RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Corporate Commitment to Clean Energy Expands, Not Just for Google and Apple Anymore
By Katie Fehrenbacher, Greentech Media.
Some of the first companies in the U.S. to commit to buying clean energy were internet giants, including Google and Apple, which were worried about the massive energy needs of their data centers in coal country. But today, more and more companies across a number of sectors are opting to buy renewables and are increasingly doing smaller deals.
(Last) week, Goldman Sachs announced its first clean energy procurement deal from a 68-megawatt wind project that will be built in Pennsylvania through a power-purchase agreement with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. When it commences operation in 2019, the wind project will cover all of Goldman Sachs' energy needs (including offices and data centers) in the U.S.
By Katie Fehrenbacher, Greentech Media.
Some of the first companies in the U.S. to commit to buying clean energy were internet giants, including Google and Apple, which were worried about the massive energy needs of their data centers in coal country. But today, more and more companies across a number of sectors are opting to buy renewables and are increasingly doing smaller deals.
This week, Goldman Sachs announced its first clean energy procurement deal from a 68-megawatt wind project that will be built in Pennsylvania through a power-purchase agreement with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. When it commences operation in 2019, the wind project will cover all of Goldman Sachs' energy needs (including offices and data centers) in the U.S.
Goldman Sachs' global head of the environmental, social and governance team, Cindy Quan, said the bank chose the deal as its first clean energy PPA because of the location, close to its energy footprint on the East Coast, and because of the size of the project, which is similar in scope to its energy footprint. Goldman Sachs, which has played a significant role in financing the clean energy sector, also wanted to invest in a project that's new and would put more clean energy on the grid.
Goldman Sachs isn’t the only one. Food giant General Mills announced last week that it’s inked a deal for a virtual PPA for 100 megawatts of clean power from a wind farm that will be built by RES in Texas.
Trillium CNG Celebrates Opening of York Nat-Gas Fueling Station
By Lauren Tyler, NGT News.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and rabbittransit in York, Pa., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to welcome the commonwealth’s newest public compressed natural gas (CNG) station.
As reported, the newly opened facility is the second public CNG station Love’s Trillium CNG designed, built and maintains for numerous transit authorities in Pennsylvania as part of a public-private partnership (P3) PennDOT awarded to the company last year.
By Lauren Tyler, NGT News.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and rabbittransit in York, Pa., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to welcome the commonwealth’s newest public compressed natural gas (CNG) station.
As reported, the newly opened facility is the second public CNG station Love’s Trillium CNG designed, built and maintains for numerous transit authorities in Pennsylvania as part of a public-private partnership (P3) PennDOT awarded to the company last year.
“CNG is clean transportation fuel. Not only will it help reduce our carbon footprint, but it will help reduce our maintenance costs, as well as create jobs in Pennsylvania. We couldn’t be more pleased to be a partner in this initiative in bringing public-private fueling stations to the commonwealth,” says Richard Farr, rabbittransit executive director.
According to Love’s Trillium CNG, the P3 project will provide CNG to more than 1,600 buses at transit agencies across Pennsylvania. rabbittransit has one CNG bus, and eight additional CNG buses will be delivered next month.
Studies say ARPA-E, EPA STAR programs have worked well and warrant continuation
By Megan Geuss, ARS Technica.
An independent review of ARPA-E and a graduate study program offered by the EPA has found that the two embattled, federally funded grant programs are necessary, contrary to claims made by Washington. The studies relied on years of record-keeping and could be useful for politicians arguing against the aggressive budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) proposed by the Trump administration.
By Megan Geuss, ARS Technica.
An independent review of ARPA-E and a graduate study program offered by the EPA has found that the two embattled, federally funded grant programs are necessary, contrary to claims made by Washington. The studies relied on years of record-keeping and could be useful for politicians arguing against the aggressive budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) proposed by the Trump administration.
The studies focused on the DOE’s ARPA-E (or Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) program and the EPA’s STAR (Science To Achieve Results) program. The Trump administration has proposed that funding be cut entirely for ARPA-E and that funding for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (which directed the STAR program) be cut by half.
Both studies were conducted by the National Academies of Sciences—the ARPA-E study was conducted at Congress' request, and the EPA STAR study was conducted at the EPA's own request
Inside California's effort to revamp and reauthorize its emissions plan
By Katie Fehrenbacher, The Guardian.
California has one of the world’s most sophisticated and ambitious cap-and-trade programs, which are designed to provide financial incentives to big polluters, such as electricity providers and oil refineries, to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
The complex program, which began only in 2013, is a signature component of California’s plan to cut emissions in the midst of a controversial makeover by state policymakers, after they passed a landmark bill last year that created one of the world’s most aggressive climate change goals: to lower carbon emissions to 40% below the 1990 levels by 2030.
