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We’ve recently gotten some great feedback on our “It’s not as bad as it seems” series and plan on turning it into a weekly series (read part 3 in today’s newsletter).

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Innovation

Waste Heat Warms Finnish City

Underground caverns in Finland are being utilized for a groundbreaking seasonal energy storage initiative. This facility near Helsinki, set to become the world's largest, will store heat during the summer for later use in the winter, providing enough thermal energy to heat a medium-sized city.

Systems like underground thermal exchange heating and domestic heat pumps are viewed as highly effective in reducing the environmental impact of heating and cooling. These systems operate by harnessing natural forces or recycling energy to regulate water temperature, which is then used to provide heating or cooling to buildings.

In Vantaa, neighboring Helsinki, the Varanto project aims to store excess heat from data centers, cooling processes, and waste-to-energy facilities underground. This stored heat will be tapped into during colder months to heat buildings via the district heating network.

The scale of Varanto is immense, with underground caverns equivalent to two Madison Square Gardens filled with water heated by waste heat. This innovative approach enables water temperatures to reach up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit without boiling or evaporating.

According to Vantaa Energy CEO Jukka Toivonen, the Varanto project addresses a critical challenge in the energy transition by providing large-scale storage solutions for intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. The project, supported by an investment grant from Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, is poised to set a global example.

The fully charged storage capacity of 90 gigawatt-hours could sustain a medium-sized Finnish city for a year, equivalent to 1.3 million electric car batteries. To complement renewable electricity, the project includes the installation of 60-MW electric boilers, offering flexibility and efficiency in heat production.

With construction slated to begin in 2024 and operational targets set for 2028, district heating remains a cornerstone of Finland's heating infrastructure, with Vantaa boasting extensive underground networks serving the majority of its residents. In 2023, Finland produced 37.3 terawatt-hours of district heat, with over half sourced from renewable and waste heat.

Culture

You Won’t Understand it; But You Will Like it Regardless

I don’t understand a single word, but it doesn’t matter. This beautiful Georgian folk music is some of the most warm and enchanting music I have ever heard.

I am so glad these talented and lovely women have decided to share their culture with the rest of the world. I couldn’t decide which video was the best, so I just picked three.

Environment

Not Everything is as Bad as it Seems Part 3

Continuing on with our “Not Everything is as Bad as it Seems” series, today we would like to talk about air pollution.

Air pollution is one of those issues that we all want less of. Luckily, the problem is (sort of) already fixing itself.

The World Health Organization identifies air pollution as the leading cause of environmentally related deaths.

Addressing air pollution effectively necessitates an understanding of its historical patterns and driving factors. A crucial pollutant in this context is sulfur dioxide (SO2), primarily emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels, which also occurs in various industrial processes.

While attributing specific death tolls directly to SO2 is complex due to its interactions with other pollutants, studies consistently link higher SO2 levels to increased cardiovascular deaths.

Here is were we get to the good news. Once a country’s economy develops beyond a certain point, pollution and SO2 levels begin to decrease.

Historically, the surge in SO2 emissions aligned with industrialization. Initially, Europe and North America saw rapid increases due to their early industrial activities. However, these emissions peaked around the 1970s in North America and a decade later in Europe, then began to decline.

This trend is explored with the idea of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). This theory, first discussed in the 1992 World Development Report, suggests that environmental degradation initially worsens with industrial growth but improves after reaching a certain economic threshold.

The decline in SO2 in these regions resulted from economic, technological, and policy-driven measures. The general theory is that once technological and economic factors improve beyond a certain point, the county can afford cleaner practices and governments are more able to introduce policies that would have been impossible while less developed.

For example, SO2 emissions in Asia and Africa continue to rise as these regions have not yet reached the economic turning point suggested by the EKC. However, China saw it’s peak in emissions in 2006, and has been declining since. In contrast, India's emissions have yet to peak, reflective of its slightly earlier stage of economic development compared to China.

This pattern indicates that technological advances, policy, and regulatory frameworks combined in a nation with prosperity and economic growth will hit a peak in pollution, then will decline.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that global SO2 emissions will significantly reduce by 2050, depending somewhat on future technological and policy choices.

If you want to see some charts and read more about this subject, check out this fantastic article that has all the interesting numbers.

US News

Island Castaways Rescued; Signaled for HELP with Palm Leaves

A joint US Navy and Coast Guard operation conducted on Tuesday successfully rescued three mariners who had been stranded on a remote Pacific Ocean islet for over a week. The trio had found themselves marooned on Pikelot Atoll, part of Micronesia, after their 20-foot skiff encountered rough swells and sustained damage to its outboard motor on March 31.

Unable to summon help via their radio due to depleted battery power, the stranded men resorted to a creative solution. They gathered palm fronds from the island and arranged them to form the word "HELP" on the beach, a distress signal that caught the attention of search teams.

During their ordeal, the men sustained themselves on coconut meat and utilized fresh water from a small well on the island.

The search for the missing mariners commenced on April 6 after a concerned relative reported their failure to return to Polowat Atoll, their initial departure point located over 100 miles away. Pikelot Atoll's extreme remoteness posed a challenge to the search effort.

The discovery of the "HELP" sign by a US Navy P-8A reconnaissance jet proved instrumental in pinpointing the mariners' location. Lieutenant Chelsea Garcia, the mission coordinator, expressed the significance of this improvised distress signal in guiding rescue efforts.

Upon locating the stranded men, the Navy jet dropped survival packs and relayed their coordinates to the rescue center. Subsequently, a Coast Guard HC-130 aircraft delivered a radio to the men, enabling communication with the rescue team.

Remarkably, this was not the first instance of a rescue operation involving castaways on Pikelot Atoll. In 2020, another group of mariners, stranded between Micronesian atolls, similarly signaled for help using the "SOS" message, prompting a coordinated rescue effort by US and Micronesian authorities.

This article from DailyMail has some great pictures showing the island.

Mind Stretchers

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Answer to yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:
The word “few”.

Albert Knox got the correct answer first!

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected]

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.