Tag Archives: election-guide

How to smash solar power records: Harness a heat wave

by LydaMcCorkindal Posted on July 25, 2016

Beat the Heat

How to smash solar power records: Harness a heat wave

By on Jul 25, 2016 3:24 pmShare

California just crushed a solar energy record — thanks to the heat wave currently smothering the state.

At 1:06pm on July 12 — as the Golden State was burning in temps hitting the high 90s — its solar power plants generated an unheard-of 8,030 megawatts of electricity, according to the California Independent System Operator.

That’s enough to power 6 million homes, SFGate reports. Just two years ago, the statewide system could produce only half that amount of electricity. These record-breaking numbers don’t even take into account the 500,000-plus solar arrays installed on California’s private homes and offices, which can produce an estimated 4,000 megawatts of electricity altogether.

On July 12, renewable energy met almost 29 percent of electricity demand when it peaked at 5:54pm. That’s good news for the state’s goal of sourcing 33 percent of its power from renewables by 2020.

When life gives you heat domes, make megawatts of renewable energy, as they say.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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How to smash solar power records: Harness a heat wave

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Extreme heat is exhausting and expensive

by EarnestTrumbo Posted on July 21, 2016

cool it

Extreme heat is exhausting and expensive

By on Jul 21, 2016Share

It’s July, the month where the whole world collectively reaches for the nearest chilled beverage. Work be damned: Hordes of city-dwellers are relocating to the seaside, celebrities frolic in Ibiza, and most of us in the continental United States are tethered to the air conditioner right now.

Just kidding — first-world problems are the least of our worries in the middle of this 14-month global heat streak. It turns out that increasingly hot summers are going to wreak total havoc on some countries’ GDP, as excessively high temperatures make working during peak daylight hours impossible.

According to a just-released United Nations study, poorer workers and manual laborers are especially affected by heat stress. In developing countries, fewer working hours can translate into serious economic strain. In Southeast Asia, heat is already cutting work hours by 15 to 20 percent. By 2050, that number could be as high as 40 percent.

“It’s a whole working month that would be lost because it’s so hot you can’t work,” the report’s coauthor Tord Kjellstrom told the Washington Post. If global warming continues at its current rate, extreme heat could cost global economies $2 trillion by 2030.

Though excess heat primarily affects poor or middle-income countries, the report also notes that more prosperous countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Russia could see their working hours impacted by extreme winters.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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Extreme heat is exhausting and expensive

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India set a record by planting 50 million trees in one day

by Cesar46F721 Posted on July 20, 2016

Forest for the trees

India set a record by planting 50 million trees in one day

By on Jul 20, 2016Share

Trees are a valuable tool in the fight against climate change. It’s the ultimate in carbon-capture technology — but all natural, and without the licensing fees.

On July 11th, volunteers in India took this old-school climate-fighting tool to a whole new level by planting a record number of trees in a single day, beating Pakistan’s previous record of planting 847,275 trees in 2013.

It took 800,000 volunteers to plant just under 50 million tree saplings along India’s roads, rail lines, and on public lands. This is all a part of India’s commitment to reforest 12 percent of its land — a commitment made at the Paris climate talks last year. The goal will increase the total amount of India’s forested areas to 29 percent of the country’s landmass, or 235 million acres.

India, already one of the world’s warmest nations, is particularly vulnerable to climate change. A May heatwave reached 123 degrees and led to thousands of deaths, while severe water shortages impacted 330 million people.

Trees won’t make it rain, but they could bring down the temperature a few degrees. Not only do trees absorb carbon, they also cool the air itself and can even reduce energy consumption and annual cooling costs. Fifty million of them will certainly help.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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India set a record by planting 50 million trees in one day

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No cars allowed on this 3,000-mile East Coast bike trail

by sharonhinder880 Posted on July 20, 2016

No cars allowed on this 3,000-mile East Coast bike trail

By on Jul 20, 2016Share

Biking from Maine to Florida might sound like a nightmare to lots of people — but it’s a proposition that could become much more appealing if the East Coast Greenway Alliance gets its way. A 3,000-mile bikes-only, no-cars-allowed trail that stretches the length of the East Coast could become a reality for the super-bikers among us.

OK, you may be thinking. When will this actually be finished, if ever? 

Roll up your pants and grab a helmet, because you can bike the East Coast Greenway today — some of it, at least. At the moment, only 850 miles are designated, off-road bike paths. But the goal is for 95 percent of the route to be traffic-free by 2030.

The path will be one of the longest bike trails in the United States. The trails are locally owned and managed, so if you’re an East Coaster excited about getting the Greenway up and running in your area, you can help make that happen.

Many bike trails already exist along rivers, old railways, and other scenic locations along the East Coast — but the challenge is to bring them up to code and connect the dots. Once that happens, we’ll have the cycle-friendly equivalent of the Appalachian Trail at our fingertips.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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No cars allowed on this 3,000-mile East Coast bike trail

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Fracking and immigration activists unite 60 feet above the RNC

by CathyNpykchtei Posted on July 19, 2016

moral highground

Fracking and immigration activists unite 60 feet above the RNC

By on Jul 19, 2016Share

Four anti-fracking, pro-immigrant activists scaled 60-foot flagpoles a few blocks from the Republic National Convention on Tuesday morning, then unfurled a massive banner that read “Don’t Trump our communities.”

What are these two groups of activists doing together? Their issues overlap. In many places around the country, immigrants live in areas where oil companies use hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas and oil. Most of the fracking in California, for instance, happens in the Central Valley, near fields where undocumented workers harvest crops to feed the rest of the country. Fracking sites are more likely to be in neighborhoods of color and poverty.

Emmelia Talarico, an activist who traveled to Cleveland, Ohio from Maryland for the protest, said that “communities directly impacted by oil and gas extraction have come together with immigrant communities being torn apart by deportations to take a stand against an unjust system that targets us all.”

Three of the four activists were arrested and are now raising money for bail.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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Fracking and immigration activists unite 60 feet above the RNC

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