Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at michelle@9to5mac.com. Check out her personal blog.
The costs of most existing coal-fired power plants in the US are now more expensive than the total costs of wind and solar as a result of their plunging costs, according to a new study.
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Enel Green Power North America, headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, has started construction on five new clean energy projects in the US. The new wind, solar, and hybrid projects announced today represent more than 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity and 319 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity.
The five new projects under construction in Texas, Illinois, and Oklahoma will generate over 4.1 TWh of renewable electricity per year, capable of powering more than 525,000 US households annually. All five projects announced today have offtake agreements for a portion of their output.
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Danish clean energy giant Ørsted has just completed its very first utility-scale solar plus battery storage project, and it’s in the US.
Its Permian Energy Center project (pictured above), a 460 MW solar and 40 MW battery storage facility, is in Andrews County, Texas.
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The Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and more than 35 other industry and environmental organizations, including the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April to set national targets to curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other appliances.
The EPA delivered today. It’s the first time the federal government has set national limits on HFCs. It’s also the Biden administration’s first concrete regulatory step to tackle emissions since the US’s announcement that it would slash emissions 50% by 2030.
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The Cologne-headquartered German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) in the UK is the latest pair to explore how quantum computing could help create better simulation models for battery development. The DLR is Germany’s research center for aeronautics and space.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Update April 28, 5:24 p.m. ET: The US Senate has voted 52-42 to reinstate regulations on methane emissions, a harmful greenhouse gas that traps 84 times more atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide. The Senate voted on a Congressional Review Act resolution led by senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Angus King (I-ME), and Ed Markey (D-MA). Or, as King put it, “a repeal of a repeal.”
This is a hugely impactful decision that should result in immediate emissions reduction in the US.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
A team at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has figured out how to recycle glass-reinforced polymer composites (GRP) that are used in wind turbine blades. The university has partnered with Norwegian offshore wind developer Aker Offshore Wind and green investment company Aker Horizons to implement its new technology.
This plan could potentially prevent a huge number of wind turbine blades from ending up in garbage dumps.
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Orbital Marine Power yesterday launched its 2MW tidal turbine, the Orbital O2, in Scotland. It will become the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine once it has been commissioned and connected to the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney Islands.
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The BlackRock US Carbon Transition Readiness exchange-traded fund (ETF) (LCTU) launched last week. It broke records on its first trading day with $1.25 billion invested. But there’s a big problem with this ETF: It’s jam-packed with Big Oil companies.
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Twelve US governors today issued a letter asking President Joe Biden to put the US on a path to 100% new zero-emission vehicle (ZEVs) sales.
Specifically, they asked that all new cars and light-duty trucks are ZEVs by 2035 and new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are ZEVs by 2045.
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The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its annual “Global Energy Review” report, and while there is some good news about the adoption of renewables, there is also some rather alarming news about an anticipated emissions surge in 2021.
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