Jacobs scores 19 as Southern defeats Tulsa 70-66College Football Playoff's first 12-team bracket is set with Oregon No. 1 and SMU in, Alabama out SMU captured the last open spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, bumping Alabama to land in a bracket that placed undefeated Oregon at No. 1. The selection committee preferred the Mustangs, losers of a heartbreaker in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, who had a far less difficult schedule than Alabama of the SEC but one fewer loss. The inaugural 12-team bracket marks a new era for college football, though the Alabama-SMU debate made clear there is no perfect formula. The tournament starts Dec. 20-21 with four first-round games. It concludes Jan. 20 with the national title game in Atlanta. Alabama left out of playoff as committee rewards SMU's wins over Crimson Tide's strong schedule The College Football Playoff committee took wins over strength of schedule, taking SMU over Alabama for the final at-large spot in the field. The field was expanded from four to 12 teams this season, but that didn’t save the committee from controversy. SMU showed it could compete against a traditional power, losing to Clemson 34-31 on a 56-yard field goal in the ACC title game on Saturday. Alabama had some ups and downs in its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer. The Crimson Tide had quality wins against Georgia and South Carolina, but lost at Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Big Ten wins playoff selection derby, followed by SEC despite notable Alabama omission College football’s conference shakeup left concerns about two super conferences dominating the playoff field. They weren’t totally unfounded, or 100% born out. The Big Ten, not the Southeastern Conference, was the biggest winner. The ACC scored, too. The Big Ten led the initial 12-team playoff field with four making the cut, topped by a No. 1 Oregon team that was part of the Pac-12 exodus. Then came the SEC — and one notable omission. ACC runner-up SMU got the nod over college football blue-blood Alabama, another blemish in Kalen DeBoer’s first season as Nick Saban’s championship-or-bust successor. Darnold delivers for Vikings with career-high 347 yards and 5 TDs to beat Falcons, Cousins 42-21 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for 347 yards and five touchdowns, both career highs, and the Minnesota Vikings pulled away from Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons 42-21 for their sixth straight victory. Darnold added another highlight to his brilliant first season with the Vikings following Cousins' departure in free agency to Atlanta with a 22-for-28 performance and no turnover-worthy plays despite heavy first-half pressure. Jordan Addison had eight catches for 133 yards and three scores and Justin Jefferson racked up seven receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Cousins threw two more interceptions without a touchdown in his return to Minnesota. Saquon Barkley sets Eagles season rushing record and has Dickerson's NFL mark in his sights PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Saquon Barkley has broken LeSean McCoy's Eagles franchise record for rushing yards in a season. Barkley has 1,623 yards. He surpassed McCoy's mark of 1,607 yards with a 9-yard run in Sunday's 22-16 win over Carolina. Barkley finished the game with 124 yards, within a yard of his season average. He has four games left and is on pace to break Eric Dickerson's 40-year-old NFL record of 2,105 yards. Dickerson set that record in a 16-game season and Barkley has one more game. Eagles fans serenaded Barkley with “MVP!” chants and McCoy congratulated him on social media. Saints QB Derek Carr injures left hand on dive in 4th quarter of win over Giants EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr injured his left hand late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 14-11 victory over the New York Giants when he went airborne while trying for a first down and crashed to the turf. Carr tried to leap over a Giants tackler and landed at the New Orleans 39-yard line, extending his non-throwing hand to break his fall. He was on the turf for a minute or two before walking to the medical tent. He was examined and slowly walked to an area where X-rays are done. The injury could hurt the already slim playoff hopes of the Saints. Tamar Bates scores 29 points to help Missouri beat No. 1 Kansas 76-67 COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Tamar Bates had 29 points and five steals to help Missouri beat Hunter Dickinson and No. 1 Kansas 76-67. Mark Mitchell scored 17 points in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since a 74-71 victory on Feb. 4, 2012. Anthony Robinson II had 11 points and five steals for the 8-1 Tigers. Dickinson had 19 points and 14 rebounds, but he also committed seven turnovers. The 7-2 Jayhawks have lost two straight on the road after falling 76-63 against Creighton on Wednesday night. Scottie Scheffler ends his big year in the Bahamas with his 9th victory NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler ended his biggest year with another victory. Scheffler was coming off a two-month