Insurers Are Totaling EVs For Minor Battery Issues, And That’s A Problem For Everyone

Batteries cost a lot to replace, raising insurance premiums and damaging the environment

by Sebastien Bell


Proprietary battery systems and the novelty of the technology mean that repairing even minor faults in electric vehicles can be extremely difficult, not to mention costly too. That leads numerous insurance companies to simply scrap EVs with only minor faults, which is problematic not only for insurers, but owners and the environment as well.

This even affects vehicles involved in minor accidents whose battery packs have only a small amount of damage. Insurers and mechanics complain that there’s no simple way to check on the status of the batteries, meaning it has to be thrown out completely lest the companies face liability in the event of future faults, reports Reuters.

As a result, insurers are opting to simply total the vehicles. That pushes up the price of insuring EVs, which can cost as much as 27 percent more than vehicles with combustion engines, according to some sources.

Read: Car Owners In Canada Shockingly Quoted As Much As $23,000 For Hybrid And EV Battery Replacements

Now, insurers call on automakers to make it easier to access data and repair battery packs. Some have responded, with GM, Ford, and Nissan all claiming that they have developed ways to make repairs possible. GM in particular noted that their latest Ultium batteries were engineered to be repaired at the module level making them “significantly less expensive than replacing the entire battery pack” adding that they allow third-party access to battery data.

Not all automakers are quite as committed, however. Tesla, America’s biggest EV manufacturer, is investing in a new battery technology with larger cells that are glued into the pack. According to automotive expert and repair advisor Sandy Munro, the new pack has “zero repairability” adding that, “a Tesla structural battery pack is going straight to the grinder.”

That not only poses a problem for owners and insurers, but for the environment, too. In addition to being the most expensive part of a vehicle, the battery is also the most carbon intensive.

“The number of cases is going to increase, so the handling of batteries is a crucial point,” Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Center for Technology, told Reuters. “If you throw away the vehicle at an early stage, you’ve lost pretty much all advantage in terms of CO2 emissions,” he said.

In order for EVs to be more ecological than combustion vehicles, they have to be on the road for a number of miles so that their zero emissions make up for their larger manufacturing carbon footprint. But with more and more unused battery packs finding their ways into junkyards, the advantages of those EVs are not realized.

Car insurance firms want EV battery pack data, threatening higher premiums

By William Johnson
Posted on March 20, 2023

TESLARATI

Car insurance companies are threatening automakers with increasing premiums if they don’t open their EV battery data to third parties.

By far, the most expensive part of any electric vehicle is its battery; hence, when an EV gets into an accident, it is the firm thing that is checked for damage. However, with many brands keeping battery information locked away, insurers claim they are being forced to prematurely total vehicles simply because they cannot accurately assess the damage. To get automakers to open their data and make their batteries more repairable, insurers are now threatening to continue to increase premiums.

As initially reported by Reuters, the push from insurers follows a dramatic increase in the number of EVs on the road and hence, a dramatic increase in the number of EVs involved in accidents. But what happens after an accident has become highly dependent on a driver’s insurer and the brand of EV they drive.

Sadly, in the case of most Tesla drivers, the battery or entire car must be replaced following a crash. If any internal battery components are damaged, they can be dangerous if driven again. This is only compounded by Tesla’s infamous lack of repairability.

According to a series of Tesla stores contacted by Teslarati, the most common outcome if a battery is damaged is to replace the entire car, as often the damage to the battery, combined with the damage to the body and electronics, totals the vehicle. However, it should be noted that Tesla offers battery replacement as part of their service for those willing to pay.

In the case of Ford, Nissan, or GM vehicles, owners are in a slightly better situation. According to comments given to Reuters, these automakers have designed some, if not most, parts of the battery pack to be replaceable in the case of an accident. Ford states that outside casing materials have been designed for replacement, while GM explained that specific battery cells could be identified by GM dealers for replacement, preventing the need for an entirely new battery pack. Nissan states that battery modules can be replaced in the case of an accident.

