Science and Technology:
¶ While energy storage is a small fraction of total power generation capacity, promising examples suggest that distributed energy storage could change the electricity system during the next decade as fundamentally as distributed renewable energy has in the last decade. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The UN IPCC report said that during the next 100 years, bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration could pull 125 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the sky, while biochar energy systems could draw down 130 billion tonnes. There were 40 billion tonnes emitted in 2013. [Environment & Energy Publishing]
World:
¶ The UN’s climate chief called on the oil and gas industry on Thursday to make a drastic shift to a clean, low-carbon future or risk having to leave three-quarters of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. She urged an “urgent transformation” to greener production. [gulfnews.com]
¶ The European Commission appears to have shelved plans to force mature renewable energy technologies, such as solar and onshore wind, to compete for subsidies. The move raises fresh questions over the UK’s case for launching so-called technology neutral auctions. [Business Green]
¶ A committee set up by India’s Department of Telecommunications has recommended that all telecom sites should use renewable energy technology units to run the network. The units would help maintain service quality without depending on the external power grid or diesel. [Hindu Business Line]
¶ Investment in the UK wind industry surged by almost 50% to £3.5 billion in 2013, according to a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The document “Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race?” also states that investment in all clean energy technologies grew by 13% to £7.5 billion. [reNews]
US:
¶ A report released by Exxon Mobil the same day about how greenhouse gas emissions and climate change factor into its business model found that climate change, and specifically global climate policies, are “highly unlikely” to stop it from selling fossil fuels for decades to come. [Resilience]
¶ At the same time ERCOT saw a new record set for Texas, wind power accounted for more than 7,200 megawatts of electricity generated on March 18 for the Southwest Power Pool, the regional transmission organization that covers Oklahoma and parts of eight other states. [NewsOK.com]
¶ The Vermont Supreme Court reversed a ruling made by the Public Service Board that classified two potential local solar projects as being one in the same for the purposes of an energy subsidy program. [Bennington Banner]
¶ A private company wants turn Sandy, Utah into America’s first total recycling city, using recycled garbage turned to generate methane gas, which would be used to generate power, by building a garbage collection and recycling plant-based on innovative technology. [fox13now.com]
¶ Xcel Energy is proposing plan that would enable customers to get the equivalent all over their power from solar energy by purchasing it by subscription. The program, Solar Connect, would purchase 50 MW of electricity, enough for up to 14,000 homes, from a large-scale solar plant. [The Denver Post]
¶ Renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) were included with bipartisan support, as the Senate Finance Committee reported out a tax extenders package whose passage is critically important to the wind energy industry. [AltEnergyMag]
¶ For the second year, an annual Pew Charitable Trusts report, “ Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race? ”, shows that China is the world leader in clean energy investment, with $54 billion in investments in renewables in 2013, well above total U.S. investment of $36.7 billion. [Kitsap Sun]
¶ More than 50 experts and officials met in Putney,Vermont to begin to plan a national conference for regions facing nuclear plant closings. Though many plants are likely to close soon, there is not much information on how host regions can protect their interests when they do. [Vermont Public Radio]
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