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Along with new tax breaks for families and businesses in return for investing in clean and more efficient energy, the federal government is for the first time offering support to schools and other nonprofits that make those investments.
“Direct support” payments from the Internal Revenue Service will pay back school districts, churches and other nonprofit organizations for part of what they spend on energy renovations that cut their energy use and replace fossil fuels.
For schools the program represents an opportunity to make energy upgrades that many have had to skimp on, according to Nathan Ugoretz, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.
As state school funding falls behind the rising costs public school districts face, “funding for maintenance and improvements have been put on the chopping block,” Ugoretz said Thursday. School districts across Wisconsin have held referendum votes to raise property taxes to support ongoing expenses.
“This leaves no resources for overhauling outdated electrical systems or investments to cut energy costs,” Ugoretz said.
Ugoretz spoke at Forest Edge Elementary School, a Fitchburg school that has been singled out for its strides in improving energy efficiency. In 2021, the school, after operating for just one year, was recognized as the first Net Zero Energy school in Wisconsin — producing and returning to the power grid as much energy as it used.
The BlueGreen Alliance, an advocacy group that combines the interests of the labor and environmental movements, chose the school Thursday for a presentation on how clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act are available to more than just taxpayers, whether individuals or businesses.
Direct IRS support that passes those tax credits on to nonprofits will help accelerate the spread of green technology to more users, participants in Thursday’s event said.
“That is a really, really big deal — not only because we get to model for our students what a clean energy economy looks like, but because utility costs for schools are one of the biggest demands on school budgets,” said Kristina Costa, deputy assistant to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation. “And when energy costs go up, that leaves fewer resources available for everything else that students need to do.”
Cutting those costs by boosting energy efficiency “frees up those precious dollars to improve our schools and in other ways to enrich our kids’ education,” Costa added.
Spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act, businesses have invested $1.7 billion on clean power projects in Wisconsin through May 2024, according to the White House.
“This is a win, win, win,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Town of Vermont) — for improving education resources, for labor and “more professional job development to have good wages and benefits. Pocan praised the Biden administration for taking “the high road,” adding, “it’s a win for the environment because ultimately we’re addressing climate change through addressing the rising cost of energy.”
Forest Edge school was built well before the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, but as Wisconsin’s first net-zero energy school, “it’s an example of what’s possible for schools across the state,” state Carly Eaton, Wisconsin policy manager for BlueGreen Alliance.
From the start the Oregon School District facility was developed to be as energy efficient and clean-energy focused as possible, school district officials said.
A total of 1,704 solar panels line the flat rooftops of the building, providing enough electricity that the district is able to sell some of it back to the power grid, according to Andy Weiland, Oregon School District business manager. Walls of glass maximize natural light in the building, while the panes are specially treated to darken automatically in sunlight to prevent the building interior from heating up.
Geothermal energy, which draws heat from deep below the earth’s surface, and heat pump technology warm the school — and also keep it cool when the weather outside is warm.
“For the most part we don’t have to use any fossil fuels at all,” Weiland said as he gave a tour of the building Thursday.
Had the district been able to use the Inflation Reduction Act’s direct support program when it was building the school, the savings, Weiland speculated, “would have been several million dollars.”
Beyond the savings that the act promises for people and organizations that use its incentives to upgrade their energy systems, the legislation has also been championed for provisions that require contractors to pay employees prevailing local wages on projects that qualify for the full values of tax credits. It also requires projects to employ participants in licensed apprenticeship programs.
The two requirements help stabilize the construction workforce, said Emily Pritzkow, executive director of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, which represents about 40,000 Wisconsin members in several construction unions.
“By utilizing competitive labor standards, including an area’s standard wages, benefits and training opportunities, we are ensuring the economic impact of these projects stays in our local community for generations to come,” Pritzkow said.
The recent expansion of a groundbreaking transportation law in Minnesota means all major highway projects in the state will soon be scrutinized for their impact on climate emissions.
A year ago, the state legislature made headlines with a new law requiring the state transportation department and the Twin Cities’ regional planning agency to begin assessing whether highway expansion projects are consistent with state climate goals, including Minnesota’s aim for 20% reduction in driving by 2050.
A follow-up bill passed this spring expands the 2023 law to include all major highway projects statewide that exceed a $15 million budget in the Twin Cities or $5 million outside the metro, regardless of whether or not they would add new driving lanes. The updated legislation also established a technical advisory committee and a state fund to recommend and help pay for mitigation projects.