Stellantis brands, much like Tesla, will not do battery pack repair and states that any electric vehicle in an accident where the airbags are deployed must have its battery replaced.

None of the automakers have commented on opening their battery data to insurers or third parties, though they may be forced to if customers continue to see their premiums climb.

This reaction from insurers is one of the fundamental reasons Tesla established its own insurance provider. However, as the program remains locked to specific states, only a limited number of Tesla owners can qualify for the service. But if Tesla continues to expand its service to cover more States, other insurers may have no choice but to lower their premiums for Tesla owners to remain competitive.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

 

By studying lizards, researchers reveal the forces that shape biodiversity

by Chris Sasaki, University of Toronto

Researchers in U of T’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology studied anoles on

 the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola to better understand what determines biodiversity. 

Credit: Luke Mahler

"If you pick a spot in, say, a rainforest, and count the number of different species of lizards within 15 meters and you come up with a number," asks Luke Mahler, "what determines that number?"

Mahler is an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science. He studies how the interplay of ecological and evolutionary forces over time and space results in the biodiversity we see in different habitats. He does this primarily by studying Anolis lizards—aka anoles—small, tree-dwelling reptiles in tropical regions of the Americas.

What determines the number of different species in local communities of animals? The question is a long-standing ecological problem for which there has been no consensus.

"Is it because of local processes like competition for food or territory?" Mahler asks. "Or is it the result of broader, regional processes like the generation of new species by evolution?"

One hypothesis suggests the determining force is local competition. In other words, if a local community—for example, a particular patch of forest on a tropical island—is "full up" with several species, then additional species wouldn't be able to persist because every ecological niche is already occupied.

Anole lizards are small, tree-dwelling reptiles. Credit: Luke Mahler

But according to another hypothesis, the diversity of species in such an area isn't limited by a pre-existing number of niches. Instead, the most important factor determining the number of species in a local community is the diversity of the broader region.

"On an island with a small total number of species, local communities should have only a small number of species," Mahler explains. "But on an island that has many species, you should see many species in local communities. In other words, local diversity is essentially a reflection of broader diversity, with classic ecological processes like competition mattering very little.

"If regional diversity determines what you see at a local site, then that local diversity is ultimately determined by the large-scale evolutionary processes that created the regional diversity."

To answer the question of local versus regional, Mahler and his colleagues studied anoles on the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola. What the researchers found was evidence for an unexpected third option—one that required marrying elements of both the "local" and "regional" hypotheses.

They found that the diversity of species in local communities indeed seems to be determined by local ecological processes that cap species diversity—but only if regional evolutionary forces have already produced the kinds of species that can monopolize local ecological resources. For example, the rich evolutionary diversity of species on Hispaniola, a large and ancient island, has "fed" a wealth of specialized species into the local communities at higher elevations on that island.

Why? Hispaniola's diversity—which stems from evolution playing out over millions of years across a very large and complex area—has led to unique anole species that exist only in the highlands. These species have filled all the available ecological niches, precluding more species from joining local communities there.

In contrast, Jamaica is smaller in area, especially in the highlands. And while many anole species have evolved on the island, the relative lack of space in the highlands hasn't allowed the evolution of new highland-specialist species as it has on Hispaniola. In fact, there is only one distinct highland anole in Jamaica.

Put another way, local diversity is determined by both regional and local forces but in different ways. Regional forces produce a diverse set of species, which then compete with one another, establishing local limits on diversity in any given location. But if a region is lacking in "evolutionary opportunity" because it's too small or too young, it fails to produce a diverse assembly of species and local limits are never reached.

Mahler and his colleagues described these findings in their study, published recently in the journal Ecology Letters. Co-authors included Luke Frishkoff, who started working on the research as a post-doctoral researcher in Mahler's lab and who is now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Gavia Lertzman-Lepofsky, a Ph.D. candidate currently in Mahler's lab.

