Author: Admin

U.S. court rejects a request to block $10 billion transmission project in Arizona

U.S. court rejects a request to block $10 billion transmission project in Arizona

ByAdmin

Editor’s Note:  This is a poster child for what’s broken about federal permitting.  This project was planned in the 2000s and approved after lengthy environmental and other review in 2015.  The suit was filed federally in January and dismissed in late April, subject to appeal … and a companion case in Arizona state courts.  If not dismissed there, further delays will add expense.  (A $10 billion dollar project delayed for a year in a 5% interest rate world costs $500 million annually.)

Categorical exclusions now can expedite geothermal energy permitting
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Categorical exclusions now can expedite geothermal energy permitting

ByAdmin

To improve permitting of geothermal energy exploration on public lands, the Bureau of Land Management today adopted two existing categorical exclusions from the United States Forest Service and the Department of the Navy. The categorical exclusions will enable the agency to expedite the review and approval of geothermal exploration proposals.

Biden Is Spending $1 Trillion to Fight Climate Change. Voters Don’t Care.

Biden Is Spending $1 Trillion to Fight Climate Change. Voters Don’t Care.

ByAdmin

Note: This is why the Environmental Voters Project is so important!

President Biden has done more to address climate change than any of his predecessors. So far, voters don’t seem to care.

The Biden campaign and a collection of progressive groups are trying to change that. They believe the president’s record on climate change can boost his popularity with young voters.

A Power Line Debate Pits Environmental Allies Against Each Other

A Power Line Debate Pits Environmental Allies Against Each Other

ByAdmin

A lawsuit that has paused the completion of a power line in the Upper Midwest is part of a long-running conflict that has exposed differences within the environmental and clean energy advocacy communities.

Developers of the $649 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line have built about 100 of the project’s 102 miles, but they stopped work following a March 22 injunction by a U.S. district court judge in Wisconsin.

ICC 2024 Revised Building Code Makes Electricity Minimums Optional
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ICC 2024 Revised Building Code Makes Electricity Minimums Optional

ByAdmin

The International Code Council, which sets model construction standards for new homes, was expected to include building electrification measures in its 2024 energy code on March 20. But following appeals lodged by industry groups, the ICC board moved the measures to the code’s appendices, effectively making them optional, as first reported by the Huffington Post.

If new homes aren’t wired for increasing power needs from electric appliances and car chargers, it will bump the effort and cost of making such upgrades onto homeowners — a deterrent to going electric.

Terraform Industries converts electricity and air into synthetic natural gas

Terraform Industries converts electricity and air into synthetic natural gas

ByAdmin

Note: Here is a VC-backed company which is using solar power to pull CO2 and H20 out of the air and combine it into CH4 … better known as methane or natural gas!   Importantly, this tech looks like it might get cheap enough to scale up.  The video tour by the CEO explains the chemistry and economics.

Today, Terraform is announcing that it has commissioned a demonstrator plant and produced synthetic natural gas for the first time.
Roughly the size of two shipping containers, the Terraformer consists of three …

RFF Releases Annual Global Energy Outlook Report

RFF Releases Annual Global Energy Outlook Report

ByAdmin

The Global Energy Outlook, an annual analysis from Resources for the Future (RFF), charts a wide range of pathways for the world’s energy outlook. What are the key findings? 

The report comes to several conclusions based on 16 scenarios. 1) Consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas is expected to peak before 2030 but remain at or near a plateau through 2050 in many scenarios. Achieving international climate targets will require a peak followed by a rapid decline. 2) Carbon dioxide removal technologies are …

EMIT LESS Act garners bi-partisan applause

EMIT LESS Act garners bi-partisan applause

ByAdmin

Enteric methane, which is naturally emitted during the digestive process of most livestock species, has been deemed the single largest source of agricultural methane emissions. Garnering support from a diverse coalition, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., seeks to reduce enteric methane by integrating emissions-reduction practices into U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs and providing financial incentives to farmers that voluntarily adopt them.

DOE Awards $6 Billion for Green Steel, Cement, Aluminum and other industrial processes
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DOE Awards $6 Billion for Green Steel, Cement, Aluminum and other industrial processes

ByAdmin

The industrial sector is responsible for over 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. The 33 projects funded here might demonstrate viable fast pathways to decarbonize these notoriously hard-to-decarbonize sector: cement, alumninum, steel, pastics and a broad range of industrial processes that require heat and sometimes chemistries that create CO2 directly.