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GRID: The Tennessee Valley Authority’s board considers a 150 MW power arrangement for Elon Musk’s supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, which is currently using gas turbines and has prompted opposition from its neighbors. (Commercial Appeal, New York Times)
CARBON CAPTURE: Occidental Petroleum nears completion of a direct-air carbon capture facility in Texas that would be the first large-scale facility to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air; the company plans to build dozens more. (Houston Chronicle)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: Georgia Power asks state regulators to approve its plan to build 500 MW of battery storage at four sites. (Capitol Beat News Service)
PIPELINES: A federal court agrees to hear arguments over a 32-mile pipeline in Tennessee to supply a gas-fired power plant that’s part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plan to replace its coal plants with gas. (Tennessee Lookout)
OIL & GAS:
WIND:
NUCLEAR: A growing number of South Carolina environmentalists embrace the prospect of nuclear power as a source of carbon-free energy. (Charleston City Paper)
OVERSIGHT: A flood of companies disclosing their use of toxic chemicals in the fallout from Hurricane Helene exposes a tangled web of federal disclosure laws and regulatory holes that let them hide those details. (The Lever)
POLITICS:
UTILITIES:
COMMENTARY: The presidential election is causing uncertainty in North Carolina’s clean energy economy as companies move to “de-risk” by slowing projects and waiting to see who wins, write the president and vice president of a climate-focused startup. (Raleigh News & Observer)
EFFICIENCY: Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania lead the country in passive house adoption, but these highly energy-efficient homes remain out of reach for many in the middle class. (Washington Post)
ALSO:
TRANSPORTATION: New Jersey and New York ports receive $400 million in federal funding to electrify a ferry fleet and cargo handling equipment, provide plug-in power for ships in port, and help truck drivers get zero-emissions vehicles. (NJ Spotlight News)
FOSSIL FUELS: Northampton becomes the 10th Massachusetts municipality — and the only one in the western part of the state — authorized to ban fossil fuels in new construction as part of a pilot program. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
NUCLEAR: Plans to revive the Three Mile Island plant, once synonymous with disaster, highlight the country’s shifting attitudes toward nuclear power. (New York Times)
POLITICS: The future of fracking in Pennsylvania is central to the two major presidential candidates’ pitches to voters in the important swing state. (TribLIVE)
TRANSMISSION: A Maryland state senator plans to propose legislation to delay the construction of a proposed 70-mile transmission line through the state. (Fox Baltimore)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: More than $80 million in federal and state grants help Maryland expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure, particularly in underserved communities. (Southern Maryland Online)
GAS: A plant converting the methane from landfill emissions into natural gas opens in Pennsylvania, and could produce enough energy to heat 39,000 homes each year, developers say. (Republican Herald)
COMMENTARY:
SOLAR: A Kentucky nonprofit is building net-zero homes with energy efficient construction and rooftop solar panels to lower energy costs for low-income residents, including in a housing development for survivors of the state’s 2022 floods. (Kentucky Lantern)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
OIL & GAS:
WIND: An emerging Texas wind company cites “fast-growing demand” for renewable energy from oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin as they move to decarbonize and upgrade power to their growing operations. (CleanTechnica)
STORAGE: Dominion Energy proposes a liquified natural gas storage facility in southern Virginia, while another company is leasing 85 acres in an industrial park for a lithium-ion battery storage facility. (Virginia Business)
EMISSIONS: Two Georgia military bases are at the forefront of the armed forces’ push to reduce emissions and counter climate change, including one that’s been described as the Defense Department’s “first net-zero energy base.” (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
BIOGAS:
NUCLEAR: Amazon signs an agreement with Dominion Energy to research the use of small modular nuclear reactors at an existing Virginia nuclear power plant. (Virginia Business)
CLIMATE:
GRID: Georgia officials schedule an open house to discuss a company’s plans to build a new transmission line. (WSAV)
UTILITIES: Southern Company is partnering with the Atlantic magazine’s marketing research team to discuss the energy transition in what an expert calls “nothing more than a propaganda effort.” (DeSmog)