The "laboratories" in which Mahler and his colleagues conducted their research—Jamaica and Hispaniola—were chosen because they are similar in many ways. They are situated at the same latitude, have matching topography and have similar forest habitats.

Every summer from 2016 to 2018, the researchers counted the number of anole species in dozens of 30-meter diameter plots on both islands from sea level to an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters.

"The anole faunas of Jamaica and Hispaniola provide a rich opportunity for comparison because they represent a natural experiment," Mahler says. "And what we found is that local processes do matter. But they matter in such a way that it's regional opportunities for diversification that determine their strength."

"However, this is a single, if illustrative, comparison. Determining the generality of the evolutionary opportunity model we propose here awaits additional tests."

More information: Luke Owen Frishkoff et al, Evolutionary opportunity and the limits of community similarity in replicate radiations of island lizards, Ecology Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1111/ele.14098

Journal information: Ecology Letters 

Provided by University of Toronto 

New lizard found in Dominican Republic

 

Nature Trust completes purchase of area wetland

NATURE TRUST BUYS WETLAND

Mark Nielsen / Prince George Citizen - Mar 20, 2023  | Story: 417063

Photo: .

An aerial view of the Meteor Lake peatland near Sinclair Mills.

Following a fundraising campaign this past fall, The Nature Trust of BC has completed the purchase of 235 hectares of wetland east of Prince George, putting the ecologically valuable property under the organization's protective wing.

Located about 100 kilometres east of the city and across the Fraser River from Sinclair Mills, the land is part of the 2,000-hectare Meteor Lake Wetlands, one of the three largest wetlands in the upper Fraser River. 

"The land contains rare peatland ecosystems which absorb tremendous amounts of carbon. In addition to its climate benefits, the property provides habitat, breeding grounds, and food for threatened mammals, birds, and amphibians like the endangered White Sturgeon," Nature Trust said in a statement issued Monday. 

In all, $75,000 was raised over the course of November and December 2022 to complete the purchase.

"As a result of the incredible generosity of the Prince George community and donors throughout the province, the Meteor Lake-Wetland Bog will be protected from purchase and development for generations to come," Nature Trust said.

According to the organization, peatlands are mainly found in Northern B.C. and, while they comprise three percent of the global land area they contain approximately 25 percent of global soil carbon - twice the amount absorbed by the world’s forests

Greta Thunberg targeted with misleading headlines about deleted tweet

Roland LLOYD PARRY, AFP USA 

Published on Friday 17 March 2023 

Copyright © AFP 2017-2023. 

Headlines shared on social media say climate activist Greta Thunberg deleted a 2018 tweet that predicted the world would end in five years after the projection failed to come true. This is misleading; the Swedish environmentalist's post -- which has been taken down -- quoted an article on a scientist who described action he said was needed to prevent the melting of ice at the poles.

"Greta Thunberg deletes 2018 tweet saying world will end in 2023 after world does not end," says text in an image shared March 13, 2023 on Facebook and Instagram.

The posts quote a headline published March 11 by The Post Millennial, a conservative Canadian website. The article accumulated more than 1,400 shares, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool.

The story cites a June 21, 2018 tweet from Thunberg that said: "'A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.'"

Screenshot of a Facebook post taken March 17, 2023

Thunberg, then aged 15, published the post two months before she started the school pupils' strike in Sweden that put her in the global spotlight.

The tweet has since been deleted. But a version archived March 7, 2023 shows Thunberg was quoting a February 2018 article from Grit Post, a now-defunct liberal website in the US.

The story cites James Anderson, an atmospheric chemist at Harvard University who is credited with discovering the Antarctic hole in the ozone layer.

Grit Post reported on a January 2018 speech in which Anderson said there was a five-year timeframe for transforming industries to halt pollution, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reflect sunlight from the Earth's poles.

"The chance that there will be any permanent ice left in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero," Anderson said, according to articles from Grit Post and Forbes, an American business magazine.

The stories did not quote Anderson saying the world would end within that timeframe.

