Author: Admin

What Will We Do With Our Free Power?
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What Will We Do With Our Free Power?

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Here is another great example of how humans cannot easily grok how prices declining owing to the “learning curve” create astonishing, geometric growth. “In 2023, the world installed 444 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic capacity, an 80 percent year-on-year jump and more than was cumulatively installed between the invention of the solar cell in 1954 and 2017. Although solar power still provides just under 6 percent of global electricity, its share has nearly quadrupled since 2018, an exponential curve that is expected to continue for some time.”

The Economist magazine observes ‘The next tenfold increase [in solar capacity] will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.’ By the 2030s — not very long from now — solar power will most likely be the largest source of electricity on the planet.”

The knock-on implications of cheap solar are staggering — from high-volumne desalination, to making green cement, to electrolyzing hydrogen from water,  and even to powering Casey Handmer’s dream of making synthetic fuels solely from the air!

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Geothermal exploring accelerated by new House bill
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Geothermal exploring accelerated by new House bill

ByAdmin

News flash:  H.R. 6474,  a bill  to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to expedite geothermal exploration and development in previously studied or developed areas, passed the House yesterday by voice vote.  It now goes to the Senate for action.

NV-03 Representative Susie Lee originally co-sponsored the bill with R. Michelle Steel from California.  See https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/6474/all-actions for legislative details.  Basically, this bill extends the same “categorical exclusions” to environmental impact requirements that are available for oil and gas exploration to geothermal exploration.  It’s no secret that Nevada sits on top of some significant geothermal resources. It now goes to the Senate for action.

Case study of a NEPA case causing unnecessary costs and deaths

Case study of a NEPA case causing unnecessary costs and deaths

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  One public policy supporting the clean energy transition is “permitting reform.”  This case study highlights a project begun in 2011 which was the subject of significant cost/delay owing to litigation under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).  The litigation did not change the outcome but drove the cost up to $435 million, nearly 3 times the original estimate.  And ratepayers have to foot the bill.

Note also that there is a real Environmental Justice price paid, too.  The Clean Air Task Force estimated the new CleanTech would avoid 1,400 asthma attacks and 83 deaths per year, caused by the old coal plants being replaced.  The NEPA delays therefore caused unnecessary deaths and disease.

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Climate Week in NYC Addresses Economic Impacts

Climate Week in NYC Addresses Economic Impacts

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Climate Week is a series of high-level international meetings that take place during the same week that the U.N. General Assembly meetings.  It’s one of the two or three other high-level confabs that matter most (the others being the annual “Conference of the Parties” to the Paris Agreement and maybe Davos.

This article summarizes some of the more important talks and reports given so far this week, with elements of the EcoTech Synthesis highlighted in yellow.

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Op-Ed: The Energy Permitting Reform Act is our best shot at advancing critical climate goals

Op-Ed: The Energy Permitting Reform Act is our best shot at advancing critical climate goals

ByAdmin

It would be a crucial step toward America realizing its potential as a clean energy superpower, but only if we can put our desires for a perfect policy aside and embrace practical compromise.

America has already begun to feel the impacts of landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law. But how transformative these legislative achievements can be for American reindustrialization, our transition to a clean energy economy, and job growth rests on some key decisions still before Congress.

One bill with the power to make a remarkable difference is the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act (EPRA) of 2024, which will come to the floor once the House and the Senate return in the fall.

Introduced in July by Senators Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., EPRA would be a crucial step toward America realizing its potential as a 21st century clean energy superpower, but only if…

Google funds clean energy with upfront capital and “offtake agreements.”
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Google funds clean energy with upfront capital and “offtake agreements.”

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Here’s an example of a corporation meeting its commitment to using only “carbon free energy” by supporting new CleanTech generation facilities with upfront investment and an “offtake agreement” — which is a long term contract to buy the electricity created at a pre-set price that allows the investment to be profitable.  #Green_Premium #learning_curve

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In order to help overcome these challenges, and deliver 24/7 carbon-free energy onto the grid where these data centers operate, we’ve worked with Energix Renewables on an investment framework that allows us to invest in, and buy power from, a 1.5 gigawatt (GW) portfolio of new solar projects throughout the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) grid over the next three years. By providing both investment capital and energy offtake, these projects have a clearer path to construction, bringing the planned construction start of 150 MW of queue backlog from 2025 ahead to 2024.

