Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
And how to cut your AC use.
Dear Reader,
It’s important for all of us to remember that there is a lot of Feel-Good climate news. Such as? I’m glad you asked!
Bill McKibben, in his must-read newsletter The Crucial Years, reports that, as someone who’s spent a fair bit of time in the rickshaws of Dhaka, he’s delighted that those rickshaws are largely reliant now on battery-power. But what’s more, he says, there’s an emerging plan to use those batteries in the evening as a virtual power plant for the Bangladeshi capital. “When rickshaws return for the evening with a third of their batteries still charged, SolShare is figuring out how to aggregate that power and sell it to the grid. Drivers should see a thirty percent increase in income.”
And speaking of travelling, the UK is travelling back in time, according to this analysis from CarbonBrief, telling us that UK coal use has plummeted to levels last seen in 1666 (!!!), which has led to greenhouse gas emissions dropping to those of 1872.
And while the debate over data centers rages on in North America, China just opened the world’s first wind-powered underwater data center. It uses cool water to reduce energy consumption by over 20%. (The Guardian digs into the mostly pros but some cons here.)
And school buses in Massachusetts might not be transporting children over the summer but that doesn’t mean they’re not performing other important tasks. According to Canary Media, three electric buses in the towns of Acton and Boxborough “will charge up their nearly 200-kilowatt-hour batteries overnight, when the power supply is at its cleanest and cheapest, then send energy back to the grid from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on days when the grid is strained. The district will earn revenue for the power it shares, perhaps even enough to cover the costs of charging up during the school year. … Plus, the strategy will help lower the emissions and cost of the region’s electricity supply.” The magic school bus, indeed!
Positively,
Dot
Dear Dot has more to say about reducing AC (and saving money).
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