AFP reached out to Thunberg for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

Arctic sea ice decreasing

The US National Snow and Ice Data Center said March 15 that the annual maximum extent of Arctic sea ice was the lowest since satellite records began.

A 2018 study found "permanent ice" or "multiyear ice," which does not melt in the summer, had decreased by more than 50 percent from 1999 to 2017. A 2022 study concluded the amount of ice lost quadrupled from 1997 to 2021.

Scientific research reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pointed to 2030 as a key timeframe to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst effects of climate change.

AFP has fact-checked other claims about climate change here.

Fact Check

Did Greta Thunberg Delete Tweet Claiming Climate Change Will Wipe Out Humanity by 2023?

Numerous tweets from conservative pundits misread the claim repeated by Thunberg, GritPost, and Forbes.

Alex Kasprak
Published Mar 17, 2023

Image Via OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Claim:
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg deleted a 2018 tweet claiming climate change will "wipe out" all of humanity by 2023.
Rating:
Mixture



What's True


Thunberg did delete a tweet from her account from 2018 that read, "A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years." However ...
What's False

... This tweet, and the underlying article, never actually asserted that humanity would end in the year 2023.
What's Undetermined

It's unclear when exactly Thunberg deleted the 2018 tweet.

In March 2023, several media outlets and conservative pundits began sharing images of what they described as a deleted 2018 tweet from climate activist Greta Thunberg's account. That tweet, quoting from a now-deleted article, said, "A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years."



Climate skeptics jumped on the deleted tweet as evidence of climate alarmism, insinuating that Thunberg's tweet suggested that, if climate science was accurate, humanity should be extinct at the time of this reporting.

Several problems exist with that narrative. First and foremost is the fact that the tweet and the article it linked to never said that humanity would vanish in 2023. Second, and also of crucial importance, is the "top climate scientist" referenced in the underlying article never actually said what these reports asserted him to have said. Here, Snopes untangles the controversy.
Did Thunberg Delete the Tweet?

Yes, on June 21, 2018, Thunberg tweeted a link to a now deleted article on the website GritPost bearing the headline, "Top Climate Scientist: Humans Will Go Extinct if We Don't Fix Climate Change by 2023." The GritPost article rehashed content originally published on Forbes about a seminar given by James Anderson, a Harvard University professor of atmospheric science, at the University of Chicago in 2018.

As reported by Forbes, Anderson's talk focused on the need for a massive effort to curb climate change over the next five years:

People have the misapprehension that we can recover from this state just by reducing carbon emissions, Anderson said in an appearance at the University of Chicago. Recovery is all but impossible, he argued, without a World War II-style transformation of industry—an acceleration of the effort to halt carbon pollution and remove it from the atmosphere, and a new effort to reflect sunlight away from the earth's poles. This has to be done, Anderson added, within the next five years.

The assertion that humanity would collapse as a result of this inaction stemmed from statements Forbes attributed to Anderson about declining Arctic ice:


"The chance that there will be any permanent ice left in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero," Anderson said, with 75 to 80 percent of permanent ice having melted already in the last 35 years. "Can we lose 75-80 percent of permanent ice and recover? The answer is no."

Based on Internet Archive records, the GritPost article to which Thunberg linked was deleted sometime after July 2020. It's not clear when Thunberg deleted her tweet — the latest archive of it identified by Snopes dates to May 2021. Thunberg did not respond to Snopes' request for comment.
Did the Tweet Say What People Claim It Said?

The claim that a top climate scientist allegedly predicted the collapse of humanity in 2023 has been popular with climate skeptics since Anderson allegedly made the claim in 2018. The Forbes article and Thunberg tweet were both widely lampooned for their alarmism at the time. When 2023 came and humanity still persisted, these same actors were ready to relish the moment, as summarized by Newsweek:

[Charlie] Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, on March 12, 2023, wrote: "One of the best headlines of the year so far... 'Greta Thunberg deletes 2018 tweet saying world will end in 2023 after world does not end.'"

