CLEAN ENERGY: High oil and gas prices should be spurring electrification, but longstanding belief in fossil fuels’ reliability and lawmakers’ reluctance to make economic or policy changes are proving to be barriers, experts say. (Washington Post)
ALSO: National lab researchers predict recent challenges facing the solar and wind industries won’t slow their long-term progress or keep their prices from continuing to fall. (E&E News)
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WIND: Researchers explore innovative ways to recycle wind turbine blades and towers, including repurposing them as utility poles or crushing them for use as a cement material. (Canary Media)
SOLAR:
• A startup claims its technology can extract as much as 95% of the high-value metals in expired solar panels and return them to the supply chain. (Canary Media)
• The president of a solar manufacturing firm with operations in Minnesota says it’s still risky to import solar cells from southeast Asia countries despite the Biden administration’s pause on solar tariffs. (Energy News Network)
• The Biden administration approves two solar projects totaling 465 MW in a southern California renewable energy zone. (E&E News)
CLIMATE:
• More than 100 million people in the Midwest and Southeast are under high heat warnings this week, with weather systems expected to move further East soon. (Washington Post)
• The increasing regularity of severe heat waves doesn’t bode well for the coming decades of global warming, scientists say, with young children, older adults, pregnant people, and the immunocompromised most likely to suffer severe health effects from rising temperatures. (New York Times, Grist)
EQUITY:
• Southern Illinois residents share their visions for what a just transition from coal might look like, including opportunities for residents who never had a chance to work mining or power plant jobs. (Energy News Network)
• Rhode Island’s most disenfranchised communities have historically become neighbors to highly polluting sites — a practice that continues today. (ecoRI)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Top U.S. automakers ask Congress to raise the limit on how many electric vehicles a company can sell before they’re no longer eligible for $7,500 tax credits. (Reuters)
EFFICIENCY: The Biden administration proposes stricter efficiency standards for some natural gas furnaces, which the Department of Energy predicts will save consumers money and reduce carbon emissions. (The Hill)
GRID: A recent survey shows grid operator MISO could have capacity shortfalls or surpluses in the coming years, depending on how markets react to the most recent planning resource auction. (Utility Dive)
UTILITIES: Georgia Power reaches a settlement with state regulators to retire two coal-burning and two natural gas-burning units this summer but delays plans to develop 1,000 MW of battery storage capacity. (Capital Beat News Service)
CARBON CAPTURE:
• The U.S. Interior Department sets parameters for transporting, injecting and storing carbon dioxide underground on public lands. (E&E News, subscription)
• Mississippi lawmakers hope an existing pipeline that captures carbon dioxide from an extinct volcano and pushes it underground to squeeze out oil will give the state a leg up in the growing carbon capture sector. (Mississippi Today)
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