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Hello and welcome to another edition of Hydrogeek Podcast.
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So today I will discuss about 10 most significant news of the first week of
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December 2024 from the world of water,
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power and informatics.
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Now, although I am
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I am referring it as first week of December but actually these news are collected
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from the last 15 days of the month of November okay so I think rather than
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referring it as first week of December let me refer it as the last fortnight
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of November 2024.
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So let us begin.
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The first news is University of South Florida scientists used the Chris Hazard app
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to analyze real-time flooding in Pinellas County and Hillsborough County during Hurricanes,
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Helene and Milton.
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The app,
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developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech,
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uses volunteered geographical information and,
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more especially,
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the community crowdsourced data
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to identify the estimated water elevation,
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which enables them to take informed policymaking and emergency management.
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So I think this is one of the very rare example where a crowdsource data
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along with the app is used to monitor the water level of the different surface
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water bodies,
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which ultimately helped the policy managers to adopt emergency mitigation measures
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such that the impact of
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these two cyclones, Helene and Milton, can be countered.
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Okay?
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And as per the news received, they were quite successful in doing so.
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So you can find more about that if you go to my blog, sorry, my newsletter, Hydrogeek.
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If you go through the Hydro Geek Newsletter, last post, then you can find about this in more detail.
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The next is ocean saltwater is creeping up the Delaware River in the USA and
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threatening the Philadelphia drinking water.
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What is happening is the saline water intrusion through the Delaware River
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is mixing with the source of water from where Philadelphia gets its drinking water,
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and it is,
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the saline water included,
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is actually making that source salty.
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So either you invest more money to desalinate it,
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Or you have to drink that water.
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That is the problem due to this saline water intrusion.
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Okay.
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Now, next news is the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29.
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As you know, it was conducted in the last week.
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so it it aimed to triple funding for the developing countries such that they can
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combat climate change and there they have devised a new collective quantified code
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on climate finance where it aims to fund around 300 billion dollars annual by 2035
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for the developing nations.
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So they are referring this new decision regarding climate finance as NCQG.
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And this conference also agreed on carbon markets for faster and more affordable climate plans.
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As you know, by now you all know about carbon markets.
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In summary,
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I can say that any institute which is saving carbon will be paid by any institute
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which is emitting carbon.
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That is, in a nutshell, what carbon market is.
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And there are more details to it, more complexity to it.
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That carbon amount will be traded in a stock-like market.
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And it is just like shared, the price of carbon will go up and go down and all these things are there.
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The only thing is that the institute or establishment or the country or the region
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who is taking the pain to reduce carbon generation will be paid by those who is not
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taking the pain to reduce its total carbon output.
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So in this way,
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the institute which is generating carbon will become more alert because they have
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to pay.
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And the institute which is saving carbon,
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they will take more optimal measures to save more carbon such that they can earn more,
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right?
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So once you imbibe the monetary factor
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into something, the success rate increases like anything.
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So that is a good decision.
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Sorry, according to me.
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Now, the next news is also related to COP29.
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Here, they have signed an agreement
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where it enables funds to be deposited due to climate-related loss and damage.
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So there are lots of catastrophes going on all around the world.
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Number of extreme events has increased a lot compared to the last decade.
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Every week, every month, we are getting a new cyclone or new hurricane.
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which has devastating consequences in both for the mankind,
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not only the mankind,
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but also the properties lost,
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the agricultural output lost,
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the water contaminated due to this type of cyclones.
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The impact is huge.
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So all the countries who have participated in COP29 has agreed to create a fund
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And it is expected to start financing all those climate-related loss and damage
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projects at least from next year.
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This is another positive decision that was taken in COP29.
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Next is in October 2024, the U.S.
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Drought Monitor reported that over 54% of the U.S.
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is in moderate to severe drought,
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with 87% abnormally dry or in drought,
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with 48 states being the most drought-stricken in 25 years.
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So you can see just by this one-line news,
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Just imagine what is in store for us in the coming days.
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54% of US is under drought.
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Yes, I agree.
