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The clean energy transition doesn’t just need a ton of solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries. It needs aluminum — a key component to all of those technologies and many more.
In the next 25 years, global aluminum demand is set to surge as much as 80% as we deploy clean energy and build out the grid. But if we keep making aluminum the way we have for decades, the emissions-heavy process will outweigh a lot of the clean benefits it’ll unlock.
A massive new aluminum smelter wants to set a new status quo, Canary Media reports in the first of a two-part series. Using $500 million from the U.S. Energy Department, the Century Aluminum plant aims to run on carbon-free energy and implement efficient designs to curb its emissions as much as 75% compared to traditional smelters. Procuring all that clean power won’t be easy, though, and the part of Kentucky where it’s likely to be built is also scaling up solar and transmission development to meet the demand.
Recycling can meanwhile reduce the need for new aluminum in the first place, Canary Media continues. As much as 80% of aluminum produced in the U.S. is recycled, and the industry relies on trash pickers, scrappers, and everyday Pepsi drinkers to gather up recyclable material. But because secondary aluminum still demands some virgin material, experts say cleaning up smelters should be the industry’s top priority.
Also this week in essential clean energy materials: There’s a debate raging over the merger of two major steel companies, Grist reports. Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel is looking to acquire U.S. Steel in a move some environmentalists say could slow both companies’ climate progress. The carbon-intensive industry has been notoriously slow to clean up its processes even with federal funding available, and advocates want to make sure the government keeps that in mind as it approves the consolidation.
🚗 EVs start delivering: The first electric U.S. Post Office trucks are on the road in Georgia and already winning praise from drivers who prefer them to the previous hot, noisy and inefficient combustion vehicles. (Associated Press)
🛟 Life-saving clean transition: The Biden administration’s environmental protections and clean energy incentives will save as many as 200,000 lives by 2050 by reducing pollution, an advocacy group finds. (The Guardian)
🤖 Virtual reality: Clean energy advocates and solar companies partner to draft model utility rules and legislation to help states deploy virtual power plants, which could reduce the cost of the clean energy transition by tying together solar, storage, and other distributed energy technologies. (Canary Media)
🏦 Banking on clean energy: A federal green bank aims to channel $500 million to community financial institutions to fund solar arrays, renewable energy apprenticeships, electrified public transit, and more in rural areas, with priority for projects in Appalachia. (Grist)
☢️ Nuclear plants’ new lives: Several dozen retired nuclear plants around the country could be suitable for repowering, according to a new federal report analyzing retired coal and nuclear sites that could host new nuclear generation. (Utility Dive)
⛈️ Back-to-back climate threat: Experts warn Houston’s experience with Hurricane Beryl this summer — widespread power outages followed by a dangerous heat wave — is an “absolute certainty” to affect other parts of the U.S. that are unprepared for such a scenario. (Washington Post)
🇺🇲 Plus, some politics
OIL & GAS: Data show two now-defunct companies abandoned 551 oil and gas wells in Colorado last year, leaving them to the state to plug and reclaim. (CPR)
ALSO: New Mexico regulators reject dozens of proposed oil and gas wastewater disposal wells in the Permian Basin following a series of drilling-related earthquakes. (Capital & Main)
POLLUTION: Advocates call on the U.S. EPA to clamp down on smog-forming emissions from Wyoming coal plants and oil and gas facilities rather than waiting for the state to come up with its own plan. (Inside Climate News)
COAL: A western Colorado community works to build up its tourism and outdoor recreation industries to help it weather the 2028 retirement of a major coal plant and mine. (Rocky Mountain PBS)
WIND:
SOLAR:
UTILITIES: Nevada regulators reject NV Energy’s proposed rate hike for customers in the northern part of the state, saying it was an “inordinately large” increase. (Nevada Independent)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Port of San Diego begins operating two 400 ton electric cranes. (Electrek)
LITHIUM: Hualapai tribal members urge a federal judge to extend an exploratory drilling ban at a proposed lithium mine in western Arizona, saying it would harm culturally significant lands. (Associated Press)
STORAGE:
COMMENTARY: A California columnist calls on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign 13 climate-related bills including ones that would expedite more rooftop solar, encourage home electrification and clear the way for oil and gas drilling bans. (Los Angeles Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Owners of General Motors electric vehicles can now install adapters that allow access to Tesla supercharger stations, a move by the automaker to expand charger access and remove range anxiety as a barrier to adoption. (Forbes)
ALSO:
POLITICS: Minnesota utility executives have played an outsized role in campaign contributions to a Republican candidate looking to upset her Democratic opponent in a crucial Minnesota state Senate race. (Minnesota Reformer)
PIPELINES:
SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: A nonprofit receives a $2.8 million federal grant to help Michigan tribal communities adopt energy-efficient building codes and climate adaptation strategies. (WisconsinInno, subscription; news release)
RENEWABLES: City officials in Kalamazoo, Michigan, approve a 20-year contract with Consumers Energy to buy enough wind and solar to power all municipal buildings by 2028. (MLive)
WIND: Federal officials announce an Oct. 29 auction for as much as 13 GW of wind leases in eight areas of the Gulf of Maine. (Portland Press Herald; RTO Insider, subscription)
GRID: Massachusetts’ top court decides not to overturn the state energy siting board’s approval of an East Boston substation, finding the “board’s decision is lawful” despite environmental justice concerns. (RTO Insider, subscription)
SOLAR: Maryland utility regulators will host a Sept. 25 public hearing regarding a 2.25 MW solar facility that would be located on 14 acres of farmland in Sykesville. (Baltimore Sun)
BUILDINGS:
TRANSIT: Maine will use a $16.6 million federal grant to upgrade ferry terminals in Islesboro and Lincolnville for hybrid electric ferries, among other improvements. (Bangor Daily News)
EMISSIONS: In New York, a $3 million federal environmental protection grant will be used to buy and install biofilters at closed local landfills to lower methane emissions. (Times Union)
CLIMATE:
FLOODS: Very few Maine homes are signed up for federally backed flood insurance, leading a state infrastructure commission to wonder if Maine should offer a public option. (Maine Monitor)
AFFORDABILITY: A relatively mild August in Connecticut lowered electric bills for Eversource customers, bringing much-needed financial relief after record midsummer heat. (New Haven Register)
BIOENERGY: A Massachusetts company closes a $5 million seed round it says will advance its gas fermentation tech that turns carbon dioxide, water and electricity into substances including biofuels, a process it licenses from Harvard University. (news release)
OIL & GAS: A judge halts work on a 5,000-well oil and gas drilling project in Wyoming after finding federal regulators miscalculated the project’s groundwater impacts. (Courthouse News Service)
ALSO:
UTILITIES: California regulators approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s fourth proposed rate hike in 15 months, saying it is necessary to recoup costs associated with winter storms and wildfire mitigation. (Sacramento Bee)
ELECTRIFICATION: California advocates call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would allow utilities to electrify entire neighborhoods rather than replace costly natural gas lines. (Canary Media)
GRID:
MICROGRIDS: The U.S. Energy Department loans a southern California tribal nation $72.8 million to fund a 15 MW carport solar array, a vanadium flow battery storage system and a microgrid. (Tribal Business News)
WIND: Washington state’s energy siting council votes to recommend approval of a less-scaled back version of the proposed Horse Heaven wind and solar project in the southeastern part of the state. (Center Square)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLEAN ENERGY: A Utah city votes not to participate in a state program giving residents the option to acquire 100% of their electricity from renewable sources. (Sandy City Journal)
COAL: A California real estate firm acquires the troubled Kemmerer coal mine in southwestern Wyoming, but does not disclose its plans for the facility. (Cowboy State Daily)
COMMENTARY: A California advocate calls on state regulators to reconsider a rule blocking solar contractors from installing residential battery systems, saying it will increase costs and slow the clean energy transition. (Times of San Diego)
GRID: A White House infrastructure advisory council calls for the U.S. to build a “strategic virtual reserve” of electric transformers to help speed electrification efforts. (Utility Dive)
ALSO:
EMISSIONS:
TRANSITION: The future of vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s hometown may hinge on a $500 million federal grant to help the city’s steel plant build a massive hydrogen-powered furnace to replace coal — though the company is considering abandoning the funding. (The Guardian, Politico)
OIL & GAS: Lake Charles, Louisiana, has become the locus of America’s natural gas industry, but its location between Houston and New Orleans exposes it to the brunt of climate change. (The Guardian)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
ELECTRIFICATION: California advocates call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would allow utilities to electrify entire neighborhoods rather than replace costly natural gas lines. (Canary Media)
POLITICS: Oil industry leaders say they’re disappointed with former President Trump after he made an “incoherent” case for continued fossil fuel use at last week’s debate. (Politico)
SOLAR: Arkansas’ solar industry prepares for new net metering rules that add restrictions and reduce utility credits for newly connected solar systems to less than half of what existing system owners receive. (Arkansas Business)
OIL & GAS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