10 Mind-blowing Climate Technologies You’ve Never Heard About

10 Mind-blowing Climate Technologies You’ve Never Heard About

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Carbon Equity is a private equity fund that invests in new CleanTech projects.  Some of these technologies are early in the R&D process, but viable enough to attract investment.  Others (like Form Energy) are deploying commercially.  Notice the range of exciting CleanTech that is coming.

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From transforming air into jet fuel to using microorganisms to make concrete, let’s look at some of the most surprising climate technologies you have never heard of.

We actually know a lot about the steps we need to take and the technologies we need to develop to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. To get there, we need to change the way we work, eat, live, make things, generate power, and travel, meaning we will have to transform and decarbonize our entire economy. Thankfully, new competitive solutions are being developed every day.

Solar to be the cheapest source of electricity in most of the world by 2027

Solar to be the cheapest source of electricity in most of the world by 2027

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Here’s a great example of a learning curve in action — and real world impacts as it reduces the Green Premium to zero in 2027.  It underscores the importance of non-economic factors like permitting reform, PUC processes and the capital cost of the the new equipment.

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by Dana Nuccitelli, 9/3/24

I just came across this interesting paper, although it was published last October. The authors performed model projections of the cheapest source of electricity in every country over the coming years, including ‘system storage cost (SSC)’, which is basically battery storage, if needed. Right now it’s mostly a mix of wind and solar (although interestingly, in Russia it’s nuclear power), but by 2027 the falling costs of solar + battery storage are expected to become the cheapest source almost everywhere.

Long-Range EVs Now Cost Less Than the Average New Car in the US
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Long-Range EVs Now Cost Less Than the Average New Car in the US

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:   EVs  reduced the Green Premium to zero in terms of operating costs and total costs of ownership a couple years ago.  Now they have even achieved price parity on the upfront capital costs. 

The other, non-economic frictions are still there: lack of charging infrastructure, long charging times, range anxiety, and unfamiliarity.  But if economics = destiny, watch EV sales in the US take off.

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At least three manufacturers — Tesla, Hyundai-Kia and General Motors — now offer EVs with more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) of range for less than the cost of the average new vehicle sold in the US, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Green. The most affordable is Hyundai’s 2024 Ioniq 6, which comes with 361 miles of range and a price tag that’s 25% below the national average of roughly $47,000.

Effectiveness of 1,500 global climate policies ranked for first time
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Effectiveness of 1,500 global climate policies ranked for first time

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Researchers at Oxford studied 1500 climate policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  They identified 63 successful policy interventions that worked well. “Our insights on effective but rarely studied policy combinations highlight the important role of price-based instruments in well-designed policy mixes….”

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Overall, the Team concluded:

  • Climate policies are more effective as part of a mix: In most cases, effect sizes of climate policies are larger if a policy instrument is part of a policy mix rather than implemented alone –for example combining carbon pricing with a subsidy.
  • Developed and developing countries have different climate policy needs: In developed countries, carbon pricing stands out as an effective policy, whereas in developing countries, regulation is the most powerful policy.
  • The Paris emissions gap can be closed: Focusing on the 63 cases of effective climate policies would close the current emissions gap to meet the Paris Targets by 26% -41%, a significant contribution.
What Does The PUC Have To Do With It?

What Does The PUC Have To Do With It?

ByAdmin

Dave Roberts, on yesterday’s Volts podcast, interviewed Charles Hua, who is launching Powerlines.org, an advocacy organization dedicated to  help modernize state-level PUCs.   For anyone interested in PUC structural reform, the podcast is a good overview of the issues, and group in Reno is looking at reforms at our state PUC.

In Nevada, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (NPUC) is the critical regulator.  Reno/Sparks CCLer, Brian Thornton, is interested in encouraging the NPUC to move from “cost of service” regulation (“COS”) to “performance-based” regulation (“PBR”).   It’s a complex issue, and if you are interested in participating, contact Brian at this email.