Clean Energy Archives - Inside Climate News

The Biden Administration’s Scaled-Back Lease Proposal For Atlantic Offshore Wind Projects Prompts Questions, Criticism

By Aman Azhar — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 10:05:00 +0000

Environmental advocates and industry groups pointed out that any reduction in leasing area would make clean energy and emissions reduction targets more difficult to achieve.

By Aman Azhar

The Biden administration’s latest lease offering for offshore wind projects doesn’t allocate adequate acreage for Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states to achieve their legally binding emissions reduction and clean energy targets, industry groups and environmental advocates say. They believe the offering also further hobbles the offshore wind industry, which already faces supply constraints, a lack of new tax credits and high interest rates.

As Financial Turmoil Threatens Plans for an Alabama Wood Pellet Plant, Advocates Question Its Climate and Community Benefits

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Enviva made big promises to the small Alabama town that would produce the fuel for “sustainable” energy in Europe. The company’s struggles have left politicians who supported it mum and activists who opposed it hopeful.

By Lee Hedgepeth

EPES, Ala.—Portia Shepherd said “it’s a God thing.”

What I Learned About Clean Energy in Denmark

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000

The country leads on climate policy, but grapples with disagreements over strategy and the pace of change.

By Dan Gearino

People in Denmark have got it good.

We Went to the First EV Charging Station Funded by the Federal Infrastructure Law

By Dan Gearino — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The Ohio charging station signals the start of a wave of new projects paid for by the 2021 law.

By Dan Gearino

LONDON, Ohio—On the western outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, two doors down from a Waffle House, is a truck stop that, as of last Friday, has the first electric vehicle charging station in the country to be financed in part by the 2021 federal infrastructure law.

Denmark, a Global Climate Policy Leader, Strains to Live Up to High Ambitions

By Dan Gearino — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

A country known for climate action has already achieved many of the easy steps of decarbonizing. The next stuff is hard and takes time.

By Dan Gearino

BORNHOLM, Denmark—On many maps of Denmark, the island of Bornholm appears as an inset box because it’s so far away from the rest of the country.

Only Permitted Great Lakes Offshore Wind Farm Put on Hold

By Nicole Pollack — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 01:57:45 +0000

The Department of Energy is revoking $37 million previously awarded to the six-turbine Icebreaker wind project, which has been in the works since 2009.

By Nicole Pollack

On Dec. 8, after 14 years of small victories and larger setbacks, the remnants of the company behind Icebreaker Wind announced the indefinite suspension of what was once set to be the first offshore wind farm built in the Great Lakes.

Massachusetts Just Took a Big Step Away from Natural Gas. Which States Might Follow?

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 22:21:16 +0000

A first-in-the-country ruling sets Massachusetts on a path toward electrification of heating, and could lead regulators in other states to follow suit.

By Dan Gearino

Natural gas may be on the way out in Massachusetts.

The Race Is On to Make Low-Emissions Steel. Meet One of the Companies Vying for the Lead.

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000

H2 Green Steel of Sweden is building a plant that uses hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to make steel.

By Dan Gearino

Before the end of this decade, you may be able to buy a car containing steel that was produced with near-zero emissions.

Battery Prices Are Falling Again, and That’s a Good Thing

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:57:55 +0000

Cheaper batteries add to the economic case for EVs, even if some U.S. auto dealers are still figuring out how to sell the models.

By Dan Gearino

Optimists about the shift to clean transportation often talk about a double benefit: Electric vehicles have almost zero emissions and soon they also will be less expensive than their gasoline counterparts.

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom?

By Nicole Pollack — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Offshore wind projects cropped up all over the Great Lakes region in the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, all but one were gone. Developers, though still drawn to the lakes’ powerful winds, have been reluctant to return.

By Nicole Pollack

At the tail end of the aughts, as it became clear that the United States would need to create much more renewable energy, fast, many believed the transition would be bolstered by the proliferation of offshore wind. But not off the coasts of states like Massachusetts and California, where it’s best positioned today. They thought the industry would emerge, and then take hold, in the Great Lakes.