ที่มีความมั่นคง และน่าเชื่อถือ ต้องได้ลอง เว็บไซต์ ที่นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ทั่วโลกไว้วางใจ ผู้ให้บริการรายใหญ่ในเอเชีย 1688upx เว็บดังชั้นนำ ที่กำลังมาแรงที่สุดในตอนนี้

เว็บตรง ไม่ผ่านคนกลาง ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ ถูกกฎหมาย พร้อมมีใบเซอร์การันตีการเปิดให้บริการ มีฐานการเงิน และฐานผู้เล่นที่มั่นคง ปลอดภัย เชื่อถือได้ พร้อมทั้งยังมีการบริการ มีการดูแล ผ่านเจ้าหน้าที่แอดมิน อย่างครอบคลุม และใส่ใจ ตลอดในการเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกม อย่างครอบคลุม และใส่ใจอีกด้วย เปิดให้บริการทุกวัน ตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง เข้าใช้งานเล่นเกมได้ทุกแพลตฟอร์ม สร้างรายได้ผ่านระบบออนไลน์ ได้เงินจริง ต้องเว็บตรง 1688upx

รวมเกมลิขสิทธิ์แท้ อัพเดทใหม่ทุกวัน สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บตรงได้เงินจริง จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม

1688upx เว็บตรง มั่นคง ปลอดภัย เว็บไซต์คุณภาพดี สุดทันสมัย ที่มีการพัฒนาระบบการเข้าใช้งาน ให้ดียิ่งขึ้นอย่างสม่ำเสมอ และยังเป็นเว็บไซต์ ที่ได้มีการคัดสรร และรวบรวมความสนุกสุดคุ้ม ของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ มาบริการ ให้ผู้เล่น นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ทุกท่าน ได้ร่วมสนุก ร่วมลงเดิมพัน รับเงินรางวัลกันได้แบบไม่อั้น มากกว่า 1000+ เกมเลยทีเดียว เพลิดเพลินไปพร้อมกับความสนุก รับเงินรางวัลในการเล่นเกมได้อย่างเต็มที่ มีการสำรองเงิน เพื่อจ่ายรางวัล ให้กับผู้เล่นแบบไม่อั้น

เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ กับเว็บไซต์ 1688upx การันตีได้เงินแน่นอน โดยเว็บไซต์ของเรา การันตี เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ลิขสิทธิ์แท้ จากค่ายเกมโดยตรงแน่นอน ซึ่งการลงเดิมพัน เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ ลิขสิทธิ์แท้ จะมีโอกาสในการชนะรางวัลสูงยิ่งขึ้น ชนะรางวัล และรับเงินรางวัลในการเล่นเกมไปใช้ได้ง่ายมากยิ่งขึ้น อีกทั้งยังไม่มีการล็อคยูสเซอร์ และการล็อคผลรางวัล

โบนัสแตกหนัก โบนัสแตกดี ชนะรางวัลได้รัวๆ พร้อมทั้งยังการันตี การถอนเงินรางวัล ในการเล่นเกม มาใช้ได้จริง ไม่มีประวัติในการโกง รวมเกมทุกค่าย เล่นเกมได้หลากหลาย ครบวงจร

พร้อมอัพเดทความสนุก ของเกมใหม่ๆ ให้เลือกเล่นได้ก่อนใครทุกวัน ค่ายเกมดังชั้นนำ เลือกลงเดิมพันได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน ไม่ว่าจะเป็น ค่าย PG SLOT , JILI , XO SLOT , JOKER , PP และอีกมากมายอีกเพียบ

สำหรับการลงเดิมพัน เว็บไซต์ของเรา พร้อมมอบความสุข เปิดโอกาส ให้ผู้เล่น ได้เข้ามาสัมผัสกับความสนุกกันได้อย่างครอบคลุม ไม่่าจะมีทุนน้อย หรือทุนหนา ก็สามารถ ร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน

รับเงินรางวัลกันได้อย่างจุใจ โดยจะมีเบทเดิมพัน ในการเล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ขั้นต่ำ ที่เริ่มต้นเพียงแค่ 1 บาทเท่านั้น ซึ่งการลงเดิมพัน จะสามารถปรับเพิ่มลด เบทเดิมพัน ให้เหมาะสมกับทุนได้ตามต้องการ ได้อย่างอิสระ ไม่จำกัดทุน

แนะนำเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ ที่เหมาะสำหรับผู้เล่นมือใหม่

แม้จะเป็นผู้เล่นมือใหม่ ก็สามารถชนะรางวัลในการเล่นเกม ได้อย่างผู้เล่นมืออาชีพ กับเว็บไซต์ 1688upx เว็บสล็อตออนไลน์คุณภาพดี ถูกกฎหมาย มาตรฐานสากล ไม่จำกัดทุนในการเล่นเกม และให้อิสระในการลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม ของผู้เล่นอย่างเต็มที่ เล่นเกมได้ทุกค่าย เล่นเกมได้หลากหลาย เกมทันสมัย เข้าใจง่าย ไหลลื่น ไม่มีปัญหากวนใจ

สำหรับผู้เล่นมือใหม่ ที่กำลังมองหาเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ คุณภาพดี ได้เงินง่าย โบนัสแตกหนัก สามารถชนะรางวัลได้อย่างง่ายดาย เราขอแนะนำ ให้ผู้เล่น ได้เลือกลงเดิมพัน กับเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่าย PGT SLOT ค่ายเกมยอดนิยมสุดทันสมัย ที่นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ เข้ามาร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพันกันอย่างต่อเนื่อง

มีเกมให้เลือกเล่นหลากหลายรูปแบบ ชนะรางวัลได้รัวๆ ไม่ว่าจะมีทุนน้อย หรือทุนหนา ตัวเกมเข้าใจง่าย ธีมเกมแปลกใหม่ ไม่ซ้ำใคร ที่สำคัญ ยังสามารถชนะรางวัลได้อย่างง่ายดาย และจ่ายเงินรางวัลสูงอีกด้วย

Credit สล็อตเว็บตรง

อ่านบทความน่าสนใจเพิ่มเติม

The post สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บตรงได้เงินจริง จ่ายเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้ม appeared first on climateworkers.org.

Categories: B3. EcoSocialism

Mining.Com - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 06:06

Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam discovered that Byzantine bullion fueled Europe’s revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne’s Francia a century later.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity, the experts note that these findings could transform our understanding of Europe’s economic and political development.

According to the article, between 660 and 750 AD, Anglo-Saxon England witnessed a profound revival in trade involving a dramatic surge in the use of silver coins, breaking from a reliance on gold. Around 7,000 of these silver ‘pennies’ have been recorded, about as many as we have for the rest of the entire Anglo-Saxon period (5th century–1066).

By analyzing the make-up of coins held by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the study’s authors solved the mystery of where the silver in these coins came from.

“There has been speculation that the silver came from Melle in France or an unknown mine, or that it could have been melted down church silver. But there wasn’t any hard evidence to tell us one way or the other, so we set out to find it,” Rory Naismith, co-author of the paper, said in a media statement.

Teflon helps figure things out

Previous research tested coins and artifacts from the silver mine at Melle but Naismith and his colleagues turned their attention to less-studied coins which were minted in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France.

To begin, 49 of the Fitzwilliam’s coins (dating from 660 to 820 AD) were taken to the laboratory of Jason Day in Cambridge’s Dept. of Earth Sciences for trace element analysis. Next, the coins were analyzed by ‘portable laser ablation’ in which microscopic samples were collected onto Teflon filters for lead isotope analysis.

While the coins mostly contained silver, the proportion of gold, bismuth and other elements in them guided the researchers to the silver’s previously unknown origins. Different ratios of lead isotopes in the silver coins provided further clues.

Byzantine silver

In the 29 coins tested from the earlier period (660–750 AD)—which were minted in England, Frisia and Francia—the researchers found a very clear chemical and isotopic signature matching 3rd to early 7th-century silver from the Byzantine Empire in the eastern Mediterranean.

The silver was hom*ogenous across the coins and characterized by high gold values (0.6–2%) and a consistent isotopic range, with no distinguishable regional variations among them. No known European ore source matches the elemental and isotopic characteristics of these early silver coins. Nor is there any meaningful overlap with late Western Roman silver coins or other objects. These coins did not recycle late Roman silver.

“This was such an exciting discovery. I proposed Byzantine origins a decade ago but couldn’t prove it. Now we have the first archaeometric confirmation that Byzantine silver was the dominant source behind the great seventh-century surge in minting and trade around the North Sea,” Naismith said.

