ENERGY MATTERS

                  From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185       246       82

July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512         1151        189       712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989      9490       1726       110      194

April   6         906     11787         4211        631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

June    1         287     10637        2346      3205      95

July     7         251      8440         1595        817      411

Aug    4         656    10120         1118         532      423

Sept    1       1480   10470           703        505      235 

           7          815     8469           342        358      282

           8       1700     9836           250        339      253

         14       1934      9001           709        281       300

Summary:

• Again, the USA led the world, with 142,059 new cases and 1934 new deaths.
• With schools opening and 5-11 year old students still not eligible for vaccination, all this was expected.

• 
  Note this weekend that football games had capacity audiences.  108,345 for the Washington at Michigan game.  Very few masks.  See if you can find one at the Notre Dame/Florida State game.  Hawaii, which is doing about as well as the best states in controlling the Delta variant (we might have been the only one with no new deaths yesterday), is  the only college in the nation still preventing any attendance at home football games.
• 
  #2 in new cases was Turkey with 27,802.
• Indonesia (250), Philippines (221), Malaysia (463), Vietnam (276), Sri Lanka (136) and Thailand (136) all experienced triple digits in new deaths.
• Singapore had its worst new cases/day figure ever...837.

From the New York Times this morning:

• Britain will give booster shots to health workers as well as to people who are at least 50 or have medical conditions.
• Cuba, which developed its own Covid vaccines, will offer shots to 2-year-olds. China and the U.A.E. are vaccinating children as young as 3.
• 
  In the last months of Donald Trump’s presidency, his top military adviser privately assured Chinese officials that the U.S. would not attack them, according to a new book.

To be released next week is Bob Woodward's latest book, Peril, co-authored by Robert Costa.

From the OZY Presidential brief, #DoNotTouchMyClothes.  Which country is showing?

Afghan women defy Taliban Dress Code.  Also from this brief, with photo from the Washington Post:

Dolphin Massacre

Shock After Nearly 1,500 Dolphins Killed in Faroe Islands Hunt

Animal rights activists are furious at the record number of animals slaughtered in the annual hunt known as Grindadrap, which has been taking place since the ninth century in the North Atlantic archipelago. Graphic video uploaded by Sea Shepherd activists shows dolphins thrashing in the shallows as hunters prevented them from swimming away and the water turned red with blood. Although the Faroese defend the hunt as a sustainable food source and cultural tradition, even islanders were shocked by how many animals were killed this year.

The islands of Faroe are located between Norway and Iceland and belong to Denmark, but is self-governing.  Population of 53,358.  Average summer highs are around 54F, and lows at 41F.   Online dating channels have arranged for three hundred women from the Philippines and Thailand to find husbands here.

Enough with North Korea's Kim Jong Un again going ballistic.  South Korean President Moon Jae-in made BTS diplomats his special envoy for future generations and culture.  They will accompany him to the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (which just opened yesterday).  BTS will give a speech and preview a video performance.  There will also be a K-Pop night.   Previously, their mandatory military service was delayed under a special law passed by their National Assembly.  Celebrity diplomats in the past have included Angelina Jolie, Liam Neeson and Emma Watson.

Energy Matters is a weekly review by The American Energy Society, which has recently been active only for a decade.  I'm searching, but I can't get a sense on anything about this group.  From their web page:

...is the world’s only professional association dedicated to the advancement of abundant, affordable and safe energy. We support hundreds of thousands of thought-leaders in all fields of education, business, government, and NGOs in order to address challenges in energy through innovation, collaboration and leadership. Which makes us the largest (and most trusted) energy organization in the world.

