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Biden Pledges Ambitious Climate Action. Here’s What He Could Actually Do.
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s $2 trillion plan to fight global warming is the most ambitious climate policy proposed by a leading presidential candidate, a political lightning rod spotlighted on Thursday night when the Democratic nominee acknowledged during a debate that it would “transition” the country “from the oil industry.” But no one knows better than Mr. Biden, the former vice president, that it almost surely will not be enacted, even if his party secures the White House and the Senate. Thirty-six years in the Senate and the searing experience of watching the Obama administration’s less ambitious climate plan die a decade ago have taught him the art of the possible. [ read more … ]
Renewable Energy
Aggressive push to 100% renewable energy could save Americans billions – study
Should all of these related factors be fully electrified and sourced from clean energy, households could save as much as $321bn in energy costs, the report finds, or up to $2,500 a household a year. Households would be faced with the upfront costs of installing solar panels and electric devices such as stovetops and heat pumps, but Rewiring America says strong government assistance for renewables would help deliver long-term savings. “If we electrify everything, the savings are more than enough to return money to households,” said Adam Zurofsky, executive director of Rewiring America. “Too often we are told doing the right thing for the environment requires sacrifice and costs more. But no one is talking about the upside – we can actually make a better economy and save people money and a byproduct will be to cut emissions from residential buildings.” [ read more … ]
Trump, Biden clash over wind ‘fumes,’ windows and oil’s end
President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden sparred over energy last night in a feisty debate that showed deep divisions over the future of fossil fuels, the worthiness of wind power and oil refineries’ legacy of polluting poor neighborhoods. The fiercest exchange came as Biden said he’d phase out fossil fuels and Trump moved in, declaring it would cost jobs in the oil industry. [ read more … ]
Transition
Oil Industry Expresses Concern, Not Alarm, About Biden Comments
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s promise that he would “transition” the country away from oil and natural gas might hurt him politically in Texas and Pennsylvania, but it did not come as a surprise to many in the energy industry. Oil and gas executives have been keenly aware that the world is starting to move from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, although they strongly argue that their industry will continue to provide cheap and plentiful energy for decades to come. And several of them said on Friday that while they did not like Mr. Biden’s comments, they were not alarmed by them, either. [ read more … ]
Climate
Are courts a ‘revolving door’ for climate policy?
In the chaos of the upcoming presidential election and Supreme Court nomination battle, the legal fate of the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks is far from certain. Regulatory instability is nothing new — federal environmental rules from any administration are all but guaranteed to face litigation — but experts worry there isn’t time to rehash climate policy in court every four years. [ read more … ]
Carbon Capture
Moniz-led group unveils CCS road map
A threatening question hangs over California’s 412,000 oil and gas industry workers: Will their jobs evaporate as the state pursues its path-breaking conversion to carbon-free energy by 2045? One answer would come from the creation of an entirely new industry in the state — the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide emissions from gas-fired power plants and manufacturing operations, according to a report issued yesterday. [ read more … ]
Campaign 2020
Biden’s Climate Plan Has United Coalitions By Being Broad
The climate policy choice in the U.S. Presidential election could not be clearer. One trusts science, the other dismisses and undermines it. One has a plan, the other does not. In fact, Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s plan is the most ambitious climate plan ever proposed by a major U.S. presidential candidate. The headline goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035, for example, is more ambitious even than Bernie Sanders’s from 2016. The $2 trillion investment over four years on clean energy, weatherizing homes, and mass transit approaches pandemic proportions. [ read more … ]
Trump vs. Biden: What Could Be Next for the Energy Transition?
The plan is intimately connected with the Biden campaign’s Build Back Better plan and a pro-labor agenda, promising millions of U.S. jobs in domestic manufacturing and the automotive industry. Even as the Biden campaign has steered clear of some progressive priorities, addressing climate change and promoting environmental justice are values essential to Democratic energy policy. A key priority is the creation of a technology-neutral federal Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard (EECES) intended to incentivize energy producers to decarbonize. While expressing support for existing non-renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power and nuclear energy, the plan envisions government investment to promote the installation of millions of solar panels and thousands of wind turbines, providing a boon for renewable technologies. [ read more … ]
Biden cleans up oil spill after debate, spotlighting Democratic divisions and governing challenges
“We’re not getting rid of fossil fuels,” Biden said at the airport. “We’re getting rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels, but we’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.” Asked if that would mean millions of people in those industries would lose their jobs, Biden responded: “Well, they’re not going to lose their jobs. … And, besides, there are a lot more jobs that are going to be created in other alternatives.” [ read more … ]
EVs
Why Building an Electric Car Is So Expensive, For Now
At Tesla Inc.’s ballyhooed Battery Day event in September, CEO Elon Musk set himself an ambitious target: to produce a $25,000 electric car in three years. Hitting that sticker price — about $13,000 cheaper than the least expensive model today — is seen as critical to deliver a true, mass-market product. Getting there means finding new savings on technology, most critically the batteries that can make up a third of a vehicle’s cost. Musk says innovations and in-house manufacturing can quickly halve that expense, while most competitors see a slower road to reach price parity with gas guzzlers. [ read more … ]
Study reveals why buyers shun EVs
Battery charge time and range anxiety are not what’s deterring the average American from buying a battery electric vehicle. What matters most, according to a new analysis, is how much the person cares about climate change.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.