Climate Change Archive

Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau authorized grid operator Luma to build the new Virtual Power Plant (VPP), Electrek reports. A VPP harnesses the collective strength of a fleet of batteries, usually from electric vehicles or residential solar setups. Together, they can act as a backup power source during an emergency or energy shortage — problems Puerto Rico is no stranger to, especially after Hurricane Maria decimated its power grid.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Florida Big Bend this morning as a dangerous Category 3 storm. Governor Ron DeSantis said the state has deployed hundreds of Starlink units to affected areas to help emergency responders connect to the internet. Starlink also stepped in during relief efforts after the Maui wildfires this month and volcano eruption near Tonga in 2021, but Starlink has also been called out for promoting itself to communities reeling from disaster.

Flames have consumed at least 81,000 hectares (200,155 acres) in Greece’s Alexandroupolis region in the past couple weeks. The devastation officially marks the largest wildfire in the European Union since record keeping started in 2000, according to the European Commission.

Climate change threatens a child’s right to life and states are responsible for “providing a safe and enabling environment and a legal and institutional framework within which children can effectively exercise their rights,” the UN said in a 20-page comment released this week. It’s based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that has been ratified by every country except the US. It comes after a group of young plaintiffs won their suit saying the state of Montana violated their right to a healthy environment. The Biden administration also faces a federal climate suit filed by young plaintiffs in 2015.

Google has new APIs that it will offer to companies interested in installing solar panels or gathering information on air quality, according to CNBC. The solar API gives customers access to mapping data that could help companies see the best locations to install solar panels. A separate API will allow customers to gather data on hourly air quality information, CNBC reports.

As Canada’s wildfires rage on, Trudeau told reporters today that the company “is choosing to put corporate profits” above getting timely updates to people, Bloomberg reports.

My local emergency management department tweeted a link to this OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool last week, and my husband — who works outside — has found it useful as we struggle through sweltering heat in the South.