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Brouillette: 100% renewables may be possible
Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette suggested yesterday it could one day be possible for the United States to reach 100% renewable energy, a goal of climate change activists. Testifying before a House Appropriations energy subcommittee, Brouillette said the Department of Energy is committed to developing large-scale battery storage to increase the use of renewable energy. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
Wind has become the ‘most-used’ source of renewable electricity generation in the US
Last year saw wind generation in the U.S. overtake hydroelectric generation for the first time, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Released Wednesday, the figures from the EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report show that yearly wind generation hit a little over 300 million megawatt hours (MWh) in 2019. This was roughly 26 million MWh more than hydroelectric production. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
Coronavirus is starting to slow solar revolution
The coronavirus outbreak is threatening to slow the global solar-energy revolution as it cuts the supply of key equipment for solar and wind farms in China and beyond. As cases of the disease mounted over the past week, manufacturers including Trina Solar Ltd. sounded the alarm over production delays while developers like Manila Electric Co. in the Philippines said projects would be held up. [ read more … ]
States
Va. moves toward joining RGGI
Virginia lawmakers have given final approval to a measure that will make the state a full participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon cap-and-trade program. The state House and Senate held final votes late Wednesday night on two companion measures, sending them to Gov. Ralph Northam (D). The governor’s administration has supported joining the program as a way to reduce carbon emissions from the electric power sector. [ read more … ]
2020
Fighting Coal Was Supposed to Lift Bloomberg. Here’s Why It Didn’t.
Where other candidates have plans to reduce fossil fuel use, the billionaire philanthropist has results: millions of dollars spent to help close hundreds of coal-fired power plants and, in many cases, to secure a switch to natural gas, which produces about half the planet-warming greenhouse gases as coal. But that transition, once considered a bragging right in the environmental world, has become a liability to his campaign at a moment when the only acceptable fossil fuel is no fossil fuel. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Angst over tax extenders may spill into senate energy floor debate
Lingering discontent over last year’s collapse of clean energy tax negotiations may surface on the Senate floor next week, when the chamber moves to debate the first broad energy package in four years. While the bipartisan energy bill unveiled yesterday is expected to be the Senate’s first order of business next week, the two parties do not yet have an agreement on how long the debate will continue or how many amendments will receive votes, Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said yesterday. [ read more … ]
Judge voids nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas leases, saying Trump policy undercut public input
A federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday that a Trump administration policy limiting public input on oil and gas leasing decisions was “arbitrary and capricious,” overturning the 2018 directive and voiding nearly 1 million acres of leases out West as a result. The ruling by U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush represented a win for environmentalists, who challenged the leasing policy as part of a broader effort to block drilling in habitat for the imperiled greater sage-grouse. The contested area spans 67 million acres across 11 Western states. [ read more … ]
BP throws its support behind cap-and-invest program for cars
Oil and gas giant BP PLC is throwing its support behind a proposed cap-and-invest program for cars in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The move, which comes after BP pledged to pursue more aggressive climate policy, could soften opposition to the program from groups tied to the Koch network.
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Power generators hop on carbon price bandwagon
Owners of mostly fossil-fueled power plants in the nation’s competitive electricity markets are now publicly supporting an economywide price on carbon dioxide emissions as the best tool to combat climate change. The Electric Power Supply Association’s announcement yesterday was driven in part by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s controversial December action setting new rules for competition in the PJM Interconnection, EPSA President and CEO Todd Snitchler said during an interview. [ read more … ]
Carbon capture, renewable backers seek policy attention
A barrage of energy advocates are trying today to align congressional and administration tax policy to better deploy technologies they say are critical to reducing carbon emissions. Leading the charge is bipartisan Senate frustration with the Treasury Department’s slow deployment of guidance needed to fully unleash an expanded carbon capture tax credit passed by Congress more than two years ago. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.