Filmmaker [Dinesh] D'Souza, on March 12, 2023, added: "Climate Radical Greta Thunberg Caught Red Handed: Deletes 2018 Tweet That Says World Will End Without Action by 2023."

[Brigitte] Gabriel, founder of ACT for America, on March 11, 2023, also said: "Greta Thunberg deleted this tweet because it exposes her for being a fraud. Make sure the entire world sees it."

All of these tweets misread the claim repeated by Thunberg, GritPost, and Forbes. The point, as these individuals or outlets reported, was that humanity had to reach certain carbon emission benchmarks by 2023, or else catastrophic events decades to centuries later would be guaranteed because of feedbacks in the climate system. As Forbes described:

The answer [to the question "can we lose 75-80 percent of permanent ice and recover"] is no in part because of what scientists call feedbacks, some of the ways the earth responds to warming. Among those feedbacks is the release of methane currently trapped in permafrost and under the sea, which will exacerbate warming. Another is the pending collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, which Anderson said will raise sea level by 7 meters (about 23 feet).

Conflating the years scientists claim to be so-called "tipping points" with the year in which the end result of those tipping points is supposed to emerge is a rhetorical tactic common in climate-denial circles. Snopes has previously reported on the imprecise quotes contained in a 1989 Associated Press article misused in a similar way.
Did the Climate Scientist Say What the Tweets Said?

Regardless of any Thunberg tweet, the claim allegedly made by Anderson that "the chance that there will be any permanent ice left in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero" has also recently been shared as evidence of climate "fraud," suggesting Anderson made a failed prediction:

The Forbes article was the only place in which the content of Anderson's seminar was reported, but Anderson told The Associated Press that he never made that argument, and that his words were wildly misinterpreted in media reports:


"That is a complete fabrication of what I said," Anderson wrote, referring to the claims he said humanity would be wiped out in five years.

He said that during the seminar, he was displaying the most recent observations of Arctic sea ice volume — specifically the ice floating on the Arctic Ocean — and made the statement that "the current observed rate of floating ice loss volume, there will be no floating ice remaining by 2022."

The focus of the statement was on the floating ice volume and the observed rate of disappearance at that time, he said.

"Thus the statement was clear to those in attendance that the reference was to floating ice volume in the data shown on the slide, not arctic ice in general," Anderson clarified, adding, "so, the 'wiping out of humanity by 2022' is a total distortion of what I said or meant at the University of Chicago colloquium in 2018. I would never make such a statement."
The Bottom Line

Thunberg deleted a tweet that repeated an imprecise paraphrase of a climate scientist's 2018 seminar talk. While it is factual that she deleted this tweet, claims that the tweet argued humanity would end in 2023 are false. As such, we rate this claim as a "Mixture" of truth.

By Alex Kasprak


Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

New eyes discovered in trilobites

by University of Cologne

Compound and median eyes of trilobites. (a) Aulacopleura koninckii (Barrande, 1846), 

Silurian, Czech Republik, partly with shell preserved. (b) Holochroal compound eyes of 

(a). (c) Compound eye of Gerastos cuvieri (Steininger, 1831), Middle Devonian, Germany.

 (d) Schizochroal eye of Eldredgeops (Phacops) rana crassituberculata Stumm, 1953, 

Middle Devonian, USA. (e) A. koninckii, two larval stages. f) Upper specimen with location

 of the median eyes indicated. (g) Median eyes. (h, g) enlarged). (i) Cyclopyge sibilla 

Šnajdr, 1982, Ordovician, Morocco; 2 specimens, the lower larval. (j) Relevant specimen

 of (i). (k, j) Position of the median eyes indicated. (l) Median eyes in (j, k) indicated by 

white arrows. Yellow arrow: dorsal organ, comp. (h, i). Insert: dark structure in the fossil,

 which is not a median eye. m) Fully shelled glabella of A. koninckii (insert), no median 

eyes visible. (n1–4) Left median eye of C. sibilla (l), different contrasts. (o1–4) Median 

median eye of C. sibilla (l), different contrasts. (p1–4) right median eye of C. sibilla (l),

 different contrasts. 

