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Texas wildfires: two killed in historic blaze as up to 500 structures destroyed
Higher temperatures and winds forecast in the coming days could make firefighting conditions more difficult
As the largest wildfire in Texas history engulfed his town, Danny Phillips was left helpless.
“We had to watch from a few miles away as our neighborhood burned,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion.
In his hard-hit town of Stinnett, population roughly 1,600, families like his who evacuated from the Smokehouse Creek fire – the most destructive blaze in the state’s history – returned on Thursday to devastating scenes: melted street signs and charred frames of cars and trucks. Homes reduced to piles of ash and rubble. An American flag propped up outside a destroyed house.
Phillips’s one-story home was still standing, but several of his neighbors weren’t so fortunate.
Stinnett’s destruction was a reminder that, even as snow fell on Thursday and helped firefighters, crews are racing to stamp out the blaze ahead of higher temperatures and winds forecast in the coming days.
Already, the Smokehouse Creek fire has killed two people and left behind a desolate landscape of scorched prairie, dead cattle and burned-out homes in the Texas Panhandle.
According to Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, up to 500 structures may have been destroyed, and damage assessments are under way.
“When you look at the damages that have occurred here, it’s just gone, completely gone, nothing left but ashes on the ground,” Abbott said at a news conference in Borger, Texas.
The blaze stayed about the same size on Friday, just shy of 1,700 sq miles (4,400 sq km). It merged with another fire and is now 15% contained, up from 3% on Thursday, according to the Texas A&M forest service.
But conditions favorable for wildfires are expected to extend through the weekend in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. Strong winds, relatively low humidity and dry conditions are creating conditions that the weather service said were “resulting in a significant threat for the rapid spread of wildfires”.
In the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, temperatures will reach highs of 80F (27C) on Saturday and Sunday with wind gusts up to 50mph by Sunday, according to the NWS office in Amarillo, Texas. The relative humidity will hover at 5-10% all weekend.
The largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of the state, the Smokehouse Creek fire has also crossed into Oklahoma.
Crews will focus on the northern edge of the fire and areas around structures, the forest service said.
Gray skies loomed over huge scars of blackened earth in a rural area dotted with scrub brush, ranchland, rocky canyons and oil rigs. Lee Jones, a firefighter, was helping douse the smoldering wreckage of homes in Stinnett to keep them from reigniting when the weather starts turning on Friday and continues into the weekend.
“The snow helps,” said Jones, who was among a dozen firefighters called in from Lubbock to help. “We’re just hitting all the hotspots around town, the houses that have already burned.”
Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm weather fed them.
“The rain and the snow is beneficial right now – we’re using it to our advantage,” Juan Rodriguez, a Texas A&M forest service spokesperson, said of the Smokehouse Creek fire. “When the fire isn’t blowing up and moving very fast, firefighters are able to actually catch up and get to those parts of the fire.”
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How to build the solar workforce to one million strong by 2030
Contributed by Will White, Solar Application Specialist, Fluke
In 2021, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced an ambitious target of increasing solar energy production to 30% of the total energy used in the U.S. by 2030. In 2022 only about 4.7% of the total energy in the U.S. came from solar. So reaching that goal will require adding about 48 GW of solar capacity each year.
But that’s just part of the challenge. Adding more solar generation capacity means adding more workers. A lot more workers. SEIA estimates that about a million solar workers will be needed to scale, maintain, and operate the clean energy infrastructure required to meet climate goals within that same timeframe. That is nearly a 278% increase from the 263,883 solar workers reported in 2022. Since the solar energy workforce grew by only 3.5% from 2021 to 2022, the challenge is obvious.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s 2022 National Solar Jobs Census reported that 44% of solar industry employers find it “very difficult” to find qualified applicants. Addressing that deficiency will require effort across the value chain to educate, train, and equip workers with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed as solar professionals.
Like many a long journey, it starts with a methodical step-by-step approach.
Tapping into a rich potential resource of existing skills
As demand for more clean energy workers heats up, the number of jobs in the oil and gas industry is declining. While there has been some recovery in 2022, employment in these industries is down from pre-pandemic levels. Some of that decline is due to layoffs, and some is due to workers leaving the industry to explore opportunities in renewable energy. In a 2021 survey of oil and gas professionals, 56% said they would be interested in pursuing opportunities in the renewables sector, compared to 38.8% who indicated that interest in 2020.
That’s good news because these workers have the skills and energy industry knowledge that will be crucial to quickly building a highly skilled workforce in solar and other renewable energy jobs. It is important to reach out to these energy workers to let them know about the professional opportunities available to them in the solar sector and the training resources available to help them transition into solar energy careers.
Growing industry and government support
Effective training is critical to ensuring the quality and efficiency of new solar power solutions. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office offers a rich set of resources to bring more people into the solar energy workforce. It is also funding workforce training programs to equip solar workers with the skills and expertise to help ensure solar systems are reliable and safe.
