Permitting Reform is a bipartisan issue

Permitting Reform is a bipartisan issue

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from Packy McCormick
Government efficiency should not be a partisan issue. Republican or Democrat, you should want your government to work both harder and smarter for you, for your tax dollars to go a bit further, and for there to be less unnecessary red tape.

We’re excited about what DOGE is going to do on this front. If DOGE can make efficiency a winning political value proposition, then you are going to see leaders from both sides of the aisle adopt it. Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is already starting. Shapiro has been on the efficiency train since before it was cool — his record-breaking 1-95 reconstruction put him on the map.

Efficiency should not be the end goal here. Ultimately, we’ll want not just an efficient government but an effective one, too. Let’s Make Government Efficient Again! And I say that in the least partisan way possible.

solar panels

America’s Struggling Solar Industry Has a New Comeback Plan

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FSLR is the country’s only major U.S. solar manufacturer. The Inflation Reduction Act has begun to change the industry’s fortunes. The 2022 law added tax credits for domestic manufacturing, compelling several companies to announce plans to build factories. Still, it has been slow-going.

Chinese companies have ramped up production and driven prices relentlessly lower, making it difficult for American firms to catch up. FREYR will get its polysilicon from both the U.S. and Asia, and its solar cells from Asia. It’s exploring whether to build another factory for cells in the U.S.

So far, the U.S. has tried to keep Chinese panels out by ramping up tariffs or outright banning panels. Chinese companies still want access to the U.S. market, so they have begun to build factories in the U.S. The Inflation Reduction Act allows companies based in foreign countries to qualify for tax credits as long as they set up shop in the U.S.

Trump’s Win Threatens U.S. Clean-Energy Boom

Trump’s Win Threatens U.S. Clean-Energy Boom

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Donald Trump’s victory puts a skeptic of global warming back in the White House, triggering an about-face on climate policy that threatens to derail billions of dollars in clean-energy investment and slow a reduction in the nation’s emissions.

Investors dumped shares of renewable-power developers and bought oil-and-gas stocks in the days after the election. Trump has said he wants to repeal a 2022 Biden administration climate law that promised to channel several hundred billion dollars of tax incentives, loans and grants into the sector. The subsidies triggered a surge in manufacturing and jobs, most in Republican congressional districts. Trump also aims to rip up environmental regulations, which he says will unleash oil and gas production that is already at record levels.

The AI Frenzy Could Unlock More Money for Clean Energy

The AI Frenzy Could Unlock More Money for Clean Energy

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The world’s biggest investors are tripping over themselves to plow money into the power sector for artificial intelligence. The resulting frenzy could accelerate the energy transition if companies can harness the capital into the right projects.

Private-equity firms KKR and Energy Capital Partners recently agreed to invest a combined $50 billion in data-center and power-generation projects, topping a planned $30 billion fund in the works from BlackRock, Microsoft and a United Arab Emirates state-backed investor.

Other investment titans like Blackstone and Apollo are channeling billions of dollars into data centers and related infrastructure. Blue Owl Capital recently became part of a $3.4 billion joint-venture developing a data center in Texas it hopes to run on wind and solar power.

3rd Lithium Mine in Nevada OK’d by Feds

3rd Lithium Mine in Nevada OK’d by Feds

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Editor’s Note: Nevada has one operating lithium mine and another one (Thacker Pass) in development. This will be the third. See Primer: Lithium Mining in Nevada

The United States’ Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Thursday approved Ioneer’s (ASX: INR) Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in southwest Nevada, opening the door for closing $1.19 billion in funding.
Ioneer can now access a $700 million loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and a $490 million equity investment from Sibanye Stillwater

The Sydney, Australia-based Ioneer aims to finalize its financing agreements for the $785 million project before year-end. However, legal battles, regulatory adjustments, and political uncertainty remain obstacles as the company pushes toward construction, CEO Bernard Rowe said on a late Thursday webcast.

Exxon Chief to Trump: Don’t Withdraw From Paris Climate Deal

Exxon Chief to Trump: Don’t Withdraw From Paris Climate Deal

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Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, cautioned President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday against withdrawing from the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions, saying Mr. Trump risked leaving a void at the negotiating table.