This current issue has some particularly interesting information:

• -In 2020, US annual production of associated natural gas (or, natural gas produced from oil wells) declined for the first time since 2016. (Note: of the five major US production regions, the Permian still produces 50+% of all natural gas.  The latest September issue of Scientific American has an article on how much of this leaks, contributing to global climate warming.)
• Last year, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill that appropriated $90.5M for negative emissions technologies at the Department of Energy with $32.5M set aside for direct air capture; the trend continues this year (insert) with broad support for soil health practices, professional development, technical assistance, and $175M for a range of R&D priorities, including direct air capture, mineralization, and storage monitoring. 
• 
  World energy summary in 2018 to right.  Click on it read the details.

The state of renewables in the first half of 2021, by the numbers (note: 1 megawatt of capacity ≈ electricity consumed by 400 to 900 homes in a year, depending on location):

• 9,915 megawatts of capacity came online in the first half of this year — a 17% increase over the first half of 2020; 
• On a quarterly basis, new solar installations in April-June were 2,226 megawatts of capacity, a 73% jump over the first quarter;
• Q2 wind capacity installations were 2,824 megawatts, similar to Q1 and above the same period last year;
• New battery storage capacity is growing even faster, albeit from a much smaller base, with Q2 installations of 570 megawatts compared to roughly 100 in Q1;
• Total storage added this year so far almost matches 2020's full-year.  

• Large-scale battery storage capacity in the US, in thousands of megawatts.

• Spotlight hydropower (AES Members have access to the white paper, Water Works):
  • Hydropower generates 55% more total electricity than nuclear and more than that of all other renewables combined, including wind, solar PV, bioenergy, and geothermal. 
  • Hydropower supplies 17% of global electricity generation, the third‑largest source after coal and natural gas.
  • Most new hydropower capacity will come from large-scale projects in Asia and Africa. 
• Stanford University is converting to 100% solar next year.
• Afghanistan:
• The foundation of its economy is its drug-trade — 80% of global opium and heroin supplies.
• Sits on an estimated $1 trillion worth of rare earth mineral deposits such as iron, copper, gold, and lithium.

• Not certain about lithium, but suspected to be as large as Bolivia's.
• Of course, the oil, but now you know why Russia was so interested, and now, China.
• The dirtiest coal is exported by Indonesia.  Size of circle is indicative of amount exported.

• 
  COP21, the climate change conference which produced the Paris Agreement, also showed a commitment of $100 billion to the developing world for clean energy.  
• Nothing much has so far been invested.  
• But, yes, in February, the USA re-joined.  
• However, the Senate needs a two-thirds majority to ratify the treaty, and there is a ZERO chance this will happen.
• Of course, the Senate never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and not even the Treaty of Peace with Germany after World War I.  
• The Senate hates to ratify anything.  But the world merrily rolls along.
• 
  COP26 convenes in Glasgow on October 31.  The TEDx event in Honolulu on Mariculture and the Blue Revolution, directed by Blue Revolution Hawaii, is linked to this gathering in Scotland.
• 
  The Dixie Fire in Northern California is now the largest single wildfire in recorded state history (the entire Gold Rush town of Greenville was destroyed).
• Fusion research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab — a laser light was focused onto a target the size of a BB which resulted in a hot-spot the diameter of a human hair, generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second.
• While not quite net positive, they are nearing a threshold. 
• The latest test showed an 8X improvement from just this spring, and 25X from 2018.
• I left LLNL and laser fusion in 1979 when my sense was that the laser to accomplish  this task had not yet been invented.  42 years later, they now seem to be getting close.

• 
  Today, ONLY 1% of all vehicles are full electric plug-ins.  However, 10% of European new car sales in 2020 were electric cars.
• Alas, General Motors recalled all 2017-2022 Chevy Bolts for battery replacement.  Their batteries have a tendency to catch fire.
• There are 20 times more natural gas capacity in utilities compared to batteries for energy storage.
• Looking for a solar job?  From The American Energy Society:

Contact us to post a job, find qualified candidates, or fill difficult positions. 

In case you missed it, see the special Energy Today issue: Hot Jobs Market.

Above graphic from NextBigFuture.

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