“Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal energy, today held its second annual Technology Day, announcing a suite of both technical and commercial breakthroughs. In the last year, Fervo drilled 15 wells at Cape Station, achieved record-breaking commercial flow rates at the site’s first well test, and secured a $100 million construction loan from X-Caliber Rural Capital to accelerate its operations…

The 30-day test, a standard for geothermal, achieved a maximum flow rate of 107 kg/s at high temperature, enabling over 10 MW of electric production, triple the per production well output of Fervo’s commercial pilot, Project Red.”

From Business Wire.

“After three years extracting plastic waste from the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an environmental nonprofit says it can finish the job within a decade, with a price tag of several billion dollars.

Twice the size of Texas, the mass of about 79,000 metric tons of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii is growing at an exponential pace, according to researchers.

At current levels, the cleanup would take a decade with a price tag of $7.5 billion, the Netherlands-based Ocean Cleanup said in a press release, announcing the group’s intention to eliminate the garbage patch entirely. However, computer models suggest a more aggressive approach could complete the job in just five years and cost $4 billion.

The cleanup vessels deploy enormous u-shaped floating barriers to funnel trash toward a focal point where it can then be loaded aboard and brought to shore.”

From Los Angeles Times.

“Rewilding efforts in part of the Scottish Highlands have led to Black Grouse numbers reaching their highest level for 17 years.

A study in the Affric Highlands near Inverness has found numbers are recovering well at sites where restoration of native woods, peatlands and wetlands is being carried out on a large scale.

The Affric Highlands and RSPB Scotland study involved trained volunteers counting the numbers of males going to leks at 14 locations between April and May this year. The team recorded 405 lekking males, up from 378 the last time the survey was done in 2021, and up from the 250 recorded in 2007.”

From BirdGuides.

“Solar has been gaining popularity for years now, but in 2023 the clean energy source really took off: A staggering 428 gigawatts’ worth of solar was installed worldwide last year, up by 76 percent from what was deployed in 2022.”

From Canary Media.