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Wildlife Collapse From Climate Change Is Predicted to Hit Suddenly and Sooner
Climate change could result in a more abrupt collapse of many animal species than previously thought, starting in the next decade if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, according to a study published this month in Nature. The study predicted that large swaths of ecosystems would falter in waves, creating sudden die-offs that would be catastrophic not only for wildlife, but for the humans who depend on it. [ read more … ]
Emissions
The E.P.A. Is Weakening Controls on Mercury
By reducing the positive health effects of regulations on paper and raising their economic costs, the new method could be used to justify loosening restrictions on any pollutant that the fossil fuel industry has deemed too costly to control. “That is the big unstated goal,” said David Konisky, a professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University. “This is less about mercury than about potentially constraining or handcuffing future efforts by the E.P.A. to regulate air pollution.” [ read more … ]
Markets
As Trump and McConnell mock clean energy, the industry could soon lose a half-million jobs
The clean-energy industry is one of the America’s fastest growing employers, and one of the industries with the greatest long-term potential, given a global market that is fated to grow throughout the coming century. But it is being dealt a body blow by the Covid-19 crisis, and it is beginning to look like it’s not going to get any help from the federal government, at least not until next year (and then only if Democrats win big). Fossil fuels, on the other hand, are getting everything they ask for. [ read more … ]
America’s ‘clean energy’ workforce projected to fall by 15%
Over 106,000 people working in the U.S. “clean energy” sector lost their jobs in March as the industry struggled to soften the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it was claimed Wednesday. The analysis of Department of Labor data, released by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), the American Council on Renewable Energy, E4TheFuture and BW Research Partnership, paints a challenging picture for the industry. [ read more … ]
U.S. Weighs Paying Drillers to Leave Oil in Ground Amid Glut
The Energy Department has drafted a plan to compensate companies for sitting on as much as 365 million barrels worth of oil reserves by effectively making that untapped crude part of the U.S. government’s emergency stockpile, said senior administration officials, who asked not to be identified describing deliberations prior to a decision and announcement. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
Wind is now America’s largest renewable energy provider and the top choice for new utility-scale power
Wind energy became the largest source of renewable electricity in the U.S. in 2019, generating over 7 percent of the country’s electricity. To put into perspective, wind now generates enough electricity to meet the demands of California (the world’s fourth largest economy) and New Jersey combined. At the state level, wind provided more than 20 percent of the electricity generated in six states –Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. In Iowa and Kansas, wind is now the single largest source of electricity generation. Both states generated over 40 percent of their electricity from wind power last year. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
National Renewable Energy Lab sets world records with highly efficient solar cell
It is the most efficient solar converter in the world, thanks to its six-junction construction. This record was earned under concentrated illumination, but a variation under one-sun illumination set a separate record, with a conversion efficiency of 39.2 percent. Details of the cells were published in Nature Energy, which went into detail on the six-junction III-V solar cells. [ read more … ]
FERC/PJM
FERC to vote on PJM capacity market appeals
FERC will vote on whether to review its major December 2019 decision limiting the participation of subsidized clean energy in the 13-state PJM capacity market. Some of its states and renewable and nuclear energy companies have asked for rehearing of the decision, which established a price floor that would block subsidized wind, solar and nuclear plants from clearing long-term power auctions. [ read more … ]
EPA Enforcement Rollback
AGs oppose EPA enforcement memo
Fourteen attorneys general, led by New York AG Letitia James, called on Wheeler on Wednesday to rescind the agency’s March memo to ease certain regulatory compliance requirements amid the coronavirus pandemic. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.