POLITICS: West Virginia U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito say the energy industry is headed in the right direction as it moves toward renewables and new technology while also producing more fossil fuels. (WV Metro News)
COMMENTARY: South Carolina-owned utility Santee Cooper should modulate its proposed rate increase with carve-outs that incentivize energy efficiency and renewables, writes a climate advocate. (Post and Courier)
TRANSPORTATION: California regulators partner with a commercial airline trade group in an effort to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
HYDROGEN: The U.S. EPA awards Hawaii $59.2 million for hydrogen-fueled tractors and a fueling station at shipping ports. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, subscription)
SOLAR:
WIND: Oregon officials invite the public to help develop an “offshore wind energy roadmap” after widespread opposition to proposed development along the state’s southern coast prompted a federal agency to cancel a lease sale. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
CLEAN ENERGY: Wyoming lawmakers kill legislation that would have restricted the use of eminent domain to acquire land for utility-scale carbon capture, wind and solar projects, worrying it could hamper enhanced oil recovery plans. (Cowboy State Daily)
EFFICIENCY: The Biden administration awards Colorado’s weatherization assistance program $7.6 million for electric heat pumps and efficiency upgrades for low-income residents. (Colorado Newsline)
UTILITIES:
GRID: The Western Area Power Administration’s Sierra Nevada branch plans to join the California grid operator’s day-ahead regional power market. (RTO insider, subscription)
URANIUM: A firm looks to reopen a long-shuttered uranium mill in Utah even as federal agencies continue to clean up Cold War-era processing facilities in the state. (Salt Lake Tribune)
ELECTRIFICATION: Washington state advocates argue a ballot measure aimed at preemptively banning restrictions on natural gas hookups or appliances would raise utility rates by as much as $150 annually. (Center Square)
Work headed by an Ohio waste-to-energy company to make plastic from biodigester byproducts is among seven projects recently selected for federal grants to develop new ways to use captured carbon dioxide.
The grants aim to advance the federal government’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to address ongoing climate change.
Quasar Energy Group, headquartered south of Cleveland in Independence, designs and builds anaerobic digesters, in which bacteria break down manure, food waste, or other organic materials. Methane is the systems’ main gas output and can be used to power generators or heat buildings, among other uses.
But anaerobic digesters also produce carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas which has fewer commercial uses. Customers today include fertilizer manufacturers, oil and gas companies, and food and beverage makers. But those markets are tiny compared to the amount of CO₂ scientists think will need to be removed from industrial emissions, or even pulled from the atmosphere, to deal with climate change.
There’s a limit to how much carbon dioxide will be able to be stored in the ground, and community opposition to pipelines is another barrier to Midwest carbon capture plans. Using the carbon in products — such as cement or plastics — can be a useful alternative, especially if it displaces other fossil fuel inputs.
On Oct. 9, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced funding for seven projects aimed at commercializing new approaches to incorporating carbon dioxide into products. The selections are aimed at hard-to-decarbonize sectors, said Ian Rowe, division director for carbon dioxide conversion at DOE’s office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
“There’s not going to be a non-carbon solution for those needs in the future, but we should make them from more sustainable forms of carbon,” Rowe said. “And carbon dioxide represents a feedstock that you can use.”
Ohio is already a leader in plastics production that relies heavily on the fossil fuel industry. Hundreds of companies across the state play a role in manufacturing or the supply chain. And midstream processing provides a ready supply of natural gas feedstocks from the Utica shale play.
Quasar Energy’s team designed its process for making plastic so it will work well with biodigesters. Basically, the project will use lipids from algae as a feedstock for a type of polyurethane. Liquid effluent from the biodigester could help grow the algae and supply nutrients for it, such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
Carbon dioxide from the biogester’s gas would be another ingredient in the process. The project team estimates the process could cut carbon dioxide emissions at least 25%, compared to current technology for making the plastic.
