I think I’m doing this right. Here is a link to my company’s jobs page. We are a B Corp (only a point behind Patagonia and top 5% globally!) and employee owned company in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts who installs solar, heat pumps, ev chargers, batteries, and hot water heaters. We have jobs ranging from electrician apprentice to marketing manager to regulatory affairs. We also work with state legislatures and in climate education. https://www.revisionenergy.com/solar-company/solar-careers-and-training/join-our-team
A question on vertical vs horizontal solar. I saw a video recently on how double sided vertical solar panels could actually be more efficient overall that the traditional horizontally angled panels optimised for peak midday sun that are standard today. The potential minor efficiency gains from avoided heat aside, i was wondering if there has been much work on how we could flatten the duck curve using this technique and how grids/regions could potentially optimise the usable solar energy by simply having a mix of different solar farms with different angles. In the conversation of trying to shave the peak and shift loads, is this not a potentially big but little discussed solution? Maybe the joke about using solar as fencing is in fact a damn good idea?
I guess another factor in this conversation is how cheap panels will get, which is ultimately a function how China's strategy of trying to export its way out of a slump vs the degree to which other countries will put up tariffs and protections will play out. If the fact that a lot of the steel that was being used in now stagnant building industry is now being put into manufacturing and factories is a guide, just how much cheaper will Chinese solar and batteries get in the coming few years and how flooded will the market become? Thoughts and maybe a future potential pod?
What are the odds of a federal ebike bill actually happening? Even REI was really pushing the EBIKE act (H.R.1019 apparently) a year or two ago, but I haven't heard much about it since. What are the obstacles to making that happen?
Signed,
A sad car free city dweller who won't get $7k in EV tax credits
Nuclear energy. I didn’t think we needed it in our clean energy future, and I wasn’t a fan. I’m not a fan boy, but I do see a role for it now, and for expanding our current fleet.
How will the spaceflight industry work under the green transition, given its reliance on non-recycled metals and on grey hydrogen, LNG and kerosene? The only major works of note I’ve seen on the subject are Tim Dodd’s video on rocket launches’ environmental impact and Takao Doi’s work on wooden satellites, and ion thrusters and space elevator tech are not advanced enough anyway.
What are your suggestions for how climate funders could be more effective? What are your biggest peeves with them, and what should they do to change? (I'm talking about philanthropy, not for-profit investment here)
You've pointed out many (many) times that the rate-of-return model for regulating electric utilities' profits gives utilities a perverse incentive to over-invest in capital accumulation. (This excessive investment is called the "Averch-Johnson effect".) But I haven't heard you propose an alternate model for regulating utilities' profits that would avoid this problem. What would your preferred regulatory model look like?
Having learned about so many innovative technologies/solutions as a climate journalist, if you were a professional scientist or engineer instead of a journalist, what kind of climate or clean-energy related research/projects would you most be interested to work on yourself if you could?
Have you played Daybreak yet, and if so what are your thoughts?
For those who do not know, Daybreak is a boardgame from the creator of the extremely popular Pandemic games, Matt Leacock, where players take on the role of individual world powers (the US, China, the EU, and the Majority World) as they work together to curb their carbon emissions - and build community resilience - to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
It is full of wonderfully nerdy climate tech and progressive policy solutions and each card has a QR code that tells you more about the topic depicted so you can learn more about it.
I'm curious to know what you think of the game and how it depicts climate change - and more importantly efforts to fight it - to a wider, if somewhat still niche audience.
Thanks for the great work you do! It is always informative, interesting, and useful.
Brad
PS - I am in the Seattle area if you want to borrow a review copy and/or get together for a game.
Just listened to the pod on EPA power plant standards. Are the 45Q credits providing a weird lifeline for coal plants? Perhaps it's fine since they're sequestering the carbon, but I could also see this prolonging a coal plant's lifespan beyond what it'd otherwise have in the new energy landscape.
Just wondering if there are any new breakthroughs on the horizon for car batteries - solid state, silicon anodes, anything? Anybody getting close on improving cold weather performance? How about V2G or V2H technology?
Ever wanted to try to convey to an inquisitive normie some idea that you’ve absorbed over a decade of reading + listening to David on Grist/Vox/Volts? I have a resource for you. I’ve built a website called Climate Solutions + Climate Careers ( https://climatesolutions-careers.org ). It distills and organize for beginners things that I have learned from DR (and some others) over more than decade.
