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The fuel, commonly known as natural gas, now powers the biggest portion of US electricity generation—more than 40 percent. Moreover, gas-fired electricity generation hurts communities and the environment in numerous additional ways beyond climate. of that fuel.
How would that change if I hopped on the electric bus route at the end of my block? But while greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced, a delivery fulfilled by a diesel-burning truck may lead to increases in emissions of smog-forming nitrogenoxides and lung-damaging particulate matter.
Union of Concerned Scientists’ (UCS) research shows that top fossilfuel producers’ emissions are responsible for as much as half of global surface temperature increase. The best solution: Replace fossilfuels with renewable energy. A small number of big corporations are responsible for the climate crisis.
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.
That means that, for a plant to generate the same amount of electricity, it needs to burn more of a gas-hydrogen blend. Some fossilfuel industry proponents have pitched coupling carbon capture and storage (CCS) with the methane reforming process to limit the resulting carbon pollution. Water itself (H 2 O) is carbon-free.
Gas, which now generates 40 percent of US electricity, is considered by some to be critical to maintain grid reliability. For example, Dominion Energy, an electric and gas utility in Virginia, is planning to build a mammoth 1,000-megawatt gas plant in an area with a high percentage of residents who are people of color and low-income.
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).
California’s leadership on reducing truck pollution has been on full display the past few years, passing critical regulations requiring 90 percent reduction in smog-forming nitrogenoxide (NO X ) emissions from diesel trucks and requiring manufacturers sell an increasing share of electric trucks to move away from fossilfuels altogether.
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.
Solar panels do not emit carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogenoxides, or other harmful air pollutants when theyre working. Pennsylvania residents can't enjoy these benefits because the fossilfuel industry has blocked any such legislation. Yet they are still a reliable and affordable source of energy.
In the coming years, Californians will begin to see a massive switch away from highly polluting fossil-fueled trucks to zero-emission electric trucks. Additionally, the rule phases out the sale of fossil-fueled trucks in 2036. The rule will apply to commercial, federal, state, municipal, and drayage fleets.
Respected bodies like the International Energy Agency have been clear – there is no room for new fossilfuel infrastructure if we want to hold warming to 1.5 Along with their contribution to larger climate change impacts, gas plants also cause local air pollution – mainly nitrogenoxides and particulate matter.
Fossil gas, or “natural gas,” as it’s been cunningly branded, is a fossilfuel that causes warming and is harmful to human health. Its mainstream name is nothing more than a clever marketing scheme by Big Oil to make the fuel sound natural, safe, and clean. That means cheaper electricity rates for us consumers.
The grant recipients, ranging from a small borough to rental car, garbage truck, and school bus companies, will replace 88 old gasoline or diesel vehicles with 78 electric and 10 renewable natural gas vehicles and install 36 chargers for electric vehicles.
One is a subsidy to Enbridge—a fossilfuel giant—to build a fossilfuel power plant. Instead, it will lock in polluting fossilfuel infrastructure for decades. Enbridge promises to blend some hydrogen with natural gas, but that’s just a dangerous distraction.
Despite the generous funding opportunities and holistic flexibilities baked into ACF, confusion around and misinformation about the rule may undermine this much-needed shift away from fossil-fueled trucks and buses. Plug-in hybrid trucks and buses with certain all-electric ranges count towards compliance through 2035.
The analyses did not reveal any science-based evidence that nuclear energy does more harm to human health or to the environment than other electricity production technologies already included in the Taxonomy as activities. The result is an almost 400-page report on the topic.
Offshore wind provides abundant, zero-carbon electricity I think most folks understand that wind turbines generate electricity by harnessing the power of the wind (for a handy primer on the mechanics, see here.) Reducing carbon emissions is another significant benefit of avoiding the burning of fossilfuels with offshore wind.
One of the most significant air quality challenges in the Basin is reducing emissions of the ozone precursor nitrogenoxides (NO x ) to meet the ozone standard attainment deadlines. According to the 2016 AQMP, mobile sources contributed about 88% of total NO x emissions in the Basin in 2012.
A team of transportation and policy experts from the University of California released a report today to the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) outlining policy options to significantly reduce transportation-related fossilfuel demand and emissions. Fuels : About 86 percent of transportation fuel is petroleum.
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. Contrary to claims made by some pundits, this transition away from fossilfuels can be done at moderate cost, primarily with technologies that are commercially available today.
It’s not just the poor air quality, long lines, and excessive fossilfuel company representation ; nations are still too far apart in their positions on a fossilfuel phaseout, the top priority for this COP. Yet global fossilfuel production and use continue to expand. Particulate matter (PM2.5)
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) is currently reviewing proposals by Wisconsin Electric Power Company, or We Energies, as the utility is commonly known, for the construction of two new fossil gas plants. billion of health and economic costs over 30 years.
