Discover the Latest News and Initiatives for a Sustainable Future

GEOTHERMAL: Eversource will begin operating a unique, $14 million pilot project this week: the nation’s first utility-operated underground thermal energy network connecting buildings around Framingham, Massachusetts. (Canary Media)

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BIOENERGY: A Rhode Island bioenergy facility that was supposed to be providing a Canadian refinery with renewable natural gas by last summer still hasn’t finished construction, leaving both its future and the refinery’s climate goals in jeopardy. (CBC)

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POLICY: Pennsylvania’s House holds a hearing over a bill that would restructure the state board responsible for handling federal energy incentives to let it finance energy projects itself. (Penn Live Patriot-News)

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FOSSIL FUELS:

• New Hampshire’s governor joins several of his Republican counterparts in Louisiana to call on President Biden to deregulate the oil and gas industry, claiming current policies are causing inflation. (WWLTV)
• The Pennsylvania Game Commission plans to invest $500 million from unaccounted gas revenues into the state’s hunting grounds. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

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GRID:

• New England’s grid operator says it should have enough capacity this summer to handle normal peak conditions, but notes “a prolonged heat wave with high humidity could challenge the system.” (InDepthNH)
• A recently introduced bill would prorate the utility bills of New York City public housing residents experiencing lengthy outages. (Pix 11)

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BUILDINGS: New Hampshire is among the roughly two dozen states fighting proposed federal regulations around new energy efficiency standards for stoves, cooktops and ovens. (Nebraska Examiner)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Vermont’s governor signs into law a new annual fee for electric vehicle owners to help plug the funding gap from lower gasoline taxes. (VT Digger)
• A Vermont electric plane startup completes its first full test flight of its vertical takeoff plane prototype, noting that the technology is common in small drones but not “a 7,000-pound aircraft with a 50-foot wingspan.” (WCAX)
• Installing a small fleet of lithium-ion batteries helped the developers of a Weymouth, Massachusetts, electric vehicle fast-charging station get around a lengthy equipment backlog, letting them finish the build in six months. (Boston Globe)

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TECH: Some climate tech experts say Massachusetts has the right combination of innovation and accessible capital to cultivate a successful climate tech hub on a global scale. (ABC News)

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SOLAR: A vertical farming company opens a large strawberry farming warehouse entirely powered by solar energy in New Jersey. (Food Bev Media)

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COMMENTARY: The head of a New York climate justice coalition argues against implementing the Clean Fuel Standard, citing the failure of similar policies in California that he says hurt disadvantaged communities. (City Limits)

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GEOTHERMAL: A new map reveals potential geothermal hotspots across the U.S. where subterranean heat is strong enough to be tapped for electricity generation. (The Hill)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• A new poll finds about 40% of U.S. adults say they’re at least somewhat likely to buy an electric vehicle as their next car, though many cite range anxiety and a lack of charging options as hangups. (Associated Press)
• Soon-to-be implemented federal tariffs on e-bikes and batteries from China threaten the industry’s growth, experts say. (Inside Climate News)

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CARBON CAPTURE: Governments around the world need to quadruple their carbon capture efforts, including by planting more trees and deploying capture technology, to meet global climate goals, researchers find. (Reuters)

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STORAGE: Long-duration energy storage technologies like compressed air and pumped hydro have become cheaper to use than lithium-ion batteries for 8-plus-hour discharge durations, a report finds. (Utility Dive)

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OIL & GAS: The U.S. EPA let its criticism of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s decision to build a new gas-fired plant in Tennessee go by the wayside after the federal utility essentially ignored the complaint. (E&E News)

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PIPELINES:

• Eight hours of public hearings over Enbridge’s plan to reroute Line 5 in Wisconsin bring out supporters touting economic benefits and opponents with environmental and Indigenous rights concerns. (Journal Sentinel)
• Residents along the Mountain Valley Pipeline call for more scrutiny of its potential safety risks after records reveal more than 100 potential problems along its 303-mile route. (WVTF)

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SOLAR: Critics say planned fees for Maine solar projects built on “high-value agricultural soils” unfairly single out clean energy based on anecdotal evidence of its impact on farmland. (Energy News Network)

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GRID:

• The market monitor of grid operator PJM claims FirstEnergy and other utilities should be barred from collecting nearly $130 million in revenue for failing to show they are eligible for the energy efficiency capacity payments. (Utility Dive)
• California advocates call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to reverse proposed funding cuts to virtual power plant and demand response programs, saying they support grid reliability and distributed storage. (Canary Media)

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CLIMATE: Scientists find the Earth is warming at a record rate, but don’t see evidence that human-caused global warming is significantly ramping up. (Associated Press)

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POLITICS: Former President Donald Trump indicates he would do away with the Interior Department — which oversees energy development on federal land — if he is elected to another term. (E&E News)

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