break and looked as good as ever. He shot 63 in the Hero World Challenge and set tournament records at Albany with a 72-hole total of 263 and a six-shot victory. Tom Kim was the runner-up and Justin Thomas finished third. Scheffler ends his year with nine victories in 21 tournaments. That includes the holiday tournament in the Bahamas and the Olympic gold medal in Paris. It's the third-highest winning percentage in the last 40 years. Tournament host Tiger Woods had two better years. Lindsey Vonn is encouraged by how close she is to being competitive in ski racing return at age 40 COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) — Lindsey Vonn is encouraged by how close she is to being competitive again in her ski racing return at 40 years old. Vonn is still getting her ski equipment dialed in and getting used to going full speed again on her new titanium knee. That’s why all that she's reading into being more than two seconds behind in a pair of lower-level super-G races Sunday is that she’s right there. This after nearly six years away from ski racing and an abbreviated prep period. She was 2.19 seconds behind in the first race and 2.06 in the second. Both were won by her American teammate Lauren Macuga. Plane circles MetLife Stadium with message to co-owner John Mara to fix the Giants' 'dumpster fire' EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — A small plane circled MetLife Stadium roughly 90 minutes before New York was to play host to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, asking Giants co-owner John Mara to overhaul the team that has made the playoffs twice since winning the Super Bowl in February 2012. “Mr. Mara, enough. Please fix this dumpster fire!” the message read as it was towed behind the rear of a small plane.
President directs new price limits for riceIt has a population of just under 3.5 million inhabitants, produces nearly 550,000 tons of beef per year, and boasts a glorious soccer reputation with two World Cups in its history and a present full of world-class stars. Uruguay, the country of writer Mario Benedetti and soccer player Luis Suárez, has achieved what many countries have pledged for decades: 98% of its grid runs on green energy. Luis Prats, 62, is a Uruguayan journalist and contributor to the Montevideo newspaper El País . He remembers that during his childhood, blackouts were common in Uruguay because there were major problems with energy generation. “At that time, more than 50 years ago, electricity came from two small dams and from generation in a thermal plant,” Prats explained in Spanish by telephone. “If there was a drought in the Negro River basin, where those dams are, there were already cuts and sometimes restrictions on the use of electrical energy.” Just 17 years ago, Uruguay used fossil fuels for a third of its energy generation, according to the World Resources Institute . | Today, only 2% of the electricity consumed in Uruguay is generated from fossil sources. The country’s thermal power plants rarely need to be activated, except when natural resources are insufficient. Half of Uruguay’s electricity is generated in the country’s dams, and 10% percent comes from agricultural and industrial waste and the sun. But wind, at 38%, is the main protagonist of the revolution in the electrical grid. But how did the country achieve it? Who were the architects of this energy transition? Energy revolution In 2008, Uruguay faced a problem that many developing countries face. The economy was growing, but it did not have enough electrical energy to fuel all that growth. Energy rationing had to be implemented, and electricity bills continued to rise. “It was difficult for us to cope,” Ramón Méndez Galain, a professor at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, said in an interview with NPR . He is one of the architects of the energy revolution in that country. “It was difficult to get electricity. For a while, we began to have power outages, but the crisis also represents an opportunity.” In 2008, President Tabaré Vázquez appointed Méndez Galain as national director of energy. Although the blackouts posed an immediate threat to the economy, the country’s continued dependence on oil undermined its autonomy. A primary question guided Méndez Galain’s work: What strategies could lead the country toward long-term energy independence? The physicist developed a detailed plan to move Uruguay toward almost exclusive dependence on renewable energy. Méndez Galain’s plan was based on two simple facts about his country. First, although there was no domestic supply of fossil fuels such as coal or oil, there was a large amount of wind. Second, that wind was blowing over a country that was largely made up of uninhabited agricultural land. His vision for Uruguay’s energy future was to cover those empty lands with hundreds of wind turbines. Pablo Capurro, agronomist and livestock engineer, shared with Deutsche Welle his concern at the time about the possible impact of wind turbines on the life of his farm. Capurro and other farmers in the region sought advice from a team of engineers and took a trip to Brazil to visit wind farms in that country. After the trip, they were convinced