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It is moderate to severe, but it is under drought.
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And whereby 87% are abnormally dry.
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So that is really
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a point of concern which is reported by the Trot Monitor in October 2024.
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The next is the Environmental Protection Agency.
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EPA has revealed that this is another very bad news, I would say, news of concern.
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EPA has revealed that over 11 million people in the U.S.
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have
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PFAS, India Drinking Water, as part of the UCMR-5 testing mandated by the agency.
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Now, you will say what is PFAS.
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It is not very popular in the developing nation rather than is more popular in the
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developed nation,
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I would say.
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So PFAS, PFAS stands for parfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
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They are group of chemicals made by humans.
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They are inorganically made.
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And since the 1950s, PFAS have been used in many consumer products and industrial processes.
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But the problem is that this PFAS can leak into soil, water and air also.
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And people can be exposed to them in many ways.
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So they can consume the PFAS, which has already contaminated their water or food.
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So even using the products made with PFAS,
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and also breathing air that contains PFAS.
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The result is prolonged exposure to PFAS has been linked to health effects, including cancer.
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And if not cancer, it will damage your hormonal system.
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It may damage your reproductive system.
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And even it can hamper the development of the fetus.
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Moreover, it can impact the immune system and reduced responses to vaccines in children.
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The last point is very important.
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Reduced responses to vaccines in children.
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And nowadays, after COVID-19, viral disease is the post-19.
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important reason for the mortality of mankind.
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So when due to global warming, temperature is increasing, so is the viral effects.
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And if there is viral effects, we need vaccines to counter them.
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But if you are exposed to PFAS,
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then those vaccines will have reduced response.
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The time of response will be reduced, delayed, especially in children.
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And as you can easily conclude,
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or any man can easily conclude by using their common sense,
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that is not a good thing to see.
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So we must do something to prevent the release of PFAS into our natural resources
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like soil,
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water and air.
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But however,
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all those measures that we are taking till now has failed because USA,
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one of the most developed countries has PFAS in their drinking water which is
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supplied to
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Over 11 billion people.
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So you can understood the situation.
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Okay, never mind.
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Let us go to the next news.
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Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology
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has developed a pumped energy storage system.
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It's a new type.
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For the seabed,
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generally pumped energy storage system is installed in a river or by connecting two wetlands,
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one at a higher elevation,
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another at a lower elevation.
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But here they have installed it in the seabed and they are referring it as Stensea, S-T-E-N-S-E-A.
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which will anchor a 400 ton concrete sphere at a depth of 500 to 600 meter charging
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and discharging electricity through it when water is closing.
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So they are basically two concrete spheres.
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So what will happen is they will be installed in the ocean bed and due to the waves in the ocean
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Well, while concrete has the water flowing in, from another concrete sphere, the water will flow out.
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So in both flow in and flow out,
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there will be a bi-directional turbine which can produce electricity in both ways,
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whether it is rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise.
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It can produce electricity both ways.
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So while the water is flowing in into the concrete sphere, it will produce electricity.
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When water flows out of the concrete sphere, it can produce electricity.
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So both ways it can produce electricity.
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So that is what Germany's Franofford Institute for Energy Economics and Energy
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Systems Technology has designed.
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But it is piloted.
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not experimented real-time.
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So let us see.
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Let us hope that it becomes successful and if it becomes successful then a lot of
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energy can be produced through this type of fuel-less system.
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So the next one is Eco Wave Power,
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a provider of onshore wave energy technology,
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inaugurated Israel's first pilot station for generating electricity from sea waves.
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So the first wave power plant for Israel is now installed in the Jaffa port.
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And December 5 is the inauguration date.
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And this is done by Eco Wave Power, a company which provides onshore wave energy
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technology correct so all the details of all this news can be found in my
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newsletter latest post so you can visit my newsletter at hydrogeek.substack.com and
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subscribe to that and you can get all the details of this news the next news that
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shook the world of power water power and informatics is scottish buried energy
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company
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Moshean Energy has raised 3,86,770 from its crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.
