Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 22, 2022

Lithium-ion batteries are essential for decarbonizing transportation through electric vehicles and building a resilient, renewable energy grid through energy storage batteries. Nearly every part of a renewable energy grid can be circular, with all outputs circulating back as inputs in a regenerative cycle.

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

You don’t have to look beyond the front pages of newspapers , or beyond rooftops in your neighborhood to know that we are in the midst of a clean energy revolution, with renewable energy technologies dramatically decreasing in price and increasing in availability.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Last spring, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) , which operates the electricity grid serving 45 million people across the central United States, found o ut it was at a higher risk of power outages than it believed. The result, as I explain below, was skyrocketing electricity bills for thousands of people.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 12, 2023

What happens when promise of electricity reliability fails in bad weather? We know that consumers pay for electricity reliability and bear the cost when supplies are tight. The electric power system is trapped by gas-dependent power plants that cannot obtain gas when it needs it to keep the lights on.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 19, 2022

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. With such a wide gulf to cross, Minnesota could miss another opportunity to advance many key clean energy programs.

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Law Columbia

APRIL 3, 2024

However, misinformation and coordinated disinformation about renewable energy is widespread and threatens to undermine public support for the transition. jobs ( it does not ). Read the full report here.

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Legal Planet

JUNE 6, 2022

Our electricity system will be crucial to decarbonization efforts, both because much of our current energy comes from electricity, and because decarbonizing sectors like transportation will require significant electrification. Restructuring generally addresses one of two parts of the electricity industry: generation and retail.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 27, 2022

As electric vehicle (EV) sales continue to increase, questions about how these cars and their batteries will be disposed of have been top of mind for current owners, future buyers, policymakers, and many experts in the automotive industry. In addition to the California work, the federal government is also paying attention.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 18, 2022

Right now, states and the federal government have a choice that will define our country’s options for clean energy and planning the power grid for the challenges ahead. This choice reveals how the electric grid, and the work to cut global warming emissions, are shaped by our political structures. Shared Duties, with Leadership.

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Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 2, 2024

Statement by Alienor Rougeot, Senior Program Manager, Climate and Energy, on Ontario’s claims regarding the federal Clean Electricity Regulations. The federal government’s proposed regulations to reduce emissions in electricity generation are achievable without breaking the bank.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

There are a lot of moving pieces, but it starts with decarbonizing the electricity sector and powering the economy with a diverse combination of clean energy resources—primarily wind, solar, and battery storage—connected with a modernized bulk transmission system that can reliably deliver electricity to consumers all 8,760 hours of the year.

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Law Columbia

JUNE 11, 2024

Local opposition has proven to be a significant barrier to the rapid expansion of renewable energy facilities across the United States. The report also identifies 395 local restrictions across 41 states, along with 19 state-level restrictions, that are so severe that they could have the effect of blocking a renewable energy project.

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Legal Planet

JUNE 2, 2022

In another respect, though, there’s more similarity: in both countries, subnational governments play a key role in climate policy. Regional governments. Although ultimate power remains in the national Parliament, the national government has devolved certain powers to regional governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 17, 2023

However, great opportunities for more new clean energy supplies to replace fossil fuel energy need supporting grid investments. Transmission policy is vital to supplying grid modernization, and some state governments see their role in planning ahead for the grid we need. Where do we go for that modern infrastructure?

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Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 19, 2023

And it will make it even more important when winter electricity demand increases because more households are using electric heat pumps. NREL) Place Offshore wind has the distinct advantage, for many of us as consumers, of being close to where a lot of electricity demand is. The US offshore wind map. The US offshore wind map.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 21, 2022

The most consequential vote to advance a clean energy future won’t be happening in Washington, D.C., It will be happening in the (virtual) boardroom of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which has authority over the bulk electric transmission system across much of the Midwest. or your state capital next week.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Governments, including COP28 host the United Arab Emirates, acknowledge this fact. Despite these substantial investments, a staggering 70% of the population still lacks access to electricity. More than 100 countries want the final COP28 decision to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

The best solution: Replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Climate change is overwhelmingly caused by burning fossil fuels, and the most immediate path to avert climate disaster is to stop investing in those fuels and start powering our economy with an equitable transition to renewable energy.

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Enviromental Defense

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Ontario recently re-contracted four gas-fired power plants to generate electricity for the province and appears poised to contract more in the near future. . Yes, Ontario needs new electricity generation. This is a national-level policy being developed to decarbonize electricity systems across the country.

