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CLEAN ENERGY: Environmental and health groups call on Microsoft to power a planned Wisconsin data center with clean energy instead of We Energies’ current proposal to build new natural gas power plants. (Wisconsin Examiner)
HYDROELECTRIC: Midwest states are largely missing out on historic federal funding to shore up aging hydroelectric dams compared to other regions that tend to have larger facilities with more residents living nearby. (Inside Climate News)
SOLAR:
COAL: Two southern Illinois coal mining towns will share $200,000 in federal funding to help prepare for installing renewable energy projects. (Southern Illinoisan)
BATTERIES: Four projects across Michigan will share $355 million in federal funding to boost the domestic production of advanced batteries and battery materials to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. (Crain’s Detroit, subscription)
GRID: A new report calls for interconnection changes in grid operator PJM’s that would expedite battery storage projects and potentially unlock thousands of megawatts of much-needed capacity. (Utility Dive)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Two companies will partner to install 73 electric vehicle charging stations, including 19 fast-charging stations, in the Cleveland area by the end of the year. (WKYC)
EFFICIENCY:
BIOFUELS: A new $375 million soybean crushing plant in southeastern Kansas will also produce renewable biodiesel. (Kansas Reflector)
CLIMATE: A new digital tool from the University of Minnesota allows users to map out climate predictions based on emissions scenarios, such as how much snow cover could be lost in the coming decades. (Spokesman-Recorder)
NUCLEAR: Connstellation announces a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to buy power from Unit 1 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, which the company says it will restart without any public subsidies. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
UTILITIES: A New York lawmaker proposes a publicly owned power utility for Erie County to lower energy costs, although incumbent utility NYSEG claims the move would result in higher costs for ratepayers. (WIVB)
RENEWABLE POWER: Ten Republican governors, including New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu, band together to oppose renewable power mandates; an advocate says the group’s call for “energy choice” is “thinly veiled code” for natural gas. (The Hill)
SOLAR: A developer wraps up the installation of a two-part rooftop solar array totaling almost 1 MW at a Windsor, Connecticut, business park. (news release)
STORAGE: The American Council on Renewable Energy says PJM Interconnection should reform an accelerated process for adding capacity to let battery storage assets tap in. (Utility Dive)
EQUITY:
BUILDINGS: Former President Donald Trump has stakes in buildings that could collectively owe millions of dollars in penalties if they don’t comply with New York City’s local building emissions law. (City Limits)
TRANSPORTATION: In the Connecticut cities of Hartford and New Haven, almost a third of households don’t own a car, leading state and local officials to issue more e-bike vouchers and consider policies that encourage more bicycling. (CT Mirror)
AFFORDABILITY: In Maine, a return to pre-pandemic funding levels for a low-income household heating bill assistance program and higher fuel prices could limit how many households can receive help. (Bangor Daily News)
Even as North Carolina continues to weaken its building energy conservation codes, a new federal rule is poised to spur the construction of thousands of energy-efficient starter homes in the state each year.
Adopted earlier this spring, the measure requires homes with certain federally-backed mortgages to meet the latest guidance for insulation thickness, window quality, and other energy-saving features — a major improvement over the state’s 2009-era floor for new residential construction.
The rule is expected to impact more than 1 in 10 new home sales in North Carolina, mostly by lower-income and first-time homebuyers. Government studies show they will pay more for improved efficiency but reap immediate cash-flow benefits from lower monthly utility bills.
“The requirements are essential for protecting low-income homebuyers and renters,” said Lowell Ungar, federal policy director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, “lowering their energy bills, giving them more comfortable and healthier homes, and protecting them in the climate transition.”
The impact extends beyond North Carolina and will lift standards in several states where lawmakers and industry lobbyists have pushed back against energy-saving building code updates.
Ungar and his colleagues are also working to extend the requirements to the independent regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If they succeed, a large majority of new homes in North Carolina could be built to modern energy-savings standards — even though a 2023 state law prevents any major code updates until the next decade.
