A few times each year, we will be sharing our favourite good news and bad news stories in relation to the climate change emergency.
The Good News
This week, clean energy company Heliogen had a major breakthrough in solar technology!
Although green energy has been making great strides over the past decades, there has always been a question over whether it can be used in industrial processes where temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius are needed (such as in the process of producing steel, glass or cement). Until this week, commercial-sized concentrating solar thermal systems had only managed to reach temperatures of around 560 degrees Celsius.
But thanks to the use of artificial intelligence to improve the performance of mirrors, Heliogen has created a green-energy solution that can reach temperatures between 1,000 and 1,500 degrees Celsius. How about that.
Find out more here.
The Bad News
We've seen extensive and heartbreaking coverage this week of the Australian bushfires. The most extreme warnings for fires have been issued in numerous locations across the East of Australia. It's been the hottest day in Melbourne since 1894 (40.9C).
Although Australia is prone to wildfires, we can all agree that this is not normal.
But what exactly is the connection between wildfires and climate change? We know that climate change does not directly cause a bushfire to start, but when they do start - the effects of rising temperatures, dry fuel load (quantity of shrubs), and irregular weather patterns, makes the fires significantly worse.
This article is a good place to start in understanding the link between climate change and bushfires.
