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HYDROGEN: Backers of a planned hydrogen-powered iron production facility in Minnesota say they are confident that $1.3 million in federal funding just announced for the project will survive the Trump administration’s spending freeze. (Star Tribune)
CLIMATE: The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans could jeopardize funding for several climate and pollution-reduction projects for northeastern Ohio organizations. (Cleveland.com, subscription)
EFFICIENCY: Twenty-four states lack energy efficiency standards meant to curb energy use, which advocates say come with economic as well as climate advantages, according to a new industry report. (Grist)
OIL & GAS: A state-backed report in North Dakota says higher federal tax incentives for using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery could unlock up to 8 billion more barrels of oil and generate $9 billion in more oil tax revenue over the next decade. (North Dakota Monitor)
EMISSIONS: U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signs an order seeking to roll back fuel economy standards enacted by President Biden, arguing that “artificially high” fuel efficiency rules raise costs for consumers. (New York Times)
CLEAN ENERGY: Food and beverage production facilities across the U.S. begin to deploy low-carbon heating technologies as an alternative to gas-powered systems, though high costs remain a barrier. (Canary Media)
NUCLEAR: An Indiana utility will seek a $50 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to begin exploring the potential for a small modular reactor at a retiring coal plant. (Inside Indiana Business)
COAL: Springfield, Illinois, reaches an agreement with the U.S. EPA over two coal ash disposal sites that will require improved groundwater monitoring and addressing potential releases of heavy metals. (Environmental Protection)
BIOFUELS: Kansas agriculture and energy companies ask state lawmakers to approve a $5 million annual state tax credit to entice reluctant gas station owners to distribute more ethanol made with crops grown in-state. (Kansas Reflector)
SOLAR:
BIOMASS: Michigan biomass energy advocates say a new state law eliminating biomass as a clean energy source eliminated a market for burning old tires. (MLive, subscription)
COMMENTARY: A former Iowa lawmaker says restrictive local ordinances hinder the state’s ability to remain a renewable energy leader, particularly as new demand comes online from data centers. (Des Moines Register)
CLEAN ENERGY: Food and beverage production facilities across the U.S. begin to deploy low-carbon heating technologies as an alternative to gas-powered systems, though high costs remain a barrier. (Canary Media)
POLITICS:
GRID:
COAL ASH: A coalition of U.S. power companies sends a letter to Trump’s EPA nominee asking for“immediate action” to roll back federal regulation of toxic coal ash and rescind recent enforcement actions. (Canary Media)
EMISSIONS:
EFFICIENCY: Twenty-four states lack energy efficiency standards meant to curb energy use, which advocates say come with economic as well as climate advantages, according to a new industry report. (Grist)
WIND: President Trump’s actions against wind energy development might actually benefit Texas’ wind industry because the vast majority of its projects are located on private and not federal land, says the director of a university energy institute. (Texas Standard)
COMMENTARY: A California columnist urges policymakers to continue to invest in risky clean energy innovation even as the “expensive, bird-killing eyesore” known as Ivanpah solar plant nears its retirement. (Los Angeles Times)
AI faces a big question that even ChatGPT hasn’t been able to answer: How to provide the massive amount of power it needs to work and expand. But a new, efficient and inexpensive open-source AI model may sidestep the question altogether.
Just last week, the U.S.’s path forward on AI seemed clear. OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT — and two partners got a White House welcome to announce a $500 billion investment into building out the virtual and physical infrastructure behind AI. That includes funding for solar arrays and battery storage to power new, energy-hungry data centers, Bloomberg reports.
A slew of other news made it clear energy was still at the heart of AI’s challenges: Tech companies joined a utility regulators’ conference to curry favor as they look to build their own power plants, and Chevron cemented a partnership to build gas plants dedicated to powering data centers.
President Trump meanwhile took his own crack at a plan for powering data centers, saying he’d use his new emergency powers to fast-track power plants that would connect directly to AI data centers. Companies can use “anything they want” to power their data enter operations, Trump said, “and they may have coal as a backup.”
