View this email in a web browser.
Natural Gas Is the Past. Natural Gas Is Also the Future.
On Sunday, Virginia-based utility Dominion Energy Inc announced plans to sell almost all of its natural gas pipeline and storage assets to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc for $4 billion. At the same time, the Virginia-based utility said that it’s killing the Atlantic Coast gas pipeline despite a Supreme Court ruling that would grant it passage underneath the Appalachian Trail. There’s a lot going on here, and not just for the second-biggest U.S. power company by market value and the Oracle of Omaha. Natural gas, the “bridge fuel” to decarbonize the U.S. electricity system, is under pressure. But it’s not yet a bridge to nowhere. [ read more … ]
States
Pennsylvania awmakers take up fight against governor’s climate strategy
Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved Wednesday to ensure that it can block Gov. Tom Wolf from imposing a price on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants as part of a multi-state effort, although the bill is destined for a veto. Wolf, a Democrat, has made joining the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, a centerpiece of his strategy to fight climate change in a major carbon-polluting state by setting a price and declining limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
New Mexico utility unveils solar array to power Facebook
The largest electric provider in New Mexico has unveiled its latest solar array, a 50-megawatt facility that was built to power Facebook’s Los Lunas Data Center with renewable energy.
A virtual ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday for the Encino Solar Field, located in Sandoval County west of Rio Rancho. [ read more … ]
Campaign 2020
Biden campaign’s climate change initiatives: Combating the climate crisis and pursuing environmental justice
“To reach net-zero emissions as rapidly as possible, Democrats commit to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency. We will dramatically expand solar and wind energy deployment through community-based and utility-scale systems. Within five years, we will install 500 million solar panels, including eight million solar roofs and community solar energy systems, and 60,000 made-in-America wind turbines.” [ read more … ]
Biden has a new climate road map. Here’s what’s missing
Climate investment goals, green job targets and key decarbonization deadlines were missing from an environmental platform published yesterday by a joint team of Joe Biden backers and Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters. The gaps point to potential sources of liberal conflict next year if Democrats retake control of the federal government. Even so, most greens and activists hailed the policy recommendations as an improvement over Biden’s current plans for global warming. [ read more … ]
Markets
Texas drilling permits plunge 69%
The biggest oil-producing state in the country issued less than a third as many oil and gas drilling permits last month as it did in June 2019, another sign of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the energy industry. The Railroad Commission of Texas — which regulates oil producers — approved 312 new drilling permits for oil and gas wells across the state last month, compared with 1,001 in June 2019, the state agency said Monday. [ read more … ]
Policy and Investment Failures Doomed the Biofuel Revolution
The mood was celebratory on a humid June evening in 2011 as a red-and-white Gulfstream G450 belonging to Honeywell International Inc. took off from a New Jersey airport at sunset on a history-making flight to Paris. I was onboard the executive jet to report on the first transatlantic flight powered by biofuels. One of the Gulfstream’s engines was burning a blend of petroleum and a sustainable aviation fuel made with oil from the seeds of the inedible weed camelina. [ read more … ]
EVs
Power Pioneer Invents New Battery That’s 90% Cheaper Than Lithium-Ion
Lthium-ion batteries play a central role in the world of technology, powering everything from smartphones to smart cars, and one of the people who helped commercialize them says he has a way to cut mass production costs by 90% and significantly improve their safety. Hideaki Horie, formerly of Nissan Motor Co., founded Tokyo-based APB Corp. in 2018 to make “all-polymer batteries” — hence the company name. Earlier this year the company received backing from a group of Japanese firms that includes general contractor Obayashi Corp., industrial equipment manufacturer Yokogawa Electric Corp. and carbon fiber maker Teijin Ltd. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.