MANUFACTURING: Georgia leaders hail the state’s success in attracting electric vehicle and solar panel factories as a “new industrial revolution.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
WIND: Arkansas’ first three wind farms are under construction or in the planning stages. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)
COAL ASH: Experts call for mitigation actions after finding high levels of arsenic and radium in coal ash near a North Carolina daycare center. (WCNC)
BIOMASS: Georgia regulators consider Georgia Power’s request to purchase up to 80 MW of biomass-fired power from three plants ahead of a scheduled vote this week. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
COAL: The former leader of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign discusses West Virginia officials’ attempts to prop up coal as a power source. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
CLIMATE:
COMMENTARY: The presidential campaign has focused on unrealistic energy policy proposals, with the idea of banning fracking likely pushing utilities back to coal and the promise of $2/gallon gasoline liable to push oil companies out of business, writes a columnist. (Houston Chronicle)
A federal grant will help four of Ohio’s largest cities collaborate on new voluntary building performance standards and a resource hub to help commercial building owners save energy and cut emissions.
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton will use $10 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding to establish the Ohio High Performance Building Hub, which will connect building owners with technical guidance, financing solutions, incentives, training, and other support.
Clean energy advocates and city sustainability leaders hope the program will offer a new path forward in a state where buildings account for about one-fourth of greenhouse gas emissions but state lawmakers have gutted mandatory energy efficiency measures. The state ranked 44th in a recent state energy efficiency policy report card.
“All four of those cities have ambitious climate goals, and addressing existing buildings is a crucial part of that,” said Nat Ziegler, a program manager with Power a Clean Future Ohio, which is a partner on the grant. They expect lessons learned from the work and the hub can eventually help other cities and towns in Ohio and across the Midwest.
Buildings account for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions in the four cities participating in the grant: greater than 60% for Cincinnati and from 50% to 55% for Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton. The new program will specifically target emissions from more than 421 million square feet of commercial building space among the four cities.
“This is a great way to really jump-start a lot of that work,” said Erin Beck, assistant director for Sustainable Columbus.
The hub could help building owners navigate funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as through bonds issued by the Ohio Air Quality Development Agency or local port authorities or lending from green banks or more traditional financial institutions.
Existing building energy codes “apply primarily to new construction and major renovations, which is great. But most buildings already exist, right?” said Amanda Webb, an assistant professor of architectural engineering at the University of Cincinnati, which was the lead recipient of an earlier $2.9 million grant focused on developing technical guidance for the voluntary standards.
Work under both Department of Energy grants focuses on “coming up with a way to help really deliver the benefits of energy efficiency to existing buildings at scale,” Webb said.
The standards will differ from more general guidelines such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program, which largely emphasize new construction and a broader range of sustainability measures than energy use and emissions.
Cities will use the technical guidance from the work by Webb’s group and results from outreach to develop standards, rather than codes. The difference is codes are mandatory, with penalties for violations, whereas standards are not.
“The approach that we’re taking with this is definitely much more of a carrot approach” than a stick, said Robert McCracken, who heads up energy management for the Office of Environment & Sustainability in Cincinnati, which is the lead partner on the project.
The reasons are largely legal, as well as political. Over the past decade, leadership in the Ohio General Assembly has generally opposed imposing requirements to cut pollution, and a bill for utilities to provide voluntary energy efficiency programs still has not passed.
As a legal matter, cities generally can’t adopt building codes stricter than those established by the Ohio Board of Building Standards. However, the board doesn’t have authority to set requirements for benchmarking emissions or performance standards for existing buildings. The cities’ grant application said the board confirmed that a delegation of authority won’t be needed, as long as they don’t adopt new construction codes.
Energy efficiency provides its own incentives for building owners, because “it saves money,” said Oliver Kroner, who heads up Cincinnati’s Office of Environment & Sustainability. “People are generally aligned with the [city’s] climate commitments. But there’s sometimes the gap with what you want to do and how to get there.”