The process already works on a bench-scale level in the lab, said Tao Dong, a chemical engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, who is also working on the project. Other team members named in the group’s grant application to DOE include Caixia “Ellen” Wan at the University of Missouri, Xumeng Ge at Quasar, and Ashton Zeller, director of research at Algix.
Costs are an important factor for the Quasar team’s project or any other products aimed at displacing those made from fossil fuel sources. Those costs include expenses for “cleaning up” the biodigester gas to separate methane from carbon dioxide. But a chunk of that expense also can be allocated to the separated methane, which has its own value for energy, either for on-site use or for sale for use elsewhere.
In other words, using the gas for making the plastic and for energy helps the economics for both uses, versus just flaring the gas into the atmosphere.
“Our process can be cost-effective,” said Yebo Li, Quasar’s chief innovation and science officer.
The plastic made from the process also has an advantage from being a non-isocyanate polyurethane, said Mel Kurtz, president of Quasar. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration links isocyanates to various health problems, and some are potential carcinogens. So, a polyurethane plastic that doesn’t have them should reduce risks for workers at factories who would then use the material to manufacture products, such as shoes or other items.
“If [farms] can add another revenue stream, that can improve the economics” for biodigesters on farms, said Andy Olsen, a senior policy advocate for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, whose work focuses on energy issues relating to agriculture and is not part of the project team.
It’s also important to make sure staff are properly trained to use and maintain the equipment properly, Olsen added, noting potential problems with leaked gases. Others question whether emissions offsets from some biodigesters have been overstated.
The Quasar project team still faces hurdles. Work under the grant will focus on identifying and addressing risks so the technology can be scaled up.
One challenge will be maintaining algae ponds over time to provide the lipids for the process. Another will be optimizing the process for making them into small chemical building blocks called monomers and then assembling them into polymers, which are the plastic. Maintaining the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over time also will be important.
Other Midwest grant recipients include LanzaTech, an Illinois sustainable fuels company, and Washington University in St. Louis, which will develop a low-carbon process to convert carbon dioxide to high-quality carbon nanotubes. Those will be tested for use as anodes for lithium-ion batteries.
Whether these and other carbon management projects can scale up quickly enough for the United States to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 is a big question, said Rowe at DOE.
The energy source for the production process will also make a big difference, Rowe said. Algae can make their own food with carbon dioxide and sunlight. But it takes energy to maintain the ponds throughout the year. The equipment to process the algae and then make the lipids and biodigesters’ carbon dioxide into polyurethane also needs energy.
“Carbon management strategies go hand in hand with an increased deployment of cheap clean electricity. So, a lot of these won’t work without the other,” Rowe said. On the flip side, “if that energy does not come from clean sources, you’ve just produced something that is worse for the environment than if you dug it up and just used fossil carbon.”
