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After the hottest summer on record, the world continues to witness extreme weather fueled by the burning of fossilfuels. We need to stop burning fossilfuels immediately. Thankfully, we are in the midst of a much-needed transition away from fossilfuels and towards a future powered by more renewables.
At this point, I’d wager that pretty much everyone in the US either has been affected or knows someone who has been affected recently by a natural disaster-related electric power outage. Indeed, for people who use electric-powered medical devices, a power outage is life-threatening. That doesn’t reduce the hardship of a power outage.
According to the latest EIA data, wind power, the leading source of US renewable electricity, may have supplied 7% more generation in 2024 than in 2023, and accounted for almost 11% of the countrys total electricity. It added up to 24% of total electricity generation in 2024, compared with 23% in 2023. One of 2024s new crop.
What happens when promise of electricity reliability fails in bad weather? How can gas power plant owners claim to be reliable but fail to make adequate efforts to purchase fuel? We know that consumers pay for electricity reliability and bear the cost when supplies are tight.
Replacing fossilfuels with renewable energy from wind and solar will depend on upgrading the electric power grid, which is currently plagued by planning delays and gridlock. The 2021 law allows, but does not require, PJM to plan ahead because various fossilfuel plants must reduce and then cease emissions by a specific date.
Klein Chair, who has long studied public utility regulation, electricity market design, and renewable energy finance. Ruthie Lazenby, a UCLA Law fellow and Legal Planet blogger who is currently writing a series on community solar , is also contributing to E-CELL. E – CELL will also build upon existing projects in the Frank G.
Energy storage, or the storing of electricity for later use on the power grid, plays an important role in the clean energy transition. Renewable generation is variable—wind and solar power produce electricity when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. Curtailment means we are wasting otherwise clean, perfectly usable electricity.
In 2019, Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy because of billions of dollars of potential liability from fires the previous summer. Conduct is considered just and reasonable if the conduct of the electrical corporation. The fires in L.A. But such litigation isnt new. billion settlement.
Much of our electricity system is 50 to 70 years old, yet current plans for domestic manufacturing, electric vehicle fleets, community solar gardens and more clean energy all depend on a modern grid. New demands for electricity and the need to reduce climate-changing emissions are driving new grid planning efforts.
Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a standard that will make the North Star State’s electricity 100 percent carbon-free by 2040. What’s next? Minnesota’s legislative session runs until late May.
In preparing to teach a course on climate law, I was really struck by how broad and rich the field has become. Back in the day, it was nearly all international law, but nowadays there’s a huge amount of U.S. domestic law. and international law. and international law. Electric vehicle and biofuel policies E.
Energy law used to be an obscure niche subject. Energy law is a hot topic. Law students are thronging to the field, seeing an opportunity to combine social relevance with good-paying jobs. Top law schools are responding by competing for faculty. The post The Renaissance of Energy Law appeared first on Legal Planet.
The aim of the EU is to try to stop fossilfuel companies suing states over climate action. On fossilfuel investments, however, the document was rather unspecific, merely stating that the modernized ECT shall reflect climate change and clean energy transition goals.
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. PowerGEM , an independent consulting firm, conducted the analysis for us, using the same data and process PJM uses.
In 1976, the California legislature passed a law that effectively bans new nuclear power plants. To be more specific, the law forbids the California Energy Commission from issuing a permit to any new nuclear fission power plants until theres a way to dispose of toxic and long-lived nuclear waste.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included a major—forthcoming—refresh for one of the biggest policy drivers of the nation’s clean energy transition to date: tax credits subsidizing the deployment of clean electricity resources. the GHGs emitted into the atmosphere by a facility in the production of electricity—is not greater than zero.
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. percent of the country’s electricity supply (up 1.1 It supplied 10.5
Since the summer of 2021, five Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed bills banning their state governments from doing business with financial institutions that they allege have divested from fossilfuel companies as a result of ESG investment policies. Another six statehouses are considering similar bills.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales are increasing , and these vehicles are important to reduce fossilfuel use and air pollution. 5 years of stakeholder discussions The progress of SB 615 bill over the legislative session will determine if a comprehensive EV battery recycling policy will finally be made law in California.
According to the Energy Information Agency , South Korea’s power sector is heavily reliant on fossilfuels. Two thirds of generation capacity is based on fossilfuels, split evenly between coal and natural gas, with 17% nuclear, and 14% hydro and other renewables. 50% coal, 26% gas, and 25% nuclear.
Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) announced plans to introduce legislation to prohibit municipalities from receiving Act 13 drilling impact fees if they set more protective standards on the development of natural gas than required in state or federal law and while a challenge to local restrictions is being litigated. Read more here. Read more here.
And, while a historic level of federal funding for climate action is on its way via the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, too many bad actors and opposition forces are working hard to stall and stop the help Californians need. Right now, UCS is working towards a fast and fair fossilfuel phase out.
