Forging a Path Forward on U.S. Nuclear Waste Management: Options for Policy Makers by Matt Bowen |January 28, 2021
Nuclear power is considered in many countries a critical facet to maintaining reliable access to electricity during a global transition to low-carbon energy sources. One challenge to its potential in the United States, however, is the current standstill regarding a disposal pathway for spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors. This impasse has a negative bearing on nuclear energy’s ability to supply more zero-carbon electricity and may cost U.S. taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in government liability for failing to meet contractual obligations to take possession of the waste from utilities.
Governors Wind Energy Coalition
DOE program may save or thwart Biden’s energy plan Source: By David Iaconangelo, E&E News reporter • Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), President Biden’s nominee for secretary of Energy. Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS/Newscom
A Department of Energy program considered critical to President Biden’s clean energy agenda is changing focus and may open the administration to political attack, analysts say.
When Biden was vice president, the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) distributed tens of billions of dollars in loans and loan guarantees intended to scale up new clean technologies. The office helped launch the first utility-scale wind and solar farms in the country. And it made a $535 million loan to Tesla Inc., now the world’s most valuable automaker, to open its first factory in Silicon Valley.
Published: Monday, January 25, 2021
Elon Musk. Photo credit: AMN/ZOJ/WENN/Newscom
Entrepreneur Elon Musk ignited interest last week when he pledged to donate $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon capture technology. AMN/ZOJ/WENN/Newscom
Elon Musk, the eccentric billionaire and technology innovator, last week set off a flurry of interest in the potential to remove planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere at an industrial scale.
In a cryptic, one-line tweet posted Thursday evening, the founder and CEO of electric car company Tesla Inc. and rocket ship maker SpaceX vowed to donate $100 million toward a prize for the best carbon capture technology.
Biden orders social cost overhaul in bid to reduce climate pollution Print this article
President Biden is directing his team to retool the values the government uses to assess the costs and benefits of combating climate change in a move that could ultimately help his administration justify stricter emissions controls.
As part of a climate executive
order issued on Wednesday, Biden directed federal agencies to review and update the so-called “social cost of carbon in an effort to reduce climate pollution.
The metric was initially developed by the Obama administration to quantify the costs of global damages caused by rising temperatures. Federal agencies would then use that value as they assess the overall costs and benefits of regulatory actions. Regulations that curb greenhouse gas emissions, therefore, would produce benefits by avoiding climate-related damages.