#clean tech

The transition to solar energy is a cornerstone of the global shift toward sustainability. However, with more solar panels reaching the end of their life cycle, we must tackle the challenge of solar panel waste responsibly. Recycling solar panels isn’t just about waste management; it’s about recovering valuable materials and reducing the environmental impact of solar energy production. Let’s…

In the 13th Feb 22 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Israeli scientists can predict and treat Alzheimer’s before symptoms occur.

An Israeli 3D-printed spinal implant gives hope to the paralyzed.

An Israeli was commissioned to compose music for Queen Elisabeth’s Jubilee.

An Israeli discovery could help end the plagues of locusts.

Two Israeli schoolboys develop app to help teens learn.

Merck adopts Israeli medication “testing on a chip” technology.

House excavated in Jerusalem stood at the same time as the 1st Temple.

Read More: Good News From Israel

In America, clean tech jobs are outpacing jobs in the fossil fuel industry. 

“The Top 50 metro areas for clean jobs now employ 1.8 million workers in clean energy technologies, accounting for more than one out of every two clean energy jobs in the country — which alone outnumbers the fossil fuel industry by around 700,000. These are Americans who go to work each day making downtown skyscrapers more energy efficient; manufacturing Energy Star appliances and clean vehicles; installing solar panels on urban warehouses and suburban homes.”

From The New York Times:

Investors controlling more than $5 trillion in assets have committed to dropping some or all fossil fuel stocks from their portfolios, according to a new report tracking the trend.

The report, released Monday, said the new total was twice the amount measured 15 months ago — a remarkable rise for a movement that began on American college campuses in 2011. Since then, divestment has expanded to the business world and institutional world, and includes large pension funds, insurers, financial institutions and religious organizations. It has also spread around the world, with 688 institutions and nearly 60,000 individuals in 76 countries divesting themselves of shares in at least some kinds of oil, gas and coal companies, according to the report.

“It’s a stunning number,” said Ellen Dorsey, the executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, which has promoted fossil fuel divestment and clean energy investment as part of its philanthropy.

The movement has also received a boost from last year’s Paris climate agreement, which set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The push for emissions reductions underscored the potential for the industry to be faced with reserves of fuels that cannot be burned if the targets are to be met — a prospect known as “stranded assets.”

Ms. Dorsey argued that since its beginnings as a moral statement against profiting from companies whose products were exacerbating climate change, more institutions have come to detect vulnerabilities in fossil fuel companies as the world shifts toward renewable sources of energy.

Read the rest of the article here. 

(Photo: Steven Godfrey; Infographic: Carbon Tracker)

Related:

Average people can make a difference on global challenges (Phys.Org)

A beginner’s guide to fossil fuel divestment (The Guardian)

Canadian Medical Association completes divestment from fossil fuels (National Observer)

As fossil fuel diehards take over the White House, the evidence of a fast-moving global energy transition has never been clearer (Jeremy Leggett)