But a Chinese company’s apparent AI breakthrough may render all of those plans moot. The company DeepSeek last week released a chatbot that it says uses far less computing power and energy than rivals like ChatGPT, but still churns out comparable results. The news sent AI and energy company stocks tumbling, as investors quickly noticed that the efficient DeepSeek could drastically reduce AI’s energy usage.
Still, DeepSeek’s long-term impact is still up in the air. It could end up creating loads of new energy demand, as its cheapness and efficiency earns it new customers, Heatmap notes. It could lead the U.S. government to fund domestic AI research to catch up to China’s lead.
Or, if DeepSeek fails to take off over security concerns or its apparent pro-China censorship, it could mean nothing at all.
💵 Deep freeze: The Trump administration pauses approvals for clean energy projects on public land and waters, and freezes conditional loans for clean energy and other projects that had not yet been finalized by the Department of Energy. (The Hill; E&E News, subscription)
🌊 What Trump’s wind order means: President Trump’s order curtailing wind power is likely to affect at least seven offshore projects still in the permitting process and jeopardize new manufacturing and supply chain investments, but questions remain about how forcefully the Interior Department will execute the policy. (Canary Media)
👀 All eyes on the states: Advocates share their fears about how the Trump administration will upend renewable energy development and climate action, but say state-level progress will be key to keeping things moving over the next four years. (Inside Climate News)
☀️ Floating a new idea: Federally owned or managed reservoirs could hold enough floating solar panels to power 100 million homes each year, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study finds. (Canary Media)
🔌 Charging EVs: Congressional Republicans look to impose a national fee on electric vehicles, which advocates fear will be punitively high and discourage EV adoption. (New York Times)
📉 Solar growth sunsets: A new report predicts U.S. solar industry growth will come “to a halt” this year, as President Trump’s orders blocking Inflation Reduction spending and instituting tariffs threaten the industry. (E&E News)
🔋 Storage safety: Experts say recent safety improvements for grid-scale battery storage systems make another fire like the one at the Moss Landing site in California unlikely. (Canary Media)
🏠 Heat pumps heat up: U.S. residents bought 37% more heat pumps than gas furnaces in the first 11 months of last year, marking the electric appliances’ biggest lead over fossil fuel heating yet. (Canary Media)
NATURAL GAS: Federal regulators reinstate their approval of a natural gas pipeline expansion in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, declining to assess the possible impact of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project. (Utility Dive)
OFFSHORE WIND: President Trump’s anti-wind executive order will likely pause three of the four offshore wind developments in progress off the coast of New Jersey, experts say. (New Jersey Monitor)
TRANSMISSION:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Vermont is the latest state to impose a fee on owners of electric vehicles to make up for lost gas tax revenue, an approach that has been implemented in at least 39 states. (New York Times)
GRID: Public utility regulators in Pennsylvania gather ideas for how to stabilize the state’s “precarious” electric supply as the grid faces rising demand from data centers and growing risks from extreme weather. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
NUCLEAR: New Hampshire’s Seabrook Station nuclear power plant was not damaged in an earthquake that shook New England yesterday. (InDepthNH)
RENEWABLES: Plans are moving forward for a renewable energy generation project on a former Maryland dairy farm owned by the U.S. Navy, though some neighbors are concerned about the possible disturbance of agricultural land. (Capital Gazette, subscription)
HYDRO: A judge’s ruling does nothing to answer questions about the environmental violations an aging hydropower dam in Maine must resolve before it can receive needed permits to continue operations. (Maine Public)
TRANSIT: New York City launches a program allowing food delivery workers to trade in gas mopeds and e-bikes that are not certified for fire safety for new certified e-bikes, as part of an attempt to reduce the fire risks posed by uncertified batteries. (NBC New York)
ELECTRIFICATION:
COMMENTARY:
OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators consider blocking an oil and gas firm from operating in the state, seizing $317,000 in reclamation bonds and adding its 107 aging wells to the orphaned well program. (Colorado Sun)
CLIMATE: California lawmakers introduce legislation that would allow climate change-related disaster victims and insurance companies to sue fossil fuel companies for damages. (Associated Press)
BATTERIES: California researchers find unusually high concentrations of toxic metals in wetlands downwind of the Moss Landing battery energy storage facility that caught fire recently. (Mercury News)