By Katie Fehrenbacher, The Guardian.
California has one of the world’s most sophisticated and ambitious cap-and-trade programs, which are designed to provide financial incentives to big polluters, such as electricity providers and oil refineries, to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
The complex program, which began only in 2013, is a signature component of California’s plan to cut emissions in the midst of a controversial makeover by state policymakers, after they passed a landmark bill last year that created one of the world’s most aggressive climate change goals: to lower carbon emissions to 40% below the 1990 levels by 2030.
Fierce debates over how to achieve the new, ambitious goals began before President Trump’s decision earlier this month to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement. That decision will likely put a greater spotlight on how California – considered a leader in fighting climate change – will redesign its cap-and-trade program, which many say needs better market mechanisms and metrics to measure its successes and failures.
“It’s important to have the right architecture in place to make cap-and-trade succeed, and have it as a model for folks,” explains Senator Bob Wieckowski, a Democrat from Fremont and chair of the Senate environmental quality committee. Wieckowski, a bankruptcy attorney, is co-sponsoring a bill, SB 775, which seeks to set new parameters for the cap-and-trade program after 2020.
EPA gives notice to dozens of scientific advisory board members that their time is up
By Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency has given notice to dozens of scientists that they will not be renewed in their roles in advising the agency, continuing a scientific shake-up that has already triggered resignations and charges from some researchers that the administration is politicizing the agency.
Members of the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) whose terms end in August will not see them renewed, according to an email sent to members and obtained by The Washington Post, though they can reapply for their posts. Moreover, five meetings of subcommittees of the board, planned for the late summer and the fall, will now be canceled because of lack of membership. They will be held once the board is reconstituted, according to EPA officials.
By Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency has given notice to dozens of scientists that they will not be renewed in their roles in advising the agency, continuing a scientific shake-up that has already triggered resignations and charges from some researchers that the administration is politicizing the agency.
Members of the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) whose terms end in August will not see them renewed, according to an email sent to members and obtained by The Washington Post, though they can reapply for their posts. Moreover, five meetings of subcommittees of the board, planned for the late summer and the fall, will now be canceled because of lack of membership. They will be held once the board is reconstituted, according to EPA officials.
“It effectively wipes out the BOSC and leaves it free for a complete reappointment,” said Deborah Swackhamer, the current chair of the board’s executive committee and an emeritus professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota.
That executive committee has only five remaining members, after a number of members whose terms were up earlier this year were not renewed. The board also has five subcommittees, but according to an email from Swackhamer, “with the latest information from EPA, 38 of the 49 remaining subcommittee members will not be renewed at the end of August.”
New study indicates food waste measurements are 'overstated' and 'potentially consequential'
A new study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics on behalf of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association found that many formal measurements of food waste are "inconsistent" and might be overstated.
The study's authors cite the deficiencies and discrepancies of four different definitions of food waste: those from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), E.U. Fusions, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A new study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics on behalf of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association found that many formal measurements of food waste are "inconsistent" and might be overstated.
The study's authors cite the deficiencies and discrepancies of four different definitions of food waste: those from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), E.U. Fusions, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In the study, the authors simplify the definition of food waste to "the difference between the amount of food produced and the sum of all food employed in any kind of productive use, whether it is food or nonfood." In using this definition they found that food waste measurements are overstated under the parameters of the other definitions.
Read more HERE.
Read the full study HERE.
Nevada Governor Kills Renewable Energy, Community Solar Bills With Deregulation Pending
By Julia Pyper, GreenTech Media.
It looked like renewable energy advocates in Nevada were going to win the legislative Triple Crown last week, but two of the three clean energy bills in contention never made it across the finish line.
Republican Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed the two bills on Friday, citing uncertainty amid Nevada’s pending shift to an open and competitive energy market.
By Julia Pyper, GreenTech Media.
It looked like renewable energy advocates in Nevada were going to win the legislative Triple Crown last week, but two of the three clean energy bills in contention never made it across the finish line.
Republican Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed the two bills on Friday, citing uncertainty amid Nevada’s pending shift to an open and competitive energy market.
AB 206 would have increased the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 40 percent by 2030, up from 25 percent in 2025, and created attractive new incentives for energy storage. The second bill, SB 392, would have established a 200-megawatt community solar program by 2023.
On Thursday last week, Sandoval signed a popular bill (AB 405) that restored net metering credits for rooftop solar customers in the Silver State, giving the distributed energy market an enormous boost. Following that win, supporters hoped the RPS and community solar bills would get approval too.
Trump to promote ag technology with Iowa trip
By Philip Brasher, AgriPulse.
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2017 - President Trump heads to Iowa this week to showcase precision agriculture and its benefits to the rural economy, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will host his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Georgia.