These coins are, thus, among the first signs of a resurgence in the northern European economy since the end of the Roman Empire. They show deep international trade connections between what is now France, the Netherlands and England.

Cash-strapped king

The researchers emphasize that this Byzantine silver must have entered Western Europe decades before it was melted down because the late 7th century was a low point in trade and diplomatic contacts.

“Elites in England and Francia were almost certainly sitting on this silver already,” Naismith said. “We have very famous examples of this, the silver bowls discovered at Sutton Hoo and the ornate silver objects in the Staffordshire Hoard.”

Together, Sutton Hoo’s Byzantine silver objects weigh just over 10 kilograms. Had they been melted down they would have produced around 10,000 early pennies.

“These beautiful prestige objects would only have been melted down when a king or lord urgently needed lots of cash. Something big would have been happening, a big social change,” the study’s lead author Jane Kershaw said. “This was quantitative easing, elites were liquidating resources and pouring more and more money into circulation. It would have had a big impact on people’s lives. There would have been more thinking about money and more activity with money involving a far larger portion of society than before.”

The researchers now hope to establish how and why so much silver moved from the Byzantine Empire into Western Europe. They suspect a mixture of trade, diplomatic payments and Anglo-Saxon mercenaries serving in the Byzantine army. The new findings also raise tantalizing questions about how and where silver was stored and why its owners suddenly decided to turn it into coins.

Melle was an important mine

The study’s second major finding revealed a later shift away from Byzantine silver to a new source.

When the team analyzed 20 coins from the second half of the period (750–820 AD), they discovered that the silver was very different. It now contained low levels of gold which is most characteristic of silver mined at Melle in western France. Previously obtained radiocarbon data has shown that mining at Melle was particularly intense in the 8th and 9th centuries.

A selection of the Fitzwilliam Museum coins which were studied, including coins of Charlemagne and Offa. (Image by The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge).

The study proposes that Melle silver permeated regional silver stocks after c.750 and was mixed with older, higher-gold stocks, including Byzantine silver. In the coins minted closest to Melle, the proportion of gold was lowest (under 0.01%) while furthest away, in northern and eastern Francia, this climbed to 1.5%.

“We already knew that Melle was an important mine but it wasn’t clear how quickly the site became a major player in silver production,” Naismith said. “We now know that after the Carolingian dynasty came into power in 751, Melle became a major force across Francia and increasingly in England too.”

The study argues that Charlemagne drove this very sudden and widespread surge in Melle silver as he took increasing control over how and where his kingdom’s coins were made. A detailed record from the 860s talks about Charlemagne’s grandson, King Charles the Bald, reforming his coins and giving every mint a few pounds of silver as a float to get the process going. “I strongly suspect that Charlemagne did something similar with Melle silver,” Naismith said.

Management of silver supply went hand-in-hand with other changes introduced by Charlemagne, his son and grandson including changing the size and thickness of coins and marking their name or image on the coins.

“We can now say more about the circ*mstances under which those coins were made and how the silver was being distributed within Charlemagne’s Empire and beyond,” Naismith said.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Mining.Com - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 05:40

Pioneer Lithium (ASX: PLN) has received a fresh shot in the arm from the Ontario government, which recently handed the company C$180,916 for its flagship Root Lake project in Canada.

The Australian explorer and developer said the funds were granted through the Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP). The amount received represents a rebate of up to 50% of eligible exploration costs, capped at C$200,000, incurred by the company at Root Lake between April 1, 2023 to February 15, 2024, it said in the statement.

“The OJEP program is a vital part of financing and fostering early exploration projects and allows us to further advance our exploration activities,” chairman Robert Martin said in a statement.

The company has been expanding its footprint in Canada, where it now holds five exploration projects across the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Its most recent acquisition, the Benham Project in northwest Ontario, became an instant hit for Pioneer. Bought in November, the company’s exploration team had by mid-January discovered numerous pegmatite outcrops, including a 40-metre long mineralized prominence.

Lithium market struggles to recover after epic boom and bust

Pioneer is also advancing the early exploration Root Lake lithium project in north-west Ontario.

Lithium prices hit rock bottom last year and are struggling to make a significant recovery. This is partly because miners, refiners, and auto makers are still dealing with an excess stockpile that is causing the current oversupply of the battery metal.