SOLAR: Wyoming lawmakers advance a bill that would open the door to slashing net metering compensation for rooftop solar after it was changed to exempt existing arrays. (WyoFile)
UTILITIES:
POLITICS:
NUCLEAR:
GRID: Southern New Mexico utility El Paso Electric joins SPP’s day-ahead regional power market. (news release)
COMMENTARY:
OFFSHORE WIND: Maine’s plans to develop a floating offshore wind industry are at a pivotal point, as researchers refine equipment and wait for regulatory approval to sell power generated by a planned test array. (Maine Monitor)
ALSO: Maryland regulators approve a request to increase the amount of power produced by a planned wind farm off the Maryland and Delaware coast. (WBOC)
CLIMATE:
GRID:
POLITICS: Energy policy debates will take center stage in the Maryland legislature this year as the state tries, all at once, to rein in rising prices, meet clean energy goals, and ensure enough power generation. (Maryland Matters)
EFFICIENCY: Vermont’s program providing weatherization funding for low-income residents is running low on money as federal funds dry up. (Vermont Public)
TRANSPORTATION: New York City’s congestion pricing has reduced traffic in the central business district by more than 8%, but is also expected to redirect traffic into some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, increasing pollution in places that already bear heavy environmental burdens. (Streetsblog, Inside Climate News)
RENEWABLES: Environmental justice advocates in New York City push the state’s power authority to plan more renewable energy projects in the city to reduce the use of fossil fuel peaker plants. (Inside Climate News)
SOLAR: A New York appellate court rules a town’s attempt to block a commercial solar development runs counter to state mandates to increase renewable power use. (Times Union)
COMMENTARY: The offshore wind industry in Maine can attract investment, support economic development, and create jobs, regardless of environmental benefits, says a newspaper editorial board. (Portland Press Herald)
RENEWABLES: The U.S. Interior Department institutes a 60-day pause on approvals for leases, rights of way, and contracts for clean energy projects on public land and waters. (The Hill)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID:
OFFSHORE WIND:
OVERSIGHT: “It’s very bureaucratic and it’s very slow”: During a trip to view damage from Hurricane Helene, President Trump suggests abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leaving disaster response to states. (Blue Ridge Public Radio, Politico)SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: U.S. residents bought 37% more heat pumps than gas furnaces in the first 11 months of last year, marking the electric appliances’ biggest lead over fossil fuel heating yet. (Canary Media)
OIL & GAS: The Navajo Nation files a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s 2023 ban on new federal oil and gas leases around a New Mexico historical site, saying it causes financial hardship. (E&E News, subscription)
Second update of the “Indicators of Global Climate Change” research initiative with contributions from MCC. The 1.5-degree Celsius threshold is all but breached.
05.06.2024
Global heating caused by humans is advancing at 0.26 degrees Celsius (°C) per decade – the highest rate since records began, according to research by over 50 leading international scientists. They find that in 2023, global surface temperatures were 1.43°C above their pre-industrial levels, with human activity accounting for 1.3°C of that figure. The “Indicators of Global Climate Change” research initiative is being led by the University of Leeds, and supported by the Berlin-based climate research institute MCC (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change). The indicator report has now been published in the renowned journal Earth System Science Data.
The report finds that the high rate of heating is driven by consistently high greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to 53 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. On the other hand, the certain degree of human-caused cooling from particles in the atmosphere is decreasing due to improvements in air quality. High greenhouse gas emission levels are also affecting Earth’s energy balance: ocean buoys and satellites are tracking unprecedented flows of heat into oceans, ice caps, soils and the atmosphere. This flow of heat is 50 percent higher than its long-term average.
“The analysis comes as climate experts meet in Bonn to prepare the ground for the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan,” highlights Jan Minx, head of the MCC working group Applied Sustainability Science, and a co-author of the study. “By providing this second data update, we aim to help close the information gap, particularly when climate indicators are changing rapidly.” The authoritative source of scientific information on the state of the climate is the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but its next major assessment will not happen until around 2027.