Trump heads to Cedar Rapids on Wednesday where he will speak on agriculture innovation and visit one of several community colleges that are training young precision ag specialists to serve farmers who are adopting the technology, which allows them to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides by targeting them where they are most needed.
By Philip Brasher, AgriPulse.
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2017 - President Trump heads to Iowa this week to showcase precision agriculture and its benefits to the rural economy, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will host his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Georgia.
Trump heads to Cedar Rapids on Wednesday where he will speak on agriculture innovation and visit one of several community colleges that are training young precision ag specialists to serve farmers who are adopting the technology, which allows them to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides by targeting them where they are most needed.
Perdue, who will be in Georgia on Tuesday, is expected to join the president in Iowa along with the newly minted U.S. ambassador to China, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, who sources say will be nominated as USDA’s undersecretary for farm and conservation programs, also is expected to be on hand.
Perdue’s visit Wednesday in the Savannah area with Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Mexican Agriculture Secretary José Calzada Rovirosa comes as the three countries are preparing to renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement at Trump’s insistence.
Dane County, WI might sell the methane its landfill produces to California, reports Isthmus in Madison
By Samantha Rose Loomis, Isthmus.
Dane County was one of the first in Wisconsin to begin using the methane its landfill produces to generate electricity.
“We actually produce enough electricity on our landfill to offset almost all electric use by Dane County operations, all Dane County functions countywide,” says John Welch, solid waste manager at Dane County landfill.
However, this is not what the electricity is used for. Dane County has a 10-year contract with Madison Gas and Electric, selling the electricity to it for about $3 million a year, Welch says.
By Samantha Rose Loomis, Isthmus.
Dane County was one of the first in Wisconsin to begin using the methane its landfill produces to generate electricity.
“We actually produce enough electricity on our landfill to offset almost all electric use by Dane County operations, all Dane County functions countywide,” says John Welch, solid waste manager at Dane County landfill.
However, this is not what the electricity is used for. Dane County has a 10-year contract with Madison Gas and Electric, selling the electricity to it for about $3 million a year, Welch says.
As that contract comes to an end, Dane County is hoping to get a better deal. A proposed $18 million project in the 2017 budget would allow the county to turn the methane the trash produces into compressed natural gas, or CNG. That fuel could then be sold. It might even get piped to California, which is the leading market in the United States for the gas.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi wants the project to be a model for fighting global warming.
“I funded this project in my 2017 Dane County budget because I want our county to be a national leader on confronting climate change, embracing green energy, and taking steps to cleaning the air we breathe,” Parisi said.
There are currently about 3,000 active landfills in the United States. About 80 of these are in Wisconsin. Most of Wisconsin’s landfills have been producing electricity for the past decade or two, but in low amounts.
New Utah facility to turn food waste to renewable energy
By Ashley Stilson, Deseret News.
NORTH SALT LAKE — Think back to the last trip to the grocery store. How much food did you buy — and how much of that did you throw away?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted globally every year. That's roughly a third of the food produced annually.
And all that discarded food usually winds up in landfills.
"We don’t really see that. We handle our waste kind of secretly — it goes out the back door. But we needed a place for that stuff to go," said Bruce Alder, president of ALPRO Energy and Water.
To cut the amount of food waste in Utah landfills, ALPRO Energy and Water, and South Davis Sewer District are partnering to build Utah's first anaerobic digester facility. Dozens of businessmen and women gathered at the groundbreaking for the building in North Salt Lake on Thursday.
By Ashley Stilson, Deseret News.
NORTH SALT LAKE — Think back to the last trip to the grocery store. How much food did you buy — and how much of that did you throw away?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted globally every year. That's roughly a third of the food produced annually.
And all that discarded food usually winds up in landfills.
"We don’t really see that. We handle our waste kind of secretly — it goes out the back door. But we needed a place for that stuff to go," said Bruce Alder, president of ALPRO Energy and Water.
To cut the amount of food waste in Utah landfills, ALPRO Energy and Water, and South Davis Sewer District are partnering to build Utah's first anaerobic digester facility. Dozens of businessmen and women gathered at the groundbreaking for the building in North Salt Lake on Thursday.
"Everywhere we looked, we found more waste," Alder said. "There is a real need to divert and process these organic wastes that are now being thrown away and put in a landfill, to a better and more sustainable use."
Anaerobic digestion is a biological process where microbes break down biodegradable material without oxygen.
The Wasatch Resource Recovery facility will turn organic material — including food scraps, food manufacturing waste and expired food and beverages — into clean, renewable natural gas.
Once it is operational in the fall of 2018, the $43 million facility will divert about 360 tons of solid waste from landfills every day.
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