Only Washington has passed statewide all-electric construction requirements. New York policymakers are considering statewide mandates for both new and existing buildings. Meanwhile, local air monitoring systems (Purple Air, monitoring particulate matter and VOCs) in highly fracked areas of Ohio and found that the U.S. EPA’s regional air quality monitors often miss variations in pollution at the local level. (Energy News …
NYC’s First Net Zero Community Brings Housing to Storm-Ravaged Neighborhood
CityLab, NYC’s First Net Zero Community Brings Housing to Storm-Ravaged Neighborhood A swath of oceanfront land in the Rockaways will become a test bed for climate and economic policies, promising affordable housing and other amenities to a region hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy. By Aysha Diallo, March 4, 2022 Along 116 acres of vacant oceanfront land, development has begun on what could become …
The Case for the EU Cutting Off Its Russian Gas Supply Now: Instead of waiting until 2030, Europe might as well rip the Band-Aid off
By Gernot Wagner February 25, 2022 The Case for the EU Cutting Off Its Russian Gas Supply Now: Instead of waiting until 2030, Europe might as well rip the Band-Aid off. The European Union is poised to announce a strategy of weaning itself off Russian gas, part of an ambitious energy plan that includes cutting overall fossil-fuel use 40% by 2030. But …
Climate change since 1980 is nearly twice as bad as previously calculated. Here’s why.
Measuring climate change: It’s not just heat, it’s humidity, Seth Borenstein, AP, January 31, 2022 When it comes to measuring global warming, humidity, not just heat, matters in generating dangerous climate extremes, a new study finds. Researchers say temperature by itself isn’t the best way to measure climate change’s weird weather and downplays impacts in the tropics. But factoring in air …
Transcending the “Regulatory Compact:” Parsing the Legal Facts and Fictions of Stranded Assets and Cost Recovery
Jan 18, 2021 Written By Conor J. May https://www.cleanenergyaction.org/blog/regulatorycompact-xh24b Parsing the Legal Facts and Fictions of Stranded Assets and Cost Recovery Xcel Energy’s largest, newest, and most expensive coal plant in Colorado opened in Pueblo in 2010. Xcel’s local subsidiary, Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), projected that they would be able to profitably operate Pueblo Unit 3 until 2070. However, as the …
San Diego Decarbonizes New Building Development Starting 2023 for Residential and Commercial Development. Zurich starts in 2025.
San Diego released their draft CAP this past month. Related to building electrification it has: Strategy 1: Decarbonization of the Built Environment Measure 1.1: Decarbonize Existing Buildings 2030 Target: Phase out 45% of natural gas from existing buildings 2035 Target: Phase out 90% of natural gas from existing buildings Measure 1.2: Decarbonize New Building Development 2030 Target: All-electric reach code starting 2023 at new residential …
San Diego’s Climate Action Plan – Mobility and Land Use Measures and Actions
The Climate Action Plan draft is now out: Climate Action Plan Draft The City of San Diego’s new Climate Action Plan establishes a community-wide goal of net zero by 2035, committing San Diego to an accelerated trajectory for greenhouse gas reductions. PDF: https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/climate_action_plan_draft.pdf or read and comment online at: https://sdclimateaction.konveio.com/strategies-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions https://sdclimateaction.konveio.com/plan-overview Related to building electrification it has: Strategy 1: Decarbonization …
Electric aircraft calculations
By Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan, Clean Technica, Oct 2021, https://cleantechnica.com/2021/10/22/electric-aircraft-coming-soon-to-save-us-or-all-hype-greenwash/ It’s not easy keeping up with the rapidly changing world of electric aircraft. It can look like a blizzard of breathless media coverage, corporate press releases, animations, venture capital deals, and public offerings. But as the launch dates creep closer, companies have been releasing more details, which makes it possible …
What’s good to know about the IPCC and its next climate report
“You were born at just the right moment to change everything.” IPCC August 2021 release: Scientists from all 195 nations issued a consensus climate change report showing irrefutable and irreversible damage to the environment and extreme danger of remaining on the current path, continuing to drill for and support and accommodate the use and further investment in fossil fuels or …
A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up to Us.
Some devastating impacts of global warming are now unavoidable, a major new scientific report finds. But there is still a short window to stop things from getting even worse. By Brad Plumer and Henry Fountain, Aug. 9, 2021 Nations have delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for so long that they can no longer stop global warming from intensifying over the next 30 years, …