Also on today’s menu:
Challenges With The Switch To EVs
Making EV Batteries More Efficient
A Holistic View Of ‘Invasive Species’
Exxon Mobil Corporation reported a record-breaking quarterly profit of $19.66 billion, nearly matching that of Apple’s $20.7 billion net for the same period. Together with Chevron Corporation, the two oil giants amassed more than $30 billion in combined net income, prompting politicians to blast Big Oil for raking in such massive profits at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring inflation and worldwide energy shortages.
Meanwhile, profits for Paris-based TotalEnergies were $9.9 billion. London-based Shell reported its second-highest profits on record, $9.45 billion. During the second quarter of this year, Shell reported $11.5 billion in profits. Shell plans to use the windfall to buy back about $4 billion of its shares, making this year’s total buybacks $18.5 billion, and it will increase dividends to shareholders.
President Joe Biden Jr. has argued that oil companies should focus more on increasing supplies than rewarding shareholders with their profits.
Challenges With The Switch To EVs
In addition to the shortage of charging stations for electric vehicles, the transition to EVs poses a security risk, according to Australia’s Climate and Energy minister, Chris Bowen. Consultations on Australia’s first national EV strategy, aimed at removing the barriers that electric vehicles face, addressed the risk of a cyber-attack that exploits the new connections those vehicles make with the national energy grid.
The country’s plan would have EVs eventually feeding back into the grid, allowing EVs to provide battery storage for the home and the electricity grid. That would open up security risks for critical energy systems, Bowen said.
Research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy into what it describes as a significant risk found that there is no comprehensive electric vehicle and infrastructure cybersecurity approach and only “limited best practices.”
“There is an incomplete industry understanding of the attack surface, interconnected assets, and unsecured interfaces. Comprehensive cybersecurity recommendations founded on sound research are necessary to secure EV charging infrastructure,” the July 2022 paper from Sandia Laboratories says.
Making EV Batteries More Efficient
The Battery Data Genome, a new initiative led by Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and Idaho National Laboratory, will collect information on the life cycle of electric vehicle batteries to create a common set of standards for formatting the batteries, Dan Gearino reports in Inside Climate News.
The project will collect basic data on how batteries respond to different types of charging and discharging, as well as variables like the effects of temperature, driving speed, and differences in the materials within the batteries.
George Crabtree, director of the Department of Energy’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, said, “I think one of the things that everyone realizes is that some [companies] will be reluctant to join, because, you know, it compromises their secrets, trade secrets, and that’s OK. It’s kind of an open decision for anyone who wishes to participate.”
A Holistic View Of ‘Invasive Species’
Jason Gleditsch, an undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University, noted something interesting while removing the invasive Asian honeysuckle: Native bird species seemed more drawn to the honeysuckle patches than to native plants. Intrigued, Gleditsch conducted a set of experiments, removing honeysuckle in some places and placing potted native plants in others, then counting birds. Not only did many native bird species adore honeysuckle, he wrote in a 2010 paper, they also consumed the fruits of native plants placed near the thickets at a noticeably higher rate, potentially helping increase the spread of their seeds.
Eventually, those findings led an international group of experts in invasion biology to suggest a new framework for classifying the positive impacts of alien species. It marked a shift in the field toward a more holistic approach that could have serious implications for how invasive species are studied and managed.
Since the late 1950s, scientists have regarded introduced species as a threat: Insects like the emerald ash borer and fungi like chestnut blight devastated American forests. Mesquite took over South African rangeland. Rabbits and cats chewed up flora and fauna in the Australian bush, while feral hogs rooted through farmers’ fields throughout the American South.
Now, evidence is showing that there can be positive effects as well: Giant tortoises have helped native trees on the Mascarene islands; vegetation such as exotic lovegrass and saltcedar helped birds thrive in Arizona; and alien trees in Puerto Rico helped repair soil structure and provide vital cover for native animals.
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