battery storage

Why I Still ♥ IRA

Biden’s climate law has already had a dramatic impact.

With over a half-trillion dollars in clean tech investment to date, the Inflation Reduction Act has left an indelible mark on U.S. climate policy. It’s unlikely that Congress will vote to repeal the whole law, given massive investments in GOP congressional districts. But even if they did, there’s no undoing the investments already made.

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Tariffs and Clean Energy: What You Need to Know

The effect of tariffs on energy markets is complex, and a lot depends on the details.

International trade economics is complicated, and we can’t be certain of how tariffs will work out, particularly in the long term when economies have fully adjusted to them.  Trump’s hope is that the tariffs will cause a boom in U.S. production, although there is also evidence that protected industries are less efficient and innovative, resulting in higher consumer prices. Impacts on clean energy could be negative, The same is true for impacts on fossil fuels.

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Climate Policy and the Audacity of Hope

The barriers are still huge — but we can also envision a path to success.

We should resist the allure of easy optimism about climate change, given the scale of the challenges. Neither should we wallow in despair. There’s a good basis for hope. Let’s seize the day!

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Four EV Trends

One of these things is not like the others.

The automotive world is changing quickly. Most of the trends are mutually reinforcing.  But one points in the opposite direction. The first and most obvious trend is the rise of EVs.  In the twenty years since Tesla arrived, EVs have gone from 0.2% of new cars to 13%, and Bloomberg predicts that this figure will …

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Why Energy Conservation Will Remain Crucial

Even after switching to clean power, we’ll still need to limit energy use.

If we switch to renewables, we won’t need to worry about saving energy. Right? Wrong! One reason to save energy is to limit carbon emissions from the energy we  use. That’s going to important until the energy system has been completely cleaned up. But energy conservation is important for reasons that go beyond the direct …

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