Credit: Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31089-7

Trilobites, prehistoric sea creatures, had so-called median eyes, single eyes on their foreheads, in addition to their compound eyes, research conducted by Dr. Brigitte Schoenemann at the University of Cologne's Institute of Zoology and Professor Dr. Euan Clarkson at the University of Edinburgh has now found out.

Such single eyes are found in all arthropods and also in many relatives of the extinct trilobites. They are usually small cup eyes (ocelli), sometimes even equipped with lenses, and not unlike human eyes. These so-called median eyes are typical for all arthropods, but had not yet been discovered in trilobites despite 150 years of research.

The scientists assume that these eyes were characteristic of the larval stage of the animals. The single eyes were located under a transparent layer of the carapace, which became opaque during the fossilization process. Both circumstances contributed to the ocelli not being discovered until now. The researchers also detected median eyes in other, approximately 500-million-year-old arthropods.

Depending on their evolutionary status, these arthropods had different numbers of median eyes. In future, the number and shape of the single eyes will help to classify the evolutionary status of individual arthropod species. The researchers have published their findings in Scientific Reports.

Arthropods usually have two types of eyes: compound eyes and the so-called 'median eyes' or middle eyes. The latter are located in the middle of the forehead between the compound eyes. Only trilobites, an important group of arthropods in the Paleozoic, did not seem to have had median eyes.

This was the assumption until Schoenemann and Clarkson examined a specimen of the trilobite Aulacopleura koninckii in which part of the head had been scraped off. They found three almost identically shaped dark, inconspicuous and tiny oval spots of the same size at the front of the head. These three structures are parallel to each other and fan out slightly on the underside. All three spots are characterized by a smooth, clear outline and a uniform, dark brownish color.

"This clear, regular appearance distinguishes this structure from random formations produced by decay or fossilization, and corresponds to the expected relics of simple median eyes equipped with a pigment layer. Even if it is a single find, it supports the assumption that trilobites originally had median eyes," Schoenemann explained.

In the trilobite Cyclopyge sibilla, which lived in the free ocean, the researchers also found three cup-shaped median eyes on the so-called glabella, the region in the middle of the forehead between the large compound eyes, which even apparently had a lens not unsimilar to human eyes, and were thus clearly more differentiated and probably much more efficient than those of the bottom-dwelling trilobite Aulacopleura.

In their article, the researchers also consider why the median eyes of trilobites have escaped detection until now: "These eyes are present in trilobites at the larval stage, but lie beneath what is probably a thin, transparent carapace (cuticle), which becomes opaque during fossilization. Both explain why they have remained undiscovered until now," she added.

Thus, the researchers have solved the mystery of missing middle eyes in trilobites. Schoenemann said, "These cup eyes are derived from those of the primitive stump-footed animals, so-called velvet worms, small worm-like animals with legs. The original number of median eyes is 2, which present-day, very conservative arachnids still have. In phylogenetic, very primitive arthropods (e.g. Cindarella eucalla from the lower Cambrian of China) there are 4, modern animals, such as insects and crustaceans, have only 3. With the help of the number of median eyes in an arthropod, we now have an important tool to determine its position in the evolutionary tree."

More information: Brigitte Schoenemann et al, The median eyes of trilobites, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31089-7

Journal information: Scientific Reports 

Provided by University of Cologne 

Primordial 'hyper-eye' discovered

Calls for ban on light-polluting mass satellite groups like Elon Musk’s Starlink

Astronomers urge people to stand up to ‘big light’ industry amid unchecked brightening of night sky

Nicola Davis
@NicolaKSDavis

Mon 20 Mar 2023 

A ban on megaconstellations of low-altitude satellites – arrays such as Elon Musk’s Starlink – should be considered, astronomers have said, in an effort to reduce light pollution and preserve our ability to study the skies.

