When wildfires are treated as a temporary, seasonal disruption rather than a continual, chronic risk, the default policy response is suppression. But a new analysis from PERC shows just how much that’s costing us.
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Energy Affordability Check-In
Politicians—especially those facing reelection this year—are starting to hammer the energy affordability debate once again. There’s often a disconnect between political discourse and reality. But in the case of energy affordability, the data tells us that perhaps there is less hyperbole in these debates than usual. The following chart shows the change in prices for residential electricity,...
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Trillium Raises $13 Million for Plant-Based Industrial Chemicals
The chemicals industry, which accounts for about 5% of global emissions, can seem like a black box. Fossil fuel-based feedstocks go in and out pop plastic toys or agricultural fertilizer or laundry detergent. But most of us don’t understand what happens in between. That’s the part of the supply chain where Trillium Renewable Chemicals is...
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Blocking Data Centers Won’t Make Electricity Cheaper
Growing opposition to data centers is beginning to expose divides in both parties. Last week, POLITICO reported that progressive challengers in battleground House primaries in Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, and Maine are backing a national moratorium on datacenter construction.
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The US is now paying more than any other country for climate change damage, study suggests
Compared to every other country in the world, the US is bearing the biggest brunt of the economic losses inflicted by climate breakdown – and will likely continue to do so. That’s according to a recent study from Stanford University, in which scientists calculated the economic loss and damages caused by major fossil fuel emitters. Lead author Marshall...
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Trump invokes Defense Production Act to boost oil, coal and energy infrastructure
President Trump on Monday invoked wartime authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to try to push for more oil, gas and coal. The DPA gives the president the authority to increase the production of certain items to advance national security. Trump this week issued five memos applying it to oil, coal, natural gas infrastructure and exports, electric grid equipment and “large-scale...
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Gas hits $4 on average in US
The average price of standard gas in the U.S. hit $4 as of Tuesday morning, after hovering right under the dollar mark for about a week. This is up by over a dollar from a month ago after the onset of the Iran conflict at the end of February spiked fuel prices. The average price of premium...
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Oil has surged since the Iran conflict, but gas prices may not be done rising
Oil prices have surged more than 40% since the start of the Iran conflict, rattling global energy markets and raising concerns that U.S. drivers could see further increases at the pump. Analysts say consumers may not have felt the full impact yet because higher crude costs typically take weeks to filter through to retail gasoline prices....
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What Makes This Oil Shock Different
The war with Iran has sent oil prices, and then gasoline prices, sharply higher. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the main U.S. oil benchmark, rose from the mid-$60s per barrel in late February to around $100 on March 19. U.S. gasoline prices have followed suit, with the average price increasing from a pre-war level of under $3.00 per gallon to over $3.70 by mid-March.
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Trump Officials Weigh New $1 Billion Deal to Stop Offshore Wind Farms
Read more in the New York Times here.