Climate Change with Scott Amyx

Welcome to “Fridays with Scott” segment of the Climate Change program. In my previous Friday episodes, I discussed the demand and investment appetite for clean energy. But it’s not only renewables that investors are putting their money in. As the world grapples with a second straight year of record hurricanes, floods and wildfires, a small but growing number of hedge funds, pension plans and other investors are looking to invest in climate change adaptation and response. While mitigation addresses the root causes, adaptation seeks to lower the risks from the severe consequences of climate change. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. The recent atmospheric rivers or long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that carry concentrated water vapor dumped massive amounts of snow in the Sierra Mountains. Mammouth Mountain in the Sierras received more than 37 feet of snow since winter began. Start of 2019, California’s snowpack was at 67 percent. After the atmospheric rivers, the snowpack has risen to over 136 percent. This is good news for the drought-ridden state of California. In recent years, California has even tapped out its groundwater basins. The snowpack will provide California with much needed fresh water. But it isn’t all good news. Stay tuned next time. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. In the next 60 years, most of the East Coast cities will start feel like the South. And the South will start to feel like Mexico. According to a study in Nature Communications, major cities’ climate will shift dramatically by 2080. Stay tuned next time. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. According to a report from AirVisual that measures 3,000 cities for air pollution, Asian and Middle Eastern countries dominated the top 10 list of most air polluted countries. These cities exceeded the World Health Organization’s annual exposure limit for fine micropollutants. The 100 most polluted cities are in India, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Mongolia, Kuwait, Bosnia, UAE and Nepal. These are also the regions that will birth megacities in the next few decades further exacerbating the problem. Stay tuned next time. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

Welcome to the Monday Climate Change interview with Scott Amyx. Today, I’m joined by Monica Aksamit who is an Olympic Fencing Champion. She won the team bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympic games in fencing and she is training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Stay tuned next time. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

Welcome to “Fridays with Scott” segment of the Climate Change program. Today is Solar Appreciation Day, which was created to build awareness of the benefits of solar energy and its ability to help create sustainable energy. Solar energy continues to be one of the most popular and cost-effective sources of clean energy. In this multi-series, I explore the investment appetite for clean energy. To gauge investor confidence on the impacts of market and policy changes, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) polled senior-level respondents across the nation’s leading banking institutions, asset managers, private equity firms, and other financial firms. The survey, "The Future of U.S. Renewable Energy Investment: A Survey of Leading Financial Institutions,” reveals a robust market with significant potential to accelerate the renewable sector’s growth. Two-thirds of respondents plan to increase investments more than 5 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, and half plan to increase investments more than 10 percent. Stay tuned next time to find out what other areas investors are looking to invest in climate change mitigation and response. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. For over a quarter of a century, China has been processing the world’s plastic waste. 106 million metric tons or about 45 percent of the world’s plastic have been sent to China since 1992. But in 2017, due to rising concerns about air and water pollution to the environment and its people, China has officially banned all imports of plastic waste. So how is the world managing the situation? According to a Greenpeace study, plastic waste from the U.S. dropped by one third in the first half of 2018 and that other markets have been found in southeast Asia. Exports to Thailand increased by nearly 2,000 percent, Malaysia by 273 percent and Vietnam by 46 percent. This has resulted in a backlash from local residents. A plastic processing facility in Malaysia was forced to shut down due to locals complaining about pollution from processing plastic waste. The 280,000 metric tons not exported and unaccounted for are likely being burned or sent to landfill according to the authors. By 2030, an estimated 111 million metric tons of plastic waste will be displaced because of China’s ban. Many countries lack the infrastructure to properly manage the plastic waste according to a study published in Scientific Advances. For developed nations, it’s often more economical to export plastic waste to other countries rather than recycling them domestically. The U.S., Japan, Germany and Hong Kong are the top exporters of plastic waste. According to some environmentalists, these reports underscores that recycling doesn’t work. We want to believe that recycling is environmentally-friendly and that we’re making a difference yet after our recyclables are picked up, most of it ends up in landfills or incinerators adding to our climate change problem. Stay tuned next time to find out what is the cleanest form of sustainable, clean energy. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. What’s the biggest complaint about owning an electric vehicle? The time that it takes to charge the batteries. There’s a novel way that might allow us to refill batteries at the pump. Researchers at Purdue University and University of Glasgow in Scotland are working on liquid battery technology to enable refillable batteries. So what are these refillable batteries? Instead of charging the lithium ion cells in your batteries for hours, refillable batteries refill the batteries with freshly-charged liquid. Also referred to as flow battery, traditional gas stations can be retrofitted to dispense liquid electrolyte. The time needed to refill the car is the same as filling it up with gas. Flow batteries release energy through chemical reactions between the ends of the battery and a substance known as electrolyte. In a lithium-ion battery, the electrolyte sits between the ends of the battery. When it’s depleted, it has to be recharged. In a flow battery, the electrolyte is pumped from a tank through the battery. When it’s depleted, it can simply be swapped out for a fresh batch. Researchers are working to increase the energy density of flow batteries by creating electrolyte with a high concentration of metal oxide. Researchers were able to create a liquid battery with three to five times the usual energy density by pumping the electrolyte through multiple battery cells at high speed. The old electrolyte can be recycled. So when will we see liquid batteries in the market? According to researchers, they are still several years away from fully commercializing the technology. Stay tuned next time to find out the implication of China refusing to accept plastic waste. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. According to the latest study in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers indicated that the statistical confidence that human activities are responsible for global warming reached a five sigma level or the gold standard in the level of statistical certainty. Their study was based on over 40 years of satellite measurements of rising temperatures. Benjamin Santer, lead author of the study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shared that he hoped the findings would win over skeptics and spur action. “The narrative out there that scientists don’t know the cause of climate change is wrong. We do.” Scientists indicate the burning of fossil fuels is causing more severe and frequent floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels. The call to action is louder than ever, in order to slow down climate change we need to cut greenhouse gases. We need to stop burning oil, gas and coal and transition to clean energy. Stay tuned next time to find out how refillable, flow batteries will allow us to recharge electric vehicles by filling them at the pump. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

Welcome to the Monday Climate Change interview with Scott Amyx. Today, I’m joined by Ed Roman, a Canadian Indie rockstar and an award-winning singer and songwriter. Ed is a 2014 Artists Music Guild Award Nominee, a 2014 and 2018 International Music and Entertainment Association Award Winner, a two-time 2015 IMEA Award nominee, a 2015 and 2016 Josie Show Awards winner, an Akademia Awards Winner, and a two-time Indie Music Channel Award winner. Ed also won a 2017 Radio Music Award for Best Americana Artist and he is a December 2018 Billboard Magazine Emerging Artist. His latest album “Red Omen” has been shown at film festivals around the world. Stay tuned next time. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.