Energy
Apple Announces It’s 100% Renewable (sort of)
A significant voluntary achievement, but no substitute for policy action.
On Monday, Apple made big headlines by announcing that “its global facilities are powered with 100 percent clean energy.” This is a major milestone, and it includes the company’s own renewable generation capacity of 626 megawatts—expected to increase to 1,400 megawatts when projects currently under construction are completed. This is enough generation capacity to power …
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CONTINUE READINGEnquiring Minds Want to Know (Ryan Zinke edition)
Depending on the Fall elections, Secretary Zinke could face some difficult oversight sessions.
Control of the House matters for many reasons, but perhaps most importantly because of the power to conduct investigations. We can’t be sure of how the election will come out, of course, but if the Democrats do take the House, they may have some questions for Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. Here are a …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy California gets to write its own auto emissions standards: 5 questions answered
Authored by Nicholas Bryner and Meredith Hankins
Rush hour on the Hollywood Freeway, Los Angeles, September 9, 2016. AP Photo/Richard Vogel This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Editor’s note: On April 2, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the Trump administration plans to revise tailpipe emissions standards negotiated by the Obama administration for motor …
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Ken Alex: California’s Global Climate Action Summit, September 12-14, 2018
The Final Post in a Series on California Climate Policy by Ken Alex, Senior Policy Advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown
[This is the final post in a series expressing my view of why California’s actions on climate change are so important and how they will change the world. The introductory post provides an overview and some general context.] Under the Paris Agreement, countries must evaluate progress towards their nationally determined commitments to reduce emissions every five years, …
CONTINUE READINGCoal and Nuclear Generators are Still Seeking Federal Help
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s January denial of an Department of Energy (DOE) request that FERC ensure grid reliability by propping up coal and nuclear generating plants did not end industry attempts to obtain assistance from the Trump administration. FirstEnergy, an Ohio-based utility that serves 6 million customers, made an emergency request last week to …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Ken Alex: Climate Solutions
Post #12 in a Series on California Climate Policy by Ken Alex, Senior Policy Advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown
[This is the second-to-last post in a series expressing my view of why California’s actions on climate change are so important and how they will change the world. The introductory post provides an overview and some general context.] As discussed in the previous blog posts, through the ARB Scoping Plan, the 5 pillars of climate action set …
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CONTINUE READINGFifty States, Fifty Energy Policies
New report provides a snapshot of renewable energy growth across the country.
The federal government gets all the headlines, but state governments control much of energy policy. They control local utilities and set policies on renewable energy. But because so many jurisdictions are involved, it’s hard to get an overall picture of what’s really happening. I’ve been trying to get at least a rough sense of what’s …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Paradox of Electricity Deregulation
This is one setting where “deregulation” is a lot more complicated than regulation.
You might think that deregulation means sweeping away regulations, which ought to make the law much simpler. But the opposite is true in the electricity sphere. The regulatory system in states taking the traditional fixed-price approach is actually much easier to understand than the so-called deregulation method. Instead of saying “deregulation” it would be better …
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CONTINUE READINGRed-State Utilities Go Green
Utilities are moving away from coal & toward renewables, even in GOP states.
Even in Republican states, there has been a regulatory movement to expand the use of renewables. (see this report for more.) Perhaps even more surprisingly, some utilities and generating companies that now use a lot of coal are voluntarily turning to renewables. Here are some recent examples: Ohio. In February, AEP explained that “Our customers …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Ken Alex: Reducing Emissions is Not Enough
Post #8 in a Series on California Climate Policy by Ken Alex, Senior Policy Advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown
[This is the eighth post in a series expressing my view of why California’s actions on climate change are so important and how they will change the world. The introductory post provides an overview and some general context.] Under the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2°C …
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