Hundreds of thousands of people are without power, and tens of thousands are under evacuation orders with blazes out of control in Southern California.
The Palisades, Hurst, and Eaton fires are growing fast, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds.
More than 625 million acres of the US oceans are now protected after Biden prohibited all future oil and gas leasing.
President-elect Donald Trump has already said he plans to undo the move. But that likely depends on Congress taking action, CNN reports.
More than 96 percent of the island now has power, according to Luma, the local energy company. An outage on New Year’s Eve took out power for close to 90 percent of the US territory, the latest in a series of blackouts.
Power outages affected close to 90 percent of customers in the US territory today, the Associated Press reports. Local energy company Luma says it’s investigating the cause and suspects a damaged underground power line. Getting the lights back on could take 24 to 48 hours. Blackouts have been a persistent problem for Puerto Rico’s struggling electricity grid since Hurricane Maria.
“Tesla Recharged” gives customers year-end insights in the Tesla app for stats such as how often users’ homes are powered off-grid.
As Not a Tesla App reports, Tesla Energy users get trophies like “Solar Punk” if they’re in the top 25 percent generating solar energy for the year or “Team Player” for being in the top 1 percent of sending electricity back to the grid.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld a district judge’s 2023 ruling that the state violated young people’s right to a clean and healthy environment.
A group of 16 youths filed suit to push the state to drop a provision in the Montana Environmental Policy Act that barred officials from considering greenhouse gas emissions and the consequences of climate change when permitting new energy projects.
It’s the latest example of the Biden team approving massive loans for clean energy, battery, and electric vehicle projects as the clock winds down on the president’s time in office. The PG&E loan is the biggest to-date and will go toward investments in “hydroelectric power generation, batteries and power lines,” according to the New York Times.
[The New York Times]
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) published its top 10 priorities for the incoming Trump administration and managed to omit any reference to climate change, Reuters reports. President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a scam.
Instead, SEIA is focusing on “American energy dominance,” ending “dependence on China,” and even supplying electricity for crypto mining and AI data centers.
Carrboro, NC is suing for damages it expects to incur as climate change leads to more extreme weather. It alleges that Duke Energy has delayed a transition from the fossil fuels to renewable energy as part of a “campaign of deception.”
Hurricane Helene — supercharged by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels — tore a path of destruction through North Carolina earlier this year.
[The New York Times]
You can now expand DJI’s Power 1000 solar generator that I reviewed with up to five of these new $1,169 2kWh Power Expansion Battery 2000 units daisy-chained together over DJI’s proprietary SDC port, for a maximum capacity of 11kWh. Add solar and you can produce a steady 2400W of AC output indefinitely, or at least until you master a rosetta pattern in your latte art.
The FBI is investigating, Reuters reports. Hackers allegedly targeted US nonprofits and activists who have spoken out against ExxonMobil. Lawyers for ExxonMobil wielded hacked documents to fight lawsuits filed against the company, according to Reuters.
Home Energy Reports will be coming to the Ecobee app next month. The company says the feature should help users better understand how their HVAC system works and, hopefully, save more energy.
It will show detailed reports on your system’s energy use right in the app, help identify potential issues with the system, and compare energy consumption with others in your area for some healthy competition.
Hurricane Rafael cut off power across the island even before it made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm. Authorities are still working to restore power after weeks of widespread, prolonged blackouts exacerbated by another hurricane that struck Cuba in late October.
Utility planning documents show rising costs for customers in some regions of the US as tech companies build out energy-hungry data centers, the Washington Post reports:
“A lot of governors and local political leaders who wanted economic growth and vitality from these data centers are now realizing it can come at a cost of increased consumer bills,” said Neil Chatterjee, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
[The Washington Post]
Meta wanted to build a nuclear-powered AI data center in the US — until a rare species of bee was found at the site, according to the Financial Times.
Tech giants have inked a string of nuclear energy deals lately to try to meet growing electricity demand for AI data centers.
EcoFlow’s whole-home energy backup solution, PowerOcean, now works with LG’s Homey smart home platform to help manage your home’s energy use. According to a press release:
Users can automatically change their lights to green when the EcoFlow EV charger completes charging their vehicle. They can also start their washing machine when their EcoFlow solar panels generate excess energy or receive notifications when energy prices drop, making it cost-effective to charge their EcoFlow home battery.
PowerOcean is currently only available in Europe, but EcoFlow says it’s coming to the US next year.
[homey.app]
Remember in 2008 when ex-Intel chief Andy Grove tried convincing new leadership to diversify interests and produce advanced lithium-ion batteries? Here in 2024, Intel’s very survival is uncertain and Homeland Security worries that China’s domination of batteries used in EVs (80 percent) and commercial energy storage (90 percent) is a threat to the US supply chain. Duh.