In a series of papers and opinion pieces published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists have raised the alarm about the brightening night sky, with one team of experts calling for scientists to stand up to “big light” as they have to other fields, such as big tobacco and big oil, and bring in regulation.

For megaconstellations of low-altitude satellites, they write, this could mean a veto.

“On the scales of immediate or long-term benefits and harm to society, and despite the popularity of satellite megaconstellations, we must not reject the possibility of banning them. On the contrary, we believe that the impacts and risks are too high for this possibility to be ruled out,” they write.

The team say that it is unlikely that bodies contributing to light pollution – be it from ground-based LEDs or other lamps, or low-altitude satellites – will regulate themselves.

“Every time some health or environmental issue arises and starts to be addressed in the scientific literature, the ‘machine of doubt’ is put into action by the polluters to stop, or at least delay by years or decades, the adoption of countermeasures and rules to protect human health and the environment,” write Fabio Falchi, from the Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute in Italy, and co-authors in a comment piece.


Light pollution rapidly reducing number of stars visible to naked eye, study finds

As a result, the team have called for action.

“In my opinion there should be a cap limit on the total number of satellites in low orbits, and their number is probably already too high,” Falchi said, with the team writing that caps should also be introduced for artificial light at night.

According to an accompanying perspective piece, megaconstellations have more than doubled the number of functional satellites in low Earth orbit since early 2019, with a vast number of launches planned in the coming years.

But experts say this has come at a cost: the illumination of the artificial satellites and associated space junk by the sun has increased night sky brightness.


“We are witnessing a dramatic, fundamental and perhaps semi-permanent transformation of the night sky without historical precedent and with limited oversight,” writes John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting and colleagues.

According the authors, one concern is that faint astrophysical signals will become increasingly hard to detect due to increasing night sky brightness.

End ‘colonial’ approach to space exploration, scientists urge


“An example with distinct and potentially severe social consequences is the detection of near-Earth objects that represent a high risk of colliding with our planet,” they write. In addition, the team note that an increase in “noise” can lead to a loss of efficiency and hence a greater financial burden for research facilities due to an increase in the time needed to collect and combine data.

Satellites trails in astronomical images are another problem, while there is also a concern about the impact of increasing night sky brightness on biological systems.

Then there is the impact on the public, who may find it harder to see the Milky Way, familiar constellations, weak aurorae and faint meteors.

Overall, the scientists suggest the stakes are too high for inaction.

“For the general public there is the possibility to lose the natural sight of a perfect natural starry sky, everywhere on Earth,” said Falchi.

Calgary·Analysis

Why Canada likely won't need any more big new oil pipelines after Trans Mountain

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With slowing oil production growth, developers would be hesitant to pitch projects

Kyle Bakx · CBC News · Posted: Mar 19, 2023 

The long saga over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is nearing an end as the project enters its final phase. With oil production growth slowing in western Canada, some industry experts believe this could be Canada’s last big oil pipeline project.

Construction of the Trans Mountain expansion project is set to wrap up later this year, and it's likely the last new oil export pipeline the country will ever need.

The pipeline has faced many obstacles over the years, including protests, court challenges and massive cost overruns. Last week, the cost of the federally owned project was updated to more than $30 billion.

Over the last decade, several other high-profile pipeline proposals have faltered, but the Trans Mountain expansion is more than 80 per cent built, and oil is expected to start moving in early 2024.

As oil production growth slows in Alberta, some in the industry suspect there won't be a need for any more new oil export pipelines.

"I think we'll be good," Alex Pourbaix, president and CEO of Cenovus Energy, said in an interview.

"I don't think we're going to see another large-scale liquid pipeline coming forward, certainly in the next decade."

Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix, right, shown at the Global Energy Show in Calgary in June 2022, says there is less need for new oil pipelines as production growth slows. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Protests, political battles, court challenges

When the Trans Mountain expansion was first pitched more than a decade ago, the proposal seemed relatively straightforward, since the project would twin an existing pipeline largely along the same route. In addition, the pipeline wouldn't cross multiple borders, running from Alberta to British Columbia.

