UK’s GWR assumes Vivarail’s fast-charging battery trial program

Class 230 Great Western Railway has completed the purchase of a number of assets from emission-free battery and hybrid trains manufacturer Vivarail, which entered administration last December. GWR has agreed [to] contracts to buy intellectual property, rolling stock and equipment relating to the development of high-performance battery and FastCharge technology designed to support wider introduction … Read more

Intermodal connectivity key to successful high-speed train operation in the Valley

Okay, I’ll say it: Intermodal connectivity is fundamental to successful high-speed rail operation in California’s San Joaquin Valley on what is now known as the Interim Initial Operating Segment (IOS), a 171-mile-long double-tracked, fully grade-separated high-speed railroad corridor to serve the needs of passengers traveling end to end or on any portion thereof in between, … Read more

Common-sense approach needed in making fossil-to-renewable sources/supply transition

If there’s one thing you should know about me it should be that I’m not a big proponent of fossil-fuel use. If you’ve been anywhere, where, in the air, there is noticeable smog and/or haze, then you should have an appreciation for why it is, in this context, I feel as I do. This is … Read more

Running extra: Done with the greater public good in mind

A funny thing happened the other day in my Internet search to find information on climate change. Internet searches these days being all the rage, it’s become a common practice for journalists as well to engage in such activity related, of course, to their conducting journalistically-tied Internet-based research. So, with this in mind, I began … Read more

Report acts as ‘playbook’ for gov’t. action/implementation of AI capability in helping tackle climate challenges

There is a new report: “Climate Change and AI: Recommendations for Government Action,” a joint study from the Centre for AI & Climate and Climate Change AI. It seems quite timely, in fact, given that conditions all across the world, it would appear, have returned to what they were pre-COVID outbreak with climate matters, especially, … Read more

Manufacturing’s, energy’s, transport’s environmental records: They could be better

If you’re looking at today’s environmental landscape as a gauge, a measure, a yardstick and are contemplating whether or not it is where it needs to or should be, the answer is: no; the environment is not where it could or should be. That’s the reality. Environmental stewardship the name of the game It’s all … Read more

Roboticized: As we automate, are we going about it right?

Someone once posited that with the advent of personal computing our society would become paperless. Well, not only did that not happen but we seem nowhere near that prospect coming true. In a related vein, the draft for the article you are now reading, I composed with pen and paper prior to my transferring it … Read more

Electricity sector decarbonization advances through formed VPP alliance: Affordability, dependability both key elements of program

The below Jan. 10, 2023 press release* is from the Rocky Mountain Institute. RMI, a leading nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the global energy transformation, announced the formation of the Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3) Tuesday. In recognition of the critical work needed to tackle scaling the market for virtual power plants, initial funding of the VP3 effort … Read more

Addressing the air-pollution crisis: Chalking up wins where we can

When the interested Conference of the Parties (COP) attendees head off to these annual global climate-change networking summits, they, for the most part, I would think, have open minds, their hoping, their expecting that, by the time the conference concludes, they will come away with something to show for all the time, energy and hard … Read more

Nuclear fusion could help us meet our climate goals sooner

One of the limitations of Direct Air Capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide removal from, for example, the lower atmosphere – where, as we know, is currently at a density of nearly 420 parts per million (roughly 50% more concentrated or dense than it was when the Industrial Revolution first came into being in 1750 – … Read more