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Circle of Blue

JANUARY 17, 2022

A battle is brewing over the future of lithium, an essential component of the world’s transition to renewable energy. Last week, the outgoing center-right government of President Sebastián Piñera signed over rights to two private companies to extract 160,000 tons of lithium. Photo © NASA Johnson /Flickr Creative Commons.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 19, 2022

It is more like a straight line from silica mine, to refining factory, to shimmering batch of shining polysilicon ingots, to panel assembly , to a couple decades generating clean electricity—and then, far too often, to a landfill. Governments and the panel manufacturing industry can create a robust system for solar panel recycling.

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E2 Law Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

8308)) includes two pivotal energy proposals: the Renewable Action Through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act and the Affordable Gas Transition Act. This post summarizes the key provisions of these proposals and discusses their potential impact on New York’s energy landscape.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Replacing petroleum with renewable electricity as the primary source of transportation energy will leave us all much better off. Our transportation system is highly inequitable, reflecting decades of misguided and biased decisions at all levels of government.

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Legal Planet

OCTOBER 2, 2023

At the global level, however, Germany has its own claim to a leadership role, particularly in its early support for renewable energy. Although its track record has some complexities, this timeline of German actions shows just its early and sustained attention to clean energy policy: 1990. Renewables are 6% of power.

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Legal Planet

AUGUST 9, 2021

Sources of renewable energy, such as Iowa wind farms, are often located far from the urban centers that need the power. Transmission also helps to deal with weather issues that may impact renewables: even if it’s too cloudy for solar in one state, the sun may be shining a state or two over.

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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. This won’t be a problem in the future when renewable energy predominates.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Battery storage is essential to integrating more renewable energy into the grid. It provides energy resiliency in the case of natural disasters. Governments and developers should work to educate the public about the safety mechanisms incorporated into battery storage systems.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 4, 2023

And, while renewable energy is growing fast too, it’s not happening fast enough—and can never happen fast enough if its outpaced by fossil fuel expansion. The amount of electricity needed to power these technologies would be greater than the entire world’s electricity demand today.” Particulate matter (PM2.5)

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 19, 2023

Back in 2018, California legislators were considering a bill that would have created an independent governance structure for California’s grid operator , the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Now, 22 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have 100% clean energy goals on the books.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 17, 2024

In the electric utility industry, this conflict is on display in the debate over who makes decisions on new electric transmission and how to include policies set by state laws. To protect its markets, PJM’s governance , their way of doing business in other words, is hostile to the involvement of state governments and state policies.

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Real Climate

AUGUST 17, 2022

As you can see there are tax credits and subsidies for electric vehicles, renewable energy, nuclear energy, transmission, hydrogen, air pollution reduction, energy infrastructure, climate resilience, rural development, residential buildings, etc. The biggest unknowns are the geopolitical implications.

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A Greener Life

AUGUST 2, 2023

The country’s new energy transition plan targets an estimated US$7.4 By Fermín Koop New government plan says US$86 billion of spending needed to boost energy transition – while backing natural gas too. These targets represent a potentially significant shift in Argentina ’s energy mix. Are its goals realistic?

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Environmental News Bits

APRIL 15, 2022

As the United States enters a “critical decade” in the fight against climate change, the need for rapid renewable energy deployment requires reassessing existing laws governing electricity generation and transmission projects, argues Uma Outka in a recent article.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Now that I have reached the extent of my white-water rafting knowledge, here is a recap of our very productive session: Electric vehicle directionality stalled but will return UCS co-sponsored Senator Nancy Skinner’s Senate Bill 233 (SB 233) which would have required all electric vehicles to be bidirectional by 2030.

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PA Environment Daily

MARCH 13, 2024

On March 7, the Independent Fiscal Office issued its latest Pennsylvania Electricity update that reports the electricity grid is dependent on one fuel for 59% of the state’s electricity generation-- natural gas-- followed by nuclear power-- 31.9%, coal-- 5.4% In 2010, the mix was 48% coal, 34% nuclear, 15% gas and 2% renewables.

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Environmental Progress

JANUARY 4, 2022

Germany is expected to increase its fossil fuel consumption for electricity generation in 2022, if its weather conditions and electricity demand are similar to 2021, a new analysis from Environmental Progress finds. With its 2021 and 2022 electricity generation profile, Germany would have missed its targets.

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Physics World

JUNE 28, 2021

A device that can generate electricity while desalinating seawater has been developed by researchers in Saudi Arabia and China, who claim that their new system is highly efficient at performing both tasks. Climate change is also driving demand for renewable energy, like solar power. Salt-free drinkable water comes at a cost.

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