Joe Biden Has Sparked A Green Energy Gold Rush.

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What's up today:

• Joe Biden Has Sparked A Green Energy Gold Rush.

• Meme Of The Week.

• The UK Has Signed An Agreement On Offshore Renewable Energy Cooperation.

• Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

Joe Biden Has Sparked A Green Energy Gold Rush.

The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is already causing a new green energy gold rush in the United States. The Inflation Reduction Act does essentially nothing to reduce inflation, but it does include massive and unprecedented provisions to kickstart a green energy revolution in the United States and nudge the country closer to a trajectory in which it could conceivably reduce emissions enough to make good on its climate pledges.

For well over a decade, the United States has been falling behind in the clean energy race, and in its current state, the domestic renewable energy sector is far from competitive on the global stage. Correcting decades of neglect in one presidential term is going to inevitably cause whiplash in markets and in the energy sector overall, however. For as many environmentalists that are celebrating and investors that are excited to cash in on the massive subsidies on offer, there are just as many skeptics about the scale and timeline of the sectoral shift.

Meme Of The Week.

The UK Has Signed An Agreement On Offshore Renewable Energy Cooperation.

The UK Minister for Energy and Climate Graham Stuart has signed a landmark agreement on renewable energy cooperation with EU and North Seas countries.

The Memorandum of Understanding with the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) forum fulfills commitments in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), enabling the UK to work with NSEC members to develop renewables projects in the North Seas - specifically projects linking electricity interconnectors and wind farms. The countries involved include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and the European Commission, signalling a new phase in UK-EU cooperation.

The MoU sets out the terms for future cooperation between the UK and NSEC and enables closer cooperation in the development of offshore renewable energy, including offshore grids in the North Seas.

The initiative is expected to support the UK’s ambitious targets to increase offshore wind fivefold to 50GW, and deliver 18GW of electricity interconnector capacity – up from 8.4 GW today - by 2030.

The UK currently sends and receives electricity through cables that link us with neighbours like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The agreement bolsters the mission to facilitate further interconnection.

Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

• Finland’s wind power capacity increased by 75 percent last year, according to the Finnish Wind Energy Association (FWPA). With almost half of Finland’s wind power domestically owned, the renewable energy source is providing a significant lifeline during the current energy crisis. The growth in renewables is also helping Finland achieve its ambitious climate goals. The country hopes to be one of the first in Europe to reach net zero, setting a 2035 target - well ahead of the EU’s 2050 goal. Link.

• Scientists have developed a way of transforming plastic waste and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels using solar power. The system, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, could address plastic pollution and become a “game-changer” in the development of a circular economy. Link.

• Human emissions of certain chemicals cause a hole to open up in the ozone layer each year over the Antarctic. This affects the ability of the ozone to protect life on Earth from the sun's harmful radiation. A UN-backed panel of experts, presenting at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting, said the ozone would heal by around 2066 over the Antarctic, by 2045 over the Arctic, and by 2040 for the rest of the world. Link.