Nearly all of the alliance members have a renewable electricity standard (RES), which requires utilities in their jurisdiction to increase their use of renewable energy to a particular percentage by a specific year. Under the no-new-policy scenario, sulfur dioxide and nitrogenoxides decline only by 27 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
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. It also will save US consumers money because they will spend less on fossilfuels.
Climate Alliance (USCA) can meet all of their electricity needs with renewable energy—while decarbonizing other sectors of the economy and ensuring equitable benefits to all communities. And we’re already seeing the prominent role that renewables are starting to play in our electricity mix. by 2035 is needed.
Differences between setting fuel economy and emissions standards Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is obligated to reduce pollution from mobile sources like passenger cars and trucks when those emissions are a risk to public health and/or welfare. Additionally, there are incentives for natural gas vehicles and electric vehicles.
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). I’ll start off with the good.
Image via PickPik On May 23, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed emission limits and guidelines for carbon dioxide from fossilfuel-powered plants. The biggest exception is for those plants that choose to run only part-time, so-called “peaker plants” that turn on when electricity demand is too high for the grid.
Fortunately, I don’t have COPD and I didn’t contract asthma when I was young, perhaps partly because I grew up in a home with an electric range. The study concluded that these childhood asthma cases could have theoretically been prevented by using electric appliances. But other Washingtonians may not be as lucky.
The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule, which I’ve blogged about in detail before, will phase out fossil-fueled trucks over the next several decades. A full transition to electric drayage truck operations in 2035. After 2036, all new MHDVs sold in California will be electric. There are more than 1.8 pollution from vehicles.
Yet, in 2022, almost 40% of electricity in the US was generated by power plants fueled by natural gas. Note: “Natural gas” is an industry misnomer; UCS considers methane, fossil gas, and gas to be much more appropriate terms. States remain widely varied on their reliance on gas for electricity. And now, as the U.S.
In New England, the percent of people of color living near fossilfuel power plants is up to 23.5 Even as some parts of the country transition away from fossilfuel infrastructure, the retirement of gas plants has become another driver of inequity. Most notable of these polluting emissions are nitrogenoxides (NOx).
Now that California has taken the lead and set a goal for all passenger vehicles sold in the state to be electric by 2035, the next logical step is electrifying medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. This is roughly the equivalent of taking 66 million fossil-fueled cars off the road for an entire year. There are more than 1.8
Research shows that halting the burning of fossilfuels in homes and businesses is beneficial for the health of residents and vital to combat climate change. The Threats of Gas Appliances Every day, domestic gas-powered building appliances emit 65 tons of toxic and highly reactive gases called nitrogenoxides (NOx) per day.
Environmental Protection Agency methodologies to assign a dollar value to each ton of nitrogenoxide and sulfur dioxide reduced. Between 2005-2022, the last year of available data, 11,127,515 fewer tons of SOx and 1,317,335 fewer tons of NOx were emitted from Pennsylvania’s electric power sector, according to DEP data.
Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere have risen approximately 47 percent since 1750, mostly from the burning of fossilfuels for energy. Strategies for capturing carbon from fossilfuel power plants, to prevent it from entering the atmosphere, have long lingered on the sidelines. from 1990–2019.
And Ontario is, well… Ontario really really likes so-called “natural” gas – a fossilfuel – and plans to use more of it to generate electricity. And now, according to the IESO, emissions from electricity will rise to about 12 MT in 2030, and to over 18 MT in 2040. . of Ontario’s total electricity generation. .
Most household appliances, like furnaces and water heaters, are powered by fossilfuels and emit nitrogenoxides (NOx) —toxic and highly reactive gases that endanger human health and the environment. The brief outlines the harmful effects of fossilfuel appliances on human health, air quality, and climate change.
This included a bill that would have started a statewide conversation about the diminished role fossilfuels should play in Maine’s energy system as the state strives to meet its climate and clean energy commitments. Gas is primarily composed of methane—a fossilfuel with extremely high global warming potential.
Hydrogen’s supply-side has been buttressed by incentives from state and federal governments, refineries and utilities looking to extend the life of fossilfuel infrastructure, and renewable energy companies seeking to take advantage of the huge amounts of clean energy needed to produce green hydrogen.
The fossilfuel industry has systematically contaminated our environment with a wide range of toxic chemicals for over a century. Examples are benzene, hydrofluoric acid, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogenoxides, and many, many other toxic pollutants. Refining uses many risky industrial processes.
Yaw: Statement On New EPA Power Plant Emission Reduction Rules -- The Daily Item: Republicans Con. Meuser, Sen. in Somerset County -- WHYY: My Climate Story: Philly Students Take Science From Abstract To Personal -- Reading Eagle: Berks Nature Nonprofit Has Evolved Over Its 50-Year History -- MCall: C.F.
Fossil-fueled trucks, vans, and buses are a major source of climate-disrupting greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogenoxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and hazardous air pollutants that harm public health. In 2021, Quebec adopted a regulation requiring all new school buses to be electric.
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