Maritime Shipping: Overcoming the Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition 

Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 8/8/2023 Zondits has reported extensively on alternative transportation fuels. That reporting has focused on land and air transportation. But with the recognition that almost all internationally traded goods, including fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal, and liquid natural gas, are transported by sea. The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates … Read more

“The transformer shortage is happening now and requires timely solutions. We are working with our colleagues in Congress to find ways to increase the availability of transformers.”

Led by Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.: “We can all agree that the transformer shortage is happening now and requires timely solutions. We are working with our colleagues in Congress to find ways to increase the availability of transformers in the United States.” Read the full article here: Democratic senators urge DOE … Read more

Are You a Star Wars or Star Trek Fan? 

Nunzio Peleggi, Zondits guest, 8/1/2023 Star Date 2023: The need to hyper speed or warp speed, or the deployment of clean power and grid infrastructure. If you’re a Star Trek fan, then it’s Warp speed, if you’re a Star Wars fan, then it’s hyper speed.  Both allow you to travel faster than the speed of … Read more

“This important result demonstrates for the first time that plasma temperatures relevant for commercial fusion energy can be obtained in a compact, high-field spherical tokamak.”

Steven McNamara, Tokamak Energy science director, said “This important result demonstrates for the first time that plasma temperatures relevant for commercial fusion energy can be obtained in a compact, high-field spherical tokamak.” Read the full article here PPPL makes critical contributions to historic public-private partnership (newswise.com)

From Snowman to Sun-powered: After a Hundred Years, My Old Maine House Gets Heat Pumps

Camryn Hansen, Zondits guest, 7/25/2023 After years of considering heat pumps and hearing from a series of contractors that my house was not a good candidate, I took the plunge and installed them anyway. I’ve now lived with my heat pumps for a full year, and here’s the rundown.  I live in Portland, Maine in … Read more

“Science and innovation cannot flourish in the dark—they require openness, scrutiny, and reexamination so that we can build on them to create the knowledge and technologies that will change the world.” 

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said “Science and innovation cannot flourish in the dark—they require openness, scrutiny, and reexamination so that we can build on them to create the knowledge and technologies that will change the world.”   Read the full article here U.S. Department of Energy Releases Plan to Ensure Free, Immediate, and … Read more

It’s the Gophers vs. the Flickertails

Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 7/18/2023 “America is a bifurcated country. Half the people don’t want anything to change — ever — while the other half want everything to change, especially if change means eliminating the use of fossil fuels.”  So begins an article in CleanTechnica, an online independent journal covering technical and policy issues affecting … Read more

“By US standards, this is one of the most ambitious existing-building emissions regulations to date, and complex details will need to be resolved.”

Holly Samuelson, a research faculty member at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, in an e-mail stated: “By US standards, this is one of the most ambitious existing-building emissions regulations to date, and complex details will need to be resolved. However, any realistic path to avoiding the most severe consequences of climate change involves … Read more

500 Mile SunZia Renewable Energy Transmission Project to Break Ground

Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 7/11/2023 Zondits has published several articles regarding the difficulty of expanding U.S. electrical transmission and distribution networks to facilitate the rapid growth of large-scale solar and wind renewable energy projects. However, some encouraging news is coming out of the American Southwest.  The Associated Press and multiple Southwest U.S. news outlets are … Read more