Despite some projects and mines being affected by the lithium price collapse, several major producers are determined to continue expanding, adding to the uncertainty about when prices will eventually recover.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Mining.Com - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 03:29

Canada’s Silvercorp Metals(TSX, NYSE: SVM) has officially stepped aside from the race to control Africa-focused gold explorer OreCorp (ASX: ORR), agreeing to sell its 15% stake in the company to rival Perseus Mining (ASX, TSX: PRU).

The Vancouver-based miner, which has been a rival bidder for OreCorp for months, has agreed to sell its 15.6% shareholding in the Australian junior to Perseus. This takes Perseus’ interest in OreCorp to just under 75%.

Silvercorp and Perseus vied for months to acquire the OreCorp, which saw Perseus raise its cash offer in March to A$0.575 a share. The figure, representing 4.5% increase over its previous bid of A$0.55, had been originallyturned downby OreCorp earlier this year.

OreCorp gave Silvercorp five days to increase its bid, but the period expired on March 26, resulting in the company encouraging shareholdersto accept Perseus’ proposal. This offer remains unconditional and open until April 19, unless it is extended.

OreCorp noted on Wednesday that it’s already actively working with Perseus to transition its board and management team in respect of the takeover.

Central to the battle for OreCorp was the company’s Nyanzaga gold project in northwest Tanzania, which islocated near Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Bulyanhulu mine and AngloGold Ashanti’s (JSE: ANG) (NYSE:AU) Geita mine.

A 2022 definitive feasibility study gave Nyanzaga an after-tax net present value of $618 million at a 5% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 25%.

Perseus had been looking for additional gold assets in Africa to grow its portfolio. This prompted it to throw its hat in the ring, approaching OreCorp with an off-market offer.

Currently, Perseus operates three gold mines in Africa: Edikan in Ghana, and Sissingu and Yaour in Côte d’Ivoire.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

The Carbon Brief - Wed, 04/10/2024 - 03:24

According to most metrics, economic inequalities across the world have been declining since the late 1980s.

This has been driven by decreasing inequalities between countries – due to rapid economic growth in Asia – and has occurred despite increasing inequalities within a number of countries.

However, this trend could be reversed by the impacts of climate change.

While the repercussions of a warming climate are being felt in all corners of the world, the scale of these impacts on different countries, regions, communities and individuals varies hugely. The degree of economic inequality in the future will largely depend on how well different groups can adapt.

In a new review study, published in Environmental Research Letters, we analysed the existing literature and gathered evidence on whether, where and how climate change exacerbates economic inequality.

We find robust evidence that climate change impacts do indeed increase economic inequality and disproportionately affect the poor – both globally and within countries on all continents.

Climate change increases inequalities locally and globally

Our review covers 127 peer-reviewed studies into climate change and inequality.

These research papers cover a wide range of geographies, climate impacts, types of economic inequality measured (such as income disparities, differences in consumption or welfare disparities), methods used (such as econometric models or surveys) and findings.

The vast majority of studies confirm that climate change is exacerbating economic inequalities or hitting the poorest the hardest. This finding holds true across regions, types of physical impacts, sectors, types of inequalities and assessment methods. It is particularly prominent in studies that compare the impact of climate change across countries.

There are only two studies that find that climate change reduces inequality, but they focus on specific local circ*mstances – that is, flooding in Pakistan or price disparities among fishers and traders in Mexico.

Similarly, four papers find that the wealthy – whether households or countries – are more affected by climate change than the poor. However, these instances are exceptions and mostly limited to specific circ*mstances. For example, one study shows that the tropical cyclone Bulbul in Bangladesh caused higher losses for richer shrimp farmers, because they had larger farms.

The chart below summarises these overarching results across the 127 studies, categorised by the percentage of studies showing a negative (red), positive (blue) or mixed (yellow) impact on inequality. Orange indicates a finding that does not fit one of the categories, while grey shows studies that could not reach a conclusion.

The different bars represent the geographical focus of the different studies. Most of the studies we reviewed either look at the global picture (46) or focus on individual countries (44).

Effect of climate change on economic inequality according to geographical scope of the studies in our review. These are categorised as regressive (red), progressive (blue), mixed (yellow), other (orange) or no conclusion (grey). Note that the x-axis gives the share of occurrences within studies at that geographical scope, while the number between brackets indicates the total number of studies in that category. Source: Méjean et al. (2024).

When it comes to global studies, the consensus is that climate change is widening inequalities or affecting the poor the most, with around 78% of the papers reaching this conclusion.

