Climate and Energy最新文献

Transportation electrification had a transformative year in 2023, bolstered by federal funding, higher than expected gasoline and diesel prices, and landmark state policies to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the transportation sector is the leading source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for 28 percent of GHG emissions in the United States. Converting from internal combustion engines to electric-powered vehicles can significantly reduce transportation emissions, improve air quality and public health, and help accomplish federal, state, and local climate goals.

Many liquified natural gas (LNG), oil, and natural gas companies in the United States are committed to reducing emissions, achieving the nation's climate commitments, and continuing America's role of providing reliable, ever-cleaner energy to US allies worldwide. The central question is how quickly these companies can achieve these goals and provide significant supplies of lower-carbon LNG to global customers.

The political theater that recently played out related to the US debt ceiling may have illustrated the chaos that polarization has brought to Washington, but it showed one other thing as well: even when it does not have much to do with the matter at hand—as in defaulting on the national debt—there's actually an appetite for federal permitting reform on both sides of the aisle. The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) addressed some immediate priorities relating to infrastructure— including changes to the review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). But then, surprising many in the natural gas industry, as well as many of the industry's critics, the FRA actually ordered the regulatory permitting of the long-delayed, controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). For over five years, MVP has been in various stages of regulatory limbo, having received a certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) years ago but continually failing to secure the other federal permits necessary for completion. That failure was generally not the result of actions of the agencies involved, but rather of successful efforts by project opponents to gain appellate court reversals of the agency actions approving the pipeline. The MVP saga has proven that even an “act of congress” does not necessarily end the drama. Well after the passage of the FRA, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which had been the dominant forum for most of the previous stoppages, issued a stay of the construction under a U.S. Forest Service permit that MVP had already received. The outcome of that action is unknown at the time of publication, but presages the ongoing legal arm-wrestling that will likely surround the FRA provision and the project.

Proposition: For the challenges facing the US energy transition to renewable electricity, and renewable energy generally, organized US wholesale electricity markets are part of the problem.

The US power transmission grid is faced with an unprecedented set of conditions and challenges that are driving the need for significant growth and need for upgrades, including.

The global urgency to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) has accelerated thinking around how best to achieve these goals. Decarbonizing the transportation sector is high on this agenda, with battery-powered electric vehicles (BEV) driving the market trend. However, globally, there is renewed interest in hydrogen and the role it can play in complementing BEVs to reduce emissions in the transportation sector. This focus has created hydrogen “hopefuls” and proponents often framed as being at odds with BEV proponents. While there are distinctive markets for BEV and hydrogen-fueled transportation, some critics remain doubtful of the potential role for hydrogen.

In 2022, disclosure and reporting requirements were proposed in both the European Union and the United States for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics, but primarily for greenhouse gas (GHG) and climate-related risks. Since the release of these proposals, many industry, non-governmental organization (NGO), and public and governmental positions and interventions have surfaced to promote or counter these proposals. The primary concerns surrounding these proposals focus on the intent and cost of disclosure together with the availability, accuracy, and duplication of Scope 3 data. The schedule to finalize these proposals will make 2023 a pivotal year regarding climate risk disclosure and ESG fund requirements.

Solving the global climate dilemma requires significant changes in today's electric grid to become the clean energy grid of the future. Utilities are making substantial grid modernization investments on behalf of customers to support additional load expectations for electrification, the connection of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), the implementation of Time-of-Use (TOU) rates, and other significant programs. One of the foundational investments utilities must make to enable these programs and realize their benefits is Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).

It is imperative to invest concurrently and quickly in electric transmission infrastructure if the United States has any chance of meeting its decarbonization goals. More renewable energy, distributed resources located far from load centers, grid hardening, and faster grid recovery after severe weather events depend on it.

This Editor's Corner has frequently brought to the forefront the social and monetary costs associated with the impacts of a changing climate. More frequent and volatile hurricanes and tornadoes, massive flooding, extreme heat conditions impacting farming, and reduced availability of potable water—leading to premature deaths—are undeniable. Alongside these issues, the increasing risk of forest fires due to severe, long-term drought conditions and human behavior (ignoring fire bans), fire hazards from downed power lines, and more lighting strikes from increasingly volatile storms place our communities and our health in danger.