Clean Energy

Published on July 21st, 2020 | by Dr. Maximilian Holland CleanTechnica recently interviewed Peter Carlsson, Chief Executive Officer of Northvolt, the Swedish battery manufacturing startup-slash-giant. In this the third and final part of the interview, we discuss the benefits of Northvolt’s low carbon manufacturing approach in the European context, and learn about its product mix and strategic positioning. Also catch parts one and two of the interview if you missed them. This article is an interview transcript lightly edited for clarity. You can also listen to the whole audio or video versions of the interview. You can subscribe and listen to CleanTech Talk on: Anchor, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket, Podbean,...

July 21st, 2020 by Scott Cooney  Last year, CleanTechnica colleague Andrea Bertoli and I testified before the Honolulu City Council in support Bill 40, a groundbreaking piece of environmental legislation that brought about a phaseout of single use plastics, foam products, and other such rubbish from our island. Bill 40 passed with resounding support, with what we saw as the usual exceptions of councilmembers receiving large amounts of financial support from the American Chemistry Council. (Amazing to me that we simply accept what seems like the ACC’s outright bribery these days, since the extremely untruthful occupant in the White House has upped the game of what constitutes outright corrupt behavior. But I digress.) What made Bill 40 so special was what you see ...

Air Quality Published on July 22nd, 2020 | by Johnna Crider July 22nd, 2020 by Johnna Crider  A link between exposure to air pollution and vascular (heart) damage has been found in a new study. The study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and supported by the la Caixa Foundation, found new evidence about the negative effects of air pollution on cardiovascular health. Although this has been noted in many other studies, most of that research only included areas of high-income countries where the main source of exposure is road vehicle traffic. Low- and middle-income cou...

Published on July 22nd, 2020 | by Chanan Bos Every quarter, Tesla has an earnings call in which the company’s top executives answer questions. In the past, as with other companies, they only answered the questions of stock market analysts (and on a couple of occasions journalists, including CleanTechnica journalists), but nowadays, via the platform say.com, they answer questions from institutional investors as well as retail investors. CleanTechnica, for at least the past year now, has been livestreaming these calls, and whenever an analyst comes up, our viewers immediately get to see who this analyst is, how successful he is, what his position on Tesla is, and what it was in the past — all live during the call. We do this through extensive pre...

Batteries Published on July 21st, 2020 | by Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai July 21st, 2020 by Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai  The Washington DC-based Brookings Institution says consumers in Africa are brand conscious and brand loyal. When it comes to cars, that brand is Toyota! In the brand new vehicle market, the Toyota Hilux is king in South Africa and also tops other charts. Other popular models in the new vehicle market are the Corolla, the Fortuner, and the Yaris. Excluding Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, and Morocco where the importation of used vehicles is banned, the majority of vehicles brought t...

Published on July 21st, 2020 | by Dr. Maximilian Holland CleanTechnica recently interviewed Peter Carlsson, Chief Executive Officer of Northvolt, the Swedish battery manufacturing startup-slash-giant. In this the third and final part of the interview, we discuss the benefits of Northvolt’s low carbon manufacturing approach in the European context, and learn about its product mix and strategic positioning. Also catch parts one and two of the interview if you missed them. This article is an interview transcript lightly edited for clarity. You can also listen to the whole audio or video versions of the interview. You can subscribe and listen to CleanTech Talk on: Anchor, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket, Podbean,...

Air Quality Published on July 22nd, 2020 | by Johnna Crider July 22nd, 2020 by Johnna Crider  A link between exposure to air pollution and vascular (heart) damage has been found in a new study. The study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and supported by the la Caixa Foundation, found new evidence about the negative effects of air pollution on cardiovascular health. Although this has been noted in many other studies, most of that research only included areas of high-income countries where the main source of exposure is road vehicle traffic. Low- and middle-income cou...

Published on July 21st, 2020 | by Scott Cooney Career day for many school kids involves following their parent around for a day, and maybe taking a stroll in a fire truck or going to an office where a parent works. The idea is to encourage kids’ imaginations to see what their options are, that work can be fun and engaging, and to give them a little real-world sense of why they’re getting an education. Now, imagine, if you will, if your parent worked in PR for fossil fuel companies. Here’s how it might go: Kid: “Wow! Amazing corner office on the top floor of a high-rise in Manhattan! So … what do you do here?” Parent: “Thanks! We love the gold-plated toilet seats, too. I’ll show you those later. Here at work, we write up stories based on pseudoscience...

As suggested here, Missouri governor Mike Parson has a unique response to the pandemic. Now, I know readers outside the U.S. (who average 40% of the total, btw) are wondering both a) how it’s possible that the governor of one of our 50 states could be a complete moron, and, perhaps more importantly, b) why any person in this position, moron or genius, has the power to condemn a large percentage of Missouri’s population of 6.1 million (assuming they stay inside the state lines) to a horrible disease that often means permanent organ damage, if not death–one that is easily communicated from children to any elderly people which whom they may be in contact, e.g., grandparents, who are at much greater risk of infection and an agonizing death. And, get this: “(very sick children) are not go...

Clean Power Published on July 21st, 2020 | by Jesper Berggreen July 21st, 2020 by Jesper Berggreen  The press release below comes at a an interesting time, when questions arise around how the electric infrastructure will actually pan out on the African continent. Last week I gave you the example of the excruciatingly long time a rural elementary school in Zambia has to wait to be electrified. Photo by Jesper Berggreen. Lack of connection of power. Chibwe Primary school, Zambia The lack of sensible priority is staggering, or so it seems. Thing are happening exponentially, and even though we ...