“It allows for some evolution of the law,” said Sam Rockwell, executive director of Move Minnesota, a nonprofit advocacy group that supported the legislation. “There’s more flexibility.”
The law requires transportation project planners to offset projected increases in greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled to qualify for state or federal highway dollars. Those mitigation efforts might include incorporating funding for transit, bicycle or pedestrian programs or environmental restoration projects.
Altogether, the law will now cover more than 12,000 miles of state trunk highways that account for more than 60% of all miles driven in the state. One high-profile project that may not have been covered under the initial law is the upcoming reconstruction of Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, which will now need to account for climate impacts.
The changes come as advocates and officials seek solutions to reverse the continued growth of transportation emissions, which surpassed electricity generation almost a decade ago as the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and are a major reason why Minnesota is not on track to meet its climate goals.
A disconnect has long existed between even progressive states’ climate goals and the status quo of highway construction, which has long focused on maximizing efficiency for drivers. The new Minnesota law is an attempt to integrate climate action into state and local transportation planning, and to recognize that electric vehicles alone won’t be enough to achieve climate targets.
Under the law, the Twin Cities’ regional planning agency, the Metropolitan Council, must include strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles driven in its next 25-year regional plan in 2026. All metro area communities will then use that plan as the basis for their local comprehensive plans, which are due to the regional council in 2028.
“It’s a waterfall effect here,” Rockwell said.
The Met Council’s last planning document, Thrive 2040, already outlined a focus on multimodal travel options, encouraging walking and biking options while setting a goal of decreasing vehicle miles traveled per capita by 20% by 2050, in line with the state’s official goal.
Many metro area communities are already having conversations about how to reduce dependency on driving. Abby Finis, a consultant who has helped several communities draft climate action plans, said reducing driving can bring broader benefits than simply focusing on electric vehicles.
“It offers more active lifestyles, more opportunities to incorporate nature, and has less impact on natural resources needed for electric vehicles,” she said.
Most communities focus on increasing the ability of residents to walk and bicycle for short trips by adding bike lanes, pedestrian islands and safer crosswalks, she said. Some cities see telecommuting and co-working spaces as options for reducing commutes.
But transforming the suburbs will be challenging, Finis said. Sustaining transit service often requires denser development, which continues to be politically controversial in many communities.
“I have yet to see any community push hard on those strategies in a way that meets what is necessary to reduce [vehicle miles traveled] and adapt to climate change,” Finis said.
For example, Minnetonka, a western suburb of Minneapolis with more than 52,000 residents, boasts a considerable bicycling community. But transit ridership is low except for a modest ridership at the regional mall, one commercial development area, and park-and-ride lots, said Minnetonka’s Community Development Director Julie Wischnack.
Developed in the 1950s and 1960s, Minnetonka’s current land use is a barrier to fixed route transit. But the city is among a collection of suburbs along Interstate 494 that has been pushing for transit and other commuting options, including telework.
Another member of that commission, Bloomington, faces many of the same challenges. The city has a few dense neighborhoods near transit stops and the Mall of America, but much of the community remains single-family homes and small apartments. A recent report Bloomington commissioned on transportation found that 75% of trips by residents were more than 10 miles.
Transit, biking, and other modes could replace trips that are less than 10 miles, said Bloomington Sustainability Coordinator Emma Struss. A recent city transportation study suggested several strategies to decrease driving, including transit-oriented development, free bus and rail passes, bike parking, subsidized e-bikes and more transit. Removing barriers to walking and biking were highlighted.
“We’re hearing more and more from residents that they want safe ways to get around the community without needing to take a car,” Struss said.
St. Paul has made changes to create denser neighborhoods, including removing parking minimums for new development and letting up-to-four-unit complexes be built in single-family neighborhoods. The biggest challenge continues to be the spread-out nature of the region, which forces people to drive to suburban jobs and big-box merchants.
“The fundamental nature of those trips is hard to serve with anything but driving in the car,” said Russ Stark, St. Paul’s chief resilience officer.
Minneapolis has focused less on vehicle miles and more on “mode shift,” or decreasing trips, said the city’s Public Works Director Tim Sexton. The goal is to replace three of five trips by car with walking, biking, or other modes. A city transportation action plan features more than 100 strategies, including creating around 60 mobility hubs where residents can rent e-bikes, scooters or electric vehicles, or take transit.