According to the new report, the 1.5°C threshold noted in the Paris world climate agreement is all but breached. The central estimate for the remaining carbon budget – how much carbon can be released into the atmosphere to give a 50 percent chance of keeping global temperature rise within 1.5°C – is 200 gigatonnes of CO2 by the start of 2024. This is 60 percent less than 2020, when the IPCC had calculated it at around 500 gigatonnes. (Note: these figures are not comparable with those used in the MCC Carbon Clock, where the annual emission rate is for CO2 only, and the contribution of other greenhouse gases to global heating is subtracted before calculating the remaining carbon budget. Furthermore, the budget is calculated with reference to a 67 rather than 50 percent probability of complying with the temperature limit.)
Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures Leeds and lead author of the study, says: “Even though climate action has slowed the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are still heading in the wrong direction and faster than ever before. Our analysis is designed to track the long-term trends caused by human activities. Last year, when observed temperature records were broken, natural factors were temporarily adding around 10 percent to the long-term warming.” William Lamb, researcher at MCC and lead author of the study’s emissions section, says: “Until we dramatically reduce deforestation and the combustion of coal, oil and gas, greenhouse gases will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and drive climate impacts.”
The indicator report is accompanied by an open-data, open-science “Climate Change Tracker” platform. The tracker provides easy access to the key climate indicators.
Further information:
GRID: An analysis shows the vast majority of 2024’s largest clean energy projects were built in Texas, which leads the U.S. in installed utility-scale solar and wind capacity and is gaining on California for battery storage. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
WIND: Oklahoma lawmakers take aim at renewables with two dozen bills that restrict wind and solar development, including one bill to allow counties to block wind projects near crude oil hubs. (Tulsa World)
OIL & GAS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Trump’s rollback of a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles could delay or halt South Carolina’s new and planned electric vehicle and battery plants, which it’s already spent millions to attract. (The State)
CARBON CAPTURE: Shell and Mitsubishi name a startup company to provide carbon capture technology at a direct air capture hub they want to build in Louisiana, although the project is contingent on clean energy funding the Trump administration might roll back. (E&E News, subscription)
NUCLEAR: The Tennessee Valley Authority selects contractors for the initial planning and design phases of a planned 300 MW small modular nuclear reactor in Tennessee. (Power)
COAL: A Virginia bank says it’s lost $65.1 million in interest income since placing debt owed by West Virginia U.S. Sen. Jim Justice’s family’s coal companies on nonaccrual status in mid-2023. (Cardinal News)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: A Texas official calls on federal law enforcement to reject a federal housing agency’s claim the state mishandled flood mitigation funding from Hurricane Harvey by discriminating against Black and Hispanic residents. (Houston Chronicle)
CLIMATE: Researchers discuss the possible role of climate change in a recent polar vortex that brought cold temperatures and snow to the Gulf Coast. (WWNO)
UTILITIES:
COMMENTARY:
NATURAL GAS: A lack of spare pipeline capacity into the region could threaten the reliability of New England and New York’s natural gas system in extreme cold weather, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. says. (Utility Dive)
ALSO: A Connecticut company signs a $160 million deal to build a 7.4-MW power plant in the state capital using natural gas fuel cells, which officials say will produce no emissions and contribute to state renewable energy goals. (CTpost)
OFFSHORE WIND: A Maine Congressman introduces legislation to prohibit offshore wind development in certain key fishing areas with the aim of protecting his state’s lobstering industry. (Maine Morning Star)
TRANSPORTATION: Ongoing projects to improve New York’s infrastructure, including adding solar generation to public transportation facilities, electrifying bus fleets, and improving transit infrastructure, will not be deterred by the Trump administration, officials say. (City & State New York)
GRID:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Maine education official asks the EPA for relief as school districts that received problem-plagued electric buses grapple with financial loss, but officials still stand behind the importance of electrifying the state’s school bus fleets. (Kennebec Journal, subscription)
SOLAR:
CLIMATE: New Jersey environmental advocates lay out a wish list of goals they’d like to see gubernatorial candidates embrace, including reaching 100% clean energy by 2035 and advancing the electrification of public transportation. (New Jersey Monitor)
HYDROGEN: New York awards $1.2 million to four clean hydrogen research and development projects that show promise in making the production process cleaner and more efficient. (news release)
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