Rob Howard, who builds sustainable homes in the state’s foothills, fought against the law and now serves on the state’s Building Code Council.
“It’s the first feeling of hope that I’ve had for North Carolina since last year,” he said.
Reducing energy waste in buildings is a critical component of the clean energy transition. The most cost-effective way to do so is at the point of construction, especially in rapidly-growing North Carolina, where some 90,000 new homes are built each year, about two-thirds of them single-family units.
Yet the powerful home construction lobby has long resisted stronger requirements for energy-saving features in residential construction, influencing the state legislature, where it is a major campaign donor, and until recently, the state’s Building Code Council, a citizen commission.
Thus, while model codes are updated every three years, North Carolina’s rules remain outdated. Though the council was poised last year to bring the code in line with 2021 guidelines, lawmakers backed by developers intervened to circumvent the update, overriding a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
This year, the Republican-led legislature relaxed insulation requirements and made other changes to the building code that many experts, including the state fire marshals’ association, argued would make homes less safe. Again, Cooper vetoed the measure, and in a vote last week, lawmakers overrode him.
“The General Assembly has let the homebuilding industry make a quick buck at the expense of North Carolina families who will pay more every month in home energy costs,” Drew Ball, Southeast campaigns director at Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement after the vote. “This law rolls back North Carolina’s energy building codes and passes the costs on to consumers.”
But state building codes aren’t the only policies that can influence home construction.
The federal government plays a huge role in promoting homeownership by guaranteeing loans for borrowers who can only make a small down payment or may otherwise risk default.
In 2007, a sweeping energy law adopted under the George W. Bush administration required any new home purchased with backing from the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Department of Agriculture to meet the latest model code for energy efficiency.
It wasn’t until 2015 that the Obama administration tied the loans to the 2009 model energy efficiency code. The Trump administration took no action.
The Biden-Harris administration picked up the torch last year, beginning an examination to make sure the latest model codes would bring more benefits than costs. In May of this year, officials concluded that the 2021 standards wouldn’t negatively affect the affordability and availability of housing.
“As a result of the updated energy standards, energy efficiency improvements of 37% will cut energy costs by more than $950 per year, saving homeowners tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the home,” a press release from the Department of Housing and Urban Development said.
Similarly, last year an independent government lab found that the more stringent standards will add about $5,000 to the cost of the average North Carolina home, but generate a positive monthly cash flow instantly in the form of lower utility bills.
About 1 in 10 new single-family home loans per year are backed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Department of Agriculture, according to the federal officials.
The Department of Veterans Affairs must update its lending rules to match those of HUD and USDA, impacting another 3% to 5% of newly built homes, Ungar estimates.
Howard, who’s building a small collection of super-efficient homes in Granite Falls, says just one of the 11 cottages so far is being financed with a loan that would be affected by the new rule.
“As a small builder who’s focused on attainable housing, I’m going to assume that a certain percentage of my buyers will qualify for the USDA loan programs,” he said. “And so of course, I want them to have the ability to participate in those. But I’ve already made the decision to build to zero-energy ready, which is currently based on the 2021 [model code]. I’m already there.”
The bigger impact of the new rule will be on large, multi-state, multi-regional builders who focus on starter homes, Howard said. “Those kinds of builders don’t want two different levels that they’re building to. They would rather have one that simplifies their entire construction process.”
With the new rule, then, builders can either adhere to the latest energy efficiency standards so that potential buyers can qualify for federal backing on their loans — or not.
“Let’s set the bar as high as possible,” said Howard, “and then builders get to choose.”
If multi-state builders choose to build all of their homes to the 2021 model code, the rule’s impact could extend beyond the roughly 15% of new stock estimated by government officials and advocates.
If advocates succeed in getting the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of Fannie and Freddie, to adopt the same standards, the effect would be even greater: the two companies ultimately end up buying over half of mortgages in the country.