The site is divided into two parts. The “Solutions” side of the site is a primer, useful for anyone at any career stage trying to wrap their heads around the space of climate solutions. The “Careers” side is aimed primarily at college and HS students trying to find their way to careers that can address climate.
The solutions side of the site is organized around emissions sectors (industry, buildings, agriculture…). Pages on each sector links to non-technical articles and podcasts (not only Volts, but Volts is heavily represented) connected by mini-essays providing background and context. Databases of ClimateTech startups tackling various parts of the problem are embedded in each relevant page.
The careers side of the site includes mini-essays on a variety of careers that can address climate, from ocean farming to urban planning and architecture. (I’ll be adding more of these in coming months.)
How the site came to be: A few years ago, watching the world burn, my career teaching philosophy began to feel morally insupportable to me. I thought hard about leaving it for a career that contributes directly to the climate fight – but eventually decided that, at this stage of my life, I could have most impact by leveraging my existing skills to help students do that instead. So, I stepped outside my disciplinary training to teach classes in environmental studies, and then created the website as a public-facing version of that class.
Volties: I would love help building out this site and making it better! Feedback and suggestions on any part of it would be great; and if any of you is inclined to contribute a page (e.g., on any of the million possible climate careers I did not discuss on the careers side of the site), I’d love it. I’d also love help getting it in front of audiences (college students, HS students, others) who might find it useful. Thanks for your help!
In the career section you could add an Infrastructure section.
There is a lot work coming online for things like upgrading the electric grid, ev charging stations in the transportation sector, and solar and wind implantation.
This is important work that includes title research, right of way and lease negotiation, permitting, electrical and construction work, and financing work.
Strongly agree. The present landscape of engineering and consulting work in the power industry is very focused on solving the challenges of capacity, availability, and resilience amidst a rapidly evolving generation profile. Capable engineers, technically knowledgeable financial experts, and qualified field personnel for installation, maintenance, and construction monitoring are in high demand, and will remain essential in the coming years to effectively execute decarbonization efforts in the energy and infrastructure sector.
I've been helping start a new non-profit called Clean Energy Communities Fund dedicated to rapid grants to 2000 communities across the US to spur climate action. We believe communities are the heart of the climate solution and building capacity/staff in a large number of communities will help drive programs (solarize campaigns, electrification campaigns, etc) that help address the climate crisis. We believe that change happens through local community members driving action and talking about it with their neighbors.
We are looking for collaborators to help drive change. You can read more about the fund on our website: https://www.cecfund.org/
Get in touch through our contact form if interested! We have a concept paper we can share.
I've been working with volunteers in Chicago at a civic hacking group (Chi Hack Night) to work on publishing Chicago's most polluting buildings at https://electrifychicago.net. The City of Chicago already requires large building owners to report their energy use and calculates the related emissions and emissions per square foot, but we're trying to make that data easier to understand and to shine a spotlight onto the lack of enforcement for these rules. We know the city's Chief Sustainability Officer has seen our work and is a fan!
**New Volts-Inspired podcast focused on climate change and higher education**
A few months ago, inspired by David's work on Volts, I launched my own podcast called Climate.edu (https://climatedotedu.com) that explores the intersection of climate change and higher education. I talk to faculty, students, college administrators, and other educational and nonprofit leaders who are taking action to address the urgent climate crisis. I have been in higher education--forever it seems--and decided to start the podcast not because I am necessarily the best person to explore this topic, but because I got fed up that no one else was. So, I have a couple of asks for the Volts community: 1--if this is a topic of interest, please give it a listen. I am trying to build an audience so I can keep doing this. 2--If it isn't your cup of tea, please share the podcast with someone in your network who might be interested. 3--If you have suggestions for future episodes, guests, topics, please send them my way. My website has a contact form you can use to make recommendations (https://www.climatedotedu.com/contact/). Thanks!
