Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 30, 2023

On January 26, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed House File 7 —the 100% Clean Energy Bill. Now it’s on to the state Senate, where the question is: Will this be the year Minnesota sets a path toward 100-percent carbon-free electricity?

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

The legislation committed nearly $400 billion to support, among other things, wind and solar power, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other clean energy technologies that will make a significant dent in US heat-trapping emissions. How is that going to happen? Below is an abridged version of our conversation.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Since the beginning of 2022, electric vehicle sales in the United States have been downright electrifying. Last year, US drivers bought more than 800,000 new electric vehicles (EVs), 65 percent more than in 2021, even as overall car sales declined. billion to help California drivers switch from gasoline to electricity.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 12, 2024

Fossil gas power plants currently provide the largest source of electricity generation and capacity in the United States. To meet our climate goals and reach net zero emissions by 2050, most studies show that we need to dramatically reduce gas use for generating electricity, heating homes and businesses, and running industrial processes.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 12, 2021

We need to quickly transition to a clean energy future in Illinois to prevent additional negative public health impacts from fossil fuel plants. The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) HB 0804/ SB1718 is the only bill that puts Illinois on a path to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030 and 100% renewable energy by 2050.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 25, 2022

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Without power grid modeling tools, the transition to clean electricity would be an absolute mess. Luckily, we don’t have to resort to guesswork because we have sophisticated grid modeling tools that help guide the transition to clean electricity. Surely that would not end well.

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Electricity Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy 279

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 3, 2023

Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) sets a bold goal for the state—no carbon pollution from electricity generation by 2045, which means zero global warming emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants. Illinois legislators and clean energy advocates celebrate CEJA’s signing in September 2021.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 24, 2023

There’s good news in the recently released official data on electricity generation in the United States in 2022: renewable energy has continued to grow, coal power has continued to drop, and renewables are now firmly ahead of coal for the first time ever. They offer a lot of good news about clean energy progress.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 28, 2022

6 is still driving up Ohioans’ electricity bills—and undermining the state’s prospects for a clean energy future. 6 went into effect, Ohio ratepayers have paid more than $182 million to subsidize two 67-year-old coal-fired power plants operated by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC). Since H.B. But thanks to H.B.

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Law and Environment

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) announced that proposed amendments to the state’s Clean Energy Standard (CES) were finalized earlier this month without substantive changes from draft language initially proposed by the agencies in April 2022.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

In extreme weather, when electricity demand is at its highest and the grid needs gas plants the most, gas plants have been failing at alarming rates. The most promising and comprehensive solution is to meet grid reliability needs with clean resources rather than gas plants. Gas power plants have a problem.

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Fossil Fuels Clean Energy Electricity Technology 290

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 25, 2022

Today, the regional entity overseeing much of the electric power grid in the Midwest—the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO)—approved a set of major new transmission system upgrades that will bring billions of dollars in benefits to the region while better enabling states and utilities to pursue transitions to clean energy.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

The state plans to reduce heat trapping emissions 28 percent by 2025 and 52 percent by 2030 below 2005 levels, and to become carbon neutral by 2050. For instance, pilots can help utilities learn how to effectively integrate distributed energy storage, including batteries installed in ratepayers’ homes, which will be key to reducing emissions.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 27, 2023

From a national perspective, the land use needed to reach our clean energy goals is modest. But for states like California, with large populations, an ambitious and necessary clean energy timeline , and ongoing natural resource issues , where to actually build these projects will require thoughtful planning.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 22, 2022

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Legislature failed to act on climate and clean energy investments this session, leaving progress toward a more affordable, equitable, healthy Minnesota on the table. Most Minnesotans are familiar with their local electricity utility, since that’s who bills them for electricity they provide.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 31, 2022

On the last day of the 2022 Minnesota legislative session, state legislators had a real case of the Mondays: They failed to deliver on climate and energy policies that would have accelerated renewable energy enough to forge a clear path to carbon-free electricity and set the state on track to meet science-based emission reduction targets.

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Renewable Energy Clean Energy Electricity Fossil Fuels 264

Legal Planet

MARCH 31, 2022

Zero coal by 2035, 24 GW solar/wind by 2030, net zero emissions by 2050, including upstream and downstream emissions. Net zero by 2030, 50% cut from 2007 by 2030. Dominion Energy. Net zero emissions from operations, 50% cut from 2000 by 2030. American Electric Power. 80% by 2050, 60% by 2030 (2000 baseline).

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

They demand electricity to charge while climate-fueled disasters are jeopardizing energy reliability. Use batteries for more than just driving What if EVs weren’t just a clean transportation solution, but a clean energy solution too?

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A Greener Life

OCTOBER 24, 2021

IEA says its report is designed to be used as a handbook for policy-makers at the COP26 summit and offers a critical opportunity to accelerate both climate action as well as the clean energy transition. All sectors see a decline, with the electricity sector delivering by far the largest. degree C world. Oil in decline.