For the first few years after the project was announced in 2012, it received very little attention — especially as the spotlight was on other pipeline proposals, such as Northern Gateway, Energy East and Keystone XL.

Protesters opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project arrive at a park just below a construction site in Burnaby, B.C., in March 2021. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Still, as those projects faltered and the Trans Mountain expansion neared construction, the scrutiny quickly followed.

There were protests from Indigenous communities and environmental advocates; political battles between Alberta and B.C.; regulator and court challenges; and many other obstacles that caused more delays, uncertainty and expenses.

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The Trans Mountain project was bought by the federal government for $4.5 billion in 2018, after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. — which was acquired by Pembina Pipeline Corp. in December 2019 — threatened to scrap the pipeline's planned expansion project in the face of environmental opposition, legal challenges and political risk.

The cost of the project has escalated over the years because of several factors, including global inflation and supply chain challenges, severe floods in British Columbia, route changes, challenging terrain and security expenses.

Pipelines close to capacity

Despite all of the problems, experts say the economic case for the pipeline remains, since it will allow Canadian oil to reach the coast and fetch a better price than shipping it to the United States, where the majority of Canadian oil flows.

The industry also needs another export channel, since existing pipelines are running out of space.

"We're pretty close," said, Kevin Birn, a vice-president with S&P Global Commodity Insights in Calgary, who expects the Trans Mountain expansion to be full of oil when it's up and running.

A worker looks on as construction continues on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in Burnaby, B.C., in March 2021. The project was purchased by the federal government for $4.5 billion in 2018, in the face of environmental opposition, legal challenges and political risk. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

"Overall, through the back end of this decade, we see the entire western Canadian system — even including some expansions and optimizations that haven't happened — running north of 90 per cent utilization. And that's well into the 2030s with the completion of TMX."

Birn said he also doubts that the country will see the construction of any more large oil pipelines — not only because there won't be enough oil production to justify the need, but because all of the problems with the Trans Mountain expansion would make a pipeline developer cautious and hesitant to build a big project in Canada.

Meanwhile, for the main opponents of Trans Mountain, there is some solace, considering how much has changed in Canada over the last decade in terms of natural resources development, environmental policy and Indigenous rights.

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"They kind of lost the battle but won the war," said George Hoberg, a professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

He documented the pipeline and several other projects in his book The Resistance Dilemma: Place-Based Movements and the Climate Crisis.

The federal government was able to leverage its support for Trans Mountain to get Alberta to join the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Hoberg said, while Indigenous groups have gained more rights after Ottawa adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Construction on the Trans Mountain expansion project is shown near Hope, B.C., in October 2021. The existing pipeline, which runs for 1,150 kilometres, carries 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The expansion will raise the daily output to 890,000 barrels. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

Even without new oil export pipelines proposed again in the country, experts say there will still be conflict over the continued operation of existing oil infrastructure, as well as the development of new natural gas, carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines. The construction of new electricity transmission lines will cause similar controversy, Hoberg said.

"They are pipelines for electrons, and they have the same features as a pipeline in the sense that they are long, linear infrastructure," he said.

Ownership comes next

As construction of the Trans Mountain expansion nears the finish line, the focus will soon turn to the project's ownership. The federal Liberal government has said it would sell the pipeline but only after it's certain the project will be completed.

For a few years, some Indigenous-led groups have been preparing to make bids.

"TMX is very polarizing because of the protection of the environment," Stephen Buffalo, president and CEO of the Indian Resource Council, said, noting the risk of a spill.

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If Indigenous groups have an ownership stake in the project, there is more accountability and involvement by local communities to ensure environmental protection, he said.

The existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs for 1,150 kilometres, carries 300,000 barrels of oil per day and is the only pipeline system transporting oil from Alberta to the West Coast.

The expansion will raise the daily output to 890,000 barrels.