Richard -- I have been supporting Georgia Institute of Technology through its Center for Sustainable Communities Research & Education (SCoRE) to put on symposium in April called Advancing Direct Air Capture for Community Benefit and Decarbonization (https://scre.research.gatech.edu/advancing-direct-air-capture-community-benefit-and-decarbonization) where we brought community together with researchers into dialogue who are responding to USDOE''s investment in the SE on Carbon Air Capture (DAC). It was the start of a conversation that brings community in early as part of the design to include cumulative impact analysis that mitigates burdens and risks and ensures community benefits are defined and incorporated into a community benefits agreements. This was also discussed by the US DOE in the recently held National Environmental Justice Conference (Apr 16-19) (https://thenejc.org/). One that is coming up is a national academies workshop "Leveraging Community Benefit Frameworks: Empowering Communities to Benefit from Federally Funded Energy Projects" -- a two-day workshop of experts and thought leaders from communities, community-based organizations, federal agencies, academia, and the private sector will: gain a better understanding of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Community Benefits Plan (CBP) process; learn about CBAs and situate them in the broader context of other frameworks for providing community benefits; hear about successful engagement models, tools, and resources needed for meaningful negotiation; and understand what is required for proactive and long-term capacity building in communities. This is a hybrid event - both online and in person in Washington DC for May 16 and 17th. (https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/42465_05-2024_leveraging-community-benefit-frameworks-empowering-communities-to-benefit-from-federally-funded-energy-projects). Hoping this informs and helps with a few some thoughts and approaches for your Pod as higher educational institutions can be community, state and regional anchor institutions and play an incredibly powerful role in the clean energy and decarbonization transformation particularly through a climate justice lens focused on people.
Yes, higher ed has a big footprint--not the biggest carbon footprint by any means--but in its potential reach and influence. I think these community partnerships like the one at Georgia Tech are great models that demonstrate this. I look forward to reading more about this project. Thanks!
Are you looking for new materials and resources to help promote climate action within your community? I am the Communications Coordinator for Campus Climate Action Corps (compact.org/ccac), an AmeriCorps service program focused on climate action through college-community collaborations and have some opportunities for you to do just that! We just launched a national awareness campaign called 'Environment for Everyone' that is focused on addressing the urgent need for immediate climate action by providing accessible information, resources, and opportunities for people of all demographics! We are looking for your help in sharing our free energy efficiency and ecosystem health focused resources so that we can mobilize as many people as possible to take climate action into their own hands.
We have already released some exciting free resources that anyone can access on our website such as a flyer and brochure on the impacts of lawns and ecosystem health and a monthly Instagram Tip Series giving simple energy efficiency and ecosystem health actions anyone can take to make a positive impact on the environment!
If your organizations and networks are focused on energy efficiency, ecosystem health, and promoting climate action at the individual and community level, we hope you find our resources helpful and would love your support in sharing the Environment for Everyone Campaign and our free resources. Please contact kwoodward@compact.org with any questions!
I'm a researcher with Sightline Institute and I'm looking for some help. Sightline worked with legislators in 2023 to get a budget proviso passed to support transition planning for Washington's petroleum refineries. Here's a link to an article by Sightline on the proviso and some key considerations: https://www.sightline.org/2023/05/31/washingtons-refinery-communities-just-got-a-transition-boost/
In response, the Department of Commerce in Washington State will be conducting a study to analyze the economic impact of oil refining in Washington state and how decarbonization policies are likely to affect Washington's refineries, refinery workers, and refinery communities. This study is kicking off soon and we've heard from DoC that the likely scenarios that the analysts will examine are premised on the refineries retooling to produce alternative fuels like biofuels, renewable diesel and hydrogen. While these alternative fuel manufacturing scenarios are certainly plausible, they may fall short when scored for carbon footprint, high-wage job creation or sustained tax revenues for refinery communities. I'm reaching out to this community looking for other ideas (out-of-the box ideas welcome!) that might offer different outcomes along these three dimensions (carbon emissions, job creation, tax revenue) that Sightline could offer up for consideration in some of the scenario modeling that will be done under this study.
I am embarking on a rooftop solar installation and the installer has advised I need to upgrade my utility panel to 200 amp (a "heavy up") OR they could do something called a "line side tap" to avoid a panel upgrade. Does anyone have experience with the latter option? The installer explained it to me but I frankly did not understand.
I'm an old fart climate doomer, interested in supporting a climate cafe in a nearby 10,000 pop Oregon town. May hold at a senior center with other baby boomers, as well as youngers. I've seen online climate cafe agendas and sources, but wondering if anyone with climate cafe advice specifically with older folks can share words of wisdom. Thanks in advance.