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Clean Energy 2030 Fossil Fuels Technology 98

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 13, 2022

We already have so many of the foundational technological building blocks of the clean energy transition at hand: renewables, energy efficiency, energy storage, and pathways to electrifying a vast array of energy end uses. Now we need to rapidly accelerate the clean energy momentum already underway.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 3, 2023

Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included a clean hydrogen production tax credit (known as “45V”) that is one of a slew of new incentives intended to help catalyze the next and necessary phase of advancing the nation’s clean energy transition as a whole. The costs will be too great otherwise.

Clean Energy 264

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 16, 2024

I work in the electric utility sector, specifically on the grid issues that shape our energy supply choices. I heard some early warnings of data center growth running into grid limits first from tech companies and then from electric utility planners. This growth is a jolt to the usually slow-moving electricity sector.

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Electricity Clean Energy Nuclear Power Renewable Energy 290

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2022

The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) is one of the go-to sources for reliable information about the US power sector. They just released their 2022 “Annual Energy Outlook” (AEO), which is a big deal: it tells us where electricity is headed over the next 30 years. Carbon emissions remain high.

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Natural Gas Renewable Energy Climate Change Electricity 290

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Here too, the picture is bleak: with the current NDCs, by 2030 we will have nearly run out of the budget to have a 50 percent chance of keeping the temperature increase below 1.5?C. At the same time, 2021 was also a year when renewable electricity generation reached a record high globally. ” Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2022.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2035 The state has already committed to reduce its heat trapping emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2040, and to be net zero by 2050. Now is the time to enact legislative proposals such as the 100% Clean Act , which is aligned with Healey’s own campaign commitment.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Energy storage, or the storing of electricity for later use on the power grid, plays an important role in the clean energy transition. Illinois is currently considering policy proposals to establish a statewide energy storage target. Curtailment means we are wasting otherwise clean, perfectly usable electricity.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 1, 2024

Together with other modes of transportation, our vehicles emit the most heat-trapping gases in the US economy: 28 percent, followed closely by the electricity sector. However, these policies fall short of our goals of decarbonizing the economy by 2050, mostly because the incentives expire in the early 2030’s.

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Law and Environment

AUGUST 11, 2022

Based on numerous sources, Governor Baker has now signed an Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind. This bill includes a number of key advancements for increased adoption of zero emission vehicles and clean transportation throughout the Commonwealth. The Department shall approve the rebates not later than June 30, 2023; and.

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Clean Energy Electricity 2025 Fossil Fuels 130

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Beyond the climate harms of fossil fuels, they also impose a terrible toll on human health, as numerous recent studies show—including the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change , a BMJ study on global deaths from air pollution caused by fossil fuels, and a study on US deaths attributable to coal-fired electricity generation.

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Legal Planet

JULY 29, 2021

On Wednesday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a package of four clean energy bills. These laws ban new fossil fuel plants and set aggressive targets for the state’s two major utilities, requiring emission cuts of 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035 and 100% by 2040. House Bill 2165 addresses electrical charging for vehicles.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 23, 2023

With the clean energy transition already under way, the US electricity mix is set to continue changing this year. Solar power is expected to make up about half of all additions of US electric generating capacity in 2023, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Fossil Fuels 2023 Clean Energy Nitrogen Oxides 264

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 25, 2022

This week, the Midwest’s regional electric grid operators approved nearly $10.5 These investments will bring more clean energy online, improve grid resiliency, and deliver significant consumer benefits and jobs. This development will create almost 32,000 jobs while providing enough energy to power more than 1.8

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Last month, DOE solicited applications from states to develop clean energy projects. Another development with multi-state implications involves electric vehicles. Under the Clean Air Act, California has the unique ability to set its own standards for tailpipe emissions from new vehicles, including greenhouse gases.

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PA Environment Daily

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

On September 21, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced DCNR will produce or purchase 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. gigawatt hours of electricity by 2030 with a plan to have the department produce 15.5 DCNR expects to use 28.7

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A Greener Life

AUGUST 30, 2022

The combination of offshore wind turbines, floating solar panels and green hydrogen are some of the hybrid clean energy technologies currently under development off the Dutch coast. . The low-lying European country is using its expertise in water engineering to build up its next wave of clean energy infrastructure.

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Clean Energy Technology Technology Fossil Fuels 98

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 30, 2022

Quite the opposite: today’s high oil and gas prices are a fresh reinforcement, if we needed that, for why a rapid transition to clean energy is imperative. A rapid clean energy transition is (still) the best path forward. Multiple crises colliding with climate change.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Clean Energy 2030 279

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Solar panels generated almost 4 percent of electricity in the US in 2021, up from less than 1 percent in 2015. In some places that number is much higher; for example, 17% of California’s electricity generation came from solar in 2021. Almost half of all new energy capacity added to the US grid in 2021 came from solar.

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