My Last Newsletter ... For Now

Greetings,

You won't be getting another newsletter from me for a while.

Starting on September 9th I will be working in the White House, helping the team there develop strategies and plans related to decarbonization of the electricity system. I will be serving as Director of Clean Energy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

As for this newsletter, I did not have time to pen an Op Ed as I am sending this so shortly after my last one. But I did have a lot of "Things That Caught My Eye" already lined up, so you can see those below.

I think it is safe to assume that there are past newsletters that you never got a chance to look at or delve into. I write and pick items for the "Things" section based on what I consider to be timely issues but also foundational aspects in understanding those issues, so you may find some informational nuggets in that section in past issues. My Op Eds are not written as though tied to specific current events. So they should hold up as informative and (hopefully) thought-provoking reads if you went back to any of them even months after their first appearance. They are all linked in the section immediately below.

Take care, and I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Dan

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Links to Past Issues:

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar And Talk About Energy

Are you Ready to Test Your Climate Vocabulary?

A Different Kind of Message From the Climate Scientists

Climate Fiction and Climate Reality

Thoughts on Climate Descendants

Emissions as a Choice in Flying

The Forgotten Climate Holiday in April (not Earth Day)

Climate Change and the Snail Darter

St. Patrick's Day and Climate Change

Charging My Car in Manhattan

Step Into These Shoes Wearing a Climate and Energy Hat

Resilience Recognition is Rising - But There is That Other Thing

There is no "O" in Climate Change

It was an Instagram COP - And I am Finally OK with That

How to Talk About Climate With Your Crazy Uncle at Thanksgiving

Monty Python and Climate Change

What You Need to Know About NIMBYism

H mm..So How Much Did My Heat Pump Really Cost?

What it Means to Be a Climate Voter

The Climate Conundrum of Air Conditioning

Predictions Made About Utilities Made 10 Years Ago - How Did They Hold up?

My Vote For The Most Under-Appreciated Impact of Climate Change

10 Things I Should Have Written About

So I Went to the COP - Here Are My Top 10 Takeaways.

Efficiency and Clean Energy - Faster vs More

Efficiency & Clean Energy - More vs. Faster

It's Time For A Climate Vote - On the Record

Good COP, Bad COP .....Thoughts Before Glasgow

One of These Things is Not Like the Others

What I Should Have Written About

The Serenity of Being a Climate Voter

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Some Things That Caught My Eye ...

The Other Thing that Solar Farms are Doing (Besides Producing Electricity)

There is a lot of discussion, and increasingly reporting on, the development of agrivoltaics, whereby an agricultural practice (grazing, crops, etc.) is deployed on the site of a solar farm. An unlocked article below looks beyond the idea of farming for immediate revenue and how agrivoltaics can be used for pollinator protection and other bio-diversity enhancement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/climate/solar-power-pollinators-wildlife.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JE4.XznQ.qtSbPCz_99gF&smid=url-share

A Different Kind of Congestion (Not the Grid Type)

I have talked before about how I, like many other EV buyers, was primarily focused on range. Afterwards, I realized that even though I had a charger at my house, I should have thought about where the chargers would be along the road, especially the fast ones. Now there could be a third issue looming. The (free) article below from Bloomberg examines what it means as more EVs are being sold and showing up at the same public chargers.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-20/america-s-ev-charging-network-faces-its-next-challenge-congestion?cmpid=BBD082424_GREENDAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=240824&utm_campaign=greendaily

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust?

You will probably not be surprised to know that the first coal-fired power plant was in the UK. But this may surprise you – the last one in that country is about to be shut down. See why this is happening at the link below.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/fossil-fuels/chart-the-uk-is-about-to-stop-using-coal-to-produce-electricity

More on the Myth that Wind and Solar are Causing Blackouts

One of the criticisms of renewable energy that I have to address a lot in various discussions is whether or not it was solar and wind that caused the big blackouts in Texas a couple of years ago (and since then in other places). The article below is a great overview of the findings of various entities that have looked into this, including FERC.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/09/how-mismanagement-not-wind-and-solar-energy-causes-blackouts/

Managed Retreat from the Coastline in South Carolina is not Getting a lot of Takers

The State of South Carolina has a Climate Resiliency Office that is very focused on climate impacts on its coastline. It has acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of homeowners will need to relocate, and their properties demolished. But a voluntary program with incentives to homeowners has had few takers.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03092024/south-carolina-managed-retreat-coastal-areas-climate-change/

Wondering How the States Rank in Installed Solar and Wind?

The latest Report on Market Statistics is out from the American Clean Power Association. Check out Texas at least.

https://cleanpower.org/resources/quarterly-market-report-q2-2024/

Five Percent of GDP is a Lot

In a new Report, the UN shows that the continent that didn’t produce emissions to cause it is having climate impacts that are reducing GPP by 5%. To make matters worse, it is only getting minimal funding assistance to tackle its climate problems. See below for more on the situation in Africa.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/climate-change-costs-africa-up-5-gdp-un-climate-head-says-2024-09-05/

Roofs with Solar are not Expanding, But yet Producing More Power

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has issued a Report titled “Tracking the Sun”, and it is the best compilation of data about residential solar that I have seen. Want to know about improved efficiency? Want to see the decline in prices of solar? Want to know anything else about roof-top solar? Check it out.

https://emp.lbl.gov/tracking-the-sun

Remember that City of Berkeley Ban on New Gas Hook-Ups?