I have to mention my most provocative thing of the past week. This is Jigar Shah talking about Enhance Geothermal on The Energy Gang. It's about 38 minutes in. Sorry if this link doesn't perform as intended. Preview: He describes Top 3 Drillers saying things like "over the moon", "child's play". And yet, the time frame seems long to me. They say it's so easy, but how do you get them to take resources away from their captive fossil fuel customers and actually *DO* it?
Here is a suggestion as a follow-up to Lorenzo Kristov's interview. I live in Northern California, under PG&E (IOU) and Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE, our CCA). Assume (cross-fingers) that our estemeed CPUC finally approves Community Solar in California. What are its implications for the goals that Lorenzo is positing?
Community Solar would still be controlled by PG&E, but it would run on the distribution grid, and it could be community led. Export rates details would matter and we would still need PG&E to approve it, but it seems to me potentially a (good!) slippery slope towards a much better distribution grid.
I can see PCE backing up community solar. Or our city. Or even non-profits.
CPUC has twice delayed the decision on Community Solar. It is, literally, everybody against the IOUs, even the Public Advocates Office of the CPUC. It is currentlyl scheduled for May 30th. We will see.
The book describes tips for those electrifying their homes, based on my work personally in over 1,000 homes (over many years) and from what I see going on at the 118,000 member facebook group I started (9 years ago) called My Efficient Electric Home.
Explain to me, as if I were an idiot, why the Biden administration's latest tariffs on Chinese EVs, batteries and rare earths isn't a bailout of American auto companies who decided to crush their EV projects in an incinerator 25 years ago and instead feed us an endless stream of increasingly monstrous, unaffordable SUVs. American auto companies decided to not invest in building affordable EV cars and got outcompeted in that space; now the allegedly climate-conscious Democratic administration is squashing their competition in order to... what? American companies won't begin developing EV projects, they'll continue business as usual because that's what is safe and profitable. As usual, it will be us, the consumers/citizens, who are forced to pay the price. It is baffling and regressive, and a terrible election-year move they must hope flies under the radar (except it won't because prices will jump immediately).
I'll try, if I'm permitted to comically oversimplify.
He's beating up Chinese industrial strategy because the last time we said, "Hey, let's let China manufacture stuff we need and we'll save a lot of money", the whole Rust Belt was laid off, and started dying of opioids and voting MAGA, to let us know they didn't appreciate it.
You can understand Democrats having a "Never Again" emotion about THAT.
Very interesting news about Ethiopia leap-frogging fossil-fuel vehicles by mandating EVs. Maybe China EV manufacturers really don’t need the US market to sell all their surplus low-cost EVs.
"The “Careers” side is aimed primarily at college and HS students trying to find their way to careers that can address climate."
Not specifically helpful, but I would proceed with great caution in targeting your audience by age as there is a not-zero percent chance that you could be viewed as engaging in Age Discrimination. While I'm hopeful that is not your intent, a EEOC investigation can quickly zap your enthusiasm for this project.
--- CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES ---
I think I’m doing this right. Here is a link to my company’s jobs page. We are a B Corp (only a point behind Patagonia and top 5% globally!) and employee owned company in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts who installs solar, heat pumps, ev chargers, batteries, and hot water heaters. We have jobs ranging from electrician apprentice to marketing manager to regulatory affairs. We also work with state legislatures and in climate education. https://www.revisionenergy.com/solar-company/solar-careers-and-training/join-our-team
A few great openings at The Climate Reality Project: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/employment
Climate Finance Campaign Manager
Digital Fundraising Manager
People & HR Generalist
Several open positions working with a great company on operating renewable assets.
https://ats.rippling.com/en-GB/radian-generation/jobs
Several current openings, and more to come, at Ndustrial.io working with industrial clients to reduce energy costs and emissions. https://apply.workable.com/ndustrialio/
Sr. Manager, Industrial Energy Group Advisory
Sr. Manager, Industrial Energy Project Solutions
Director of Engineering
Director of Customer Success
Technical Product Manager
--- MAILBAG QUESTIONS ---
A question on vertical vs horizontal solar. I saw a video recently on how double sided vertical solar panels could actually be more efficient overall that the traditional horizontally angled panels optimised for peak midday sun that are standard today. The potential minor efficiency gains from avoided heat aside, i was wondering if there has been much work on how we could flatten the duck curve using this technique and how grids/regions could potentially optimise the usable solar energy by simply having a mix of different solar farms with different angles. In the conversation of trying to shave the peak and shift loads, is this not a potentially big but little discussed solution? Maybe the joke about using solar as fencing is in fact a damn good idea?
