Europe | Peter Schulte

Renewables provide a majority of energy consumption in Germany for first time ever

By Peter Schulte / March 19, 2024 / Good news links

The share of renewable energy sources in Germany’s total energy consumption grew to 52% in 2023 thanks to the steady expansion of solar and wind power installations in electricity production and an increase in the uptake of renewable heating systems, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has said. Investments in renewable energy jumped markedly, from 22.3 billion euros in 2022 to 36.6 billion euros in the following year.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans now think using psilocybin is ‘morally positive,’ in dramatic shift in public opinion

By Peter Schulte / March 18, 2024 / Good news links

Researchers—representing institutions such as the universities of Oxford, Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Grenada—surveyed 795 people on the issue, asking about supervised use specifically for treatment and for well-being enhancement. Participants, the report says, “rated the individual’s decision as morally positive in both contexts.” The study is of note because although psilocybin “has shown promise both as a treatment for psychiatric conditions and as a means of improving well-being in healthy individuals,” authors wrote.

Cancer deaths in middle-aged people in the U.K. have plummeted since the 1990s

By Peter Schulte / March 14, 2024 / Good news links

Fewer middle-aged people are dying from cancer in the U.K. than at any point over the last 25 years, a new study from Cancer Research UK has revealed. The study showed that overall, mortality rates have dropped by 37% in men and by 33% in women over that span.

E.U. regulators pass the world’s first sweeping artificial intelligence regulations

By Peter Schulte / March 13, 2024 / Good news links

The E.U. says the regulations seek to “protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field.” Applications that will be banned include social scoring, emotion recognition in schools and workplaces, and “AI that manipulates human behavior or exploits people’s vulnerabilities.” The historic AI Act is likely to come into force in early June.

Liverpool to build the world’s largest tidal power project

By Peter Schulte / March 11, 2024 / Good news links

The City of Liverpool, England, has unveiled advanced proposals to build the world’s largest tidal power generator on the River Mersey. Mersey Tidal Power would become the largest tidal range scheme in the world. It would power more than 1 million homes for more than 120 years.

Vienna Philharmonic, once an all-male ensemble, now has 24 female musicians

By Peter Schulte / March 6, 2024 / Good news links

A male bastion from its founding in 1842 until 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic now has 24 female players among 145 members. It is widely considered among the world’s preeminent orchestras. Harpist Anna Lelkes played with the Philharmonic for 26 years as a nonmember before she became the first woman admitted.

A large french flag fluttering under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution

By Peter Schulte / March 4, 2024 / Good news links

France has become the world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights Lawmakers from both houses of the French Parliament voted 780 to 72 in favor of the measure, easily clearing the three-fifths majority needed to amend the French constitution. The French Senate and National Assembly each overwhelmingly approved the amendment earlier this year. The amendment states that there is a “guaranteed freedom” to abortion in France. Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the words “my body my choice.”

World’s largest rooftop solar power plant to be built in Denmark

By Peter Schulte / March 2, 2024 / Good news links

Danish solar company SolarFuture has landed the order to establish a 35 MW rooftop solar power plant at DSV’s new logistics center in Horsens. The building at DSV’s logistics center is over 300,000 m2, an area that corresponds to the world’s 5th largest building, of which the majority of the roof surface will be covered by solar panels. The establishment of the construction site has just begun and is expected to be completed in December 2024.

Utility solar dethrones coal as the cheapest power source in Asia

By Peter Schulte / March 1, 2024 / Good news links

According a new analysis from Wood Mackenzie on the levelized cost of electricity for the Asia Pacific region, the cost of renewables reached a historic low in 2023. Renewable energy costs in Asia last year were 13% cheaper than coal and are expected to be 32% cheaper by 2030. Utility solar is now the cheapest power source in 11 out of 15 APAC countries. New-build solar project costs are expected to fall by another 20% by 2030.

Birds eye view of tropical rainforest deforestation. An earth mover removes trees which are then burnt

E.U. Parliament votes to criminalize most serious cases of ecosystem destruction

By Peter Schulte / February 27, 2024 / Good news links

The European Union has become the first international body to criminalize the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide.” Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will now be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences. Member countries will have two years to put the updated directive into national law.