Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 16, 2024

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.

Electricity 300

Electricity Renewable Energy Clean Energy Law 300

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 13, 2022

I was invited to speak at a panel discussion last Wednesday as part of The Economist ’s annual Sustainability Week, titled “What technologies are needed to avert a climate disaster?” True to the theme, I was asked about which technological innovations would be necessary to save our planet. The actual barriers to progress.

Technology 265

Technology Technology Climate Change Fossil Fuels 265

Union of Concerned Scientists

AUGUST 21, 2024

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. These incentives aren’t just historically important.

Electricity 307

Electricity Clean Energy Greenhouse Technology 307

Union of Concerned Scientists

AUGUST 21, 2024

Earlier this month, the US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service hosted a public hearing on their recent proposed rules governing implementation of the Section 45Y Clean Electricity Production Credit and the Section 48E Clean Electricity Investment Credit. My testimony is copied below.

Electricity 291

Electricity Wind Power Greenhouse Clean Energy 291

Legal Planet

MAY 7, 2024

Chris Hunkeler, Wikimedia Commons In the West, the benefits of electricity market regionalization appear more attractive than ever. Regionalization” refers to efforts to expand coordination between Western states to buy and sell wholesale electricity through centralized federal power markets.

Electricity 246

Electricity Clean Energy Law 2026 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 9, 2025

The bill, introduced by State Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde and State Senator Chris Larson, creates an enforceable timeline with specific objectives, allowing flexibility for discussions of the various technology and policy approaches to come later. I came to Madison ten years ago to pursue a masters in electrical engineering.

Fossil Fuels 246

Fossil Fuels Climate Change Natural Gas Clean Energy 246

Legal Planet

MAY 9, 2022

California’s system uses revenues from auctioning allowances to fund its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) and to limit cost increases to electricity users. reducing or eliminating free allocations of allowances) would accelerate emissions reductions including through greater fuel switching to non-fossil technologies. Stay tuned.

Government 241

Government Politics Climate Change Paris Agreement 241

Enviromental Defense

MARCH 13, 2025

So why are renewable energy developers hesitant about participating in the upcoming opportunity to submit proposals for new electricity generation for the Long-Term 2 (LT2) procurement? Delays by government Ministries are jeopardizing renewable energy business case development and potential investments.

Renewable Energy 140

Renewable Energy Natural Gas Government Technology 140

Legal Planet

JULY 15, 2024

The first efforts to use of wind to generate electricity was 134 years ago, and the photoelectric effect was discovered six decades earlier. So in a sense, these are old technologies — about the same age as the very first internal combustion engines. Persian experts were sent by Genghis Khan to establish the technology in China.

Renewable Energy 264

Renewable Energy Fossil Fuels Technology Technology 264

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.

Law 325

Law Renewable Energy Clean Energy Fossil Fuels 325

A Greener Life

APRIL 10, 2025

A 100 year journey The journey began in 1925, and it is a hundred years to the day since the first electric train ran in India, a suburban service running into Mumbai. It was in 2014 that the government ramped up ambitions and committed the funds for a fully electric railway. The pace of change doubled and then doubled again.

Electricity 56

Electricity Renewable Energy Clean Energy Solar Power 56

Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 16, 2023

But solar’s growth, especially in large arrays, has made it much more visible in communities and landscapes across the country, sparking a lot of conversations about land use, technology options, community engagement, and how best to site the many more megawatts of solar we need. Single projects can be hundreds of megawatts.

Solar Power 318

Solar Power Fossil Fuels Electricity Technology 318

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.

Recycling 362

Recycling Electricity Renewable Energy Technology 362

Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Yet in 2023, China accounted for about 60% of the world’s new renewables and electric vehicles. accounting for over 10% of China’s electricity. China has become the dominant manufacturer of clean energy technologies. This is not an accident: the government poured $22 billion into the EV industry starting in 2009.

Clean Energy 277

Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy 2009 277

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. In other words, technological solutions are necessary but not sufficient.

Electricity 291

Electricity Biofuels Technology Technology 291

Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 3, 2024

By concentrating this much power in the hands of one office, the province’s energy planning will happen in backrooms, likely to the benefit of government insiders. The government’s choice to enshrine in law a prioritization of nuclear power is also troubling.

Nuclear Power 122

Nuclear Power 2017 Climate Change Law 122

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 7, 2022

What the federal government will do. Authorize use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies, including solar panel parts” —plus building insulation, heat pumps, equipment for making “clean electricity-generated fuels”, and “[c]ritical power grid infrastructure like transformers.”

Solar Power 334

Solar Power Clean Energy Renewable Energy Electricity 334

Physics World

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Most private fusion companies expect fusion power to be supplying electricity to the grid in the 2030s. While not every company declared the amount of funding they had received, the 18 that did so had accrued almost $1.8bn to date plus an additional $85m in grants and other funding from governments.

Electricity 142

Electricity Technology Technology Climate Change 142

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 21, 2023

How would that change if I hopped on the electric bus route at the end of my block? Even when accounting for pollution from electricity generation, electric trucks can significantly reduce air pollution and get us on a better track to addressing climate change.

