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Happy Friday, everyone!
And happy October! In today's edition of the Economic Perspective, we have a ton of great articles, with news on underwater archeology, worldwide climate monitoring, large-scale battery production, and much more! Enjoy the read and feedback is always appreciated! Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. If you'd like to view previous editions please click here, or to subscribe please click here!
Have a great weekend!
Construction Sector Led Job Growth in September
U.S. private sector employment grew by 89,000 jobs in September, with annual pay increasing by 5.9%, year-over-year. Similarly, construction wages were up 6% annually. Construction employment grew by 16,000 workers last month. However, the professional and business services industry lost 32,000 jobs, trade, transportation, and utilities was down 13,000, and manufacturing lost 12,000. Read more here.
Who Will Pay for Duwamish River Cleanup?
The Duwamish River, once called “a natural collector for Boeing’s fluid wastes,” in the 1950s has since been listed as a Superfund site for over 22 years. A massive cleanup effort will begin in 2024 with the goal to rid the water of 90% of its pollution within the next couple of decades. While preliminary estimates suggesting the price would be around $340 million, The Port of Seattle states the cost could be closer to $1 billion, which would make it one of the nation’s costliest Superfund cleanups. The City of Seattle, Port of Seattle, King County, and Boeing are each expected to bear costs, but how much and who will end up paying the majority remains unknown. Read more at The Seattle Times and ProPublica.
Veterans from Tesla, Northvolt Hatch Plan to Mass-Produce Huge Batteries to Store Solar and Wind Energy
Battery industry veterans from Tesla are working on launching Peak Energy, which aims to mass-produce giant batteries that will even out production fluctuations from wind and solar. Peak energy hopes to partner with a technology company that is already producing batteries and scale their manufacturing up to a higher level. Peak Energy hopes to answer the increase in demand for grid-scale storage. The United States Energy Information Administration has projected that battery storage capacity will grow from 9 gigawatts in 2022 to 49 gigawatts in 2030 and 247 gigawatts by 2050. Read More.
Lessons for Modern-Day Sea Level Rise Adaptation from Underwater Archaeology Research
Florida is a hotspot for the little-known field of submerged landscape archaeology, due to Florida’s distinctive characteristic of having lost half of its landmass to sea level rise since its first human inhabitants. Scientists have found evidence of shell mounds as far as 20 miles from the shore, and artifacts found and studied by this team of scientists have provided evidence that people were living in Florida 14,500 years ago. The approximately 50 underwater archaeological sites identified by researchers are providing information on how ancient people adapted to the rising seas of their time and provides some parallels from which the researchers hope modern day Floridians can benefit. Read more here.
Climate Monitors Placed on Tallest Peaks of World
Recently, China has set up weather stations and monitors on the mountain Cho Oyu, which is the sixth largest mountain in the world. It borders Tibet and Nepal and has been the most recent expansion of high-altitude meteorological gauges. Scientists are interested in how climate change is impacting the Himalayan Mountains, that house the tallest peaks in the world as well as provides water for hundreds of millions of people. Monitoring global warming has had a massive effect in the region already. One of the warmest summers occurred this last year in the northern hemisphere has caused flash floods and other natural worries, this station can be used to monitor, study, and even help with the prediction of these events. The full article is here.
Data Visualization of the Week
Fiscal Impacts from Sea Level Rise
In a study published last week in the Journal of the American Planning Association, researchers looked at Florida's statewide fiscal impacts from sea level rise and found that half of the coastal communities risk 25-50% of their revenues due to their reliance on coastal development and property values. The more fiscally affected municipalities are comparatively smaller, Whiter, and wealthier. The study found no relationship between cities’ prioritization of climate adaptation and their fiscal exposure. Read the full study here.
