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Climate

Multiple Heat Records are Falling in Texas

On linger heat waves, Ford’s big decision, and carbon credits

Multiple Heat Records are Falling in Texas
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: The remnants of Hurricane Ernesto are headed toward Scotland • Unusually warm winter weather is raising wildfire risks in Australia • An August cold snap could bring snow to California’s Sierra Nevada this weekend.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Texas heat dome breaks multiple temperature records

Heat advisories remain in effect across most of the state of Texas. The National Weather service says “numerous new records” are being set as temperatures climb into the triple digits. Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera counted at least four new monthly heat records in various cities, and one all-time high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Abilene:

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The heat dome is expected to linger through the end of the week before things cool down slightly over the weekend. The heat will then move north, bringing some weather whiplash to the currently-cool Midwest and raising temperatures by up to 30 degrees by early next week.

2. Ford pumps the breaks on EV plans

Yesterday Ford announced it is canceling its much-anticipated three-row EV crossover and producing it only as a hybrid, and delaying the release of a new medium-sized electric pickup truck to 2027. The moves deal a substantial blow to the company’s future EV offerings and mean “the North American car market may not see the explosive growth of EV options — the kind of efflorescence already happening in Europe and China — until the end of this decade,” said Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer.

U.S. sales of electric vehicles actually reached a record high in the second quarter of 2024, hitting 330,463. That’s a 11.3% rise year-over-year, and a 23% jump compared to the first quarter. Ford’s quarterly EV sales were up 61% year-over-year. “The growth will, at times, be very slow, as all-time horizons in the automobile business are vast, but the long-term trajectory suggests that higher volumes of EVs will continue over time,” said Cox Automotive Industry Insights Director Stephanie Valdez Streaty. “As EV infrastructure and technology improve, and more models are launched, many shoppers sitting on the fence will eventually choose an EV.”

3. Climate activists protest Exxon Mobil at DNC event

Tensions were a little bit heightened at the Democratic National Convention yesterday after climate activists infiltrated an event hosted by Punchbowl News that featured conversations sponsored by fossil fuel giant Exxon Mobil. The activists chanted “Exxon lies, people die” before being removed. Climate groups including Friends of the Earth, Climate Hawks Vote, and Oil Change U.S. released a statement slamming the event and warning that Big Oil is trying to “shape the policies of the Democratic Party.”

4. Study: Antarctica at risk of contamination as ice melts

A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology warns that Antarctica’s ecosystems may be at risk of contamination from man-made pollution and non-native species that float down from places like Australia, South Africa, and South America. The problem is made worse by the shrinking sea ice, which acts as a barrier. “If the recent decline in Antarctic sea ice continues, then living things floating at the surface, or attached to floating objects, could have an easier time colonizing the continent, which may have big impacts on ecosystems,” said Dr. Hannah Dawson, who led the study as part of her PhD at UNSW Sydney.

5. Carbon removal registry Isometric delivers first credits

Carbon removal registry Isometric today announced its first verified delivery of CO2 removal credits to companies including JPMorganChase, Stripe, and Shopify, which were purchased through bio-oil sequestration firm Charm Industrial. Isometric aims to “raise the bar for quality in carbon markets” by using robust monitoring, reporting, and verification measures to certify the credits after the carbon has been removed, rather than before. The verification is paid for by buyers instead of suppliers to avoid conflicts of interest. Buyers pay Isometric a flat fee, “ensuring one credit is always equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide durably removed from the atmosphere.”

THE KICKER

Renewables now make up 30% of total U.S. power generating capacity, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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Q&A

You, Too, Can Protect Solar Panels Against Hail

A conversation with VDE Americas CEO Brian Grenko.

This week's interview subject.
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s Q&A is about hail. Last week, we explained how and why hail storm damage in Texas may have helped galvanize opposition to renewable energy there. So I decided to reach out to Brian Grenko, CEO of renewables engineering advisory firm VDE Americas, to talk about how developers can make sure their projects are not only resistant to hail but also prevent that sort of pushback.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Hotspots

The Pro-Renewables Crowd Gets Riled Up

And more of the week’s big fights around renewable energy.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Long Island, New York – We saw the face of the resistance to the war on renewable energy in the Big Apple this week, as protestors rallied in support of offshore wind for a change.

  • Activists came together on Earth Day to protest the Trump administration’s decision to issue a stop work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind project. It’s the most notable rally for offshore wind I’ve seen since September, when wind advocates protested offshore opponents at the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island.
  • Esther Rosario, executive director of Climate Jobs New York, told me the rally was intended to focus on the jobs that will be impacted by halting construction and that about a hundred people were at the rally – “a good half of them” union members or representing their unions.
  • “I think it’s important that the elected officials that are in both the area and at the federal level understand the humans behind what it means to issue a stop-work order,” she said.

2. Elsewhere on Long Island – The city of Glen Cove is on the verge of being the next New York City-area community with a battery storage ban, discussing this week whether to ban BESS for at least one year amid fire fears.

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Spotlight

How a Carbon Pipeline Is Turning Iowa Against Wind

Long Islanders, meanwhile, are showing up in support of offshore wind, and more in this week’s edition of The Fight.

Iowa.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Library of Congress

Local renewables restrictions are on the rise in the Hawkeye State – and it might have something to do with carbon pipelines.

Iowa’s known as a renewables growth area, producing more wind energy than any other state and offering ample acreage for utility-scale solar development. This has happened despite the fact that Iowa, like Ohio, is home to many large agricultural facilities – a trait that has often fomented conflict over specific projects. Iowa has defied this logic in part because the state was very early to renewables, enacting a state portfolio standard in 1983, signed into law by a Republican governor.

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