“Now you’re talking about 70% of the loans in this country,” Howard said. “So that’s obviously a much broader impact.”
As they have in North Carolina, the national builder lobby claims the energy efficiency standards will add tens of thousands of dollars to construction costs. They oppose the rule that’s already finalized for the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, and they object to extending the requirements to Fannie and Freddie.
“If Fannie and Freddie were forced to comply with the 2021… mandate,” Missouri builder Shawn Woods told Congress this spring, “this would become a de facto national standard and be a massive blow to housing affordability.”
Unless Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wins this November, the finalized rule is safe for now, advocates believe. As for the broader requirements on Fannie and Freddie, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said it would study the matter and issue a decision by the end of June.
“Obviously, they did not do that,” Ungar said.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A $4 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant set to open early next year in Kansas has potential to spur massive economic activity and transportation infrastructure upgrades, Gov. Laura Kelly says. (Flatland)
INDUSTRY: Finding customers willing to pay a premium for “green” steel made with clean energy remains a key hurdle as a major steelmaker considers new emission-reduction technology at its Ohio plant. (Canary Media)
SOLAR:
CLEAN ENERGY:
PIPELINES: Indigenous pipeline protestors say praises of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s clean energy record ignore his position that allowed for the Line 3 pipeline expansion. (Mother Jones)
COAL: Converting a Michigan coal plant site to include solar as well as public beaches is part of a Chicago-based environmental group’s broader strategy to repurpose retiring coal plants across the Great Lakes region. (Bridge)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators say a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant will need more inspections, testing and repairs to its steam generator before the plant can reopen. (WOOD-TV8)
CLIMATE: Climate action plans in southeastern Michigan include work to make community parks more resilient to storms and educating parks officials on climate issues. (Model D)
GRID: Construction is completed on a Nebraska manufacturer’s behind-the-meter microgrid powered by solar and storage, the first of its kind in the state. (Solar Power World)
BIOGAS: A new plant in Nebraska will collect biogas from wastewater streams at a major food producer’s facilities to be converted into pipeline-quality renewable natural gas. (News Channel Nebraska)
COMMENTARY: Michigan officials can maximize the benefits of $156 million in federal Solar for All funding by considering energy justice, focusing on community solar and including weatherization support for rooftop projects, a clean energy advocate writes. (Union of Concerned Scientists)
FOSSIL FUELS: Pennsylvania health officials published studies linking fracking to numerous detrimental health effects over a year ago, but advocates say the state has done nothing to make relevant changes. (Daily Climate)
ALSO: In New Jersey, a public pressure campaign mounted against a planned gas-fired plant in an environmental justice community results in hundreds of calls and emails to the commission behind it. (NJ Spotlight)
GRID:
WIND: The announcement that the Gulf of Maine will soon see its first offshore wind lease auction has renewed calls from the New England fishing community for more environmental review to understand potential impacts on their business. (Boston Herald, subscription)
MINING: Environmental advocates suggest that a Pennsylvania company’s faltering plans to extract lithium from wastewater raise questions about the industry’s viability. (Inside Climate News)
BUILDINGS:
SOLAR: A northeastern Maine town extends a temporary moratorium on new medium-to-large-scale solar projects by 180 days past its initial Oct. 5 expiration date. (Bar Harbor Story)
UTILITIES: Maryland utility regulation staff say the commission should revise the multi-year rate plan framework to better suit ratepayers, but several Exelon utilities claim the current format benefits customers and state policy. (Utility Dive)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
GEOENGINEERING: The rise and fall of an aquaculture-turned-carbon removal startup with offices in Maine underscores the promise and problems with trying to geoengineer our way out of climate change. (Canary Media)
TRANSPORTATION: Maine officials pause plans to expand a turnpike in the Portland suburbs because of public feedback, which included a desire to add more public transit options and prevent taking land from a historic farm. (WGME, WGME, Portland Press Herald)
The clean energy transition doesn’t just need a ton of solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries. It needs aluminum — a key component to all of those technologies and many more.
