Sourcing Renewables  -  May 23, 2020

Weekend reads: Testing solar in space; BP explores green hydrogen

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these must-read articles from around the web.

As the Rest of the World Plans a Green Recovery, America Is Once Again Falling Behind (TIME) Increasingly, it seems, many of these leaders are pushing for a green future. The European Union has promised to make climate change the centerpiece of its post-pandemic development plans for decades in the future. The World Bank and the IMF, crucial lenders to the developing world, have stressed sustainability as they grow their lending in response to the pandemic, and many of their borrowers have followed suit. In China, the world’s largest emitter, national leaders have endorsed big spending on a slew of low-carbon infrastructure and development priorities.

BP Smacks Exxon Upside Head With New Green Hydrogen Scheme (CleanTechnica) Why, it seems like only yesterday that ExxonMobil was forecasting a rosy scenario for fossil gas in the sparkling green economy of the future. Now along comes rival BP with a deep dive into green hydrogen. Renewable energy is already threatening gas in the power generation market, and if all goes according to plan renewable H2 will push gas out of the coveted industrial energy marketplace, too.

6 Ways Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Can Help Transition to Clean Energy (Visual Capitalist) While fossil fuels offer an easily transportable, affordable, and energy-dense fuel for everyday use, the burning of this fuel creates pollutants, which can concentrate in city centers degrading the quality of air and life for residents. The world is looking for alternative ways to ensure the mobility of people and goods with different power sources, and electric vehicles have high potential to fill this need. But did you know that not all electric vehicles produce their electricity in the same way?

U.S. overtakes China as most attractive country for renewables investment: research (Reuters) The United States has overtaken China as the most attractive country in the world for renewables investment and the global clean energy sector is expected to bounce back quickly despite the coronavirus pandemic, research showed on Tuesday. In an annual ranking of the top 40 renewable energy markets worldwide by consultancy EY, the United States was ranked first for the first time since 2016, followed by China. U.S. growth was largely due to a short-term extension of a production tax credit for wind projects and plans to invest $57 billion to install up to 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, the report said.

How the latest X-37B mission may change the world (The Hill) The X-37B, the secretive uncrewed reusable space plane, has lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft is loaded with a variety of experiments, some from NASA, some from the United States Space Force. One experiment, testing the microwave transmission of solar energy captured from space, has the potential to change the world. The idea of collecting solar energy in space and transmitting it to Earth was first described by Peter Glasser in 1968. Glasser subsequently acquired a patent in 1973. During the Carter administration, when an energy crisis rocked the world during the Iranian Revolution, NASA and the Energy Department conducted feasibility studies of the concept.

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