I guess another factor in this conversation is how cheap panels will get, which is ultimately a function how China's strategy of trying to export its way out of a slump vs the degree to which other countries will put up tariffs and protections will play out. If the fact that a lot of the steel that was being used in now stagnant building industry is now being put into manufacturing and factories is a guide, just how much cheaper will Chinese solar and batteries get in the coming few years and how flooded will the market become? Thoughts and maybe a future potential pod?
What are the odds of a federal ebike bill actually happening? Even REI was really pushing the EBIKE act (H.R.1019 apparently) a year or two ago, but I haven't heard much about it since. What are the obstacles to making that happen?
Signed,
A sad car free city dweller who won't get $7k in EV tax credits
What's something you've been wrong about or changed your mind on in the past few years?
Nuclear energy. I didn’t think we needed it in our clean energy future, and I wasn’t a fan. I’m not a fan boy, but I do see a role for it now, and for expanding our current fleet.
Why is no one talking about fossil fuel subsidies?
Good question! How do we get those repealed?
How will the spaceflight industry work under the green transition, given its reliance on non-recycled metals and on grey hydrogen, LNG and kerosene? The only major works of note I’ve seen on the subject are Tim Dodd’s video on rocket launches’ environmental impact and Takao Doi’s work on wooden satellites, and ion thrusters and space elevator tech are not advanced enough anyway.
What are your suggestions for how climate funders could be more effective? What are your biggest peeves with them, and what should they do to change? (I'm talking about philanthropy, not for-profit investment here)
You've pointed out many (many) times that the rate-of-return model for regulating electric utilities' profits gives utilities a perverse incentive to over-invest in capital accumulation. (This excessive investment is called the "Averch-Johnson effect".) But I haven't heard you propose an alternate model for regulating utilities' profits that would avoid this problem. What would your preferred regulatory model look like?
Having learned about so many innovative technologies/solutions as a climate journalist, if you were a professional scientist or engineer instead of a journalist, what kind of climate or clean-energy related research/projects would you most be interested to work on yourself if you could?
David,
Have you played Daybreak yet, and if so what are your thoughts?
For those who do not know, Daybreak is a boardgame from the creator of the extremely popular Pandemic games, Matt Leacock, where players take on the role of individual world powers (the US, China, the EU, and the Majority World) as they work together to curb their carbon emissions - and build community resilience - to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
It is full of wonderfully nerdy climate tech and progressive policy solutions and each card has a QR code that tells you more about the topic depicted so you can learn more about it.
I'm curious to know what you think of the game and how it depicts climate change - and more importantly efforts to fight it - to a wider, if somewhat still niche audience.
Thanks for the great work you do! It is always informative, interesting, and useful.
Brad
PS - I am in the Seattle area if you want to borrow a review copy and/or get together for a game.
Just listened to the pod on EPA power plant standards. Are the 45Q credits providing a weird lifeline for coal plants? Perhaps it's fine since they're sequestering the carbon, but I could also see this prolonging a coal plant's lifespan beyond what it'd otherwise have in the new energy landscape.
Just wondering if there are any new breakthroughs on the horizon for car batteries - solid state, silicon anodes, anything? Anybody getting close on improving cold weather performance? How about V2G or V2H technology?
Cake or cookies?
No savory option?
https://youtu.be/unkWbEmtYXs?si=9RhTpQg9t8d8ZlA2
Fine. Cake, cookie, or one-pot Ratatouille?
--- SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS ---
Hello fellow Volties!
Ever wanted to try to convey to an inquisitive normie some idea that you’ve absorbed over a decade of reading + listening to David on Grist/Vox/Volts? I have a resource for you. I’ve built a website called Climate Solutions + Climate Careers ( https://climatesolutions-careers.org ). It distills and organize for beginners things that I have learned from DR (and some others) over more than decade.
The site is divided into two parts. The “Solutions” side of the site is a primer, useful for anyone at any career stage trying to wrap their heads around the space of climate solutions. The “Careers” side is aimed primarily at college and HS students trying to find their way to careers that can address climate.
The solutions side of the site is organized around emissions sectors (industry, buildings, agriculture…). Pages on each sector links to non-technical articles and podcasts (not only Volts, but Volts is heavily represented) connected by mini-essays providing background and context. Databases of ClimateTech startups tackling various parts of the problem are embedded in each relevant page.
