MORE ENERGY MATTERS

Sometimes our political system can quickly act. Diane Feinstein's funeral is still to come, and Laphonza Butler was yesterday sworn in as the newest member of the U.S. Senate. Now, if New Jersey can act decisively, there can be another new senator.

Then there is that other side of Congress, where the Republicans are in turmoil. In this transition, Rep. Patrick McHenry is their transition leader, but that is only to lead their party to a new speaker. You would think that the current #2 Rep. Steve Scalise would be the logical candidate, but people like Rep. Jim Jordan are among a bunch positioning themselves for this role. Perhaps next week the House might vote on the next speaker.

If you think Republicans are in trouble, across the Atlantic, Britain's Conservatives are also headed for doom. They have their fifth leader in six years with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Well, he has lost control, and all polls project that their 14 years of control will be terminated by the Labor Party next year.

From Energy Matters of the American Energy Society. Members can get Winds of Change. Costs $129 to join. Report can be purchased for $189.

Why Winds of Change?

Total global OSW capacity is 59,009 MW from 292 operating projects and about 11,900 operating wind turbines. However, the United States has not (yet) adopted this powerful clean energy source at any meaningful scale. Most of the sector's activity is focused on the eastern seaboard. Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island is the only region in the US that has a fully operational offshore wind system (five 6-megawatt turbines just south of the island’s Mohegan Bluffs), while the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project is in its demonstration phase and won't be fully operational until 2026.

But there are signs that the sector is poised to grow, especially along the US West Coast.

Further:

- The lithium deposit at Thacker Pass on the Oregon/Nevada border might be the largest in the world. AES Members have access to the peer-reviewed research.

- Solar panels in North Africa generate about three times more energy than in Europe, all else being equal including the solar panels.

- On the one hand, climate tech startups in Southeast Asia raised more than US $1 billion, an 80% increase compared to 2021. On the other hand, this total is less than 3% of global climate funding.

- Congress is considering the Carbon Dioxide Removal Research and Development Act, which will provide $12B to support RD&D for carbon removal technologies. The program would compliment other federal efforts to support this emerging sector, such as the Carbon Negative Shot.

- Desalination facilities in Saudi Arabia consume 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.

- More than half of all US groundwater sites are depleted; related, lawn grass is the largest irrigated crop in the US.

- A severe drought in Panama has forced the Canal to reduce transits to 32 ships per day.

- Keep an eye on galvorn; it is a material that might be stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and has the conductivity of copper.

- Morocco exports solar-generated electricity to Spain via two transmission lines; meanwhile, Morocco has agreed to the Xlinks (Abu Dhabi) megaproject with the EU, which will transmit 10,500 megawatts of electricity generated by energy farms in the Moroccan desert through 2,300 miles of high-voltage submarine transmission cables to utilities in Portugal, Spain, France, and SW England.

Typhoon Koinu attained a strength of 130 MPH and just slammed into southern Taiwan. Sustained winds are now down to 96 MPH.

There should be a weakening as Koinu heads towards Hong Kong.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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