Energy Exchange

Tech for change video series: Game changer

By Irene Burga / Published: March 27, 2018

This post is part 4 of EDF’s Tech for Change series, which aims to spotlight the way pollution-sensing technology can protect public health and the environment in California. Watch parts 1, 2, and 3.

Los Angeles has long been a city defined by creativity and innovation. Now, that same spirit of innovation promises to help the region tackle the threat of pollution from the 3,500+ active oil and gas wells in LA County.

Technical advances are driving down prices and increasing the precision of pollution monitoring technology, which could enable industry and communities to understand what chemicals may be leaking from nearby oil and gas equipment. According to Elias Tobias of Safety Scan USA, “We are seeing the first wave of lower cost, real time oil and gas pollution monitors right now. Other waves will come and make it even better, faster, and cheaper.”

Read More »

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

Still cheaper than coal – a report on the economics of solar power in Colorado

By EDF Blogs / Published: March 27, 2018

By Rama Zakaria, Graham McCahan

A newly-updated report is shedding light on what President Trump’s solar trade tariffs may mean for one state – and underscoring a tremendous opportunity to move forward toward clean energy, with all the benefits it can bring.

Xcel Energy filed its 30-day bid report update with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on March 1. The update follows Xcel’s filing at the end of last year, in response to an “all-source solicitation,” as part of its Electric Resource Plan and its proposed Colorado Energy Plan.

Xcel’s plan would shut down two units at the Comanche coal plant in Pueblo, Colorado, and replace the capacity with a mix of lower-carbon resources. Earlier results were unprecedented, with more than 80 percent of the bids coming from renewable energy and storage at incredibly cheap prices.

Xcel then provided bidders an opportunity to refresh their bids following President Trump’s final decision in the Suniva/SolarWorld trade case in January, which imposed tariffs on imported solar equipment.

The refreshed bids in Xcel’s updated report show minimal change relative to last year’s results and confirm that new wind and solar power in Colorado continues to be cheaper than existing coal plants – despite the trade tariffs. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Colorado, Energy Equity, Solar Energy / Comments are closed

New England’s energy future lies in the balance

By N. Jonathan Peress / Published: March 23, 2018

As recent and ongoing activity regarding fuel security, renewable energy procurement and natural gas infrastructure make clear, the energy system in New England is at a critical juncture, the responses and solutions to which will shape the region’s economy for the next 30 years or more.

ISO-NE, the regional electricity grid operator, released its fuel security study raising legitimate reliability concerns based largely on the sufficiency of pipeline infrastructure and expanding deployment of renewable energy. Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initiated a comprehensive review of electric system resiliency, including reliability and fuel security. Read More »

Posted in Gas to Clean, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Federal rollbacks + huge new oil and gas project = trouble for Wyoming

By EDF Blogs / Published: March 23, 2018

This blog was co-authored by Jon Goldstein and Sara Brodnax

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management collected comments from citizens and groups concerned about the impacts of a proposed 5,000-well oil and gas project in eastern Wyoming.

The situation has a troubling irony, because as BLM reviews the project’s environmental risks, it is simultaneously working to roll back its own commonsense standards to stop oil and gas companies from venting, flaring, and leaking away pollution and valuable natural gas.

It’s the same story for the greater sage-grouse, which without strong mitigation measures will likely abandon critical breeding sites in the area set to be impacted by the planned oil and gas project. Here, too, BLM has signaled several attempts to unravel the collaborative, decades-forged plans to protect the imperiled bird.

The combination of weakening policies while expanding development could have disastrous consequences for Wyoming and other western states if methane pollution goes unchecked and the greater sage-grouse continues to decline.

Read More »

Posted in Air Quality, BLM Methane, Methane, Natural Gas, Wyoming / Comments are closed

Tech for change video series: Left in the dark

By Irene Burga / Published: March 22, 2018

This is part 3 of EDF’s Tech for Change series, which aims to spotlight the way pollution-sensing technology can protect public health and the environment in California. Watch part 2 or 4.

Los Angeles sits atop the nation’s largest urban oilfield, and over 3,500 oil and gas wells are sprinkled throughout LA County. They exist in neighborhoods ranging from posh Beverly Hills to less affluent areas like Compton, but not all of these wells are created equal.

More affluent areas benefit from stronger regulations that minimize the impact of oil and gas development, but there is often much less oversight of wells that sit in lower-income neighborhoods. It’s a difference one can’t help but notice:

Read More »

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

New research shows Canada’s methane emissions problem is even worse, but it’s not hopeless

By Drew Nelson / Published: March 22, 2018

This post was co-authored by Dr. Daniel Zavala-Araiza.

New direct emissions data from oil and gas fields in Alberta should be a warning to regulators in Ottawa and Edmonton as they each prepare their methane regulations. A new study concluded that oil and gas methane emissions are 15 times higher than industry reports for 60 production sites measured in Red Deer. The discrepancy highlights the importance of strong federal and provincial regulations to address a problem science is continually showing to be much worse than industry claims it is. Strong regulations will show the world that Canadian gas can compete with lower-carbon gas supplies.

The research, published today in Elementa, uncovered that methane emissions from the oil and gas industry in Red Deer, Alberta are larger than companies estimate and that methane “super emitters,” a phenomenon we found in the U.S. oil and gas industry, may be just as much of a problem in Canada. Read More »

Posted in Methane, Natural Gas / Tagged , , | Comments are closed