Days before President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office and took actions to stall the transition to clean energy, a disaster unfolded on the other side of the country that may have an outsize effect on the pace of the transition.
A fire broke out last Thursday at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California, one of the largest battery energy storage systems in the world. The fire raged through the weekend, forcing local officials to evacuate nearby homes and close roads.
Battery storage is an essential part of the transition away from fossil fuels. It works in tandem with solar and wind power to provide electricity during periods when the renewable resources aren’t available. But lithium-ion batteries, the most common technology used in storage systems, are flammable. And if they catch fire, it can be difficult to extinguish.
Last week’s fire is the latest and largest of several at the Moss Landing site in recent years, and I expect that it will become the main example opponents of carbon-free electricity use to try to stop battery development in other places.
“A massive oil spill in the gulf of mexico could cast a dark shadow on fossil fuel expansion”
Humans are fucking stupid and I hate having to share this planet with y’all
It’s a war situation, but - Russian tankers having mysterious problems spilling oil are destroying Black Sea ecosystems right now. Nobody even hears of that FFS.
That can be interpreted in favor of oil too. I’ll explain - what they cry about in media more is what the weaker side does bad, or the stronger side does good, and vice versa, and also lies on both. If the general publicity is in favor of oil, it means oil is objectively in such demand now that it gives power bigger than renewables, despite geopolitical access to natural resource not being required for renewables, despite renewables being autonomous and nicer, etc.
Until using renewables makes one more powerful than using oil, this won’t change. This requires not demanding more use of the or fighting use of fossil fuels, this requires technology improvements.
(I’ve got migraine now, sorry for using too many words)
For real, the people just accept oil tankers spilling around, but nobody pays a shit.
I heard it, the boats knicked in half, because they were made for river but crossing the sea (i think semi legally). One could say Russia was forced to do due to sanctions… Not that I would be against sanctions, just saying.
🫂🖤