Green Energy

Statement to the United Nations Security Council on the Situation in Iran by IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event.

However, due to the impacts, there is radiological and chemical contamination inside the facilities in Natanz. The type of radiation present inside the facility, primarily alpha particles, is manageable with appropriate radiation protection measures.

At present, the Iranian authorities are informing us of attacks on the other facilities, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant; and Esfahan site,

All these developments are deeply concerning. I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment. Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security.

“any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Statute of the Agency”.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23289880

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South Korea’s recent political shift marks a critical turning point for its energy future, one anchored in pragmatism and strategic economic reasoning rather than ideological preference. The country’s new government has decisively recommitted to renewable energy expansion, sustaining nuclear generation at current levels, and accelerating coal phase-outs, a trajectory that signals a clear recognition of renewable energy’s essential role in the national economic strategy. This policy reset arrives as South Korea, historically reliant on imported fossil fuels for over 90% of its energy needs, seeks urgently to mitigate both geopolitical risks and environmental pressures inherent in its heavy fossil fuel dependency.

Since January, President Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the Biden administration’s efforts to grow America’s clean energy industry. The Trump administration has frozen grants and loans, hollowed out key agencies, and used executive action to stall renewable energy projects and reverse climate policies — often in legally dubious ways. At the same time, citing economic and national security reasons, Trump has sought to advance efforts to produce more critical minerals like lithium in the United States. That is exactly what the emerging lithium-ion battery recycling industry seeks to do, which is why some industry insiders are optimistic about their future under Trump.

Nevertheless, U.S. battery recyclers face uncertainty due to fast-changing tariff policies, the prospect that Biden-era tax credits could be repealed by Congress as it seeks to slash federal spending, and signs that the clean energy manufacturing boom is fading.

Battery recyclers are in “a limbo moment,” said Beatrice Browning, a recycling expert at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, which conducts market research for companies in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. They’re “waiting to see what the next steps are.”

• The Harita Group, a major Indonesian conglomerate, persistently found high levels of the carcinogenic chemical chromium-6 in waters around its nickel mine, which opened in 2010.
• The conglomerate’s own internal tests showed chromium-6 levels regularly breaching Indonesian legal limits for a decade.
• Leaked emails show senior Harita executives were aware of the pollution since at least 2012.
• Residents in the area say they received no warnings about pollution, and the conglomerate has repeatedly stated that local water is safe to drink.
• Harita did not respond to repeated requests for comment. It has previously stated that its operations were in compliance with local environmental regulations, despite continuing internal reports of chromium-6 levels that exceeded legal limits. Harita also implemented a series of measures to control the pollution, including installing ponds to collect toxic runoff and carrying out chemical treatments.

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The legislation would impose monthly fees on community solar operators, changing the rules for existing projects and making the state a ​“pariah” for investors.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23170535

Building “alternative” energy infrastructure isn’t enough. To avert climate disaster, fossil fuels need to be restricted, and energy consumption overall needs to fall.

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If everyone simply switched from fossil fuels to "clean" energy sources, and nothing else changed, that would actually be suicidal for life on Earth.

California's solar energy boom is often hailed as a green success story but a new study reveals a murkier reality beneath the sunlit panels. Researchers uncover seven distinct forms of corruption threatening the integrity of the state s clean energy expansion, including favoritism, land grabs, and misleading environmental claims. Perhaps most eyebrow-raising are allegations of romantic entanglements between senior officials and solar lobbyists, blurring the lines between personal influence and public interest. The report paints a picture of a solar sector racing ahead while governance and ethical safeguards fall dangerously behind.

Solar energy has become the #1 source of new electricity generation capacity in the United States in recent years, like in other markets around the world. Solar energy is just cheaper, more resilient, quicker to build, and good for energy independence and energy security.

These solar facts are courtesy of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)

Sellafield - the most hazardous building in Britain - is still leaking radioactive water.

