Clean Energy

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Climate Center and partners: New Utility Reform and Clean Energy Resilience bills

solar by Stacey Meinzen

URGENT: Have your organization sign on here to support utility reform and clean community energy resilience. Individuals, please reach out to your state elected officials here. A key priority of The Climate Center’s Climate-Safe CA effort is to advance the ability of local governments to create fossil fuel-free, safe, resilient and accessible local electricity systems. Technology advances — including rapidly-declining … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience
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Study: Climate change is pushing giant ocean currents poleward

Wave by Emiliano Arano

by Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News Highlights: Wind-driven ocean currents are moving towards the poles, causing impacts such as sea-level rise and storms. The shift in poles will affect sea-level rise on the East Coast of the US and disrupt salmon fishing waters on the West Coast Gyres, which are large systems of ocean currents, … Read more

Categories Clean Energy
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Senators energy package continues fracking and drilling

by Zoya Teirstein , Grist Highlights: Senators Lisa Murkowski (R) and Joe Manchin (D) revealed the  American Energy Innovation Act of 2020:  The bill does not stop drilling or fracking but does develop more solar and other renewable energy as well as carbon capture Portions of the bill mention exporting natural gas, a known emitter … Read more

Categories Clean Energy
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Study: Carbon taxes would boost jobs across the U.S.

by Mark Fischetti and Amanda Montañez, Scientific American Highlights: Marilyn A. Brown and Majid Ahmadi of the Georgia Institute of Technology modeled a $25 and $60 tax on each metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted by the U.S. energy system. The $25 tax resulted in more jobs, but substantially less emissions reductions (see charts below). Brown … Read more

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Wetlands prevent hurricane damage. Economists now know how much

Wetlands

by Eric Roston, Bloomberg Green Highlights: According to a new study, wetland preservation will be increasingly important to protect Atlantic and Gulf Coast communities against hurricanes and cyclones. The study evaluates how much wetlands are worth based on the cost of the damage caused by storms One square kilometer of wetlands is worth almost $2 … Read more

Categories Clean Energy
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In this new solar-powered apartment complex, all 600 units have batteries that form a virtual power plant

Solar Panel Power Generation. by mrganso found on https://www.needpix.com/photo/1123513/photovoltaic-system-solar-solar-energy-solar-panel-photovoltaic-renewable-energy-revolution-power-generation-solar-field

by Adele Peters, Fast Company Highlights: A Salt Lake City apartment complex, named Soleil Lofts, is the first to incorporate solar plus storage into every unit. The local utility will use solar and storage as a virtual power plant and will avoid using fossil fuels during peak hours The developing company, Wasatch Group, used batteries … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience Energy Efficiency
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Fossil fuels for power at turning point as renewables surged in 2019: data

by Aaron Sheldrick, Reuters  Highlights: Electricity generation from fossil fuels in the United States, European Union, and India fell in 2019. Renewable power generation increased at a faster rate than the overall growth in power output for the first time The decline of fossil fuels is likely to accelerate due to countries trying to commit … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Fossil Fuels
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Wall Street is falling out of love with natural gas

by Gerson Freitas Jr and Vanessa Dezem, Bloomberg Highlights: Investors are ditching natural gas and fossil fuels in order to invest in renewable energy such as solar and wind:  Environmentalist push-back on dirty energy investments has put fossil fuel valuations at a tipping point  For the first time in about a decade, local gas distributors indices are … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Fossil Fuels
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The psychology of Coronavirus vs. climate change: Why we mobilize for one, not the other

by Patty Wetli, WTTW Chicago Highlights The human response to Coronavirus is more urgent because it is considered an “immediate” issue, as opposed to the climate crisis, which appears to many to be a distant threat Behavioral economist Katherine Milkman explains that our inaction on climate change and our collective mobilization on the Coronavirus is … Read more

Categories Clean Energy
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Op-ed: California has a long way to go on climate policy

California State Capitol by Andre m

By Jacques Leslie, Los Angeles Times Highlights California’s cap-and-trade program alone won’t be sufficient to reach the state’s goals, including its mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Energy Innovation, a San Francisco think tank, spent more than two years developing a computer model called an Energy Policy Simulator to … Read more

Categories Clean Energy