Patrick Hanlon, the city’s deputy commissioner of sustainability, healthy homes and the environment, pointed out that Minneapolis has one of the country’s best-developed bike networks, which continues to grow. The city’s comprehensive plan drew national attention for removing barriers preventing denser development, which typically leads to fewer transportation emissions. Several transportation corridors now feature bus rapid transit lines.
What Finis described as a “patchwork” of conversations around developments like these are expected to become more comprehensive as the state law’s planning requirements take effect in the coming years.
The legislation has also made Minnesota a national inspiration for other states looking to make progressive changes to highway planning, Rockwell said.
“We know of a number of other states that are looking at trying to replicate parts of this (law), which is great,” he said. “We’ve been on the phone with folks from New York, Michigan, Illinois and Maryland who are trying to bring some pieces of this into their legislative sessions and their legal framework. That’s exciting.”
GRID: Large tech companies are betting on atomic fusion and other unproven energy technologies to power AI data centers, which critics say are already increasing reliance on fossil fuels. (Washington Post)
ALSO:
OIL & GAS:
RENEWABLES: University of Wisconsin researchers map millions of acres of abandoned U.S. farmland that could potentially be reused for renewable energy projects. (Journal Sentinel)
SOLAR: Korean solar company Qcells expands its deal with a developer to provide 2 GW of modules from its Georgia factory for community solar projects by 2027, in what the company says is the largest community solar partnership in U.S. history. (Korea Herald, news release)
HYDROGEN: The oil and gas industry’s lawsuit against the U.S. EPA questioning the process of developing clean hydrogen as a fuel for long-haul trucks grinds against efforts by Exxon Mobil and Chevron to champion the new technology. (Houston Chronicle)
ELECTRIFICATION: A study finds California utilities could save about $20 billion over the next two decades by electrifying clusters of buildings instead of replacing their aging natural gas pipelines. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE:
COAL: A federal watchdog’s report finds an agency’s process for distributing funding to states and tribes to clean up old coal mines is plagued by problems that have resulted in delays, poor tracking and confusion. (E&E News)
SOLAR: Korean solar company Qcells expands its deal with a developer to provide 2 GW of modules from its Georgia factory for community solar projects by 2027 — the largest community solar partnership in U.S. history. (Korea Herald, news release)
ALSO:
OIL & GAS:
WIND: Dominion Energy begins installing turbine foundations as it continues building its 176-turbine offshore wind farm near Virginia. (WHRO)
RENEWABLES: A California firm agrees to purchase stakes in a 250 MW solar farm, a 226 MW wind farm and a 350 MW wind farm, all located in Texas. (Renewables Now)
HYDROGEN: The oil and gas industry’s lawsuit against the U.S. EPA questioning the process of developing clean hydrogen as a fuel for long-haul trucks grinds against efforts by Exxon Mobil and Chevron to champion the new technology. (Houston Chronicle)
COAL: A federal watchdog releases a report finding an agency’s process for distributing funding to states and tribes to clean up old coal mines is plagued by problems that have resulted in delays, poor tracking and confusion over the process. (E&E News)
NUCLEAR: West Virginia U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito calls on state officials to ensure they’ve prepared sites for the construction of small modular nuclear reactors after her legislation heads to President Biden for his signature. (WV News)
BUILDINGS: A North Carolina developer constructs 11 new homes built to federal Zero Energy Ready Home standards that are priced for first-time homebuyers. (WSOC)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Texas school district will purchase 15 electric buses with $6.1 million in federal funding. (KXAS)
GRID:
CLIMATE:
COMMENTARY: Louisiana should engage communities around ports and leverage federal funding to reduce toxic emissions, environmental injustice and the potential for lawsuits, writes an activist. (The Advocate)
CLIMATE: Hawaii recognizes children’s constitutional right to a life-sustaining climate and steps up efforts to reach a goal of net-negative emissions by 2045 to settle a youths’ lawsuit targeting the state’s fossil fuel-friendly policies. (Associated Press)
HYDROPOWER: A rural Alaska community prepares to use federal funding to construct a run-of-the-river hydropower project aimed at reducing the village’s reliance on diesel generators. (KTOO)
ELECTRIFICATION: A study finds California utilities could save about $20 billion over the next two decades by electrifying clusters of buildings instead of replacing their aging natural gas pipelines. (Utility Dive)
STORAGE:
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
OIL & GAS:
PUBLIC LANDS: A federal Bureau of Land Management plan to expand protections on some public lands in western Colorado while leaving 855,300 acres open to oil and gas leasing draws mixed reviews from advocates. (news release)
GRID: California’s grid operator begins shifting governance of its extended day-ahead power market to an independent entity. (RTO Insider, subscription)
BIOFUELS: Nevada researchers find prickly pear cactus fruit are a climate-resilient source of biomass for fuel production. (news release)
COAL: A Wyoming explosives maker says declining Powder River Basin coal production has driven down its sales by 19% this year. (Cowboy State Daily)
COMMENTARY: A California editorial board calls on state lawmakers to require cooling equipment in residential rental units to keep occupants safe during increasingly frequent climate change-exacerbated heat events. (Los Angeles Times)
Massachusetts is in the process of tripling the size of its first-in-the-nation vehicle fleet electrification program following a recent influx of federal money.
