"A deal is hard to reach because the legitimate climate ambition of a rapid end to burning fossil fuel runs into the equally legitimate reality of fossil dependence. As Mr Cohen observes, 'You can wish fossil fuels away, but they still comprise 80% of world energy supply and are growing.' A new scenario from the IEA, a global forecaster, for achieving net-zero emissions envisions a significant amount of fossil-fuel use even in 2050 (albeit at much lower levels than today), making a mockery of talk of rapid phase-out."
Xi Jinping as an environmentalist? C’mon, man!
“If the past is any guide, Xi won’t risk an economic slowdown, and his grip on power, over environmental issues, any more than he will risk liberalizing China’s human rights restrictions."
Economic and Environmental Lessons from Singapore
Singapore has opened up its markets to allow investment and innovation to flourish.
Hydropower 101
"After peaking in the 1960s, the stream of hydropower development gradually slowed to a trickle. One of the main reasons is the bureaucratic federal licensing process. Developers must navigate a licensing process that can take more than six years, spanning multiple state and federal government agencies."
The New Geopolitics of Energy
As Daniel Yergin writes on the Wall Street Journal, the global energy landscape is shifting from oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia, to innovators such as China and the United States.
Startup AiDash raises $50 million for tech using AI, satellites to spot wildfire risk
National Grid, an AiDash customer and investor which owns networks in the UK and United States, said it had seen measurable improvements in cutting the number and duration of outages since using the system to identify maintenance priorities on its Massachusetts grid.
Tennessee factory to become GM’s 3rd electric vehicle plant
“The company will build the Cadillac Lyriq, a small electric SUV, at the Spring Hill factory. Gasoline-powered Cadillac SUVs will continue to be built at the plant, and it will also get additional unspecified electric vehicles, GM said in prepared statement Tuesday.”
Suckered by Big Wind in the UK
"Because the government auctions off only as much capacity as it reckons the country needs, it will be forced to let Big Wind off the hook and allow it to charge what it wants. For wind investors, it’s a one-way bet – paid for by electricity consumers and the economy as a whole.”
Protectionism Kills U.S. Merchant Shipping
"For too long Washington has ignored the decline of the country’s maritime sector. Mounting international challenges have brought much-needed scrutiny and should prompt an overhaul of the country’s antiquated shipping policies. Any such effort must include the removal of protectionist measures that have long held the U.S. fleet back."
How Biden Might Decarbonize the U.S. Power Sector
Michael Catanzaro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies highlights the many ways in which Biden can decarbonize the energy sector. “Short of a CES, Biden could pursue increased federal spending on R&D, an area that seems most politically promising. Over the last two years, several bipartisan bills have been introduced on advanced nuclear,...