In the next 25 years, global aluminum demand is set to surge as much as 80% as we deploy clean energy and build out the grid. But if we keep making aluminum the way we have for decades, the emissions-heavy process will outweigh a lot of the clean benefits it’ll unlock.
A massive new aluminum smelter wants to set a new status quo, Canary Media reports in the first of a two-part series. Using $500 million from the U.S. Energy Department, the Century Aluminum plant aims to run on carbon-free energy and implement efficient designs to curb its emissions as much as 75% compared to traditional smelters. Procuring all that clean power won’t be easy, though, and the part of Kentucky where it’s likely to be built is also scaling up solar and transmission development to meet the demand.
Recycling can meanwhile reduce the need for new aluminum in the first place, Canary Media continues. As much as 80% of aluminum produced in the U.S. is recycled, and the industry relies on trash pickers, scrappers, and everyday Pepsi drinkers to gather up recyclable material. But because secondary aluminum still demands some virgin material, experts say cleaning up smelters should be the industry’s top priority.
Also this week in essential clean energy materials: There’s a debate raging over the merger of two major steel companies, Grist reports. Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel is looking to acquire U.S. Steel in a move some environmentalists say could slow both companies’ climate progress. The carbon-intensive industry has been notoriously slow to clean up its processes even with federal funding available, and advocates want to make sure the government keeps that in mind as it approves the consolidation.
🚗 EVs start delivering: The first electric U.S. Post Office trucks are on the road in Georgia and already winning praise from drivers who prefer them to the previous hot, noisy and inefficient combustion vehicles. (Associated Press)
🛟 Life-saving clean transition: The Biden administration’s environmental protections and clean energy incentives will save as many as 200,000 lives by 2050 by reducing pollution, an advocacy group finds. (The Guardian)
🤖 Virtual reality: Clean energy advocates and solar companies partner to draft model utility rules and legislation to help states deploy virtual power plants, which could reduce the cost of the clean energy transition by tying together solar, storage, and other distributed energy technologies. (Canary Media)
🏦 Banking on clean energy: A federal green bank aims to channel $500 million to community financial institutions to fund solar arrays, renewable energy apprenticeships, electrified public transit, and more in rural areas, with priority for projects in Appalachia. (Grist)
☢️ Nuclear plants’ new lives: Several dozen retired nuclear plants around the country could be suitable for repowering, according to a new federal report analyzing retired coal and nuclear sites that could host new nuclear generation. (Utility Dive)
⛈️ Back-to-back climate threat: Experts warn Houston’s experience with Hurricane Beryl this summer — widespread power outages followed by a dangerous heat wave — is an “absolute certainty” to affect other parts of the U.S. that are unprepared for such a scenario. (Washington Post)
🇺🇲 Plus, some politics
OIL & GAS: Data show two now-defunct companies abandoned 551 oil and gas wells in Colorado last year, leaving them to the state to plug and reclaim. (CPR)
ALSO: New Mexico regulators reject dozens of proposed oil and gas wastewater disposal wells in the Permian Basin following a series of drilling-related earthquakes. (Capital & Main)
POLLUTION: Advocates call on the U.S. EPA to clamp down on smog-forming emissions from Wyoming coal plants and oil and gas facilities rather than waiting for the state to come up with its own plan. (Inside Climate News)
COAL: A western Colorado community works to build up its tourism and outdoor recreation industries to help it weather the 2028 retirement of a major coal plant and mine. (Rocky Mountain PBS)
WIND:
SOLAR:
UTILITIES: Nevada regulators reject NV Energy’s proposed rate hike for customers in the northern part of the state, saying it was an “inordinately large” increase. (Nevada Independent)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Port of San Diego begins operating two 400 ton electric cranes. (Electrek)
LITHIUM: Hualapai tribal members urge a federal judge to extend an exploratory drilling ban at a proposed lithium mine in western Arizona, saying it would harm culturally significant lands. (Associated Press)
STORAGE:
COMMENTARY: A California columnist calls on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign 13 climate-related bills including ones that would expedite more rooftop solar, encourage home electrification and clear the way for oil and gas drilling bans. (Los Angeles Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Owners of General Motors electric vehicles can now install adapters that allow access to Tesla supercharger stations, a move by the automaker to expand charger access and remove range anxiety as a barrier to adoption. (Forbes)
ALSO:
POLITICS: Minnesota utility executives have played an outsized role in campaign contributions to a Republican candidate looking to upset her Democratic opponent in a crucial Minnesota state Senate race. (Minnesota Reformer)
PIPELINES:
SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: A nonprofit receives a $2.8 million federal grant to help Michigan tribal communities adopt energy-efficient building codes and climate adaptation strategies. (WisconsinInno, subscription; news release)
RENEWABLES: City officials in Kalamazoo, Michigan, approve a 20-year contract with Consumers Energy to buy enough wind and solar to power all municipal buildings by 2028. (MLive)
WIND: Federal officials announce an Oct. 29 auction for as much as 13 GW of wind leases in eight areas of the Gulf of Maine. (Portland Press Herald; RTO Insider, subscription)
GRID: Massachusetts’ top court decides not to overturn the state energy siting board’s approval of an East Boston substation, finding the “board’s decision is lawful” despite environmental justice concerns. (RTO Insider, subscription)
SOLAR: Maryland utility regulators will host a Sept. 25 public hearing regarding a 2.25 MW solar facility that would be located on 14 acres of farmland in Sykesville. (Baltimore Sun)
BUILDINGS:
TRANSIT: Maine will use a $16.6 million federal grant to upgrade ferry terminals in Islesboro and Lincolnville for hybrid electric ferries, among other improvements. (Bangor Daily News)
EMISSIONS: In New York, a $3 million federal environmental protection grant will be used to buy and install biofilters at closed local landfills to lower methane emissions. (Times Union)
CLIMATE:
FLOODS: Very few Maine homes are signed up for federally backed flood insurance, leading a state infrastructure commission to wonder if Maine should offer a public option. (Maine Monitor)
AFFORDABILITY: A relatively mild August in Connecticut lowered electric bills for Eversource customers, bringing much-needed financial relief after record midsummer heat. (New Haven Register)
BIOENERGY: A Massachusetts company closes a $5 million seed round it says will advance its gas fermentation tech that turns carbon dioxide, water and electricity into substances including biofuels, a process it licenses from Harvard University. (news release)
OIL & GAS: A judge halts work on a 5,000-well oil and gas drilling project in Wyoming after finding federal regulators miscalculated the project’s groundwater impacts. (Courthouse News Service)
ALSO:
UTILITIES: California regulators approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s fourth proposed rate hike in 15 months, saying it is necessary to recoup costs associated with winter storms and wildfire mitigation. (Sacramento Bee)
ELECTRIFICATION: California advocates call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would allow utilities to electrify entire neighborhoods rather than replace costly natural gas lines. (Canary Media)
GRID:
MICROGRIDS: The U.S. Energy Department loans a southern California tribal nation $72.8 million to fund a 15 MW carport solar array, a vanadium flow battery storage system and a microgrid. (Tribal Business News)
WIND: Washington state’s energy siting council votes to recommend approval of a less-scaled back version of the proposed Horse Heaven wind and solar project in the southeastern part of the state. (Center Square)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLEAN ENERGY: A Utah city votes not to participate in a state program giving residents the option to acquire 100% of their electricity from renewable sources. (Sandy City Journal)
COAL: A California real estate firm acquires the troubled Kemmerer coal mine in southwestern Wyoming, but does not disclose its plans for the facility. (Cowboy State Daily)
COMMENTARY: A California advocate calls on state regulators to reconsider a rule blocking solar contractors from installing residential battery systems, saying it will increase costs and slow the clean energy transition. (Times of San Diego)
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