The careers side of the site includes mini-essays on a variety of careers that can address climate, from ocean farming to urban planning and architecture. (I’ll be adding more of these in coming months.)
How the site came to be: A few years ago, watching the world burn, my career teaching philosophy began to feel morally insupportable to me. I thought hard about leaving it for a career that contributes directly to the climate fight – but eventually decided that, at this stage of my life, I could have most impact by leveraging my existing skills to help students do that instead. So, I stepped outside my disciplinary training to teach classes in environmental studies, and then created the website as a public-facing version of that class.
Volties: I would love help building out this site and making it better! Feedback and suggestions on any part of it would be great; and if any of you is inclined to contribute a page (e.g., on any of the million possible climate careers I did not discuss on the careers side of the site), I’d love it. I’d also love help getting it in front of audiences (college students, HS students, others) who might find it useful. Thanks for your help!
In the career section you could add an Infrastructure section.
There is a lot work coming online for things like upgrading the electric grid, ev charging stations in the transportation sector, and solar and wind implantation.
This is important work that includes title research, right of way and lease negotiation, permitting, electrical and construction work, and financing work.
Strongly agree. The present landscape of engineering and consulting work in the power industry is very focused on solving the challenges of capacity, availability, and resilience amidst a rapidly evolving generation profile. Capable engineers, technically knowledgeable financial experts, and qualified field personnel for installation, maintenance, and construction monitoring are in high demand, and will remain essential in the coming years to effectively execute decarbonization efforts in the energy and infrastructure sector.
Hi all,
I've been helping start a new non-profit called Clean Energy Communities Fund dedicated to rapid grants to 2000 communities across the US to spur climate action. We believe communities are the heart of the climate solution and building capacity/staff in a large number of communities will help drive programs (solarize campaigns, electrification campaigns, etc) that help address the climate crisis. We believe that change happens through local community members driving action and talking about it with their neighbors.
We are looking for collaborators to help drive change. You can read more about the fund on our website: https://www.cecfund.org/
Get in touch through our contact form if interested! We have a concept paper we can share.
Thanks!
I've been working with volunteers in Chicago at a civic hacking group (Chi Hack Night) to work on publishing Chicago's most polluting buildings at https://electrifychicago.net. The City of Chicago already requires large building owners to report their energy use and calculates the related emissions and emissions per square foot, but we're trying to make that data easier to understand and to shine a spotlight onto the lack of enforcement for these rules. We know the city's Chief Sustainability Officer has seen our work and is a fan!
**New Volts-Inspired podcast focused on climate change and higher education**
A few months ago, inspired by David's work on Volts, I launched my own podcast called Climate.edu (https://climatedotedu.com) that explores the intersection of climate change and higher education. I talk to faculty, students, college administrators, and other educational and nonprofit leaders who are taking action to address the urgent climate crisis. I have been in higher education--forever it seems--and decided to start the podcast not because I am necessarily the best person to explore this topic, but because I got fed up that no one else was. So, I have a couple of asks for the Volts community: 1--if this is a topic of interest, please give it a listen. I am trying to build an audience so I can keep doing this. 2--If it isn't your cup of tea, please share the podcast with someone in your network who might be interested. 3--If you have suggestions for future episodes, guests, topics, please send them my way. My website has a contact form you can use to make recommendations (https://www.climatedotedu.com/contact/). Thanks!
Richard -- I have been supporting Georgia Institute of Technology through its Center for Sustainable Communities Research & Education (SCoRE) to put on symposium in April called Advancing Direct Air Capture for Community Benefit and Decarbonization (https://scre.research.gatech.edu/advancing-direct-air-capture-community-benefit-and-decarbonization) where we brought community together with researchers into dialogue who are responding to USDOE''s investment in the SE on Carbon Air Capture (DAC). It was the start of a conversation that brings community in early as part of the design to include cumulative impact analysis that mitigates burdens and risks and ensures community benefits are defined and incorporated into a community benefits agreements. This was also discussed by the US DOE in the recently held National Environmental Justice Conference (Apr 16-19) (https://thenejc.org/). One that is coming up is a national academies workshop "Leveraging Community Benefit Frameworks: Empowering Communities to Benefit from Federally Funded Energy Projects" -- a two-day workshop of experts and thought leaders from communities, community-based organizations, federal agencies, academia, and the private sector will: gain a better understanding of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Community Benefits Plan (CBP) process; learn about CBAs and situate them in the broader context of other frameworks for providing community benefits; hear about successful engagement models, tools, and resources needed for meaningful negotiation; and understand what is required for proactive and long-term capacity building in communities. This is a hybrid event - both online and in person in Washington DC for May 16 and 17th. (https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/42465_05-2024_leveraging-community-benefit-frameworks-empowering-communities-to-benefit-from-federally-funded-energy-projects). Hoping this informs and helps with a few some thoughts and approaches for your Pod as higher educational institutions can be community, state and regional anchor institutions and play an incredibly powerful role in the clean energy and decarbonization transformation particularly through a climate justice lens focused on people.
