#31. 💰Bitcoin is as bad as oil | 🪟Thermal window coatings | 🌞AV failures good for climate

🌡 CLIMATE CHANGE

The majority of California’s coastal airports are vulnerable to increased flooding caused by climate change (long read)

This is a scientific research paper highlighting the risks to California’s coastal infrastructure due to the anticipated eight inches of sea level rise over the next 30 years. Of particular concern are 39 out of 43 coastal airports that will likely suffer damage in the 20-40 year timeframe.

Technology: University of New Mexico researchers find Bitcoin mining is environmentally unsustainable (long read)

Bitcoin mining requires a tremendous amount of electricity, and new research shows that a single coin mined in 2021 adversely impacted the climate as much as drilling for oil. Quantitatively, a single coin caused an estimated $11,314 of climate damage.

The effects of temperature and pH on the reproductive ecology of sand dollars and sea urchins: Impacts on sperm swimming and fertilization (long read)

This is a scientific research paper finding a harmful correlation between climate-induced temperature increase and its effect on pH, which in turn has an adverse effect on sand dollar and sea urchin reproductive capacity. Temperature and pH affected san dollars’ fertilization rates, but only temperature influenced sperm motility.

🔋 CLEAN ENERGY

Savant Systems and Sunnova Energy partner to make clean energy more accessible (quick read)

Savant Systems’ (Crunchbase) intelligent load management and control solutions will empower Sunnova Energy’s (Crunchbase) EaaS (energy-as-a-service) for US customers from 23Q1.

Clear window coating could cool buildings without using energy (long read)

The “transparent radiative cooler” (TRC) is comprised of layers of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, or titanium dioxide on a glass base, which is then sealed with a layer of polydimethylsiloxane. The technology could result in annual energy savings of 86.3 MJ/m^2 in warm climates.

European leaders are right to worry about America sucking up the world’s clean-energy capital investment (long read)

America’s new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with its incentives and subsidies will route investment away from Europe, leaving the Old World at a competitive disadvantage in the exploding clean energy space.

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🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Seattle launches permit system for companies testing self-driving vehicles on city streets (long read)

Seattle is home to Amazon, and Amazon acquired Zoox (Crunchbase), an AV startup. Prior to this new permitting system, AV companies could test with little difficulty or oversight; companies were asked to self-certify if they were operating AVs, provide proof of insurance, and assure the presence of a human operator. The new permitting requirements include displaying company logos on cars, sharing information about test driver programs, and submitting traffic incident data such as accidents.

Autonomous driving’s blunders are good news for the climate (quick read)

While AV pursuits have largely stalled, EV growth is exploding with EVs now accounting for 11% of vehicle sales. And while development of the two technologies often goes hand in hand, the accelerated growth of EVs before mainstream AV adoption is a faster win for the climate than might otherwise have been the case.

Toyota to launch five new “Bz” BEVs in Europe as it works toward 50% EV sales by 2030 (quick read)

After shunning EVs for decades, Toyota is finally fully on board, with five fully EV models to join the awkwardly-named bZ4X from 2026. The goal is 50% fully-EV sales by 2030 and fully carbon-neutral by 2040 for all Toyota vehicles.

🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

Thank you so much for reading, see you tomorrow!-Marc