Groups sue to block FEMA funds going to Puerto Rico-based eco-unfriendly grid renewal

Conservation and community groups sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security today [Apr. 11, 2023] over their plans to rebuild Puerto Rico’s centralized electric grid back to the fossil fuel status quo instead of investing in the distributed renewable energy Puerto Ricans need. “Fossil fuel power plants produce pollutants that … Read more

Plug-in vehicle environmental benefits rely on market forces, public policy: Paper

Over the past decade, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have become increasingly popular, in part due to their perceived environmental benefits. But to what extent do reduced tailpipe emissions benefit human health and the climate? According to a new paper by scholars at Resources for the Future (RFF), these vehicles provide sizable benefits determined by … Read more

Energy-tied carbon emissions drop 25-38% below 2005 levels by 2030, EIA projects. Ongoing progress in said emissions-reductions to 2050 projected

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions drop 25% to 38% below what they were in 2005 by 2030, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (AEO2023). By the end of the projection period, 2050, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions are 17% lower in this year’s Reference case compared with last year, … Read more

Energy efficient smart windows turning heads, commanding views

O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 View Smart Windows installed as part of O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 Expansion. View, Inc., the leader in smart building technologies, unveiled its new extensive Smart Windows installation this week at the recently completed 350,000-square-foot expansion of Terminal 5 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD). The Terminal 5 expansion includes … Read more

Running extra: Done with the greater public good in mind

A funny thing happened the other day in my Internet search to find information on climate change. Internet searches these days being all the rage, it’s become a common practice for journalists as well to engage in such activity related, of course, to their conducting journalistically-tied Internet-based research. So, with this in mind, I began … Read more

Report acts as ‘playbook’ for gov’t. action/implementation of AI capability in helping tackle climate challenges

There is a new report: “Climate Change and AI: Recommendations for Government Action,” a joint study from the Centre for AI & Climate and Climate Change AI. It seems quite timely, in fact, given that conditions all across the world, it would appear, have returned to what they were pre-COVID outbreak with climate matters, especially, … Read more

Manufacturing’s, energy’s, transport’s environmental records: They could be better

If you’re looking at today’s environmental landscape as a gauge, a measure, a yardstick and are contemplating whether or not it is where it needs to or should be, the answer is: no; the environment is not where it could or should be. That’s the reality. Environmental stewardship the name of the game It’s all … Read more

Roboticized: As we automate, are we going about it right?

Someone once posited that with the advent of personal computing our society would become paperless. Well, not only did that not happen but we seem nowhere near that prospect coming true. In a related vein, the draft for the article you are now reading, I composed with pen and paper prior to my transferring it … Read more

Electricity sector decarbonization advances through formed VPP alliance: Affordability, dependability both key elements of program

The below Jan. 10, 2023 press release* is from the Rocky Mountain Institute. RMI, a leading nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the global energy transformation, announced the formation of the Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3) Tuesday. In recognition of the critical work needed to tackle scaling the market for virtual power plants, initial funding of the VP3 effort … Read more

Nuclear fusion could help us meet our climate goals sooner

One of the limitations of Direct Air Capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide removal from, for example, the lower atmosphere – where, as we know, is currently at a density of nearly 420 parts per million (roughly 50% more concentrated or dense than it was when the Industrial Revolution first came into being in 1750 – … Read more