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The campaign aims to finance the next phase of the company's growth plan,
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transition from R&D to commercialization and internationalization.
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okay so this company motion is involved in using web power solar power how to
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develop more efficient battery storage system to deliver renewable power and
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communication now this renewable energy power plant has used crowdfunding to
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generate its its capital okay so this is also one of the rare instance where
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crowdfunding is used or utilized to fund
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renewable energy power plant,
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which is involved in generating wave power plant,
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wave energy,
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and also solar energy and battery storage.
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Okay, so that's also a nice positive development.
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And again, we have a good news for eco-wave power.
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So this company is now really shaking the world of water power and informatics.
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So eco-wave power has reported its third quarter result of 2024.
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so it has sailed a power station in taiwan a milestone in an israel based project i
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think i have just now discussed about that first wave power plant in israel in
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jaffa port and the company has several similar milestones
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But moreover, it has achieved 10% reduction in expenses from the second to third quarter.
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So the expenditure, the expenditure required to run all this project, they are able to reduce it by 10%.
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And in case of Taiwan also, Equipower has signed its first wave energy project sale.
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agreement with the company known as i k international ocean energy fight it is uh
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which is financing a hundred kilowatt pilot project and israel thing i have already
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discussed so the main point of this news is 10 percent reduction in expenses that's
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the point because renewable energies
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sources required huge expenditure to run.
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If we can reduce even 5% of that expense, it's a big, big achievement.
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They have achieved 10% reduction, so it's a big thing.
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I will surely appreciate their operational optimization that they have done.
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Yes,
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Taiwan,
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they have their first wave energy power plant,
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Israel,
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first wave energy power plant,
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but these are all okay.
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But the 10% reduction is very important that they have achieved compared to their earlier quarter.
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So that's a big thing that I can assure you.
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Okay, so many people ask me that how you select this news.
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You know,
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I select the news based on its impact and its role in developing the future actions
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of policymakers in the water,
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power and informatics world.
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So that is my main criteria.
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Take this example of this unknown company, I would rather say, Eco Wave Power.
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Okay, you and me are not very well known about that.
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They are not Shell.
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They are not Reliance.
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They are not Adobe.
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We do not know much about them.
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They are simple Eco Wave Power.
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But they are doing what we need most.
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They are reducing expenditure for generating renewable energy.
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Okay, so that's a big thing.
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Because in the coming days, we need renewable energy to replace all the conventional fuel source.
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Then only we can have a sustainable future.
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So, these are the things, these are the criteria.
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Like this crowdfunded renewable energy power plant, Murshian energy power farm.
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There is a crowdfunding, it's a new thing.
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If government is not paying money,
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if no investors are not there,
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venture capitalists are not interested in your project,
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then go for crowdfunding.
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Okay, because real man, common man knows what is the main problem.
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And similarly,
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COP29 News,
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they are very important because they are the conference with the major players who,
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if they want,
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can control the impact of climate change manifold.
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They collaborate in those type of meetings, COP29 type meetings, and they decide many things.
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Although what we want, they are not taking that.
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But yes, some part of our targets, our objective is being fulfilled.
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Okay, so that is why I have taken COP29 news also.
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Okay, and this saline water intrusion due to which drinking water of Philadelphia is threatened in USA.
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So that's also a very important point.
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Okay.
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So like this, this highly impactful news only we collect in this post.
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And generally I post this type of news posts three times a month.
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So three times I collect the most significant news of the last fortnight or last
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ten days and I try to share it with you people.
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But if you do not comment to my post or if you do not share to your peers who you
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do that will be interested,
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then without feedback I cannot develop myself.
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So I wholeheartedly request you to give some feedback,
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to give some comments,
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such that I can develop this type of posts.
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Okay?
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So if you want to add your news, it can also be possible.
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It is also possible.
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post a comment with your news.
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I will surely include them in my next post related to most significant news that
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shook the world of water,
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power and informatics.
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Thank you for now.
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Ciao and see you in the next post.
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Thank you.
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