Mr. Woods, speaking at an annual U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, described climate negotiations as opportunities for Mr. Trump to pursue common-sense policymaking.

“We need a global system for managing global emissions,” Mr. Woods said in an interview with The New York Times in Baku. “Trump and his administrations have talked about coming back into government and bringing common sense back into government. I think he could take the same approach in this space.”

 Regulators thwart Amazon and Meta’s nuclear plans 

 Regulators thwart Amazon and Meta’s nuclear plans 

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Amazon and Meta’s plans to secure electricity for their data centers from nuclear power centers—to serve their ever-increasing AI and cloud computing needs—have been thwarted by federal and environmental regulations.

Key Points:

  • Meta was due to build an AI data center, situated next to an operational nuclear power plant so it could tap into its power, but a rare species of bees has been found on-site, so they’ve been forced to scrap the project.
  • Amazon signed a $650M deal with nuclear power company, Talen Energy, to expand the plant and directly connect to its power, but the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected the proposal.
Las Vegas metro area could be biggest winner in cooling power of trees

Las Vegas metro area could be biggest winner in cooling power of trees

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Las Vegas is heating up faster than almost every other American city, but a new multi-year study may provide local governments some direction for effective heat relief.

According to a study published by the U.S. Geological Survey last week, Las Vegas and other cities in hotter, drier regions may be the biggest winners when it comes to the cooling effect trees can provide in sizzling temperatures.

In eight large cities across the country, scientists placed 80 to 100 sensors on trees in each city and measured hourly air temperatures for three months during the summers of 2016 to 2019. The study found that urban trees in arid cities amplified the cooling of local air temperature significantly more than in more humid locations, according to Nevada Current.

CCL’s Dana Nuccetelli comments on alarming peer-reviewed warning

CCL’s Dana Nuccetelli comments on alarming peer-reviewed warning

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Earth’s climate in 2024 is “in a major crisis with worse to come if we continue with business as usual,” a team of 14 climate scientists warned in “The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth.” The report did not sugarcoat their view of the dangers humanity is facing.

“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster,” the report begins. “This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis.”

That said, Nuccitelli says “The state of the climate is currently perilous, but humanity still has every opportunity to reduce the level of peril.”

Scientists may have solved the mystery behind a top climate threat

Scientists may have solved the mystery behind a top climate threat

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Almost two decades ago, the atmosphere’s levels of methane — a dangerous greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term — started to climb. And climb. Then, in 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled.

Scientists were baffled — and concerned. … But now, a study sheds light on what’s driving record methane emissions. The culprits, scientists believe, are microbes — the tiny organisms that live in cows’ stomachs, agricultural fields and wetlands. And that could mean a dangerous feedback loop — in which these emissions cause warming that releases even more greenhouse gases — is already underway.

Solar balconies are the equivalent of puppy pictures
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Solar balconies are the equivalent of puppy pictures

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Editor’s Note: Bill McKibbin’s newsletter today reports on a trend in Europe — to add standalone solar panels on your balcony and simply plug it into your house, no electrician needed.  It costs about $500 and pays for itself in reduced electricity bills quickly.  And yet, it’s not really available in the US, because “installing solar in the U.S. requires complying with an insane welter of state and local regulations. This is a huge problem for rooftop solar—it costs about $3.50 a watt to put up a system in America, compared with under a dollar in Australia or most of Europe, simply because of the paperwork and permitting.”

Is this another opportunity for bipartisan permitting reform?

UN Climate Chief Warns of Looming ‘Trainwreck’ as 1.5C in Doubt

UN Climate Chief Warns of Looming ‘Trainwreck’ as 1.5C in Doubt

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The world is on course to miss a target for cutting emissions this decade by an overwhelming amount, new UN analysis shows, meaning more dangerous global warming is likely.

Total emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2030 will only be 2.6% lower than in 2019, according to the latest climate plans put forward by countries, a synthesis compiled by UN Climate Change said Monday. To be consistent with a goal for a 1.5C warming limit, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest that emissions would have to fall by 43% over the same time period.

The best estimate of where temperatures will peak this century, based off the national climate plans, is between 2.1C-2.8C, the institution said. Still there’s a possibility that emissions could peak this decade.