Our planet is changing. Our journalism too. This weekly newsletter is part of a CBC News initiative titled “Our Changing Planet” to show and explain the effects of climate change. Stay up to date with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.
Register here to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday.
This week:
- As Europe experiences extreme heat and drought, EU votes in favor of electricity plan critics call “green wash”
- Store energy in the sand
- Observed in BC: a cedar as wide as the hut of a 747
As Europe experiences extreme heat and drought, EU votes in favor of electricity plan critics call “green wash”
(Piero Cruciatti / Getty Images)
In a week in which Italy is experiencing the worst drought in 70 years and at least seven people died when a glacier melting in the Dolomites cracked and slid down a mountain, the European Parliament voted in favor of a plan which many warn is counterproductive. reduce carbon emissions and curb global warming.
Parliament chose to support EU rules that label investment in gas and nuclear power plants as “climate-friendly”, a decision that could shape energy and climate policy for years and comes as a the effects of climate change. they are urgently being felt in southern Europe.
The new rules will allow investors to label and market some gas and nuclear power plants as green, a decision that exposes deep divisions within the European Union over how to combat climate change at a time when energy costs are rising. ‘are firing because Russia is limiting gas exports. in the EU.
Proponents of the green classification, advocated by the gas and nuclear power industries, argue that it provides a less painful transition to renewables and reduces coal combustion when gas prices are high.
But critics, from environmental activists and scientists to many investors, accuse the EU of backtracking on its energy promises and call the new labeling, which will come into force in 2023, “green washing”.
Austria and Luxembourg immediately announced plans to file legal complaints against the EU over the decision. The main concern is that new energy investment will deviate from renewables.
“Accelerating decarbonisation is the right way to deal with both the energy crisis and the climate crisis,” said Michele Governatori, an energy expert at the Milan-based independent think tank Ecco Climate, which offers advice on decarbonisation.
“Any solution other than efficiency and renewables would take longer to implement to find new energy sources than these solutions.”
Although nuclear power has no emissions, experts say plant development can take years, a longer and more costly time scale than the development of renewable systems. Meanwhile, natural gas may emit less carbon than coal, but it is still a fossil fuel.
Governatori expressed concern that fear of energy insecurity would lead to investments that make decarbonisation more costly without providing the desired stability.
“What we are seeing at EU and government level is a rush towards infrastructure, especially for fossil fuels, such as new gas lines and new gas ports,” he said. “[These] it would be … too late for next winter, which is the critical winter if we can’t depend on Russian gas, and it would continue to be costly for decades. “
As the majority of European parliamentarians voted in favor of calling nuclear and gaseous energy “green”, much of Europe is in the midst of extreme heat that scientists say is caused by climate change.
Temperatures throughout Italy have recently exceeded 40 ºC. The Po River, which runs through northern Italy as an aqueous lifeline, provides clean and irrigated hydraulic energy for a third of Italy’s agricultural production, has dried up in stretches, its bed bare and exposed to scorching sun.
Saltwater flows back into the river in its Adriatic delta, endangering extensive fields of tomatoes, fruits and wheat.
A dry winter reduced the already depleted glaciers of the Alps that feed the Po and other rivers, causing a massive glacier to break at the peak of the Marmolada dels Dolomites on Sunday.
Rescue operations continue for five hikers still missing after rock, ice and snow have catapulted down the mountain, killing at least seven hikers and eight others injured.
“That [is] going all over the world. Not only are parts of the glaciers being broken, but also those of the mountains, due to the melting of the permafrost, “said Philipp Rastner, a glaciologist at the University of Zurich who grew up in the area and knows Marmolada well. .
He is part of a team of scientists who create a global inventory of glacierswith the long-term goal of tracking it in high resolution and in real time.
Rastner says you can measure the speed of moving ice, but it’s hard to understand what happens inside the ice as temperatures rise, making it difficult to predict breakage.
Ultimately, he says, the only way to curb the melting of glaciers and the danger they pose is to reduce carbon emissions, a goal that observers say the EU vote has postponed.
