The following is a contributed article by Paul Schuster, CEO of The Trimountaine Group.
As the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses will be at the forefront of any economic recovery. And while the Biden Administration contemplates ways to support small businesses in their recovery, they should consider the opportunity to align these recovery efforts with the broader imperative of reducing the nation s impact on climate change. With 30.7 million small businesses located in the U.S., any efforts toward reducing emissions are going to need to include this market.
The current administration has promoted a massive investment into climate change initiatives, including shifting the entire federal fleet to electric vehicles, accelerating research into battery technology and domestic production, and negotiating ambitious fuel economy standards. Harnessing this clean energy ambition to help small businesses emerge healthier from the pandemic should be a top priorit
Dive Brief:
Xcel Energy on Tuesday announced plans to invest $1.7 billion in transmission in order to unlock 5,500 MW of largely new renewables projects in its Colorado footprint.
The proposal includes five new segments of high voltage transmission lines to connect more rural, renewables-heavy areas with more urban regions of the state. In total, the proposal would comprise a 560 mile, 345 kV transmission line that will allow the utility to reduce emissions in its Colorado territory by an estimated 85% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Xcel executives in the company s most recent earnings call had said the utility would be able to reduce emissions across its entire footprint 80% by 2030, in line with its current carbon reduction targets.
Dive Brief:
House Democrats unveiled legislation on Tuesday that would bring economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2050, and cut emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 or sooner.
The CLEAN Future Act proposes a national Clean Energy Standard that would require all retail electric providers to generate 100% of their power from zero-emissions resources by 2035, and 80% by 2030. It would also require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to update U.S. transmission policy in order to better integrate renewables onto the grid, and direct greater investment in energy storage, microgrids, distributed energy resources and more.
The bill also targets transportation electrification, environmental justice, economic transition for fossil fuel workers, building efficiency and more. It would also include major changes to the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA).
Texans were left in the cold and dark this February, following extreme cold weather that had the Texas competitive energy market unable to prevent deadly power failures. Leaving behind its historic commitment to power system independence and joining the larger U.S. grid can relieve some of the consequences of extreme weather events Texas is likely to see again, many energy analysts in and out of Texas said. We designed this system for Ozzie and Harriet weather and we now have Mad Max, said Texas energy consultant Alison Silverstein, a former Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adviser, during a Feb. 24 webinar cohosted by the Advanced Power Alliance and Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation. Texas is now reaping the bitter harvest of avoiding federal transmission regulation and state energy sector regulation.
Dive Brief:
The United States has the lowest renewable energy penetration among the top 5 global economies, Moody s Investors Service concluded in an infrastructure and project finance report released Monday. Leading that list is the European Union and U.K., followed by China, India and Japan.
The analysis blames the laggard status on weak U.S. federal policies, including the lack of a national renewables mandate and inconsistent tax incentives for wind and solar. Where renewables have thrived in the United States, Moody s said, is in large part due to their growing cost competitiveness and local policy.
Analysts and advocates agree U.S. federal policy has not sufficiently championed renewables growth, but see reasons for optimism with President Joe Biden indicating his support for clean energy. It is really important for the federal government to lay down some markers and set some goals, said Uday Varadarajan, a principal in Rocky Mountain Institute s (RMI) carbon-free elect