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Wind Energy
New Jersey Doubles Down on Offshore Wind for Half Its Power
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is doubling his state’s offshore wind power goal as he competes with New York and elsewhere to jump start an industry expected to create thousands of jobs. New Jersey plans to install 7.5 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035, up from a previous target of 3.5 gigawatts by 2030. It will be enough for more than 3.2 million homes, or half the state’s electricity needs, Murphy said during an appearance in Jersey City with former Vice President Al Gore. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
Bill Gates-backed startup claims solar ‘breakthrough.’ Is it?
A self-described clean energy company is taking aim at greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector with a technology it says can commercially replace fossil fuels by harnessing extreme heat from the sun. Created by U.S. investor Bill Gross — who founded startup studio Idealab — Heliogen launched yesterday and said it has concentrated solar energy to temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius at a California facility, an important threshold for industrial processes cement, steel, glass and petrochemical production. Current concentrating solar systems reach about half that heat level. [ read more … ]
FERC
Glick comments spark backlash from Chatterjee, McNamee
Commissioner Richard Glick yesterday bemoaned a lack of compromise at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, drawing a sharp rebuke from his two colleagues. Glick, a Democrat, said the biggest negative surprise of his time at FERC is somewhat emblematic of what’s going on in Washington, D.C., and perhaps state capitals in terms of less bipartisanship and less compromise. [ read more … ]
Climate
McEachin set to introduce 100% clean economy bill
Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) plans to introduce a sweeping bill to set emissions targets for the entire U.S. economy as soon as today, a messaging effort that Democrats hope will bolster their case for climate action heading into 2021. The legislation, the “100% Clean Economy Act,” would set a national goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and direct federal agencies to develop plans to get there, McEachin said in an interview. [ read more … ]
EVs
Will consumer backlash bite into GM’s, Toyota’s profits?
After several major automakers sided with President Trump in the legal fight over California’s clean car standards, consumers are vowing to boycott those companies. But auto analysts said it’s unlikely the backlash will have a meaningful impact on those companies, which generated hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue last year.
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Auto group fights transparency ‘violation’ in Calif. lawsuit
A group of automakers filed a new disclosure statement in federal court after green groups tried to squelch its move to get involved in a legal fight over California’s clean cars program. Attorneys for the Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation (CSAR) yesterday brushed away environmental interests’ concerns that the auto group violated transparency rules in its support of the Trump administration’s move to prevent California from setting its own requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. [ read more … ]
3-year study raises doubts about EVs’ future
The future of transportation may be less electric and less shared than some think, and millennials won’t change that, according to a study published yesterday by the MIT Energy Initiative. The initiative’s engineers, economists and transportation planners spent three years investigating how technology, policy, infrastructure and consumer choice would affect the transportation sector of the future. They came away with a dim view about the pace of global change toward the most low-carbon forms of travel. [ read more … ]
RTOs
Nation’s largest grid operator picks CEO
The nation’s largest electric grid operator tapped a former senior executive with a power and natural gas competitive supplier to be its next CEO. Manu Asthana, who was until last December the president of Direct Energy Home in North America, will take over the reins of PJM Interconnection on Jan. 1, the grid operator announced Monday. PJM oversees the grid and power market that deliver electricity to 65 million customers in 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of the South and Midwest. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Bill would mandate 100% renewables for federal buildings
Democratic legislation would require the federal government to get 100% of its energy from renewable power sources by 2050. The bill, H.R. 5142, from Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), would hold the federal government — the No. 1 consumer of power in the country — to a standard many activists are pushing for the general public to avoid the worst effects of climate change. [ read more … ]
Mixed signals in Senate on year-end energy talks
Key senators are signaling that a possible year-end agreement on energy taxes is likely to be narrowly focused, despite the emergence of a sweeping clean energy tax package floated by House Democrats yesterday. Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) spoke positively of ongoing bicameral negotiations to extend an assortment of lapsed or soon-to-be energy tax breaks by the end of the year, which he said would be aided by the expected passage this week of a continuing resolution to keep government funded until Dec. 20. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.