Monthly Archives: August 2016

New EPA Guidelines: An Opportunity to Reduce Smog, Protect Public Health

By EDF Blogs / Published: August 23, 2016

With families across the country starting back to school this week, the official summer season may be gone, but the ozone season is still in full swing.

Ozone, more commonly known as “smog” is a harmful air pollutant that results in respiratory ailments like asthma and can even lead to premature death. For too many Americans, ozone pollution makes the activities that we enjoy doing outdoors in the summer difficult or even impossible. And in recent years, ozone—once a summertime phenomenon impacting mostly larger cities—now affects rural parts of the country and can persist throughout the year. In fact, rural Wyoming and Utah have experienced elevated ozone levels in the winter on par with some of the larger cities in the country. Read More »

Posted in Air Quality, Natural Gas / Tagged air pollution, emissions, EPA | Read 1 Response

Why Are Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Emissions Going Up?

By Andrew Williams / Published: August 22, 2016

NatlGasFlares_142558250_Photos-RF A new report reveals that harmful emissions from oil and gas development are increasing. This is bad news for Pennsylvania families who have been repeatedly told by industry trade groups that pollution is under control.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, in 2014 oil and gas companies emitted nearly 110,000 tons of methane – a powerful climate pollutant that’s rapidly accelerating global warming. That represents an increase over the previous year. With 2016 on pace to be the warmest year ever recorded, we should be reducing methane emissions, not increasing them. Read More »

Posted in Air Quality, Climate, Natural Gas / Tagged Pennsylvania | Read 4 Responses

Five Things You Need to Know Before the Clean Power Plan Oral Argument

By Martha Roberts / Published: August 18, 2016

SOLARPanel The Clean Power Plan oral argument is coming up soon. On September 27, attorneys will present their arguments in front of the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

EPA and the many supporters of the Clean Power Plan have already filed their written arguments – and so has the coalition of coal companies and their allies that are challenging the rule. (You can read all their submissions here.) And just yesterday, the D.C. Circuit released the final order on the argument’s format and duration.

The Clean Power Plan is America’s first-ever nationwide program to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. It sets eminently achievable carbon emission targets that phase in gradually, in line with current power sector trends, while giving states and power companies tremendous flexibility to determine how best to meet these goals.

Posted in Clean Power Plan, Solar Energy, Wind Energy / Comments are closed

How a Western Regional Electric Grid Can Bring us into the 21st Century

By Lauren Navarro / Published: August 18, 2016

WestUS

UPDATE: Since the July 2016 publication of this original blog post, California Gov. Jerry Brown announced that he will wait until January 2017 to introduce legislation to expand California’s Independent System Operator (CAISO), which manages the state’s electric grid, beyond its borders.

The governor’s plan is good news for California and the other western states. With only a few weeks left in California’s legislative session, stakeholders were still working out remaining questions about how a western regional grid can deliver the significant benefits to the West’s economy and the environment (as shown in the SB 350 studies).

Stakeholder groups, including Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), lawmakers, and regulators covered a lot of ground this session. Working together, we identified the important issues related to successfully implementing a western regional grid that should go into legislation.

EDF strongly thanks the governor’s office and legislative leaders for the focus and time dedicated to regionalization, and looks forward to working diligently over the next few months to help develop the benefits of a regional energy market for California and its neighbors. Read More »

Posted in Energy Innovation, Grid Modernization / Comments are closed

Equity Crowdfunding Is Good News for Cleantech

By Guest Author / Published: August 18, 2016

By Andrew Strong, VP of Strategy & Business Development at LOHAS Capital

On May 16, 2016, the final piece of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act took effect and drastically changed the investment landscape by allowing equity crowdfunding. Equity Crowdfunding is a way for a large number of individuals to invest in a startup, for as little as $100 each, in exchange for a share of the company’s value.

Four years in the making, the new rules now allow companies to raise money online by accepting investments from both accredited investors (the 2 percent of Americans worth at least $1 million, who earn more than $200,000 per year) and unaccredited investors (the 98 percent of Americans with less wealth). This new investment model could have huge implications for cleantech entrepreneurs, and everyday Americans who want to participate in the next big energy innovation.

Posted in Energy Financing / Read 1 Response

What the New NASA ‘Hot Spot’ Study Tells Us About Methane Leaks

By Ramon Alvarez, Ph.D. / Published: August 15, 2016

splash8

Look up in New Mexico and on most days you’ll see the unmistakable blue skies that make the Southwest so unique.

But there’s also something hovering over the Four Corners that a naked eye can’t detect: A 2,500-square mile cloud of methane, the highest concentration of the heat-trapping pollution anywhere in the United States. The Delaware-sized hot-spot was first reported in a study two years ago.

At the time, researchers were confident the cloud was associated with fossil fuels, but unsure of the precise sources. Was it occurring naturally from the region’s coal beds or coming from a leaky oil and gas industry?

Posted in BLM Methane, Climate, Colorado, Methane, Natural Gas / Tagged methane studies, New Mexico, science | Comments are closed