That means a lot of energy law profs to teach them — many more than we have today. Law schools are waking up to the need to hire in the area. So if you’re thinking of law teaching, it could be worthwhile to dive into this field. About 10% were in the broad area of environmental law, but that was still only 11 people.
Texas and a number of other states have passed laws banning what they call “boycotts of fossilfuel companies.” ” More precisely, they ban state investment or contracting with firms that “boycott” fossilfuel companies. It’s not clear which firms are supposed to go on the state’s blacklist.
The City of Los Angeles is going into the new year with a big new building-decarbonization ordinance : starting this year, nearly all new buildings in the city will have to be entirely electric. All-electric as the new normal. Just as important is the process that led to the new-buildings ordinance.
Minnesotans are already experiencing the climate crisis, as well as health impacts, from burning fossilfuels. A recent Union of Concerned Scientists analysis found that Minnesota could meet its electricity demands with 100-percent renewable energy by 2035, which would provide significant economic and health benefits.
How would that change if I hopped on the electric bus route at the end of my block? The situation would indeed be much better if our gifts were delivered by a team of flying reindeer fueled by magic and apples instead of trucks running on polluting diesel fuel.
As fossil-fueled fires get worse, tap water contamination concern grows. To name a few ways water can be contaminated post-fire: Incineration of urban infrastructurehouses, buildings, electric wires, etc.leaches toxic chemicals not only into our air but when hot enough, can melt the underground pipe network that deliver drinking water.
City of New York , plumbing and building trade groups challenged New York Citys Local Law 154 of 2021 , a piece of legislation that prohibits fossilfuel combustion in most new buildings. This blog post discusses Local Law 154, unpacks Judge Abrams decision, and ends with a refresher on California Restaurant Association v.
Gas, which now generates 40 percent of US electricity, is considered by some to be critical to maintain grid reliability. Municipal zoning laws, meanwhile, allowed companies to build power plants and other industrial facilities in those same neighborhoods. EN: What needs to be done to make the electric grid more equitable—and reliable?
But these goals will only be achievable if the state has sufficient charging infrastructure to fuel the vehicles, along with available financing to help truck owners purchase or lease them. Zero-emission electric versions of these vehicles are already on the road and becoming more widely available.
The majority 6–3 decision sharply curtails the EPA’s authority to set standards based on a broad range of flexible options to cut carbon emissions from the power sector—options such as replacing polluting fossilfuels with cheap and widely available wind and solar power coupled with battery storage.
The November 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL, includes an $8 billion “regional clean hydrogen hubs” program that charges the Department of Energy (DOE) with the development of at least four hydrogen hubs to advance the nation’s clean hydrogen sector.
At COP28, countries agreed to transition away from fossilfuels and accelerate action within the decade to achieve our global climate goals. Things have never been clearer: Canada needs to catch up in the shift away from fossilfuels, or it risks being left behind. years, and update every 5 years.
By Liu Lican On November 8, China issued its first Energy Law , which aims to support the development and utilisation of renewable energy and increase the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption. However, the law also states that there will be “rational development and clean and efficient use” of fossilfuels.
The Department of Energy estimates the cost of an electric vehicle lithium-ion battery pack declined 89% between 2008 and 2022. Different batteries may be ideal in settings where charging speed is not a factor, such as utility-scale electricity storage. Prices for battery storage have declined even more sharply.
Like the Illinois law, the North Carolina law enjoyed broad bipartisan support. North Carolina today gets over half of its power from fossilfuels, about 25% from coal and 33% from natural gas. Perhaps the most controversial portion of the bill changes the mechanism for setting electricity rates.
It is overwhelmingly produced by a process known as steam methane reforming (SMR), which is heavily carbon-polluting, and the resulting hydrogen is primarily consumed as a feedstock for industrial purposes, such as oil refining and fertilizer production, not as a way to displace fossilfuels. And this isn’t just hypothetical.
As we’ve discussed before , multiple cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have tried to ban fossilfuel hookups for new buildings by zoning or other ordinance over the past few years. As we noted then, in order for municipalities to restrict or ban fossilfuel connections, [T]he legislature must move first. .
That timing makes it a hugely important potential resource when winter hits hard and fossilfuels fail. And it will make it even more important when winter electricity demand increases because more households are using electric heat pumps. In the Northeast, for example, offshore wind is strongest in winter.
These laws ban new fossilfuel 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. The law also contains provisions addressing wages and benefits for workers on renewable energy projects. As far as I can figure out, that’s about $7.5
It turns out that most of them are 50-60% reliant on fossilfuels, with a lot of the remainder coming from nuclear and hydro. This table shows how much power is generated from fossilfuels by the top ten utilities (ranked by market value). There was more fuel oil in use in some places than I expected. Carbon Goal.
More efficient (and cleaner) gasoline cars are part of the reason why gasoline use is down, but the increasing number of electric vehicles being sold in the state will likely drive gasoline use down even further. But a growing share of the reductions is likely due to the increasing sales of electric vehicles (EVs).
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