Greener Gas Plants, Glass Onion’s Hydrogen Goof And The High Cost Of Disasters

This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2022 was the 6th-warmest year on record. Though not the highest, it’s not a good sign: the ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010. That can make the idea of reversing or even reducing carbon emissions to stop rising global warming seem hopeless.

But it’s not hopeless. Not only are there new technologies on the horizon, there are also ways to improve current infrastructure to make them more efficient and emit fewer pollutants and greenhouse gasses.

That’s a point emphasized by a new research study, which estimates that it’s possible to reduce the carbon emissions of natural gas-fired power by as much as 71% a year through a variety of mitigation efforts. This can be done through carbon capture and storage, as well as improving efficiency of the plants themselves (which has the side effect of making them cheaper to run.) “We were astonished by how large the potential reduction in greenhouse gases could be by 2050, and even by 2030,” lead author Sarah Jordaan said in a press release.

All it takes is a little work. (Okay maybe a lot of work, but the point is: it can be done.)

The Big Read

Major Natural Disasters Cost U.S. $165 Billion Last Year—Here Are The Priciest Weather Events

Large-scale weather and climate disasters totaling at least $1 billion in losses cost the U.S. an estimated $165 billion in 2022, according to data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, making it the third-most costly year ever recorded by the agency.

Read more here.

Discoveries And Innovations

A recent study that was conducted in California found that children who live in close proximity to an airport have at least 21% higher lead levels in their blood.

A new study finds that climate change is causing massive coral reef bleaching events and these, in turn, are triggering more frequent fights between fish living in those ecosystems because of diminishing food resources.

As climate change drives more extreme weather events, they’re impacting power and other utilities. In order to better predict outages and address them, more of them are using data technology and machine learning techniques.