To reinforce that support, in July 2023, SEIA gained approval from the American National Standards Institute to develop 11 new national solar and energy storage standards. Included in that group are standards governing training for solar installation, operations and maintenance, and health and safety. These SEIA standards are a critical step toward establishing consistent quality in solar workforce training programs and providing reliable guidance for evaluating potential hires’ skills.
Making training accessible across the board
Expanding the solar workforce quickly will require training to be easily accessible to those transitioning from other industries as well as those just starting out. The training needs to be available both virtually and in person so that workers looking to change careers can take at least some courses without quitting their day jobs. The training must also be accessible nationwide and affordable for all economic levels.
The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) has already taken giant strides in this direction with a broad group of board certifications and associate credentials for photovoltaic and solar heating system installers, technical salespeople, and other renewable energy professionals. Its certifications and credentials are developed with input from hundreds of subject matter experts in the renewable energy industry and are based on demanding standards to meet real-world needs. NABCEP-approved courses range from basic fundamental concepts for those new to the solar energy field to advanced-level courses for board-certified professionals who want to further develop their knowledge and skills.
Recognizing that apprenticeships are a valuable tool for rapidly expanding a skilled solar workforce, SEIA is also developing resources to help employers implement registered apprenticeship programs. The trend toward building registered apprenticeships is being further fueled by tax incentives added by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act which includes requirements for registered apprenticeships for solar projects above 1 MW.
Climate crisis: Japan bets big with bonds for clean tech
Japan is the first in the world to issue sovereign bonds aimed at funneling private money into the green transition to help tackle climate change.
Japan is selling climate bonds — last week saw the government auction off 800 billion yen ($5.33 billion, €4.95 billion) in 10-year bonds, with the next tranche planned for later this month. And that is only the beginning. The authorities hope to sell sovereign bonds worth 20 trillion yen in total to fund the country’s green transition, which is often referred to in Japan as GX.
The Asian country is the first and so far the only country in the world to offer sovereign bonds for funding the reforms targeted toward tackling climate change. These government-issued debt securities are being sold to private investors. The investors are entitled to periodic interest payments and the full nominal value of the bond several years from now.
In this way, the government can funnel private money into its climate goals without breaking its budget.
Some of the funds are set for projects such as low-cost wind power generators, carbon recycling technology and aircraft that utilize alternative fuels. A primary focus, however, will be the development of state-of-the-art batteries and microchips, designed to reduce emissions over the long term.
Ahead of the first sale, the chairman of the Japan Securities Dealers Association, Toshio Morita, emphasized that Japan lacks natural resources and is therefore vulnerable to energy shocks — but “exhibits technological strengths.”
“The Green Transformation, which aims to shift the foundations of society and industry from one centered around fossil fuels to one based on clean energy, is a core initiative to transform industrial and energy policies and strengthen corporate and national competitiveness,” he said.
Expectations too high?
The bonds are a key element of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plans to fund the transformation of Japanese industry and society. By the end of the decade, Japan hopes to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to less than half of what they were in 2013. By 2050, the country hopes to achieve zero emissions. An estimated 150 trillion yen in public and private GX-related investments are required over the next decade if Japan is to meet its declared targets.
The response to the climate bonds from the finance sector has been broadly positive.
Japan’s Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Co came out strongly in support of the bonds on the day they were launched, confirming that it was investing to “encourage the transition of Japanese society to a decarbonized growth economic structure.”
Others, however, were more cautious, with an official of Nikko Asset Management Co telling DW that the company would not comment on the climate bonds because it was “still a new instrument and our various experts are still analyzing it before they can answer any questions.”
And this wariness is not limited to just one company. The demand for the bonds during the last week’s sale was slightly below expectations, although the climate bonds were still doing better than the standard debt securities issued by the Japanese government.
“I would say expectations prior to the auction were too high,” Keisuke Tsuruta, a fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told the Reuters news agency.
Critics want more clarity on standards
Japan has struggled to meet its fossil fuel pledges amid a flagging economy and contracting population. Its nuclear power sector was crippled by the 2011 Fukushima power plant disaster and has yet to recover, forcing the country to import over 90% of its energy needs.
Martin Schulz, chief policy economist for Fujitsu’s Global Market Intelligence Unit, told DW that the government’s budget was already “overstretched.”
“These bonds have been planned for a while and are designed to finance the development of renewable energies and infrastructure development but also keep that financing off the government’s balance sheet,” he said.
The scheme itself is not completely new, as the climate bonds have a lot in common with infrastructure construction bonds previously used by the government, according to Schulz.
‘We are the guinea pigs’: Arizona mining project sparks concerns for air and water
South32’s project was fast-tracked by the Biden administration, but residents are worried about its impact on a fragile ecosystem
