[Jun 19-25’23] Fossil fuel assets can go to hell

3-6B people living under climate stress by 2100, virtual power plants making an impact, great EV data explorer and loss of fossil fuel assets have no impact on general public.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Climate 🎉

References: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].

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‼️News you can’t miss

Here’s one important scary/bad (🙀), good (😻), interesting (😼) and fossil (💩) news item.

🙀 3-6B people may be living in less than optimal environments by 2100

😻 Virtual power plants are starting to matter

😼 Great EV data explorer on sales, charging points and more

💩 Loss of fossil fuel assets will not impoverish general public

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👩‍⚕️ Status: Climate & Science

Let’s look at how we’re doing this week!

[#heatwave] — A heat wave in Texas pushed the power grid to its limit, but renewable energy and battery storage helped prevent blackouts. Solar power and batteries filled in gaps when coal and nuclear power plants went offline. Climate change has made extreme weather more intense, and a new analysis found that global warming made the extreme heat in Texas at least five times more likely to occur. Despite the success of renewable energy in preventing blackouts, Texas leaders continue to push for more fossil fuel power plants.

[#glacierloss] — Glaciers in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya mountain range region melted 65% faster from 2010 through 2019 than in the previous decade, according to a report from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu. The melting is destabilizing the landscape, raising the risks of hazards like floods and landslides, and squeezing much of the region’s unique wildlife into smaller and more precarious habitats. Nearly two billion people who live in more than a dozen countries within the mountain region or in the river valleys downstream depend on melting ice and snow for their water supply.

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📰 The 7 Grand Challenges

⚡️Decarbonize Electricity

Clean electricity is the one do-or-die challenge we must solve.

[#chinapv] — China's Whole County PV program, which aims to expand the use of solar power in rural areas, could also boost the adoption of electric heat pumps, according to a new analysis. The program, which has already seen a dramatic increase in distributed solar since its launch, reduces the costs of distributed solar via a tender or auction to select a single supplier and installer to cover all the rooftop installations included in each county pilot. Heat pumps can help increase consumption of locally produced solar power and negate the need for existing heating systems that use fossil fuels, associated with greenhouse gas emissions and negative impacts on local and indoor air quality. However, rural areas face specific barriers, including public awareness, capital costs, and administrative capacity and coordination.