🌐❌🇮🇹🇷🇺 — 📰 ZeroHedge: The Media Is Exaggerating The Impact Of Anti-Proxy War Posters In Italy

➡️ CNN headlined an article last week about how “Pro-Russian posters appear on billboards across Italy” as part of their ongoing campaign fearmongering about alleged Russian influence in the West.

➡️ The posters themselves are innocuous though and simply call for an end to the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine. Some municipalities like Rome ordered them taken down for using the city’s name and official symbol, but others let them stay up.

➡️ Ukraine protested these posters and predictably demanded censorship.

➡️ It turns out that all this is organized by a local activist who’s connected to groups formed during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, thus meaning that they represent Italians with heterodox views.

➡️ This analysis here from February shares more insight into evolving national sentiments towards this conflict, which are increasingly trending towards opposition to perpetuating it, while this one here from last weekend reminds everyone that folks can independently arrive at seemingly Russian-aligned views.

🔗 Link

🔋 Quantum 3: Wärtsilä unveils smart container-like grid-level energy storage system

Quantum 3 battery energy storage solution from Wartsila works as an AC block and is ideal for utility-scale customers.

A new generation of grid-level battery energy storage systems (BESS) developed by Finnish company Wärtsilä is smarter, safer, and more sustainable than its predecessors, the company said in a press release.

Called Quantum 3, the BESS system is housed in an ISO container, making it easier to ship globally, and is ready for deployment as soon as it arrives on site.

With solar and wind energy projects scaling up, more energy generated through renewable means is now fed into the grid. With new-age and conventional utility companies joining the movement to build large-scale renewable energy projects, there is a demand for large energy storage systems that can meet the rigorous demands of the grid while also handling the intermittency of wind and solar energy plants.

Earlier this year, Wärtsilä announced its Quantum 2 BESS, which, with its containerized design, also offers the convenience of shipping and transport. The 20-foot container shell conforms to the ISO standard and makes it simpler to ship the storage system anywhere in the world while also facilitating simpler on-road transport.

Quantum 3 is also designed to balance energy density and weight, requiring fewer units on-site to achieve capacity plans and reduce project costs and emissions.

The system is delivered as a complete AC block, meaning it has batteries as well as a power conversion system. In the press release, the company stresses that it is using string-based inverters for power conversion, which allows decentralized control and improves the system’s reliability and efficiency.

Additionally, Wärtsilä has also taken a more sustainability-focused approach to the design, ensuring that the housing is low-weight and uses a cooling system with a low global warming potential.

🔗 https://interestingengineering.com/energy/wartsila-containerized-battery-energy-storage-solution

🔋 Energy company announces plans to build world's largest battery installation — and it won't be using lithium-ion technology

New England residents will soon have more power at their fingertips thanks to the world's largest battery with a whopping 85-megawatt output, set to be built in Maine by energy storage startup Form Energy.

While numerous large-scale battery installations exist worldwide, most use lithium-ion batteries, which come with several downsides. Lithium-ion battery prices have dropped recently, but the technology is still quite costly. In addition, they typically have a storage capacity of four hours or less and can ignite or explode in rare cases.

For these reasons, Form Energy is opting for iron-air batteries for the massive battery project. These batteries need only air, water, and iron to operate, harnessing the power of rust and a non-flammable water-based electrolyte to store and discharge energy

Iron-air batteries are around 90% less expensive to install than lithium-ion and have a much longer duration — around 100 hours of energy output. Plus, there's no fire risk and a much lower environmental impact.

The battery will be deployed in Lincoln, Maine, where a paper and pulp mill once stood. According to Interesting Engineering, the Department of Energy awarded Form Energy $147 million for the 8,500 megawatt-hour capacity battery project, and the company expects it will be operational by 2028.

🔗 https://www.yahoo.com/tech/energy-company-announces-plans-build-110023506.html?

🏭 Chart: Coal Consumption by Region (1965-2023)

Despite efforts to decarbonize the economy, global coal consumption surpassed 164 exajoules for the first time in 2023. The fossil fuel still accounts for 26% of the world’s total energy consumption.

China is by far the largest consumer of coal, accounting for 56% of the global total, with 91.94 exajoules in 2023.

It is followed by India, with 21.98 exajoules, and the U.S., with 8.20 exajoules. In 2023, India exceeded the combined consumption of Europe and North America for the first time.

Regionally, North America, Europe, and even the Rest of World have seen a decline in coal consumption since the 1990s. The Asia-Pacific region, however, has made up for this demand and more, with consumption soaring since about the year 2000.

🔗 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rise-in-global-coal-consumption-by-region-1965-2023/

🇧🇷❌📝 — Netizens in Brazil report the return of Twitter/X in the country, despite no judicial decision overturning the previous decision being issued.

#BREAKING
🇱🇧💣❗️ — Initial report: more explosions of pagers in Dahiya in Beirut

🇱🇧💣📝 — 📰 Lebanese News Agency: Solar energy panels, vital for Lebanon's crippled energy system, also exploded in a number of homes in southern Lebanon

🇮🇱❌🇱🇧 — 🇺🇳 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:

The ongoing attacks in Lebanon violate international human rights law and possibly international humanitarian law

#BREAKING
🇮🇱🇮🇱❌🇱🇧❗️ — Israeli channel 12 reports Israeli War Cabinet has given the total approval to Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant to start all-out offensive operations against Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon!

🔗 החדשות - N12 (@N12News)