that the implementation of the wind turbines would not affect the production system. Capurro’s cows seem not to be affected by the presence of the windmills: “I feel very satisfied for having introduced a wind energy park on a livestock farm.” In 2010, Uruguay reached a multiparty agreement and adopted the energy transition to indigenous and renewable sources as a state policy, guaranteeing its execution and continuity, Walter Verri, Uruguay’s undersecretary of industry, energy, and mining, explained by telephone in Spanish: “This policy included a long-term perspective and also incorporated the social, ethical, and cultural dimensions in addition to the classic technical-economic analysis of the energy issue.” The state energy company, UTE, pays rent every year to the owners of the land where the wind farms operate. Don Quixote, Ivy, and the windmills In the vision of the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, windmills stood like defiant giants, reflecting his boundless imagination and idealistic perspective on the world. This mythical interpretation of the windmills resonates with the contemporary perception of wind towers in Uruguay, where they are seen as symbols of a clean and renewable energy source. Today, Mendez Galain directs the nongovernmental organization Ivy , which means “land without evil” in Guaraní. Guaraní is the native language of the inhabitants of that area and is one of the two official languages of Paraguay. Just as Don Quixote faced the windmills as a challenge that he had to overcome to fulfill his duty as a knight-errant, the installation and maintenance of wind farms in Uruguay also involved facing significant obstacles. From technical challenges to financial and regulatory barriers, the transition to clean energy sources needed a concerted effort to overcome these difficulties and move toward a more sustainable future. How to pay for all those turbines? Méndez Galain, winner of the 2023 Carnot Prize , which recognizes distinguished contributions to energy policy, conceived a variation of an approach used by some electric companies in Brazil. These companies operated through public-private partnerships, where the companies were responsible for energy generation, while private entities managed distribution and customer service. Méndez Galain’s innovation lay in reversing that dynamic: Private companies would be responsible for installing and maintaining the wind turbines that would supply Uruguay’s grid, while the public company would continue to distribute the energy to consumers. This approach had the inherent advantage of transferring the costly initial outlay for the construction of wind turbines to private companies. The state company agreed to acquire all the energy produced by said turbines at a preestablished rate for 20 years. “Investors need assurance that their investment will be repaid,” Méndez Galain explained during the interview with NPR, “and for that, they need a specific time horizon.” There was political will for this approach: All parties in Uruguay agreed with the transition. In 2009, Uruguay began auctions in which wind companies from around the world competed to offer the cheapest renewable energy to the country. In 2011, a specific auction aimed to secure an additional 150 megawatts of wind energy, which would represent approximately 5% of the country’s total power generation capacity. After receiving offers from more than 20 international companies, the professor and his team decided to drastically accelerate the country’s energy transition. Ultimately, they accepted many more offers than initially planned, signing contracts that expanded Uruguay’s capacity to generate electricity not by 5%, but by more than 40%. Uruguay’s energy grid became powered almost exclusively by domestic renewable sources, and consumer prices, adjusted for inflation, fell. “Electricity bill prices dropped substantially,” said Alda Novell, a resident of Montevideo, by telephone. Today, Uruguay has more than 700 wind turbines distributed throughout its territory. “At first glance, the change is seen in many areas of the country: You go down the road and see the modern windmills in rural areas,” Prats said. “Starting in 2010, with the variety of energy sources, and also renewable ones, blackouts became very rare. It was a relief for state coffers not to have to spend on fossil fuels for energy generation.” For Walter Verri, undersecretary of industry, energy, and mines, the development of renewable energy in Uruguay has been possible thanks to the collaboration of various actors, including the entire political sector and public and private companies. This energy transformation created new careers, job opportunities, and training pathways in Uruguay, Verri added. Countries around the world have spent the last decade announcing ambitious goals to reduce the emissions that cause climate change. Few are on track to achieve that goal. Uruguay is a good example that the green transition is still possible. This article was translated by Climate Cardinals . This article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. — Johani Carolina Ponce
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