“We are really looking at the barriers, the challenges, the things that we need to figure out to get decarbonization to happen at scale,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
A $5 million infusion from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act will allow the Massachusetts Fleet Advisor program to serve as many as 200 small businesses, nonprofits, and cities and towns served by municipal electric utilities, up from the original target of 65. The money will also allow the program to run through 2026.
The fleet advisor concept pioneered in Massachusetts is getting traction elsewhere. California launched a similar program in June 2023, and New Jersey will soon be introducing its own version.
“A lot of other states are taking notice and building on this model,” said Jordan Stutt, Northeast region senior director for CALSTART, the clean transportation nonprofit running the program for the state.
Transportation is responsible for 37% of Massachusetts’ greenhouse emissions, making the move to electric vehicles a vital element of the state’s strategy for going carbon neutral by 2050. In pursuit of this goal, the state’s incentive program provides rebates of $3,500 for eligible electric car purchases (with additional money available for low-income buyers), $7,500 for medium-duty electric vehicles, and from $15,000 to $90,000 for larger electric trucks.
Fleet vehicles, however, are a particularly important — and tricky — segment of the market. While personal vehicles generally spend most of the day parked, fleet cars and trucks tend to be driven for longer portions of the day, heightening their emissions impact. In Massachusetts, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles — which includes everything from a senior center’s mini-bus to a supermarket chain’s tractor-trailer — make up 3% of the vehicles on the road, yet produce 20% of the state’s transportation emissions.
At the same time, switching to electric is a more complicated process for fleet managers than it is for individual consumers. Organizations must consider their long-term budgeting, which vehicles will need replacing when, what available vehicles would meet their needs, and whether their infrastructure is suitable for charging stations. In many cases, decisions must be discussed and approved by multiple stakeholders, like a nonprofit’s board of directors or all of the partners in a business.
The numbers suggest fleets are making the conversion at a slower rate than personal owners. Since the state made electric fleet vehicles eligible for incentives in 2021 it has issued 227 rebates to light-duty fleet vehicles, 95 rebates for heavy-duty pickup trucks and similar vehicles, and seven rebates for larger trucks. During the same span, the incentive program issued nearly 28,000 rebates overall.
“There is a lot of planning work that goes into getting a fleet owner to the point where they can really take advantage of electrifying the fleet,” Reichert said.
The Massachusetts Fleet Advisor program was conceived in 2021 as a way to overcome some of these challenges. With initial funding of $1 million, the program was designed to offer no-cost fleet electrification assessment reports and procurement assistance to organizations with interest in moving away from fossil fuels but without the resources to do all the legwork involved.
“A small business owner that’s just worried about the day-to-day doesn’t have the time to look into all that,” said Jennifer Kritzler, CALSTART’s Northeast region deputy director. “Mass Fleet Advisor becomes a great resource to answer those questions.”
The process begins with a brief phone call in which an organization learns more about the program and whether it would be a good fit. To be eligible, an entity must have a fleet of at least three vehicles, at least one of which must be medium- or heavy-duty. Then, the organization answers questions about its current fleet, facilities, and goals.
The program has earmarked half of its funds to work in environmental justice neighborhoods: those with high populations of color or lower average incomes, which have traditionally borne a disproportionate share of environmental burdens. Fleets that are based in or regularly drive through these areas will fall into this segment.
“We’re really trying to include a focus not only on the emissions but on the benefits of reducing air pollution in communities that are highly affected by this,” Reichert said.
