Dive Brief:
Despite setting goals to decarbonize their resource mix, many utility pledges amount to little more than meaningless greenwashing because power companies are not moving quickly enough to phase out fossil fuels and add clean energy, according to a new report and data set from Sierra Club.
The report grades utility decarbonization efforts based on coal plant retirement schedules, plans to add gas-fired capacity, and clean energy investment. Some utilities with carbon-neutral pledges received a failing grade using Sierra Club s methodology.
The utility sector defended its approach to the decarbonization process. The goals we have are a reflection of our current understanding of technology and economics, said Emily Fisher, senior vice president of clean energy at Edison Electric Institute.
Crews work on the Hog Creek Wind Farm in Hardin County in September 2017.
President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to spend $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years to fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions nationwide.
Advocates of renewable energy in Ohio say the incoming administration has a chance to shape the future of a state where fossil fuels remain major sources of electricity. Ohio’s energy picture has been changing over the last 15 years. Coal is on a downward slide and natural gas has been ascendant.
The state’s coal-fired power plants are aging and utilities in the state have been shutting them down, said Neil Waggoner with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.
President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to spend $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years to fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions nationwide.
Dive Brief:
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and Washington State Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that they adopted rules in late December to guide implementation of the state s 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act.
Under the law, electric utilities in Washington must eliminate coal-fired power by 2025, achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and source 100% of their energy from renewable or non-carbon emitting sources by 2045.
While Washington utilities and environmental groups welcomed the overarching goals presented by the rules, disagreement about specifics remains. We have an opportunity to finally account for climate impacts in electricity planning and acquisition of new resources, Doug Howell, a senior campaign representative in Seattle for the Sierra Club s Beyond Coal Campaign, said in an email. How we deal with this in electricity will hopefully end up applying to other sectors, [which] is why it is so important to get it right.
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