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Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Small Digesters Could Expand the Technology’s Use
By Philip Gruber, Lancaster Farming.
Small-scale methane digesters could help more dairy farmers take advantage of a technology that so far has mostly been available to the largest farms.
As with large digesters, making each unit cost-effective is the top challenge for small digesters, said Stephanie Lansing, a University of Maryland ecological engineering professor.
The waste-to-energy digesters use microbes to break down manure. The methane produced can be converted to electricity.
California legislators consider reducing methane emissions from gassy cows
By Gabrielle Karol, KXTV abc10.
Everyone poops – and burps and farts. When cows do it, though, it’s a problem, and California is looking for cows to cut back.
A proposed strategy from the California Air Resources Board seeks to reduce methane emissions from the dairy industry by more than 40 percent by 2030. The dairy and livestock industry creates half of California’s methane emissions. Breaking it down further, half of those emissions come from cows’ belching and passing gas, while the other half comes from manure management.
Two California senate bills moving through the legislature would require the Air Resources Board to start putting in place strategies to achieve this reduction in methane and other greenhouse gases. But many dairy producers are pushing back, arguing that the mandated reductions would be unachievable.
Turns out wind and solar have a secret friend: Natural gas
By Chris Mooney, The Washington Post.
We’re at a time of deeply ambitious plans for clean energy growth. Two of the U.S.’s largest states by population, California and New York, have both mandated that power companies get fully 50 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by the year 2030.
Only, there’s a problem: Because of the particular nature of clean energy sources like solar and wind, you can’t simply add them to the grid in large volumes and think that’s the end of the story. Rather, because these sources of electricity generation are “intermittent” — solar fluctuates with weather and the daily cycle, wind fluctuates with the wind — there has to be some means of continuing to provide electricity even when they go dark. And the more renewables you have, the bigger this problem can be.
Now, a new study suggests that at least so far, solving that problem has ironically involved more fossil fuels — and more particularly, installing a large number of fast-ramping natural gas plants, which can fill in quickly whenever renewable generation slips.
Republic Services opens new CNG fueling station in California
By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive.
Dive Brief:
- Republic Services has opened its second compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Long Beach, CA in partnership with Clean Energy.
- The company began using alternative fuel vehicles in its local fleet in 2008 and recently added 56 CNG collection trucks. This brings the number of CNG trucks in Long Beach to 147 out of a total 191 — more than 75% of the fleet.
- Nationwide, Republic now has 38 natural gas fueling station and nearly 2,500 CNG trucks. The company estimates that this saved approximately 21 million gallons of diesel fuel last year.
Dissociative State Disorders—The Direction of US Policies and Programs for Clean Energy
By Joel B. Stronberg, Renewable Energy World.
Divided was the third most quoted word given by U.S. voters in response to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll asking for a one-word description of the current state of the union. Confused ranked fifth.
These responses correctly capture the cause of uncertainty that has been the theme of this series of articles on the reality of meeting the U.S.’s promised emission reduction targets. Or, in terms of the Paris Accord, nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
The dichotomous direction of policies and programs in support of a domestic clean energy economy is by no means limited to national politics or the federal judiciary. Present and emerging divisions within and between the states, as well as within and between clean energy-environmental organizations must be recognized as potential sources of division and confusion impacting the likelihood of reaching the promised NDCs.
London Council: "Bio-methane is our preferred fuel source and we have considered the 'source-to-tank' regime as it is more environmentally friendly..."
By Debbie Wood, Business Car.
Following in the footsteps of Camden Council, which introduced a ban earlier in the year, the 300-strong fleet will be replaced with petrol and hybrid alternatives, once current cycles have come to an end. Only a few diesel vehicles will remain, such as tractors, where there's an operational necessity and no other fuel type available.
Chris Bell, head of procurement, said: "The City Corporation takes air quality extremely seriously. We are taking responsibility for the cleanliness of our fleet and encouraging the use of low- and zero-emission vehicles with our partners," he said.
Across the UK as many as 40,000 deaths a year are attributed to outdoor air pollution, 9400 of which are linked to premature deaths in the capital. The Institute for Public Policy Research, which is urging London mayor Sadiq Khan to ban all diesels in London, says road transport accounts for almost 15% of the total emissions in London.
Former GOP EPA heads endorse Clinton: Trump ‘would set the world back decades’
By Nolan McCaskill, Politico.
Donald Trump would threaten the environmental legacy of presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, according to two former Environmental Protection Agency chiefs from their administrations.