The initial communication is followed by a site visit. A recent site visit in the town of Ipswich involved touring town hall, the department of public works, and the Ipswich Electric Light Department. Consultants from program partner the Better Together Brain Trust talked to employees about how the town’s handful of electric vehicles are charged and deployed, what the current infrastructure is like, and what they are hoping or expecting to see as the town evolves toward greater use of electric vehicles.
The site visit helps reveal dynamics not captured by the questionnaire: In Ipswich, the assessors discovered that their initial thoughts about where chargers might work was complicated by the parking needs of the town’s council on aging.
“We’re getting absolutely the best information from the local experts,” said Nicole Voudren, president of the Better Together Brain Trust.
When the assessment is complete, it will provide truly useful information to the town, said Rick Mitchell, Ipswich climate resiliency manager.
“The results, when we see those, will provide a platform for intelligent decision-making,” he said. “We’ll have objective, independent, third-party information on the options. This helps summarize what would be a very labor-intensive undertaking in one place.”
Mass Fleet Advisor does not provide any money toward buying electric vehicles, nor does it require participants to make any purchases. However, up to 75 participants that decide to implement some or all of their plans will also be able to receive assistance with the procurement process: The fleet advisor program will help these participants locate appropriate vehicles, connect with dealers, apply for incentives, train their workforces, and develop standard operating procedures for the new vehicles.
“We’re really excited for this not to be a one-time thing, then we walk away,” Kritzler said. “We want to be a resource for folks as they go through their journey.”
So far, 50 organizations — from dry cleaners and lumberyards to universities and municipalities — have signed on to participate, and 20 completed reports have been delivered.
To make sure they are able to make full use of the new funds, the program partners are ramping up their marketing and recruitment efforts, reaching out to community organizations and chambers of commerce, and planning events that allow organizations to see and even drive electric trucks.
“I’ve found when you get someone behind the wheel of a truck, it’s the best tool for converting people to believing that electric vehicles can work for them,” Kritzler said.
SOLAR: Supporters say establishing a community solar program in Michigan would help accomplish a range of climate, justice and economic development goals, though legislation still faces utility opposition. (Planet Detroit)
WIND:
CLIMATE: After arriving at an Iowa news station full of optimism, a meteorologist’s climate-focused reports soon met backlash and threats that led him to quit after two years. (New York Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Detroit’s three automakers should focus on selling gas-powered trucks to fund research and development that could bring down the cost of electric vehicles, a banking analyst says. (Detroit News)
RENEWABLES: An Iowa conservative clean energy group works to promote renewable energy as public sentiment and NIMBYism challenge new projects. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
EMISSIONS: A national biofuels trade group joins oil companies and refineries in challenging new federal tailpipe emissions rules that could threaten both sectors. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
UTILITIES: Michigan’s attorney general pushes back on DTE Energy’s attempt to require customers without smart meters to report their outages in order to receive bill credits, as opposed to receiving them automatically. (WDIV)
GRID:
COMMENTARY:
WIND: An energy company opens a 184 MW wind project in Mississippi, bucking the Southeast’s resistance to onshore wind power to supply energy to Amazon for regional data centers and logistics hubs. (Canary Media)
GRID:
UTILITIES: Federal regulators collect public comment as they reconsider whether to approve a real-time market consisting of Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, the Southern Company and other Southeast power companies. (Utility Dive)
SOLAR:
RENEWABLES: A Virginia county approves stricter rules around wind and solar projects after public outcry against a 2022 wind farm proposal. (Galax Gazette, subscription)
PIPELINES: As the Mountain Valley Pipeline finally enters service, advocates and opponents shift their attention to its proposed spur into North Carolina, which Duke Energy says could supply its proposed natural gas-fired plant buildout. (WVTF, West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
COAL: Federal data shows four of West Virginia’s five coal-fired power plants produced less power in 2023 than any year since 2001. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Hyundai announces the first vehicle it will produce this fall at its planned Georgia factory is its top-selling electric vehicle, the IONIQ 5. (Georgia Current)
NUCLEAR: West Virginia nuclear energy advocates hope a recently passed bill in the U.S. Senate will jumpstart the development of small nuclear reactors in the state. (WBOY)
OVERSIGHT: An Louisiana energy regulator announces he won’t seek reelection and will step down at the end of the year. (Louisiana Illuminator)