Some studies also highlight other groups being disproportionately impacted by climate change, such as rural communities, urban populations, women or specific regions and sectors.

However, there’s a minority of papers that remain inconclusive about both the impact of climate change on inequalities and which groups are most affected.

When it comes to national studies, the trend remains consistent: around 68% of these papers find that climate change is driving up economic inequality or hitting the poorest the hardest (30 out of 44 papers).

As the map below shows, this holds true in all parts of the world. The purple shading indicates the number of studies finding a negative climate impact on inequality for each country.

Map of countries where studies show a regressive effect (that climate change increases economic inequality or that the poor are more impacted). This map includes studies with a national or subnational scope and multi-country studies where that result is valid for single countries. This map excludes global studies. Source: Méjean et al. (2024).

The countries with the highest number of studies (more than five) showing that climate change increases economic inequality or disproportionately affects the poor are China, Brazil, Ethiopia and the US.

Different climate impacts contribute to inequality

Looking at the breakdown of studies, we found that the percentage of papers pinpointing a particular climate impact as exacerbating inequality or affecting the poor more significantly ranges from 60% for changes in rainfall to 89% for sea level rise.

You can see this in the left-hand chart below, which shows the findings of the literature review separated by climate impact. The right-hand chart shows the findings separated by sector. The categories are the same as in the earlier chart.

Impact of climate change on economic inequality by physical impact (left) and channel (right). These are categorised as regressive (red), progressive (blue), mixed (yellow), other (orange) or no conclusion (grey). Note that the x-axis gives the share of occurrences within studies for a given category, while the number in brackets indicates the total number of studies in that category. The sum of those numbers may differ from the total number of papers (127), as some papers may fall into several subcategories, for instance in the case where several types of physical impacts are discussed in a single paper. Source: Méjean et al. (2024).

A majority of studies focus on the impact of rising temperature, with 72% of these concluding that temperature changes worsen economic inequality or affect the poor the most.

Most of the studies that find a reduction in inequality concern extreme weather events. This is often because these studies assess the impact on physical assets, which are predominantly owned by the wealthiest.

There are several channels through which biophysical climate change impacts translate into economic effects. These channels include broad economic effects that influence all sectors, changes in agricultural revenues due to factors such as crop yield declines, impacts on labour productivity, changes to infrastructure and physical assets, shifts in energy demand or water availability.

We found that studies identifying labour productivity or energy as the main channel through which climate change affects economic inequalities overwhelmingly conclude that inequalities increase or that the poor are more impacted.

A decline in labour productivity may indeed increase inequality if it disproportionately affects low-skilled workers, especially those who work outdoors or in non-air-conditioned environments.

Notably, a large proportion of the studies where physical assets are identified as the main channel suggest that inequality actually decreases due to climate change or that the wealthy suffer more. This is because rich individuals tend to face greater losses due to the higher value of their property.

Tackling climate impacts on inequality

Our investigation into the impacts of climate change on economic inequality was motivated by the need to better understand the climate change impacts are distributed across the world. This provides the other side of the coin to the effects of mitigation policies on inequality, which are often more widely discussed.

The evidence strongly indicates that the impacts of a warming climate are regressive across countries. Tackling the impacts of climate change on economic inequality will demand substantial policy changes and financial resources.

At the national level, policymakers will need to ensure that adaptation finance and loss and damage compensation effectively reach low-income households to reduce their vulnerability and increase their resilience to climate change impacts.

The results of our review underscore the importance of policymakers integrating climate risk management strategies into the design of “climate-proof” social programmes in poor regions, which are crucial for achieving climate justice objectives.

Of course, other forms of inequality beyond economic inequality, such as gender inequality, are important and interact with climate change, but this is a topic for another review.

.shadeBg{background: rgba(0,0,0,0.18);}

Guest post: Mapping where tree-planting has the greatest climate benefit

Guest posts

|

26.03.24

Guest post: Climate adaptation becomes less effective as the world warms

Guest posts

|

15.03.24

Guest post: The challenge of consensus decision-making in UN climate negotiations

Guest posts

|

05.03.24

Guest post: Heavy use of CO2 removal would trigger high sustainability risks

Energy

|

02.02.24

jQuery(document).ready(function() { jQuery('.block-related-articles-slider-block_f37b787b8c0a036ecc419fcbe36be61b .mh').matchHeight({ byRow: false }); });

The post Guest post: How climate change could reverse progress in global inequality appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Categories: I. Climate Science