electric utilities
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Although electric cars do not emit exhaust, it's widely recognized that the electricity to charge their batteries often still comes from fossil fuels. This has led to the scrutiny of electric cars to determine whether their overall "wells-to-wheels" carbon footprints exceed those of regular vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines. For most U.S. drivers, electric cars are already better, thanks to more natural gas and renewable energy powering the electricity grid. DON'T MISS: Can we have fully carbon-free electricity by 2100? Predictions vary In the United Kingdom, electric cars now...
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Energy Dept disappoints US coal industry: no order keeping plants open
The Trump administration has reneged on one aspect of a promise widely discussed throughout the 2016 presidential campaign: reviving the coal industry. President Donald Trump declared the United States coal industry would thrive under his watch, but the Trump administration and the Energy...
Sean Szymkowski -
San Diego utility offers $10,000 off Nissan Leaf, BMW i3 electric cars
For southern California residents, it's an excellent time to start considering the purchase of a BMW i3 or Nissan Leaf electric car. San Diego Gas & Electric has joined a host of other utility companies in the state in offering incentives towards the purchase of an i3 or a Leaf. In total, the...
Sean Szymkowski -
'Fossil fuels are dead,' says CSX railroad chief: no more new trains for coal, ever
The industrial revolution that began around 1750 was powered in large part by coal, and the carbon-rich fuel had 200 good years after that. By the middle of the last century, however, serious studies had begun of its deleterious effects on human health—and that was before the climate-change...
John Voelcker -
Can we have fully carbon-free electricity by 2100? Predictions vary
The future of energy production remains in considerable debate, but some new research provides a more optimistic view for a lower-carbon future. Sources for new and replacement energy production remain uncertain, especially the degree to which renewable sources can replace those based on fossil...
Sean Szymkowski -
Montana solar-power law rigging caught on live video, regrettably
The U.S. is coming up to its Independence Day holiday, in which we celebrate the Declaration of Independence from England and reflect on our history and traditions as a nation. This is an interesting time to do that, and there's a cynical argument to be made that backroom politics is as American as...
John Voelcker -
Scientists generally debate their studies and projections in relatively civil language, but perhaps the currently adversarial tenor of U.S. politics has spilled over into science. A 2015 study on the potential for renewable energy use in the U.S. has now produced not only a stringent attack, but a harsh rebuttal to that attack in language rarely seen among academics. The debate erupted in the pages of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DON'T MISS: Renewable energy to hit 9 percent of U.S. total in 2017 Two years ago, Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental...
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Ohio bill would grant permanent subsidies to coal-fired power plants
It's now widely acknowledged that the energy and electricity-generation landscape is changing rapidly. The U.S. has vastly increased its oil and gas production, driving down prices of fossil fuels globally. At the same time, ever-cheaper renewable energy—not only solar, but surprisingly...
John Voelcker -
Renault plans huge energy storage plant using old Zoe electric-car battery packs
With more plug-in electric vehicles on the road today than ever, automakers are working to solve an impending issue: what to do with used lithium-ion batteries. Once the batteries are no longer suitable to power vehicles, automakers must recycle or repurpose them. Now, through a partnership with...
Sean Szymkowski -
Electric cars cleaner than any gas-only car for 97 percent of U.S. drivers
Electric cars have no tailpipe emissions when running. But unless they're charged entirely on renewable energy—still statistically unlikely today—there are emissions associated with generating the electricity used to charge their batteries. For several years now, rigorous...
John Voelcker -
Lots of ways to get $10K off 2017 Nissan Leaf electric car by end of June
The 2017 Nissan Leaf might well be the hottest electric car deal on the market right now, with a slew of potential discounts. Nissan is working with numerous partners to provide $10,000 off a 2017 Leaf lease, which adds to the $7,500 federal income-tax credit, giving a total of $17,500 in...
Sean Szymkowski -
California utility SCE offers $450 rebate for new and used electric cars
California already offers generous incentives to get consumers into electric vehicles, but now the electric utility Southern California Edison has joined in. SCE has announced what it calls the Clean Fuel Rewards Program to offer a $450 purchase rebate for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid...