The MSSS has been leaking radioactive water into the ground since 2018, releasing enough water to fill an Olympic swimming pool every three years, and is likely to continue leaking until the oldest section of the building has been emptied in the 2050s, around a decade later than previously expected.

Pointing to the fact that Sellafield Ltd had missed most of its annual targets for retrieving waste from buildings, including the MSSS, the committee warned: “The consequence of this underperformance is that the buildings are likely to remain extremely hazardous for longer.”

In Halifax County, Virginia, a futuristic farm is taking shape, where a 65-megawatt solar farm is sharing space with grazing lambs and a 10-hive apiary that is home to 500,000 bees.

The bees are taking flight at Crystal Hill Solar, an agrivoltaic site with the capacity to power 10,800 homes per year, according to the operator, Urban Grid. The farm spans 620 acres, and the new apiary will be positioned near an edge of the land, CleanTechnica reported.

Urban Grid said the 10-hive apiary, developed in partnership with Siller Pollinator Company, is expected to produce around 400 pounds of honey per year, with some of the honey being distributed to local schools, food banks and faith-based organizations.

The solar farm already accommodates lamb, which graze on the site to help maintain it and reduce the need for mowing, in partnership with Gray’s Lambscaping. According to Gray’s Lambscaping, the lambs can help cut mowing needs by more than half.

As CleanTechnica reported, the lambs benefit from the grazing as well as additional shade provided by the solar panels.

Learn why microgrids are the essential tool for building their own cleaner, fairer, and more reliable energy systems.

The past decade has seen “a consistent, sustained pattern" of violence against Indigenous people who oppose corporate human rights abuses.

Although Indigenous peoples make up 6 percent of the world population, they accounted for one-fifth of the crimes documented in the report. They also were more likely than others to be killed, particularly in Brazil, the Philippines, and Mexico.

Fossil fuel companies were hardly the only offenders, however. Dobson and her team identified several cases involving renewable energy sectors, where projects have been linked to nearly 365 cases of harassment and more than 100 killings of human rights defenders.

But mining, including the extraction of “transition minerals,” leads every sector in attacks on defenders. Forty percent of those killed in such crimes were Indigenous, a reflection of the fact that more than half of all critical minerals lie in or near Indigenous land.

The report: Defending rights and realising just economies: Human rights defenders and business (2015-2024)

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• Grist article
• report cited

https://archive.is/8QOBS

BENGALURU, India (AP) — One of the most carbon-polluting countries, India is also making huge efforts to harness the power of the sun, wind and other clean energy sources.

Most of the electricity in India, the world’s most populous nation, still comes from coal, one of the dirtiest forms of energy. But coal’s dominance is dropping, going from 60% of installed power capacity 11 years ago to less than 50% today, according to India’s power ministry.

At the same time, India had its largest ever addition of clean power in the fiscal year between April 2024 and April of this year, adding 30 gigawatts — enough to power nearly 18 million Indian homes.

With a growing middle class and skyrocketing energy needs, how fast India can move away from coal and other fossil fuels, such as gasoline and oil, could have a large impact on global efforts to confront climate change.

GILA RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz.—About 33 miles south of Phoenix, Interstate 10 bisects a line of solar panels traversing the desert like an iridescent snake. The solar farm’s shape follows the path of a canal, with panels serving as awnings to shade the gently flowing water from the unforgiving heat and wind of the Sonoran Desert.

The panels began generating power last November for the Akimel O’otham and Pee Posh tribes—known together as the Gila River Indian Community, or GRIC—on their reservation in south-central Arizona, and they are the first of their kind in the U.S. The community is studying the effects of these panels on the water in the canal, hopeful that they will protect a precious resource from the desert’s unflinching sun and wind.

In September, GRIC is planning to break ground on another experimental effort to conserve water while generating electricity: floating solar. Between its canal canopies and the new project that would float photovoltaic panels on a reservoir it is building, GRIC hopes to one day power all of its canal and irrigation operations with solar electricity, transforming itself into one of the most innovative and closely-watched water users in the West in the process.