Friday, November 1, 2019
Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 7
1 Borealis Aims to Start Producing Renewable PP by Year’s End
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/borealis-aims-to-start-production-of-renewable-pp-by-years-end
What is likely to represent a new milestone in sustainable PP will result from the strategic cooperation announced recently between Borealis and Finland’s Neste. Borealis is aiming to produce renewable PP using Neste’s 100% renewable propane produced by Neste’s proprietary NEXBTL technology at its facilities in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium, starting by end of year.
2 Offshore Wind is Breaking Out Of Its Incubator Markets
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/offshore-wind-is-breaking-out-of-its-incubator-markets
From the North Sea to New Jersey, offshore wind tenders have successfully been awarding gigawatts of contracts to bankable, sizeable and increasingly economical projects.
3 Oil majors must cut output by a third to meet climate target – study | Business
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/01/oil-majors-must-cut-production-by-a-third-to-meet-climate-target-study
The world’s largest oil and gas companies need to slash their production by more than a third by 2040 to meet global climate targets, according to a new report.
4 Even Louisiana’s Wealthier Neighborhoods Can’t Escape Toxic Air in “Cancer Alley”
https://www.propublica.org/article/even-louisianas-wealthier-neighborhoods-cant-escape-toxic-air-in-cancer-alley
Once a sleepy stretch of cane fields and plantation houses, Louisiana’s river corridor has been remade over the past century into a petrochemical powerhouse. When chemical companies looked to build along the Mississippi, areas next to black neighborhoods were typically the first to see the swap of sugar cane for smokestacks.
5 Keystone pipeline shut after spilling over 1 million litres of oil in North Dakota
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keystone-spils-over-1-million-litres-oil-north-dakota-1.5343509
An estimated 1.4 million litres of oil have spilled from TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone crude pipeline in North Dakota, state authorities said on Thursday, a major leak at a time of increased regulatory scrutiny of oil pipeline expansions.
6 Argentina could become ‘sacrificial country’ for plastic waste, say activists
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/01/argentina-plastic-waste-dumping-ground-imports
Argentina has changed its definition of waste in a move that could allow it to import millions of tonnes of plastic waste discarded in the US.
The country’s president, Mauricio Macri, signed a decree in August reclassifying some materials destined for recycling as commodities instead of waste, allowing looser oversight of mixed and contaminated plastic scraps that are difficult to process, and are often dumped or incinerated.
7 German path to carbon neutrality achievable and affordable: research
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-energy-transition-idUSKBN1XA1UX
Germany can reach its target of becoming largely carbon-free by 2050 if it keeps expanding renewable power and introduces a hydrogen economy, one of the country’s biggest research centers said on Thursday.
8 We know plastic bottles are choking our planet. So why are companies still selling them?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/plastic-bottles-1.5341617
The American Beverage Association announced on Tuesday that the world’s leading beverage companies — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper are investing $100 million to reduce the use of new plastic and improve plastic bottle recycling across the globe.
9 Iran’s thirsty energy industry runs up against water shortage
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-energy-water-analysis-idUSKBN1X80H5
The plan to build a petrochemical plant near the Iranian city of Firouzabad had everything usually needed to get a project off the ground: approval from the nation’s top authority, funding from the Revolutionary Guards and plentiful gas feedstock.
10 Most utility-scale batteries in the United States are made of lithium-ion – Today in Energy
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=41813
Most of the utility-scale battery systems used for energy storage on the U.S. electric grid use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which are known for their high-cycle efficiency, fast response times, and high energy density. Nearly all of the utility-scale battery systems installed in the United States in the past five years use lithium-ion technology.