“Republicans have a long history of support for the environment dating back to Theodore Roosevelt. Donald Trump threatens to destroy that legacy of respect for the environment and protection of public health,” William D. Ruckelshaus and William K. Reilly said in a statement endorsing Hillary Clinton’s campaign Tuesday.
Ruckelshaus served as EPA administrator under Reagan and Nixon, while Reilly served under Bush. The pair touted the administrations they worked under for their environmental efforts, but called Trump clueless on the matter.
Ranks and Hackles—COP21 and Judicial Review of the Clean Power Plan
By Joel B. Stronberg,
The complex case of West Virginia v. EPA illustrates the uncertainty injected into the national effort of the U.S. to meet its COP21 commitments, as a result of day-to-day realities. The case is the basis for the Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) staying the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (CPP or Plan). It is the lynchpin holding up the U.S. promise made in Paris.
The Plan ranks as one of the most controversial environmental regulations ever promulgated by EPA. It rankles the sensibilities of climate deniers and raises the hackles of 200 sitting senators and representatives, who joined the case as friends of the plaintiff 27 states and assorted coal companies. Literally hundreds of other parties have weighed in on both sides of the legal arguments, including: past members of Congress, utilities and independent power producers, business organizations, medical professionals, faith groups, regulatory commissioners, local government organizations, renewable energy and environmental organizations, labor unions, former Secretaries of State and Defense, former EPA Administrators and a career State Department diplomat.
Simple Framing of the Argument
EPA published its proposed “Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Electric Utility Generating Units” on June 18, 2014. Since its publication, the proposed clean air regulation has been the subject of numerous law suits. The legal challenges began well before the final Rule was ever published in the Federal Register—starting with Murray Energy Corporation (a coal company) and the states of West Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming filing petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit.
Even Before The Paris Agreement Takes Effect, Hundreds Of Corporates Are Voluntarily Offsetting Emissions
By Steve Zwick, Ecosystem Marketplace.
In 2007, as airlines around the world were lobbying to prevent the regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions from passenger flights, Delta Airlines started looking for ways to reduce its emissions – first by increasing fuel efficiency, and eventually by investing $1 million in a massive effort by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to buy up old farms across the Lower Mississippi Valley and restore them to their natural, forested state so that trees can absorb enough carbon dioxide (CO2) to offset some of Delta’s greenhouse gasses. TNC scientists say the project will mop up more than 100 million tons of CO2 over the next 70 years, and Delta is helping to finance it by purchasing offsets to reduce its carbon footprint, but the exact amount of emissions reduced is being determined through a rigorous process certified under the Verified Carbon Standard.
Airlines aren’t subject to mandatory caps in most countries, but Delta acted voluntarily anyway. Then, when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) began negotiating the inclusion of international flights in Europe’s cap-and-trade program, the airline decided to improve its carbon-market proficiency by voluntarily keeping 2014 emissions below 2012, even as passenger miles increased.
As earlier, it aimed first to reduce emissions by saving fuel, with offsetting as an additional tool to get it under its target. So the company worked with aviation authorities to overhaul its routes and with airports to reduce taxiing time around the world; it even reduced the amount of ice it carried and eliminated hefty duty-free brochures to drop the weight of its planes. These efforts enabled it to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 159,000 metric tons of “CO2 equivalent”, or “tCO2e”, which is a standard that measures all greenhouse gasses based on their warming impact. By cutting down on waste, the company saved more than $46 million in 2014, according to its sustainability report, but it wasn’t enough to stay below 2012 levels.
Report Highlights Rapid Growth and Significant Future Opportunity for California's Clean Transportation Technology Industry
By CALSTART, via Market wired.
PASADENA, CA--(Marketwired - August 08, 2016) - A new CALSTART report indicates that California's climate and energy policies are not only helping to protect the environment and improve air quality, but are also helping to accelerate growth of the clean transportation technology industry in the state.
The report, "California's Clean Transportation Technology Industry: Time to Shift into High Gear," profiles the development of a burgeoning manufacturing sector that is producing zero- and near-zero emission light, medium and heavy duty vehicles, as well as clean fuels, engines, vehicle components, and new mobility services.
"This report shows that California's forward-looking air quality, climate, and energy policies -- like AB 32 and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard -- along with incentive funding are creating jobs and making California a leader in the fast growing global clean transportation technology industry," said CALSTART President and CEO John Boesel. "What we are finally seeing is a tremendous synergy between the state's policies, its culture of innovation, and its human capital. These factors together over the past five to seven years have created nearly 20,000 new high quality jobs in the state," Boesel said.
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