Nitrogen Oxides 313

Nitrogen Oxides Electricity Fossil Fuels Air Pollution 313

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. By 2050, battery recycling could supply 22 to 27% of lithium, 40 to 46% of nickel, and 45 to 52% of cobalt needed for electric vehicles in the US.

Recycling 299

Recycling Clean Energy Renewable Energy Electricity 299

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 12, 2022

A wind turbine includes a foundation, a tower, electrical wiring, a nacelle between the blades, and the blades themselves. While today, many retired wind turbine blades end up in landfills , innovative companies have developed repurposing and recycling technologies to help avoid that fate. Blade materials are special.

Recycling 320

Recycling Wind Power Technology Technology 320

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

By expanding renewable power, phasing out fossil fuels, electrifying as much of the economy as possible, and deploying other technologies, the U.S. More transportation options = less buildout of the electric grid UCS’s project examined several ways that the US can lower global warming emissions consistent with limiting overall warming to 1.5

Clean Energy 356

Clean Energy Biofuels Electricity Renewable Energy 356

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Utilities were famously set in their ways, using nineteenth century technologies to produce and deliver their products. The resulting government policies are forcing radical change on the energy system of a kind not seen in a century or more. Technological changes. Only specialists really paid much attention. Economic changes.

Law 246

Law Fossil Fuels Regulations Electricity 246

Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

The federal government is now supporting that role with federal funding for states. A key provision (IRA § 60114) appropriates $250 million to support emission reduction planning by state governments. Another development with multi-state implications involves electric vehicles. States have played a critical role in U.S.

Carbon Emissions 246

Carbon Emissions Clean Air Act Electricity 2030 246

PA Environment Daily

FEBRUARY 23, 2025

Route 220 in Bedford Township is being built for a facility that provides liquid natural gas as fuel for electricity generation, transportation and heat. The renewable energy source has generated more than 959,000 kilowatt-hours of energy, or 76% of the facilitys total electricity. And Going Higher?

Natural Gas 107

Natural Gas Electricity Renewable Energy Solar Power 107

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

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.

Clean Energy 359

Clean Energy Nitrogen Oxides Fossil Fuels Electricity 359

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 30, 2024

This is due in no small part to the “ nuclear bros ”: an active and seemingly tireless group of nuclear power advocates who dominate social media discussions on energy by promoting SMRs and other “advanced” nuclear technologies as the only real solution for the climate crisis. What are SMRs?

Nuclear Power 364

Nuclear Power Electricity Waste Cooling 364

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. How much global technological innovation will be spurred by these investments?

Paris Agreement 363

Paris Agreement Air Pollution Renewable Energy 2030 363

Enviromental Defense

JULY 31, 2024

Nova Scotia still relies on dirty coal for half of its electricity. We have cost-effective, proven, and reliable solutions that are ready today—including solar, wind, and battery storage—which continue to be underfunded by all levels of government. Background information The Government of Canada is already subsidizing hydrogen.

Government 133

Government Wind Power Greenhouse Carbon Dioxide 133

PA Environment Daily

AUGUST 23, 2023

The Air & Waste Management Association will hold its 15th annual Symposium on Electric Power Transformation - Energy, Environment, Policy, Technology September 26-27 in Pittsburgh. Click Here to register and for more information.

Technology 98

Technology Technology Electricity Waste 98

Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 23, 2024

It would seem that the Grinch has once again made off with a ramshackle sleigh full of wind turbines and solar panels and they aren’t likely to return from their shop, not unless the heart of the ole ‘Grinchy-Claus’ (aka the Alberta Government) has an unexpected growth spurt. Stay tuned.

Renewable Energy 98

Renewable Energy 2027 Government Electricity 98

Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

This arrangement was negotiated 25 years ago and is part of a decades-old program of cooperation on nuclear technology, which includes agreements not to use this assistance for military purposes. These agreements often involve the transfer of reactor technology, supply of nuclear fuel, and training of specialists to operate the reactors.

Nuclear Power 351

Nuclear Power 2016 2017 2018 351

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 2, 2024

This funding, provided by the Inflation Reduction Act , is available to a wide variety of entities, including port authorities, local and tribal governments, and regional air quality agencies as well as businesses and non-profits that partner or collaborate with these public entities. Volvo Trucks.

Air Pollution 230

Air Pollution Nitrogen Oxides Electricity Climate Change 230

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. However, this has typically resulted in a trade-off between efficient electricity generation and efficient desalination.

Electricity 145

Electricity Waste Cooling Solar Power 145

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.

Fossil Fuels 279

Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Electricity Regulations 279

Circle of Blue

MAY 4, 2022

Record heatwaves in India and Pakistan are causing water and electricity shortages. An Ohio -based nonprofit creates new technology that could break down “forever chemicals” like PFAS. Amid Record Heatwaves, India and Pakistan Face Water and Electricity Shortages. In Recent Water News. Environmentalists are unconvinced.

Technology 130

Technology Technology 2022 Electricity 130

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 30, 2023

A bill recently introduced in the California Legislature, Assembly Bill (AB) 538 , would open a pathway for the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which oversees the state’s electric grid , to expand to more states in the West, a process known as grid regionalization. But let’s assume California legislators pass AB 538.

Clean Energy 291

Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Government Renewable Energy 291