SOLAR: A coalition of solar developers say they’ll lobby Virginia lawmakers to restrict local bans against such projects, spotlighting the local rejection of 33 utility-scale facilities totaling 3,236 MW over the past year and a half. (Virginia Mercury)
PIPELINES:
OIL & GAS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID:
FINANCE: Memphis, Tennessee, launches a “green bank” to fund energy efficiency, green infrastructure and renewable energy projects. (WREG)
OVERSIGHT: Critics complain that West Virginia officials scheduled meetings about a proposed ranking system for plugging gas wells and the planned Appalachian hydrogen hub at the same time, preventing concerned residents from attending both. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
EMISSIONS:
CLIMATE: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out more than $190 million so far to individuals in North Carolina for damage from Hurricane Helene, while thousands of Virginia residents and businesses apply for more. (Asheville Watchdog, Bristol Herald Courier)
UTILITIES: Florida Power & Light asks state regulators for a rate hike to recover $1.2 billion in costs for restoring power after hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, and to replenish a storm fund. (News Service of Florida)
FOSSIL FUELS: West Virginia’s coal and gas leaders discuss ways to grow the market for their products at an energy conference, while the state’s Republican candidate for governor promises to fight federal regulation. (WV Metro News, Parkersburg News and Sentinel)
OFFSHORE WIND: Four offshore wind lease areas in the Gulf of Maine net nearly $22 million at auction, but four more parcels go unclaimed as the wind industry slows. (Maine Public)
ALSO:
HYDRO: Massachusetts consumers will pay an additional $521 million to help cover construction delays on a transmission line intended to import hydropower from Canada, though developers say the project should eventually yield savings. (CommonWealth Beacon)
STORAGE: A solar company and a utility partner to provide free batteries to more than 300 New York homes with solar panels to help clean up the grid at times of peak demand. (Canary Media)
CLIMATE: Massachusetts’ long-awaited climate bill stalls again, as the state House speaker announces plans to delay a vote until a new formal session is convened. (CommonWealth Beacon)
TRANSPORTATION: Philadelphia’s port authority receives $77.6 million in federal funds for electric cargo-moving equipment, sharing in the $3 billion Clean Ports grant program. (WHYY)
POLITICS:
SOLAR: Pennsylvania launches a $25 million grant program to help schools install solar panels to reduce energy expenses. (ABC27)
EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA announces $3 billion to deploy zero-emission freight and ferry infrastructure to curb ports’ climate impacts. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
UTILITIES: Climate change and the clean energy transition add to complications for utilities looking to shore up system resilience. (Utility Dive)
GRID:
SOLAR:
POLITICS:
LITHIUM: The U.S. Energy Department finalizes a $2.26 billion loan to the controversial Thacker Pass lithium mine under development in Nevada as part of the Biden administration’s effort to bolster the domestic battery supply chain. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A nonprofit “green bank” launches a $250 million financing program to help small freight companies serving the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports purchase about 500 electric trucks. (Canary Media)
CLEAN ENERGY: The Biden administration awards Tri-State Generation $2.5 billion in loans and grants to retire existing coal plants and develop and acquire new clean energy capacity for its member cooperatives in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona. (Colorado Sun)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A nonprofit “green bank” launches a $250 million financing program to purchase about 500 electric trucks for freight companies serving the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. (Canary Media)
LITHIUM: The U.S. Energy Department finalizes a $2.26 billion loan to the controversial Thacker Pass lithium mine under development in Nevada as part of the Biden administration’s effort to bolster the domestic battery supply chain. (Reuters)
UTILITIES:
OIL & GAS:
COAL:
SOLAR: An Oregon farm launches an agrivoltaics project consisting of a mobile tracking solar-plus-storage array that shades cool-weather crops from climate change-driven heat. (Microgrid Knowledge)
BATTERIES: A developer brings an 80 MW battery energy storage system online in California’s Central Valley. (news release)
POLITICS: Observers say Nevada’s debates over clean energy development and lithium mining are not falling along political lines and are unlikely to affect voters’ choice for president. (E&E News)
NUCLEAR: A mining company’s proposed uranium mill in an economically depressed Utah town shows little progress even though commodity prices remain high. (Salt Lake Tribune)
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
At New Century Motorcycles in Alhambra, a handful of electric motorcycles are relegated to the back of the store, tucked behind the dirt bikes. The store sells one a month, at most, a salesperson said.
Motorcyclists have long loved their noisy, gas-powered machines that allow them to ride long distances on highways and remote roads with few fueling stops.
Now, in a nationwide first, California is planning new rules that ramp up sales of zero-emission motorcycles in its quest to clean the air and battle climate-warming gasses.
The regulations would impose a credit system for manufacturers so that 10% of motorcycles sold in California would be zero-emissions in 2028 and 50% in 2035, according to the state Air Resources Board. At the same time, a tighter standard for new gas-powered motorcycles would ratchet down their emissions for the first time in more than 25 years.