Yes, higher ed has a big footprint--not the biggest carbon footprint by any means--but in its potential reach and influence. I think these community partnerships like the one at Georgia Tech are great models that demonstrate this. I look forward to reading more about this project. Thanks!
I'm excited to listen to this!
Thanks, Jeff. Definitely let me know what you think and please send me any ideas/suggestions you have.
Hey everyone!
Are you looking for new materials and resources to help promote climate action within your community? I am the Communications Coordinator for Campus Climate Action Corps (compact.org/ccac), an AmeriCorps service program focused on climate action through college-community collaborations and have some opportunities for you to do just that! We just launched a national awareness campaign called 'Environment for Everyone' that is focused on addressing the urgent need for immediate climate action by providing accessible information, resources, and opportunities for people of all demographics! We are looking for your help in sharing our free energy efficiency and ecosystem health focused resources so that we can mobilize as many people as possible to take climate action into their own hands.
You can take a look at the Environment for Everyone Page (https://compact.org/current-programs/americorps/campus-climate-action-corps/environment-for-everyone-campaign) to get a better idea of what our ongoing campaign entails and subscribe to the Campus Climate Action Corps Mailing List (http://eepurl.com/gj_rnz) to receive our monthly newsletter and updates on new materials when they are released (Check “Campus Climate Action Corps & Environmental Sustainability” box at the bottom of the page).
We have already released some exciting free resources that anyone can access on our website such as a flyer and brochure on the impacts of lawns and ecosystem health and a monthly Instagram Tip Series giving simple energy efficiency and ecosystem health actions anyone can take to make a positive impact on the environment!
If your organizations and networks are focused on energy efficiency, ecosystem health, and promoting climate action at the individual and community level, we hope you find our resources helpful and would love your support in sharing the Environment for Everyone Campaign and our free resources. Please contact kwoodward@compact.org with any questions!
Hi Everyone!
I'm a researcher with Sightline Institute and I'm looking for some help. Sightline worked with legislators in 2023 to get a budget proviso passed to support transition planning for Washington's petroleum refineries. Here's a link to an article by Sightline on the proviso and some key considerations: https://www.sightline.org/2023/05/31/washingtons-refinery-communities-just-got-a-transition-boost/
In response, the Department of Commerce in Washington State will be conducting a study to analyze the economic impact of oil refining in Washington state and how decarbonization policies are likely to affect Washington's refineries, refinery workers, and refinery communities. This study is kicking off soon and we've heard from DoC that the likely scenarios that the analysts will examine are premised on the refineries retooling to produce alternative fuels like biofuels, renewable diesel and hydrogen. While these alternative fuel manufacturing scenarios are certainly plausible, they may fall short when scored for carbon footprint, high-wage job creation or sustained tax revenues for refinery communities. I'm reaching out to this community looking for other ideas (out-of-the box ideas welcome!) that might offer different outcomes along these three dimensions (carbon emissions, job creation, tax revenue) that Sightline could offer up for consideration in some of the scenario modeling that will be done under this study.
The proviso can be found here: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5187-S.PL.pdf?q=20240215135058 [starting at line 11 on Page 100 through line 12 on Page 102]
Please post ideas here or send me an email at laura@sightline.org
Thanks and I look forward to hearing your ideas!
-Laura Feinstein
Hi All,
I am embarking on a rooftop solar installation and the installer has advised I need to upgrade my utility panel to 200 amp (a "heavy up") OR they could do something called a "line side tap" to avoid a panel upgrade. Does anyone have experience with the latter option? The installer explained it to me but I frankly did not understand.
--- CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS ---
National Academies workshop “Electricity System Operability and Reliability under Increasing Complexity”, online or in person.
.
https://mailchi.mp/nationalacademies/grid-operability-reliability-workshop-7227385?e=197e7890b0
I'm an old fart climate doomer, interested in supporting a climate cafe in a nearby 10,000 pop Oregon town. May hold at a senior center with other baby boomers, as well as youngers. I've seen online climate cafe agendas and sources, but wondering if anyone with climate cafe advice specifically with older folks can share words of wisdom. Thanks in advance.
--- EVERYTHING ELSE ---
I have to mention my most provocative thing of the past week. This is Jigar Shah talking about Enhance Geothermal on The Energy Gang. It's about 38 minutes in. Sorry if this link doesn't perform as intended. Preview: He describes Top 3 Drillers saying things like "over the moon", "child's play". And yet, the time frame seems long to me. They say it's so easy, but how do you get them to take resources away from their captive fossil fuel customers and actually *DO* it?
https://overcast.fm/+Ioj6nGBw/38:15
What is up with this????
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/21/gas-company-habitat-for-humanity
Here is a suggestion as a follow-up to Lorenzo Kristov's interview. I live in Northern California, under PG&E (IOU) and Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE, our CCA). Assume (cross-fingers) that our estemeed CPUC finally approves Community Solar in California. What are its implications for the goals that Lorenzo is positing?
Community Solar would still be controlled by PG&E, but it would run on the distribution grid, and it could be community led. Export rates details would matter and we would still need PG&E to approve it, but it seems to me potentially a (good!) slippery slope towards a much better distribution grid.
I can see PCE backing up community solar. Or our city. Or even non-profits.
CPUC has twice delayed the decision on Community Solar. It is, literally, everybody against the IOUs, even the Public Advocates Office of the CPUC. It is currentlyl scheduled for May 30th. We will see.
New book: My Efficient Electric Home Handbook.
Yes, I am the author.
Happy to discuss in a podcast!
The book describes tips for those electrifying their homes, based on my work personally in over 1,000 homes (over many years) and from what I see going on at the 118,000 member facebook group I started (9 years ago) called My Efficient Electric Home.
Explain to me, as if I were an idiot, why the Biden administration's latest tariffs on Chinese EVs, batteries and rare earths isn't a bailout of American auto companies who decided to crush their EV projects in an incinerator 25 years ago and instead feed us an endless stream of increasingly monstrous, unaffordable SUVs. American auto companies decided to not invest in building affordable EV cars and got outcompeted in that space; now the allegedly climate-conscious Democratic administration is squashing their competition in order to... what? American companies won't begin developing EV projects, they'll continue business as usual because that's what is safe and profitable. As usual, it will be us, the consumers/citizens, who are forced to pay the price. It is baffling and regressive, and a terrible election-year move they must hope flies under the radar (except it won't because prices will jump immediately).
Someone justify this to me.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/14/joe-biden-tariff-chinese-made-electric-vehicles
I'll try, if I'm permitted to comically oversimplify.
He's beating up Chinese industrial strategy because the last time we said, "Hey, let's let China manufacture stuff we need and we'll save a lot of money", the whole Rust Belt was laid off, and started dying of opioids and voting MAGA, to let us know they didn't appreciate it.
You can understand Democrats having a "Never Again" emotion about THAT.
Everything Else:
Very interesting news about Ethiopia leap-frogging fossil-fuel vehicles by mandating EVs. Maybe China EV manufacturers really don’t need the US market to sell all their surplus low-cost EVs.
https://cleantechnica.com/2024/05/13/ethiopia-shows-us-just-how-fast-the-transition-to-electric-mobility-can-happen-in-africa/
Sustainable Trucking - this will be an increasingly common topic as companies and the US government implements policies and innovative solutions.
Join a free webinar from ESG OWL on June 5th to learn more about Sustainable Trucking.
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1217156178417/WN_lY5Tt82mThOIKr1RVoGzbg
"The “Careers” side is aimed primarily at college and HS students trying to find their way to careers that can address climate."
Not specifically helpful, but I would proceed with great caution in targeting your audience by age as there is a not-zero percent chance that you could be viewed as engaging in Age Discrimination. While I'm hopeful that is not your intent, a EEOC investigation can quickly zap your enthusiasm for this project.