QUICK NEWS, November 21: Online Deniers Falsely Used NASA Study About Antarctic Melt; The EV As A Mini Power Plant; New Energy Price Knocks Coal, Nuclear Out Of The Market

Online Deniers Falsely Used NASA Study About Antarctic Melt No, NASA Antarctica study didn’t discredit climate change science

Amy Sherman, November 20, 2017 (PundcitFact via PolitiFact)

“…[An online news headline referenced a real study by NASA but falsely suggested] the study debunks climate change advocates. A NASA scientist involved in the study…[said] the headline is inaccurate…[The study found] a geothermal heat source called a mantle plume lies deep below Antarctic Marie Byrd Land, explaining some of the melting that creates lakes and rivers under the ice sheet…The heat source isn’t new or increasing, but may help explain why the ice sheet collapsed so rapidly in an earlier area of climate change and remains unstable…[But the] NASA study is about the bottom of the ice sheet. Climate change has had an impact on the top of the ice sheet. Warmer ocean waters intruding on the ice shelf causes the ice shelves to break up. When grounded ice sheets exit the land and go into the water that causes sea level rise…[The researchers say nothing] in the study has anything to do with climate change…We rate [the online news story’s] claim False.” click here for more

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The EV As A Mini Power Plant How your electric car could be 'a virtual power station'

Theo Leggett, 21 November 2017 (BBC News)

“…There are currently more than a billion vehicles on the road worldwide…The overwhelming majority run on petrol or diesel…But [m]anufacturers are investing heavily in developing both hybrid and pure electric models to help meet tightening emissions standards…Towns and cities want to impose restrictions on conventional cars to reduce pollution; and in the long term, some countries…want to ban them altogether…[The] number of electric cars is almost certainly going to increase dramatically over the next few years…But will we be able to generate all the electricity that millions of battery-powered vehicles will require? [The anticipated demand may not be as high as it would seem because ‘smart charging’] will allow vehicles to draw power only when it is readily available, avoiding peak periods, while ensuring that they are fully charged when their owners need them…[And it could] go a step further…[Vehicle to Grid, or V2G, may use software to regulate the charging level of multiple EVs as] energy storage devices…[that] provide specific services back to the grid…” click here for more

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New Energy Price Knocks Coal, Nuclear Out Of The Market New study reaches a stunning conclusion about the cost of solar and wind energy; Building new renewables is now cheaper than just running old coal and nuclear plants.

Joe Romm, November 20, 2017 (ThinkProgress)

“In one of the fastest and most astonishing turnarounds in the history of energy, building and running new renewable energy is now cheaper than just running existing coal and nuclear plants in many areas…[According to Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE) 11.0, the cost for utility scale solar and wind power in North America] dropped 6 percent last year, while the price for coal remained flat and the cost of nuclear soared by approximately] 35 percent versus prior estimates…[That is driven by increased capital costs at various nuclear facilities currently in development and prices nuclear power] out of the market for new power…[It is more expensive to operate conventional energy sources in the developing world than it is in the United States. So the advantage renewables have over conventional sources is even larger in the rapidly growing electricity markets like India and China…The lifecycle cost of electricity from new nuclear plants is now $148 per megawatt-hour, or 14.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, while it is 5 c/kwh for utility scale solar and 4.5 c/kwh for wind. By comparison, the average price for electricity in United States is 11 cents per kWh…” click here for more

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