Energy Exchange

Puerto Rico can achieve reliable and equitable clean energy. Here’s what it’ll take.

By EDF Blogs / Published: August 12, 2020

By Fred Krupp and Ramón Cruz, Sierra Club President

Puerto Rico sits in the eye of what’s been the busiest hurricane season on record with an old and historically unreliable power system. The all too common occurrence of blackouts left more than 400,000 people in San Juan in the dark hours before Tropical Storm Isaias made landfall on the U.S. territory this week. Isaias is the latest storm to test Puerto Rico’s preparedness after Hurricane Maria tore apart its electric grid in 2017.

Lack of funding to rebuild critical infrastructure and the Trump administration’s ongoing neglect have elevated the risk that unimaginable human suffering awaits with the next storm.

Posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Energy Equity, Grid Modernization, Solar Energy / Tagged Puerto Rico | Comments are closed

Puerto Rico puede tener energía limpia, fiable y equitativa. Se requiere lo siguiente.

By EDF Blogs / Published: August 12, 2020

Por Fred Krupp y Ramón Cruz, presidente de Sierra Club

Puerto Rico se encuentra en el medio de lo que ha sido la temporada de huracanes más activa de la que se tiene registro y la enfrenta con un sistema de energía eléctrica antiguo y poco fiable. Los apagones, cada vez más frecuentes, dejaron a más de 400.000 personas a oscuras antes de que la tormenta tropical Isaías tocara tierra en el territorio estadounidense la semana pasada. Isaías es la última tormenta que ha puesto a prueba la preparación de Puerto Rico después de que el huracán María destrozara su red eléctrica en el 2017.

Posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Energy Equity, Grid Modernization, Solar Energy / Tagged Puerto Rico | Comments are closed

Zero routine flaring by 2025 and the Texas policy needed to get there

By Colin Leyden / Published: July 31, 2020

Routine flaring at oil and gas production sites in Texas has been a chronic issue for years, as the rampant process burns off viable fuel product while emitting carbon dioxide, methane and toxic pollutant emissions into the atmosphere. Yet momentum for eliminating the practice is building among investors, operators and landowners, pushing the state’s regulatory body, the Texas Railroad Commission, to consider new flaring policy.

Several major operators, such as Chevron and Pioneer, have already significantly reduced flaring rates to less than 1%. In a recent blog touting Exxon Mobil’s greatly improved Permian flaring performance, the operator stated their experience, “demonstrates that zero routine flaring is within everyone’s reach.”

But as J.P. Morgan Asset Management stated in a recent flaring report, “voluntary operator actions to reduce routine flaring, while necessary, have proven insufficient to deliver on the industry’s full potential,” while reiterating “zero routine flaring by 2025 represents an important and achievable goal.” In order to achieve this goal, policymakers must step in to ensure widespread adoption and outline actionable goals.

Posted in Air Quality, Methane, Methane regulatons, Natural Gas, Texas / Comments are closed

VW settlement funds spark string of North Carolina electrification projects

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 30, 2020

By Michelle Allen

After years of legal and legislative wrangling at state and federal levels, the first round of Volkswagen settlement funds will soon begin to flow to grantees. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Chuck McGrady (R-Hendersonville), the General Assembly unanimously passed legislation in June to release $31 million to fund the first of a three-phase plan to utilize the state’s settlement allocation. The funds are part of the settlement Volkswagen agreed to after six years of deliberately programming vehicle models to deceive tailpipe inspectors by dramatically under representing their nitrogen oxide emissions — a pollutant linked to respiratory diseases and a key element for the formation of smog and acid rain.

The settlement dictated that allocated dollars only be spent on projects that reduce air pollution. In North Carolina, that first round of funds has been earmarked to replace the state’s oldest transit and school buses with a combination of improved efficiency and zero-emission models. Of the total $31 million, lawmakers also allocated $3.4 million to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the state.

Posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Electric Vehicles, North Carolina, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Energy / Comments are closed

Data underscores need to strengthen Pennsylvania’s methane rule proposal

By Hillary Hull / Published: July 27, 2020

In July, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection concluded its public comment period on proposed rules to curb methane emissions from existing oil and gas facilities.

As the state weighs feedback, EDF analysis shows Pennsylvania operators emit over 1 million tons of methane annually — 16 times what they report to regulators — and underscores the need for rules that close existing loopholes to properly address this climate and public health risk.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has already demonstrated leadership on methane with permits to cut pollution from new oil and gas infrastructure. Now Pennsylvania has an opportunity to tackle the vast majority of its methane emissions, which come from existing oil and gas facilities.

Posted in Air Quality, Methane, Methane regulatons, Natural Gas / Tagged Pennsylvania | Comments are closed

EU must take on its methane problem before turning to hydrogen

By Mark Brownstein / Published: July 20, 2020

Facing dangerous levels of warming, Europe aspires to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. The oil and gas industry want us to believe natural gas can play a constructive role in this green energy future. And right now, these companies are lining up behind the idea that European Union policymakers should invest heavily in new incentives for hydrogen as a way to store and deliver energy for transport and the electric system.

Hydrogen separated from water using renewable electricity — so called ‘green hydrogen’ — might be economically viable someday. But for now, the cheapest way to make hydrogen is by converting natural gas. Natural gas is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions; it also consists mostly of methane, which is itself a greenhouse pollutant, with over 80 times the near-term warming power of carbon dioxide.

When it comes to climate change and achieving a net-zero carbon future, natural gas solves nothing unless both carbon dioxide and methane emissions associated with its production, distribution and use are fully controlled. Opening up a whole new market for converting gas to hydrogen without clearly establishing how those emissions will be dealt with would only make a serious problem much worse.

The European Commission recently released two major energy policy strategies in which methane and role of natural gas are at issue.

Posted in Air Quality, Europe, Methane, Methane regulatons, Natural Gas / Comments are closed