Lower costs for building owners can also let them charge lower rents, which can attract tenants. “We frequently receive inquiries from companies who are considering relocating, and they’re interested in the climate effort here,” Kroner said.
Ziegler said many of their organization’s 50 local government members also have shown interest in getting help for cutting building emissions. The independent hub to be set up under the new grant will really help building owners with the “nuts and bolts” for meeting their city’s building performance standards, they said.
Columbus is the only one of the four cities with a benchmarking policy right now, and the plan calls for the others to adopt their own versions as well. Benchmarking will be key for letting the cities track progress in reducing energy use. Based on existing commercial building stock in each city, the team members estimate cutting energy use 45% by 2050, the grant application materials said.
Beck said the Columbus benchmarking program has “been very successful,” noting the city has worked with building owners to help them comply. Audits done as part of the process have also identified “low hanging fruit” for adding energy efficiency through LED lighting, thermostat adjustments and so on, she noted.
Equity concerns also factor into the choice of standards versus codes. Businesses in historically disinvested communities already face a variety of financial and other challenges.
“We want this to be a benefit rather than yet another burden that’s imposed on them,” Ziegler said.
Webb’s team is also exploring how building performance standards could be tailored up front to address concerns about affordability. Possibilities could include a metric to reflect greater equity needs or measures to ensure tenants as well as owners benefit from savings.
“We have other grants that are focused on workforce development,” Kroner said, adding his hope that many people from underserved communities will be able to work in jobs to help buildings meet building performance standards once they’re adopted.
As work by Webb’s group continues, the four cities and others will gear up for outreach efforts and other work so they’re ready to adopt standards. “There’s going to be a lot of education and outreach in the beginning,” McCracken said.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The first electric U.S. Post Office trucks are on the road in Georgia and already winning praise from drivers who prefer them to the previous hot, noisy and inefficient combustion vehicles. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
UTILITIES:
CLEAN ENERGY: Texas’ plans to build solar, wind and battery projects over the next year and a half dwarf those of any other state, including second-place California. (Canary Media)
HYDROGEN: Utilities in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas are converting existing power plants and building new ones to blend hydrogen with natural gas in an attempt to decarbonize their emissions. (Power Engineering)
CLIMATE:
SOLAR: High interest rates, labor shortages, and foreign competition are jeopardizing the buildout of a domestic solar supply chain, industry leaders say. (Utility Dive)
ELECTRIFICATION: Colorado officials look to regulations, rebates and marketing to prod restaurants to convert from natural gas to electric stoves. (CPR)
GEOTHERMAL: Well tests determine an enhanced geothermal generating station in southwestern Utah is the most productive of its kind in history. (Utility Dive)
COMMENTARY: A professor says the bipartisan permitting bill in Congress is a “Faustian bargain” that expedites fossil fuel development but does little to help clean energy. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
GRID: Experts warn Houston’s experience with Hurricane Beryl this summer — widespread power outages followed by a dangerous heat wave — is an “absolute certainty” to affect other parts of the U.S. that are unprepared for such a scenario. (Washington Post)
ALSO: An analysis finds power outages cost Texas consumers $35,685 for every megawatt-hour of load that goes unserved, although state regulatory staff say their own research shows the figure is somewhat lower. (Utility Dive)
STORAGE:
SOLAR:
CLEAN ENERGY: Texas’ plans to build solar, wind and battery projects over the next year and a half dwarf those of any other state, including second-place California. (Canary Media)
BIOMASS: Critics claim Georgia Power’s plan to purchase 80 MW from three wood-burning power plants is too expensive compared to other alternatives, but utility officials say the move is an attempt to diversify its power sources and boost the state’s forestry sector. (Capitol Beat News Service, WABE)
OIL & GAS: A Virginia gas utility plans to expand into new areas now that it can purchase natural gas from the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Cardinal News)
HYDROGEN:
POLITICS: Congress passes a Texas representative’s bill to change how federal officials collect royalties for oil and gas leases on public lands, essentially relieving companies from handing over hundreds of millions of dollars in advances. (Houston Chronicle)
UTILITIES: North Carolina regulatory staff support reducing Dominion Power’s requested rate increase by half, with a final decision expected by November. (S&P Global)
COMMENTARY:
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