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Politics

Kamala Harris’ DNC Speech Barely Mentioned Climate Change

On the convention’s final day, stormy weather, and hail damage

Kamala Harris’ DNC Speech Barely Mentioned Climate Change
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Storm Lilian left thousands without power in England • A large fire on the Portuguese island of Madeira threatens the UNESCO-listed Laurissilva forest • Tropical Storm Hone will bring high winds, rain, and strong surf to Hawaii this weekend.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Kamala Harris only mentions climate change once in DNC acceptance speech

The Democratic National Convention came to a close last night, culminating in a speech from presidential nominee Kamala Harris (but not, unfortunately, a surprise performance by Beyoncé ). Harris only mentioned climate change once in her speech, in a comment warning that “the freedom to breathe clean air, and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis” are at stake in the November election. Going light on climate is certainly a deliberate strategic choice, one aimed at avoiding upsetting any voters in natural gas swing states like Pennsylvania. Some environmental advocates seem to be giving her a bit of a grace period, but pressure will build as Election Day nears for her to outline in detail her climate and energy platforms.

2. Hurricane forecasters warn of ‘supercharged September’

Meteorologists from AccuWeather are warning about the potential for “back-to-back tropical threats” in the Atlantic in the coming weeks, forecasting up to 10 named storms between August 27 and September 30. The average for that time frame is six storms. The agency says dry air and Saharan dust have kept the Atlantic relatively quiet but that these conditions are lifting now. “With extremely warm water temperatures, less disruptive wind shear, and less dry air, we could see a storm organizing every few days,” said AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva.

AccuWeather

3. Study: Most climate policies fail to cut emissions

A new study published in the journal Science found that very few of the climate policies put in place over the last 25 years have actually reduced greenhouse gas emissions in any meaningful way. Of the 1,500 policies implemented across the globe since 1998, just 63 were found to reduce emissions, and only by 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2. That falls far short of the amount of emissions we need to eliminate by 2030 in order to meet targets set out in the Paris Agreement. So what’s working? “Most of those emissions reductions were tied to price instruments like changes in carbon prices, energy taxes and fossil-fuel-subsidy reforms,” noted The New York Times. “And most emissions reductions gained strength in numbers: They happened from the combination of multiple national policies, instead of just one stand-alone policy.”

4. Flooding strands millions in Bangladesh

About 3 million people are stranded in Bangladesh after heavy monsoon rains triggered widespread flooding across the eastern and southern parts of the country. Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said 11 rivers had dangerously high water levels. “These are the worst floods we have seen in three decades,” said Dr. Md Liakath Ali, director of climate change, urban development, and disaster risk management for international development organization BRAC. “Entire villages, all of the families who lived in them, and everything they owned – homes, livestock, farmlands, fisheries – have been washed away. People had no time to save anything.”

Flooding in Moulvibazar, northeastern Bangladesh. BRAC

Up to 6 inches of rain are forecast for eastern Bangladesh over the next three days. Bangladesh is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate change, which scientists say is making such extreme weather events worse. A report published earlier this year noted that between 2000 and 2019, Bangladesh experienced 185 extreme weather events, and warned that the country’s adaptation measures would struggle to keep up with a rapidly changing climate, especially without new finance efforts.

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  • 5. Terrasmart introduces tool to prevent hail damage at solar farms

    A company called Terrasmart, which provides solar panel trackers, is rolling out a new hail-resistant feature. The tool, called TerraTrak, will link with weather data from AccuWeather to see when a hail storm is forecast and automatically change the panels’ tilt to a “stow” position so they’re less likely to sustain damage. FTC Solar rolled out a similar tool earlier this summer. In March, a hail storm smashed thousands of panels at a solar farm in Texas. Terrasmart said insurance industry reports indicate that “hail accounts for less than 2% of solar project insurance claims by volume – but more than 50% of total dollar losses.”

    THE KICKER

    Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie expects nearly 30% of new solar systems installed at homes this year to also be paired with battery storage, as more homeowners invest in back-up power for when extreme weather causes grid outages.

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    Spotlight

    The Moss Landing Battery Backlash Has Spread Nationwide

    New York City may very well be the epicenter of this particular fight.

    Moss Landing.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Library of Congress

    It’s official: the Moss Landing battery fire has galvanized a gigantic pipeline of opposition to energy storage systems across the country.

    As I’ve chronicled extensively throughout this year, Moss Landing was a technological outlier that used outdated battery technology. But the January incident played into existing fears and anxieties across the U.S. about the dangers of large battery fires generally, latent from years of e-scooters and cellphones ablaze from faulty lithium-ion tech. Concerned residents fighting projects in their backyards have successfully seized upon the fact that there’s no known way to quickly extinguish big fires at energy storage sites, and are winning particularly in wildfire-prone areas.

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    Hotspots

    The Race to Qualify for Renewable Tax Credits Is on in Wisconsin

    And more on the biggest conflicts around renewable energy projects in Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland.

    The United States.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    1. St. Croix County, Wisconsin - Solar opponents in this county see themselves as the front line in the fight over Trump’s “Big Beautiful” law and its repeal of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.

    • Xcel’s Ten Mile Creek solar project doesn’t appear to have begun construction yet, and like many facilities it must begin that process by about this time next year or it will lose out on the renewable energy tax credits cut short by the new law. Ten Mile Creek has essentially become a proxy for the larger fight to build before time runs out to get these credits.
    • Xcel told county regulators last month that it hoped to file an application to the Wisconsin Public Services Commission by the end of this year. But critics of the project are now telling their allies they anticipate action sooner in order to make the new deadline for the tax credit — and are campaigning for the county to intervene if that occurs.
    • “Be on the lookout for Xcel to accelerate the PSC submittal,” Ryan Sherley, a member of the St. Croix Board of Supervisors, wrote on Facebook. “St. Croix County needs to legally intervene in the process to ensure the PSC properly hears the citizens and does not rush this along in order to obtain tax credits.”

    2. Barren County, Kentucky - How much wood could a Wood Duck solar farm chuck if it didn’t get approved in the first place? We may be about to find out.

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    Q&A

    All the Renewables Restrictions Fit to Print

    Talking local development moratoria with Heatmap’s own Charlie Clynes.

    The Q&A subject.
    Heatmap Illustration

    This week’s conversation is special: I chatted with Charlie Clynes, Heatmap Pro®’s very own in-house researcher. Charlie just released a herculean project tracking all of the nation’s county-level moratoria and restrictive ordinances attacking renewable energy. The conclusion? Essentially a fifth of the country is now either closed off to solar and wind entirely or much harder to build. I decided to chat with him about the work so you could hear about why it’s an important report you should most definitely read.

    The following chat was lightly edited for clarity. Let’s dive in.

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