– Megan Williams
Reader feedback
After reading our recent story the corporate response to the ban on disposable plastics in CanadaCharu Mittal wrote with this suggestion:
“I wanted to suggest an idea of history, thinking that it might also interest other people. As someone concerned about the cumulative impact of small everyday things on our environment, I tried, unsuccessfully, to find information about what to do with the many plastic cards we have.they end up collecting every passing year: credit / debit cards, membership cards, loyalty cards, point cards, gift cards of all kinds of products and services, the list goes on …
“For me, these cards are another face of the omniscient plastic threat to our daily lives. Often, and especially in the case of sensitive cards such as those related to banking or linked to personal information, one does not know how “Recycle them.” Are there safe government facilities that do this? Banks (and, in fact, all stores) should not have systems in place to accept expired / used cards again and find a way to dispose of them safely in a way that is also environmentally sensitive? Does the government plan to regulate the use of these plastic cards in any way? “
Thanks for that, Charu. It’s a good idea for a story. We’ll take a closer look, but in the meantime, you might find it this piece of 2019 by Emily Chung of interest.
Old numbers of What do you say? they are right here.
CBC News has recently launched a page dedicated to the weather, which can be found here.
Also, check out our radio and podcast program. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling means it’s much harder for federal agencies to introduce the kind of transformative, radical policies needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But as Laura Lynch, presenter of What On Earth, learns, many climate advocates still see a way forward. What on Earth it is now broadcast on Sundays at 11:00 ET, at 11:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador. Subscribe to your favorite podcast app or listen to it on demand at CBC Escort.
The big picture: storing energy in the sand
As we increase the use of renewable but intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar, battery storage becomes more vital. Science offers a wide range of possibilities, such as water pump and gravity storage – and you can now add sand to this list.
How does sand store energy, you say? Well, if you pour it into an insulated steel tank, it actually becomes a fairly efficient thermal energy storage system. This is precisely what the Finnish company Vatajankowski has done northwest of Helsinki. The tank in question is about four meters wide and seven meters high, and contains a heat exchanger, which takes energy from external sources and heats the sand between 500 and 600 C. When energy is needed, return it to attract heat. exchanger. The company says this system can store eight megawatt-hours of power (or enough to power the average U.S. home for about 10 months).
Vatajankowski is deploying this stored heat (along with the excess heat from its data servers) to a local district heating system, a centralized method that supplies heat to buildings and industrial processes through pipes (usually) that contain hot or cold water. The company has said it plans to set up facilities with about 20 gigawatt hours of energy storage and heated sand up to 1,000 C, possibly using out-of-service mine shafts.
(Pasta Design / Shutterstock)
Hot and annoying: Provocative ideas from all over the web
Observed in BC: a cedar as wide as the hut of a 747
(Submitted by Colin Spratt)
A biologist has found what is one of the widest trees ever recorded in BC
Ian Thomas measured a red cedar from west to north of Vancouver with between 4.8 and 5.8 meters in diameter.
If Thomas’ preliminary measurements are correct, the giant he found Lynn Headwaters Regional Park it would barely fit inside the cockpit of a Boeing 747.
The diameter of the tree at chest height (DBH) has yet to be officially verified and could end up being up to one meter less than its 5.8-meter calculation, he said, depending on how it is measured in a rugged and steep slope.
Regardless of its exact size, there is no doubt that the massive tree is very, very old.
“It came at the end of a forest blow of about 10 hours,” Thomas told Gloria Macarenko, presenter of CBC’s On the Coast, Monday. “I spend much of my time studying satellite maps and government data sets and just traversing these amazing and threatened ancient forests that we are fortunate to have, some of them, here in BC.”
Thomas and his self-description “tree hunterColleague Colin Spratt christened the tree they found in a “primordial” red cedar forest as the North Coast giant.
The tree is on Territories of the Tsleil-Waututh nation. Gabriel George, its director of treaties, land and resources, said Western red cedars have been used by his people for everything from canoes, clothing and buildings to ceremonial and medicinal applications.
“Everything from roots to branches …