Probably the most notable of the many attempts by cities to enact bans on new gas hook-ups, the local law in Berkeley, was later rejected by the Courts. But Berkeley is trying to skin the cat a different way via a local measure set for election day on November 5.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/carbon-free-buildings/berkeleys-pioneering-gas-ban-was-blocked-in-court-its-got-a-new-plan?utm_campaign=canary&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9lsbGhv4WORy_NUT_hi2rjxU28ByTDYQW8QZB5dH7G9HJpKXqXdolZ_IiUAsE5phhh3kVWgAu73hetO-YydPCAC8ylgg&_hsmi=323213358&utm_source=newsletter

Cutting the Fat in Beef Emissions

A new research effort published in a scientific journal has some interesting findings, like the fact that 64% of emissions – 3% of the U.S. total - from the beef industry occur during the grazing stage. More important though is its list of recommendations on how to reduce the sector’s emissions such as adding trees to grazed lands, managing when and where animals graze to improve plant health, cover cropping, and using methane-reducing feed additives.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01031-9?utm_campaign=heatmap_am&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--R-2_pqyA-UVNVjSKuwpqiCIp8W_5-hme7wwPSgkvJUFTePufAlHdPYXabZyT2DlpccEjs6WCquiri7H8cGWT_HdYh2w&_hsmi=323075216&utm_content=323075216&utm_source=hs_email

In Other Beef Emission News ……

New York State has sued a major Brazilian beef producer for making misleading statements to the public about the company’s emissions reducing efforts

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/climate/jbs-new-york-climate-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JE4.fXAk._mkr-ISZOgnn&smid=url-share

A New Tool for Tackling the Urban Heat Problem

A large AI company has announced that it has developed a new tool for use by Chief Heat Officers of local governments to use in assessing impacts and taking action.

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/google-ai-research-extreme-heat-resilience/

Two Regional Transmission Areas Announce Joint Plan for Infrastructure Improvement and Expansion

Electricity transmission is subject to federal law but its planning and coordination is in the hands of several “Independent System Operators” or ISOs that control different regions of the country. They are “independent” from utilities and other power providers, but also independent from each other. (The Texas grid is not even connected to the other grids).

With enhancement and expansion of the nation’s grid a major priority to be able to add new resources and decarbonize, two of the transmission operators have joined together in an effort to do that.

https://grist.org/energy/midwest-grid-operators-submit-1-7-billion-plan-to-build-cross-border-power-lines/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

The “Neighbor Effect” Works in Rooftop Solar

This effect, whereby neighbors become more likely to emulate their neighbor’s actions, has been found to exist across the clean energy spectrum. Here is a recent report on it for Rooftop Solar in Australia.

https://grist.org/energy/midwest-grid-operators-submit-1-7-billion-plan-to-build-cross-border-power-lines/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

A Big Leap for Solar Last Year

It was not just another year of incremental growth for solar. Forget megawatts, nothing shows how big the increase in solar capacity was last year than a good bar chart. Check out the one here, as well as all the other stats showing the recent leap.

https://about.bnef.com/blog/clean-electricity-breaks-new-records-renewables-on-track-for-another-strong-year-bloombergnef/

California Gives Vehicle to Grid (V2G) a Big Boost

A new law in CA will give the Utility Commission there (CPUC) a lot more authority to mandate that EVs come equipped with bi-directional charging.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-electric-vehicle-ev-to-grid-battery-capacity/726319/

Ten Ways the Heat is Changing Us

I don’t think I have ever posted anything from Slate before, but this piece is quite interesting. There were a couple on the list I had not thought of.

https://slate.com/technology/2024/08/heat-waves-summer-record-temperature-climate-change-health.html

Canadian Wildfire Emissions, if Ranked as a Country, Come in 4th

I have written before how wildfires have burned up emission offsets projects. And I am sure I am not the only one to have dealt with the massive geographic spread of wildfire smoke.

But here is a new adverse statistic to get one’s attention. If the emissions from the Canadian wildfires in 2023 were treated as if it were a country, they would rank 4^th globally, behind China, the U.S. and India. Some are seeing this as an emerging new feedback loop – more fires, more emissions, more fires, etc.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/08/28/1103186/canada-wildfire-emissions/

Flood Risk Disclosure – Now More Than Half of States Require it

For the first time, more than half of U.S. states require property sellers to tell potential buyers about the flood history and risk of their homes and commercial buildings.

A new Report from a large environmental NGO shows that 28 states have flood disclosure requirements that the study considers at least adequate.