POLITICS: A new study finds large majorities of Louisianans support carbon capture, solar farms and offshore oil and gas drilling, regardless of their political affiliations. (Louisiana Illuminator)
COMMENTARY: A researcher finds Duke Energy overestimated the reliability of fossil fuels and the cost of renewables to justify its proposal to delay closing coal plants and build new gas plants in North Carolina, writes a staffer at a Southeast clean energy group. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
CLEAN ENERGY: The world’s largest ever climate survey finds 54% of Americans want a quick transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, among the smallest majorities among counties polled. (The Guardian)
ALSO:
NUCLEAR: Congress overwhelmingly passes a bill to boost the development and building of advanced nuclear projects, marking a rare bipartisan energy win. (E&E News)
WIND: An energy company opens a 184 MW wind project in Mississippi, bucking the Southeast’s resistance to onshore wind power to supply energy to Amazon for regional data centers and logistics hubs. (Canary Media)
SOLAR:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID:
HYDROPOWER: The Biden administration acknowledges that federally operated hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River have harmed salmon and the tribal nations reliant on them, bolstering efforts to decommission the facilities. (Associated Press)
PUBLIC LANDS: Wyoming and Utah file a lawsuit seeking to block the federal Bureau of Land Management’s new public land rule that puts conservation on a par with energy development, saying it threatens their resource-based economies. (WyoFile)
Have you had a conversation with ChatGPT, experimented with Google’s email-answering generator, or used an AI-enhanced search on Bing or Facebook? All those AI-enabled activities take a lot more data processing than a regular internet search or scroll. And more data processing means more data centers — and more electricity to power them. Analysts predict these facilities, which house servers that send and store tons of data, could account for as much as 9% of U.S. energy demand by 2030.
Virginia has earned the nickname of “Data Center Alley,” as it’s home to servers that see about 70% of global internet traffic, according to the Wall Street Journal. But as more devices connect to the internet and as AI drives up data demand, data center developers are looking for new places to locate these facilities.
With its cooler climate, abundant water, and relatively mild weather, the Midwest may serve that niche, the Energy News Network reports. And clean energy advocates say data centers could help juice renewable energy development; Microsoft, for example, has promised to build renewables in Wisconsin to help make up for the power its planned data centers will use. Former coal plants and industrial facilities also make good homes for data centers since they’re already connected to the power grid.
But data center proliferation across Virginia and the Southeast is also provides a cautionary tale for clean energy. Utilities across the region have announced plans to build new gas plants and keep coal plants open longer, often citing data centers’ energy needs as part of their reasoning.
Read more about the promise and perils of a Midwest data center boom at the Energy News Network.
💸 Where climate funding goes: More than three quarters of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $34 billion of announced investments have gone to congressional districts represented by Republicans who voted against it, an analysis finds. (CNN)
⚛️ Small nuclear fires up: The U.S. Energy Department announces $900 million for small nuclear reactor development, which along with a bipartisan federal bill to reduce fees and speed permitting could boost the industry. (E&E News, The Hill)
🚘 Benefits for EV buyers: U.S. electric vehicle buyers have received more than $1 billion in point-of-sale rebates since the Treasury Department launched the instant incentives in January, discounting an estimated quarter of the 600,000 EVs sold so far this year. (E&E News)
🌊 Whatever floats your solar panel: Covering around 10% of the world’s lakes and reservoirs with floating solar panels could generate enough electricity to power the United Kingdom four times over, and could be used to cover all power use in some small countries, scientists find. (Grist)
⏳ What’s the holdup? Supply chain and interconnection delays are stalling large renewable energy projects across the Midwest, despite new efforts in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan to speed up permitting. (Inside Climate News)
🏠 Use ‘em or lose ‘em: Inflation Reduction Act funding for home energy rebates will likely remain mostly unspent until after the November election; Trump allies have indicated he would revamp the program and jeopardize the funding if he is elected. (E&E News)
🛣️ Lining up grid wins: An organization pushing to build transmission lines along highways recently scored a legislative win in Minnesota, and now looks to expand the policy to other states. (Canary Media)
🔋 FERC fills up: The U.S. Senate confirms three nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, filling the five-member board as it prepares to guide the nation’s grid buildout. (E&E News)
🛢️ Ten years later: Federal regulators approve the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline to enter service after a decade of regulatory, legal and on-the-ground battles. (Roanoke Times)
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