Sean Szymkowski -
The Trump administration is either having a robust internal debate on its climate positions or floundering incoherently as various interests vie for the president's attention. Its intentions for the Paris Climate Agreement that the U.S. signed last year remain entirely unclear. On Monday, Trump's EPA administrator Scott Pruitt reportedly asked a powerful coal lobbying group to request that the U.S. pull out of the Paris pact. DON'T MISS: Pruitt won't kill EPA 'endangerment' finding on climate change The head of the agency charged with protecting the U.S. from air, land, and water pollution...
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The day without coal: Britain's first one since 1882
The Industrial Revolution that started around 1750 in England was powered largely by coal. With Watt's invention of the steam engine and the emergence of railways in the mid-nineteenth century, the carbon-dense fuel was central to the change from an agricultural economy to an industrial one. Last...
John Voelcker -
Trump DoE to critique renewables against coal for grid reliability
It is widely accepted in the energy industry that U.S. coal production will fall as a percentage of the total electric grid mix. That has little to do with its high carbon footprint per kilowatt-hour generated; it is largely due to far greater supplies of much cheaper fracked natural gas. It is...
John Voelcker -
Clean Power Plan carbon cuts may survive, even if Trump EPA kills rule
The Clean Power Plan’s future looks uncertain at best under President Donald Trump. The commander-in-chief appears to be urging American utility companies to pivot back towards burning coal to produce electricity. Ending the so-called “war on coal” is intended to create jobs in...
Green Car Reports -
Trump can't affect global climate-change progress, says Mayor Bloomberg
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has gone on record saying publicly what most analysts have discussed privately: the notion that Washington can direct the energy market back towards coal is wrong. In fact, Bloomberg is willing to go further: he believes that the U.S. can still meet the...
Green Car Reports -
Michigan utility cancels electric-car charging stations after opposition
In multiple states, electric utilities are beginning to establish networks of electric-car charging stations. But plans for such a network in Michigan recently hit a roadblock. Last week, local utility Consumers Energy withdrew its request to install public electric-car charging stations at an...
Stephen Edelstein -
One of the major sources of carbon emissions is electricity generation. It's an issue that is becoming increasingly important in the automotive sphere, due to the slow rise of plug-in electric cars. So what would it take to eliminate carbon emissions entirely from making electricity? DON'T MISS: Bipartisan governors' group urges Trump to back solar, wind power The answer is both efficiency improvements, and a shift of the generating mix into renewable energy, according to a new study. Carbon emissions from electricity generation could be reduced 70 percent by 2050, and eliminated entirely by...
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Tesla's battery farm on Kauai opens, large-scale solar energy for Hawaii
Even before Elon Musk engineered Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity, the two companies were collaborating. SolarCity was already controlled by Musk, who believes its solar-energy business can be reinforced and complemented by Tesla's energy-storage business. Last year, Tesla announced a joint project...
Stephen Edelstein -
Coal industry hopes to don disguise as clean-power player via carbon capture
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to "bring back coal" as part of a larger program to encourage greater production of fossil fuels. But the coal industry believes it needs more than an ostensibly friendly administration in Washington to survive. With coal production down and electric...
Stephen Edelstein -
Plug-in hybrid utility truck keeps lights on during emergencies
California electric utility Pacific Gas & Electric recently took delivery of a pair of new trucks that it hopes will help solve two problems. The first is power outages, whether they are caused by weather or necessary planned maintenance work conducted by utilities. The other is every utility's...
Stephen Edelstein -
Solar power hits new U.S. heights: utility use exceeds home panels
No matter how you measure it, 2016 was a major year for solar energy. More solar-generating capacity was added last year than either natural gas or wind, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A study by investment bank and research firm Lazard found that utility-scale solar has now become the...
Stephen Edelstein -
Electric utility in Kansas leads push to get electric cars on roads
When it comes to promoting electric cars, California is rightfully viewed as the most active. But efforts are not limited to the Golden State. If one electric utility has its way, more electric cars will soon be plying the roads of America's heartland. CHECK OUT: Kansas City Power & Light To...
Stephen Edelstein