Under the proposed rules, more than 280,000 new electric or hydrogen motorcycles would be sold in California by 2045 — about eight times more than the total on its roads now. Electric motorcycles make up only 1% of current motorcycle sales.
The state Air Resources Board will vote on the proposed rules on Nov. 7 after a public hearing.
Motorcycles are more often used for recreation than for daily commutes, and they collectively emit far less pollution than gasoline-powered cars and diesel trucks. But a mile driven in a gas-powered motorcycle emits far more pollutants than a mile in a new gas-powered car — for the reactive gases that form smog, it’s a whopping 20 times more per mile, according to the air board.
In a state with the worst smog in the nation and unsafe levels of dangerous fine particles, air-quality officials say no source can be left unregulated: All vehicles powered by fossil fuels need to be cleaned up and transitioned to zero-emissions.
State officials hope more motorcyclists will be interested in the benefits that battery-powered motorcycles have to offer: low fueling costs and less maintenance.
But many motorcyclists point out California’s inadequate network of public charging stations and the limited range of electric models that are unsuitable for long-distance rides. They worry that the rule will limit the bikes they can choose in the future. Others say it could fill an untapped market for urban motorcyclists interested in fast bikes for short commutes.
“There is no infrastructure for electric vehicles,” Michael DiPiero of the American Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education of California, which represents motorcyclists, said in written comments to the air board. “We cannot support the needs we currently have for electricity as it is.”
Rob Smith, a motorcyclist from Santa Monica, owns an electric car and considers himself an environmentalist. But he’s not ready to switch to electric motorcycles — and he doesn’t think most motorcyclists are, either. They’re expensive, silent and have top ranges of about 100 miles.
“I do think it’s the future, I just don’t know about that timeline,” Smith said of the Air Resources Board’s proposal. “This is going to just hit a niche. Can you get to 50% with just that niche?”
Harley Davidson and the Motorcycle Industry Council, a group that represents manufacturers, didn’t respond to a request for comment about the proposed rules.
State officials said the regulation strikes a balance by moving toward electrification of motorcycles and catching up with European standards for gas-powered motorcycles yet still allowing California consumers to have a range of choices.
“We realized we couldn’t push to 100% because there will probably be some circumstances where zero-emission motorcycles won’t have access to infrastructure to plug up their bikes,” said Annette Hèbert, the air board’s deputy executive officer who oversees mobile source rules at its Southern California office.
Motorcycles make up less than half of 1% all vehicle miles traveled in California. But even though they’re a “very small part of the state’s overall transportation sector,” they contribute an “outsized portion of smog-forming pollutants,” air board officials said.
“Motorcycles (emissions) may look small when taken by themselves, but when you consider the additive effect to all those other small sources together, you can see why we’ve got to hit every little piece,” Hèbert said.
If California is to finally have healthy air as well as make progress in combating climate change, “we need to have this paradigm shift, because that’s the only way we’re going to get there,” she said.
Californians breathe some of the nation’s unhealthiest air and vehicles account for the majority of that pollution. The Los Angeles basin has for decades topped the list of cities with the worst ozone, a key ingredient of smog, according to the American Lung Association. Ozone and particle pollution can trigger asthma and heart attacks, as well as other diseases.
The motorcycle regulation would lead to an estimated $649 million in savings from reduced mortality and avoided hospitalizations and illnesses associated with motorcycle emissions, according to the Air Resources Board.
By 2045, the rules are expected to eliminate about 20,000 tons of reactive gases and nitrogen oxides that form smog, and 33 tons of fine particulate matter. That would be about half of the emissions from all California motorcycles.
California is proposing a tiered credit system for manufacturers. Companies that produce high speed, freeway-capable motorcycles with large battery capacities — those that typically produce the most emissions — will get the most credits. Low-speed bikes with low range will get the least.
Companies comply with the rule by producing zero-emission motorcycles for credits or trading their credits with other companies. A manufacturer, for instance, could comply with its 50% target by making and selling 25% electric motorcycles and then purchasing credits for the remaining 25% from an all-electric motorcycle company. Manufacturers would also get bonus credits for producing and selling zero-emission bikes before 2029.
