Henry Harrell"s Blog: August 5 Green Energy News

Headline News:

A finger of ice spilling out of the Chugach Mountains marks Alaska’s rapidly warming climate – almost literally. The path approaching Exit Glacier, the most accessible of the 500 square miles of ancient ice covering Kenai Fjords National Park, is a timeline of retreat. The glacier lost 252 feet last summer. Visitors notice the change. [Alaska Dispatch News]

Marker for the Exit Glacier’s terminus of 1917, now in the forest (Marc Lester | Alaska Dispatch News)

President Donald Trump came to the heart of coal country and told a large and cheering crowd what they wanted to hear: that Obama’s war on coal has ended. But in fact, Kentucky coal jobs and production continued down in the second quarter of the year. In eastern Kentucky, employment in the second quarter dropped 5.3 %. [The Independent]
The North Atlantic Ocean is home to a “warming hole” that has enthralled scientists, but a new study on it in the journal Nature Climate Change is troubling. The study is part of a growing chorus of research that suggests the cold patch shows a major ocean current system may be slowing down, and melting Arctic sea ice could be the culprit. [The Weather Channel]
The Trump administration has taken another step towards exiting from the Paris climate agreement. It has notified the United Nations of its decision to leave the deal. The actual withdrawal process will prove lengthier and cannot be initiated until 2019 at the earliest. The administration still pledges to stay engaged on the issue of climate change. [CNN]
Toyota and Mazda will be partnering to develop a new $1.6 billion assembly plant in the US, as well as to develop electric vehicle technologies. The new assembly plant will reportedly be capable of producing around 300,000 vehicles a year and will employ around 4,000 people. Operations are expected to begin by 2021. [CleanTechnica]

Henry Harrell"s Blog