Michelle Lewis

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris were declared the winners of the US election on Saturday, and their climate change priorities have already been published on the Biden-Harris Transition website.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Seven countries with the dirtiest electricity in 2030 will undermine EU climate goals.
• Biden-Harris have already published their plan to create union jobs by tackling the climate crisis.
• UK civil engineering group Keltbray trials vegetable oil in its heavy construction excavators.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

• Why would a state that is extremely vulnerable to climate change vote for Donald Trump?
• Small Island Developing States lead the fight against climate change — and usually suffer the most.
• The president of the Oakland Firefighters Union talks about what it’s like to face wildfires firsthand.
• And more…

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Royal Dutch Shell announced yesterday that it is closing its refinery in Convent, Louisiana.
• Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to try to meet the Paris Agreement.
• This search engine helps fight climate change — and all you have to do is browse.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

• Joe Biden confirms that if he wins, his administration would immediately rejoin the Paris Agreement.
• Volkswagen’s CEO says a Biden win would be better aligned to the automaker’s global EV strategy.
• Many US households hesitate to invest in solar due to perceived cost. Unbound Solar crunched numbers.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said today that a Joe Biden win in the US presidential election would boost the German automaker’s efforts to mass-produce electric vehicles globally.

• Wind and solar costs declined by more than 10% in 2019, according to a new WEMO report.
• A wealthy Florida town votes for a $100 million climate tax.
• Shell decided to hold a “Great Energy Debate” on Twitter on Monday — and it didn’t quite go as planned.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Key Biscayne, an island town in Miami-Dade County and one of Florida’s wealthiest towns, is also very vulnerable to rising seas. And last night, in the 2020 election, it soundly voted to approve a $100 million bond to protect itself from sea-level rise. Its decision driver? Staving off dropping property values.

Pennsylvania is a crucial swing state in the US election, so it’s being closely watched and polled. Here’s where it stands on both fossil fuels and renewables.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Equinor is the latest European fossil-fuel giant to announce a new net zero emissions goal.
• The US quits the Paris Agreement tomorrow — here’s what happens next.
• Convenience-store chain Wawa hosts an EV parade in Virginia — and gives away a Tesla Model 3 lease.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

As of midnight Eastern, the US leaves the Paris Agreement, the 2015 pact between 197 countries to stop global warming “well below” 2C, and work to hold it at 1.5C. Donald Trump formally withdrew the US from the global climate pact on November 4, 2019. The timing in relation to the US election is coincidental, but the outcome of the election will impact what comes next.

Just in case you didn’t notice, the US election is next week, on Tuesday, November 3. We at Electrek ran a Climate Crisis Weekly roundup on October 10 with the headline, “Humanity’s future rests on American voters.” Someone on the subreddit r/JoeBiden declared, “Tech website Electrek backs Biden for president.” Our reaction to that? We’ll take it.

And here’s why. Electrek is for electric vehicles, green energy, slowing and eventually reversing climate change, and protecting and renewing the environment. And we’ll hop on whatever e-bus we have to ride in order to get closest to the goal of progressing those things.

So instead of rounding up the week’s climate change stories, we’ve done something different this week. Some of us in the 9to5 network explain — each with a unique perspective, from all over the US (and world) — why we back Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election. In short, it’s because he’s the e-bus that gets us closest to our destination. Because we believe, with a passion, in what we write about.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Exxon is making big cuts to its personnel, which could be close to 15% of the global workforce.
• Protect the earth and its biodiversity or face deadlier, more frequent pandemics, says a new report.
• A new report from Wärtsilä shows how a net-zero electricity system in the US is possible by 2035.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Twenty-two global leading experts held an urgent virtual workshop, convened by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), about the connection between the degradation of nature and increasing pandemic risks.

Donald Trump hates wind turbines, and he repeats this constantly. He regurgitated his false gripe about the green energy source killing birds yet again last week during the final presidential debate.

So just how threatening are wind turbines to our feathered friends? There are much bigger threats to the global bird population than this green energy source.

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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The Trump administration finalizes a plan to open vast portions of the Tongass in Alaska to logging.
• A hydrogen-powered terminal tractor is being tested in the Port of Rotterdam.
• The Environmental Protection Network releases an updated report of EPA environmental rollbacks.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Independent think tank RethinkX, which “analyzes and forecasts the speed and scale of technology-driven disruption,” has released a report that says that most of the world is technologically capable of achieving 100% wind, solar, and storage electricity grids in 10 years.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in has formally pledged to reach net zero by 2050…
• …But Australia digs its heels in, refusing to set emissions targets.
• Virginia completes another solar farm in its journey to a green economy.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GM and Ford knew about climate change 50 years ago, E&E News reveals in an exclusive.
• Bob Murray, who long fought to reduce black lung benefits for coal miners, died of a lung condition.
• More than half of kids in the UK want their parents to buy electric vehicles, according to Peugeot.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

Bob Murray, the board chairman of Murray Energy, the largest privately owned — and bankrupt — US coal operator, died on Sunday at age 80. He had announced his retirement less than a week before.

• South Australia becomes the first major jurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar.
• The solar industry reacted positively on the stock market after Biden endorsed clean energy in debates.
• Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, formally vows to reach net zero by 2050.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.

On Saturday, Biden was interviewed in an episode of Pod Save America, where he discussed green energy, battery storage, EVs and charging stations, and climate change in depth. He said: “It’s the number one issue facing humanity. And it’s the number one issue for me.”

• Naturalist and TV presenter Steve Backshall illustrates animals’ evolution due to climate change.
• Air pollution killed a half-million newborn babies globally in 2019, according to a new report.
• Young people living in the Arctic Circle describe the climate change they see now in a BBC My World film.
• And more…

• A new study shows that up to $321 billion could be saved in the US with a 100% switch to green energy.
• The US will go green regardless of who wins the US election, but the outcome will impact the speed — and climate change.
• A new cooling paint could cut building emissions and reduce temperatures by 18F.
• Arcadia Power is committed to making clean energy work for the planet and Americans’ bank accounts — all without changing your utility company. Sign up to receive your $20 Amazon Gift Card — *ad.