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Kees van der Leun Profile picture
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4 Jun, 25 tweets, 9 min read
Boat docks in Folsom Lake, California. In @trouw today. Image
Background:
This from 100 miles (160 km) to the north, in Northern California:
53% of the area of these 9 western states is in extreme or even exceptional drought now. Image
74% of California is in extreme or exceptional drought at the moment. Image
The Governor of Utah is already on the case though.
62% of Utah is in exceptional drought, and another 28% is in extreme drought. The lucky few in the North of the state experience severe drought (8%) and moderate drought (2%). Image
Unfortunately, Governor Cox's party is not known for its vigorous pursuit of climate action.
Still no divine intervention in the forecast, unfortunately. Image
On the wildfire risk in this extreme drought:
This chart from the article puts the current drought in the western US in perspective. Image
Here's a northern California reservoir, Lake Oroville. It almost completely missed its spring refill. Water level is now already down to the end-of-year low of recent years, and it clearly won't be able to deliver its normal amounts of water this summer.
Lake Mead, largest reservoir in the western US, drops to its lowest level since it was filling up in 1938:
bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…
.. and the rate at which Lake Mead's water level is plummeting suggests it's going to get much lower still. Another 0.14 foot (4.3 cm) lost in a day. Image
For the hydropower generated from the Hoover Dam, already 25% below its normal capacity, this means losing another 1 MW each day: cnn.com/2021/06/08/wea… Image
This year's western US drought in perspective: @nytimes compares it with early June drought in the past 20 years. It's bad.
Via @ElizKolbert Image
How Severe Is the Western Drought? See For Yourself. nyti.ms/3pFavdC
.. and the western US drought got worse again last week. 75% of these 9 states is now in the worst three categories:
20% in severe drought
28% in extreme drought
27% in exceptional drought
droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/Sta… Image
And this is what those drought categories mean in practice.
D2 = severe
D3 = extreme
D4 = exceptional Image
The recent development of the drought was particularly bad in California:
Wildfires already raging in Utah, and weather forecast doesn't look good. Image
And the forecast for Phoenix, Arizona, looks even worse: ten days 43-48⁰C, that's 109-118F, and hardly any clouds.
h/t @snowline ImageImage
Two major wildfires raging east of Phoenix. Image
Working in the field at 46-49⁰C: not healthy. (Why can't this be done at dawn or dusk, or even at night, asks this layman?)
Wildfires already ragging in Montana, way up north.

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More from @Sustainable2050

Kees van der Leun Profile picture
10 May
Published today: the progress report on the North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium": "Towards the first hub-and-spoke project"!
northseawindpowerhub.eu/node/178
In short:
1. The North Sea is an offshore wind energy powerhouse
2. Countries must come together
3. Time for an ambitious next step
4. A solution is at hand
5. Cooperation is the way forward – The NSWPH consortium is helping to pave the way
Kudos to @EnerginetDK , @Gasunie , and @TenneT for showing leadership, developing a great, comprehensive approach to integrating ~180 GW of North Sea offshore wind into the European energy system, and bringing it to the next level!
Read 20 tweets
Kees van der Leun Profile picture
9 May
Major industrial CCS (carbon capture and storage) project Porthos gets Dutch SDE++ subsidy. Still some permits to go, but it looks like it will actually happen!
Will reduce NL emissions by 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, for fifteen years.
.@PortOfRotterdam says this project costs around €80 per tonne of CO2 captured and stored. At the current EU ETS CO2 price of €50/tCO2, only €30 subsidy is needed per tonne.
A lot of the project's CO2 comes from industrial hydrogen production, by Steam Methane Reforming of natural gas. Assuming 2/3 of the CO2 is captured (more is expensive), this hydrogen, now 'grey', will become 'bluish' .
Read 7 tweets
Kees van der Leun Profile picture
28 Apr
Thread: today, the 'reopening' of the Netherlands started: end of our evening curfew, cafe terraces open in the afternoons, all shops open without appointment. Not great timing though.
Today, over 8,000 new corona infections were reported in the Netherlands. Image
The number of Covid-19 patients in Dutch ICUs is over 800, close to its highest level since last year's first wave. Image
Read 19 tweets
Kees van der Leun Profile picture
28 Mar
Yesterday, wind produced 23% of all Europe’s electricity.
In Ireland, Germany, and Denmark, its share was over 50%!
European windpower already delivered over 80 GW at midnight, it peaked at 87.3 GW around 5 am, then gently slid down to 66.5 GW by the end of the evening.
Solar PV power production in Europe followed a traditional bell pattern yesterday, peaking around 57 GW, well before noon (due to cloudier weather moving into the continent?).
Read 5 tweets
Kees van der Leun Profile picture
26 Mar
Dutch province of Brabant, where the far right, climate denying FvD rules together with VVD and CDA, now wants a nuclear power plant. "It takes less space" than wind and solar. Probably so, because it won't happen. Image
A TNO report commissioned by the province is pretty clear: there are no locations that could get a permit, the thorium type the province wants will not be available for at least 20 years, and wind and solar are cheaper.
Pretty devastating. Unless you just want to slow down the energy transition of course.
FvD party platform: "There is no climate crisis. The climate always changes." Denial for beginners. Image
Read 4 tweets
Kees van der Leun Profile picture
14 Mar
As predicted, the Greens became by far the biggest part in the German state of Baden-Württemberg today, getting almost 1/3 of the votes.
Good to see the extreme right AfD lose 4 %points compared to 2016.
Voters in Baden-Württemberg saw climate & environment as the second most important problem, behind corona.
After 5 years in a coalition government with the CDU, 59% of all voters saw the Greens as most competent on climate action, their #2 issue.
Read 5 tweets

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