Fannie Mae last year found that most people who live in flood-prone areas don’t know their risk and don’t have insurance that covers flood damage. A related Fannie Mae study earlier this year shows that a widely praised disclosure law in Texas has reduced home prices by roughly $15,000 in areas most affected by the 2019 law.

https://www.nrdc.org/resources/how-states-stack-flood-disclosure

https://www.fanniemae.com/research-and-insights/perspectives/challenges-remain-raising-consumer-awareness-flood-risk

The Insurance Situation is Worse Than I Thought

I have been following the intertwinement of housing insurance and climate change for a number of years. (It was easy to see it coming). And I knew that the geographic scope of vulnerability was expanding.

But I did not know it from the standpoint of how much of U.S. Real Estate is overvalued by Hundreds of Billions because it does not have flood insurance. And it is not just flooding. Insurance premiums are going up because of hail, wind and fire. In terms of number of properties, First Street Foundation estimates that 39 million homeowners are not paying the premium cost for their potential risk from extreme weather.

And insurance is not only getting more costly but harder to get period. Read about it here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/08/climate-change-risk-homeowners-housing-bubble/679559/?gift=mhG70N3G46M3QblvyMdQF88hJLDCIT2c6kgFy-r3L7w&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Tiny Nuclear Power Plants?

I included a blurb in a recent newsletter about companies that build large data centers beginning to look at using small, dedicated nuclear power stations to provide them with emissions-free power. Here is more on how that is playing out from a nuclear business standpoint.

https://heatmap.news/sparks/last-energy-series-b?utm_campaign=heatmap_daily_paid&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8mbobqu4Z1MUNkKdlghiYEJESWQ_T6w6dduQh03Fht3vTRKBlqkTs3kQdoh2pUQu2yIvu5gkdV_VuvXnJaMZSk818w4A&_hsmi=322359964&utm_content=322359964&utm_source=hs_email

Courts Protecting People in the Future and Forcing Action – not Just Goal Setting.

South Korea’s constitutional court has ruled that part of the country’s climate law does not conform with protecting the constitutional rights of future generations, an outcome local activists are calling a “landmark decision”.

The unanimous verdict concludes four years of legal battles and sets a significant precedent for future climate-related legal actions in the region.

The court found that the absence of legally binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions for the period from 2031-49 violated the constitutional rights of future generations and failed to uphold the government’s duty to protect those rights. It said that the government must not only set goals but show concrete and actionable plans for how to achieve them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/29/south-korea-court-climate-law-violates-rights-future-generations?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec00c7f611bf9388f76bb2324d6ca5f3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=08.29.24%20%E2%80%94%20Energy%20%26%20Environment%20--%20RF%20BH

All Sorts of Interesting Facts and Indicators Relative to Green Jobs

The latest Annual Jobs Report issued by the Department of Energy spotlights all sorts of movement in the jobs market related to clean energy jobs – and some jobs that are not so clean. Also, it you are not clear exactly what a green job is, you can get a better idea by taking a look at this.

https://heatmap.news/economy/2023-energy-and-employment-report?utm_campaign=heatmap_daily_paid&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8EAUcsNjOuo5KBhHlOwXH17g-Z1oGMh2ADS_6PcColyyBuChs2UM3lIT8x53Vzz0Qmrqy_IlIQCgCgXT22zHH3dWKSwg&_hsmi=322359964&utm_content=322359964&utm_source=hs_email

Funding Local Anti-Solar Groups

It might come as no surprise as to which industry sectors would like to dampen the momentum of solar deployment for competitive reasons. This article highlights one particular situation in Ohio.

https://energynews.us/2024/08/26/connections-confirmed-between-grassroots-ohio-solar-opposition-and-dark-money-natural-gas-group/?utm_medium=email

Is the Corner Finally Here for Fusion?

You know the old joke about Fusion, i.e. it is always just around the corner (kind of like the barroom sign that says “Free Beer Tomorrow”). But maybe, just maybe, we are getting closer to something. Get an update via this free WAPO article.

https://wapo.st/3Xhdziv

12 Talked-About Uses for Hydrogen – And Which Ones Make Sense

Anytime a Report has in its Title “Solutions and Delusions”, I automatically like the way it might be structured. This one looks at policy paths on Hydrogen but also examines some of the applications of Hydrogen that are on the table and discusses their viability.

https://energyinnovation.org/publication/hydrogen-policys-narrow-path-delusions-and-solutions/

Maybe if I had a TV?

I have been a member of PBS via my local State affiliate for a long time. But I haven’t had a TV for a long time, so I was not aware that PBS has a series called Weathered that focuses on natural disasters and extreme weather. When I say “has”, I mean that it is now in its 4^th Season.

https://www.pbs.org/show/weathered/?utm_campaign=weathered_2024&utm_source=climatenewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240826

PBS also has a host of other environmental shows, some with climate as a primary focus.

https://www.pbs.org/explore/climate/?utm_campaign=climate_2024&utm_source=climatenewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240826

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gotten limaNot E

If you were forwarded this email, click the button below to sign up to receive these Blog Posts.

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Links to Past Issues:

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar And Talk About Energy

Are you Ready to Test Your Climate Vocabulary?

A Different Kind of Message From the Climate Scientists