Additionally, starting with 2029 models, the regulation will require new gas-powered motorcycles to follow more stringent European Union standards for exhaust emissions and use better on-board engine diagnostic equipment to detect faults in their emissions systems.
Several manufacturers, including Harley Davison, Ducati and Kawasaki, already make electric bikes, and some companies, like Zero and Verge, build exclusively electric bikes. Energica, an electric bike startup, recently filed for bankruptcy due to increased costs and supply issues.
An electric motorcycle purchased in 2020 cost on average $5,365 more than a gas-powered one. State officials estimated an electric bike would save $215 annually in fuel and maintenance costs.
State officials said electric motorcycles may also appeal to low income motorcyclists who live in apartments and find charging an electric car near their residence more difficult. Less expensive electric motorcycles may be small enough to take inside apartments to charge or come with removable batteries that can be charged overnight.
But officials stressed that the regulation’s intent isn’t to convert car drivers to motorcyclists. Instead, it’s an added option for motorcyclists looking for a more cost effective mode of transportation.
At a Harley Davidson dealer in Marina Del Rey, Live Wire brand electric motorcycles are visible as soon as customers enter the showroom. The dealer sells two or three electric Live Wire motorcycles monthly, said Justin Fraiser, a sales representative at the dealer.
“There are a lot of people in the Harley world stuck on combustion engines,” Fraiser said. But he’s not one of them. “It’s the evolution of things. Eventually, it’s gonna happen.”
Smith, the motorcyclist from Santa Monica, said he thinks electric motorcycles are the future, but they’re not quite ready for “prime time.”
Smith said California has been a leader in climate solutions “for good reason.” He said he cares about reducing emissions and protecting the environment. He is a partner in a venture capital firm that invests in startups that make electric bikes.
But he prefers his “loud and obnoxious” Ducati motorcycle for its better range (up to 200 miles) and for safety reasons — car drivers can hear him coming behind them.
Smith said the state should focus on cutting emissions from new motorcycles with internal combustion engines and was pleased to hear that was part of the regulation.
Karen Butterfield, a motorcyclist from San Diego, agreed that, for her, an electric motorcycle won’t work.
She’s a member of the Southern California Motorcycling Association, which gathers for long-distance trips, from Mexico to Canada and throughout the U.S. They ride for hundreds of miles without stopping, something that an electric one couldn’t do with existing charging network problems.
But she said there’s a massive untapped market in young riders because she thinks electric motorcycles are generally easier to use.
“I think it’s a good thing for motorcycling in the sense that a smaller electric bike would help people get into motorcycling,” she said. “The generations that are coming seem to be more environmentally conscious too, which is a good thing. I think there’s a market there, they just need to find it.”
Adrian Martinez, an attorney for climate advocate Earthjustice, said the organization supports the proposal, but called it conservative. The group was pushing for 100% electric motorcycles in a similar timeline.
“California has such dramatic air pollution problems that we’ve realized that we aren’t in a position to pick and choose,” Martinez said. “We basically need to get to zero emissions everywhere feasible.”
But some motorcyclists believe that mandating electric motorcycle technology isn’t necessary for a vehicle that produces relatively small emissions compared to other vehicles. People ride motorcycles as a hobby, to socialize with other motorcyclists and ride in the mountains or other remote areas.
Some people ride motorcycles as their main form of transportation, and electric motorcycles may appeal to those folks, but it’s a small percentage, said Chris Real, president of DPS Technical, a technical services company for motorcyclists.
Real said he thinks the regulation “won’t move the needle at all” in reducing emissions because most motorcyclists don’t put many miles on their bikes.
“Some consumers will adopt it, and some consumers won’t,” he said. “So very regional consumers, urban consumers that only ride you 20 or 30 miles, it won’t impact them at all. But for somebody that has to make a 100 mile commute or something, that’s not going to be viable.”
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