$35 Billion Georgia nuclear reactors are celebrated, and Biden Administration wants 98 more From the Associated Press U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated, “We have to at least triple our current nuclear capacity in this…
Note: The Green Premium (the cost of something done with clean energy divided by the cost of doing the same thing using fossil-fuel-based energy) for EV’s has finally gone negative. Not only are EVs cheaper than gasoline-powered cars on a “total cost of ownership” basis, but now the upfront capital cost is less, too.
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.
Affordable electricity is a major issue in households across the country. According to a report by the US Energy Information Administration, roughly 27% of US households report struggling to pay their energy bills.
At the same time, utility companies are making significant investments to lower their carbon emissions. Join Resources for the Future (RFF) on June 26 for the next event in our series on environmental justice.
Editor’s Note: Two think tanks sponsored a bipartisan panel discussion about next year, when both parties face the expiration of the Trump tax cuts and want to fix a) major structural deficits and b) climate change. Attached is the YouTube video of the one-hour webinar, as well as a transcript and an accurate summary generated by AI.
Editor’s Note: “About the Money” is a new feature for CCLNV.org. It reports on new technologies (which are “early” and still expensive) and the public policies intended to help them cross the “Valley of [Financing] Death” to a point where innovations, “learning curves” and economies of scale can make them cost-competitive with fossil-fuel-based alternatives.
Here are some stories from RTO Insider, an industry newsletter serving utilities, regulators, transmission planners and others.
The Geothermal Forum held a meeting today in response to the INVITATION pasted below: Shared folder with legislative text and analyses referred to in the talk. Video of the meeting. Transcript of the meeting Chat…
In an industrial corner of Oakland, wedged between a 10-lane freeway and a freight terminal, sits California’s newest source of renewable energy: a squadron of shiny yellow electric school buses. It’s the first all-electric bus fleet serving a major US school district. Starting in August, the 74 vehicles will also supply 2.1 gigawatt-hours of electricity to the Bay Area power grid, enough energy for 300 to 400 homes.
Note: An impending vote in Morrow Bay will pit two goals against each other: rapid statewide transition to clean energy and local control of land use. See how this is unfolding in this Morro Bay case.
The swath of coastal land houses a power plant that shuttered a decade ago and its still standing smokestacks. Vistra Corp.’s proposal for a 600-megawatt battery storage project on a portion of the site includes remediating …
In September 2023, scientists found what could be the largest deposit of lithium in an ancient US supervolcano. Now public researchers have uncovered another untapped reservoir. It’s hiding in wastewater from Pennsylvania’s gas fracking industry.
If scientists can extract even a conservative amount of lithium from fracking wastewater in the state, they calculate it could meet more than 30 percent of the current US demand.
Note: We often hear that “the clean energy transition needs to happen at an unprecedented speed and scale.” Well, how much will is cost? BloombergNEF has done the calculations and found that the need is $34 trillion by 2050. BNEF reported that global investment in the low-carbon energy transition surged 17% in 2023 to $1.8 trillion, but it concludes that the pace of this spending needs to accelerate.
The insurance turmoil caused by climate change — which had been concentrated in Florida, California and Louisiana — is fast becoming a contagion. In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states, so insurance companies are raising premiums by as much as 50 percent or more, cutting back on coverage or leaving entire states altogether.
A major new study published in Nature Communications offers reassurance that carbon taxes really are effective. This meta-analysis of 80 evaluations of 21 carbon pricing policies around the world finds at least 17 of those policies “yielded immediate and substantial emission reductions” ranging from 4% to 15%, despite low carbon prices in most cases.
