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Banning Gas-Powered Cars | Earth Wise

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In June, the European Union voted to ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered vehicles starting in 2035.   The EU joined Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and several other countries in imposing future gas car bans.

Here in the U.S., on August 25th, California adopted rules banning the sales of new gas-powered cars and light trucks by 2035.  New York passed a similar law last year and its ban will also cover heavy trucks by 2045.

California’s action is particularly significant because there are other states that have trigger laws that impose their own bans based on what California does.  Washington state, Massachusetts, and Virginia are in this category, although the governor of Virginia has said he plans to try to repeal the law.

An additional 12 states have policies tied to California’s and are likely to adopt their own versions of the 2035 ban.  These are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

When these regulatory actions are coupled with the major investments in electric vehicles being made by virtually all automakers, the transition to electric vehicles appears to be inevitable.

As far as people who love their gas-powered cars are concerned, the new rules only apply to new car sales.  So, consumers can still buy and own used cars that run on gasoline.  If there are states that never impose bans on new gas-powered vehicles, then consumers can go to those states and buy one, assuming there are any being made at that point.   It seems likely that gas-powered cars will end up being made for hobbyists and aficionados only. 

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California Just Banned Gas-Powered Cars. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Photo, posted May 20, 2018, courtesy of James Loesch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore Wind Ramping Up In The Northeast | Earth Wise

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There is a growing number of large offshore wind projects in the pipeline in the Northeast.  The large Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts began construction in November.  Contracts for the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects in New York were finalized in January.

The first offshore wind project to begin construction in New York broke ground in February.  South Fork Wind, a 132-megawatt project located about 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, is expected to come online in 2023.

New York’s goal is to develop 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035 and the state is investing $500 million to set up manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure for offshore wind.  Major facilities will be built in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and in the Port of Albany.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts recently announced that the site of the last coal-fired power plant in that state will become the home of its first offshore wind manufacturing facility.

The Brayton Point power plant in Somerset was shut down in 2017 after more than 50 years of operation.  The site, located on Mount Hope Bay near Providence, Rhode Island, will host a $200 million facility for the manufacturing of undersea transmission lines used to connect the grid to offshore wind turbines.  The first of these will be the Vineyard Wind’s Commonwealth Wind project, which will generate 1.2 gigawatts of electricity.

Both New York and Massachusetts are investing in the opportunities afforded by the soon-to-be booming offshore wind industry.  With numerous windfarms planned up and down the Atlantic coast, manufacturing, maintenance, and support infrastructure will be big business for the two states.

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Work starts on New York’s first offshore wind project

Former Coal Power Site in Massachusetts to Become Offshore Wind Plant

Photo, posted May 13, 2011, courtesy of SSE via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Five States Stepping Up On Clean Energy | Earth Wise

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While Congress continues to face partisan gridlock on climate issues, many states have moved forward with climate action.

In 2021, five states – Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, North Carolina, and Rhode Island – passed laws requiring a shift to 100% carbon-free electricity or net-zero emissions.  Washington State passed a law that helps to implement its strong 2019 and 2020 climate and clean energy laws.  Washington’s new legislation establishes a carbon trading program that will help the state to meet its goals of economy-wide emission cuts and 100% carbon-free electricity.

Several other states made progress on climate and clean energy by taking targeted actions not quite as aggressive as 100% laws, but significant, nonetheless.

The five states that entered the so-called 100% club joined with the six states that had earlier passed such legislation.  Those are California, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, and Washington.  Both Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. are also members of the club.

The past year may well be the biggest year yet for significant clean energy legislation.  Some of the states that finally passed laws had been gearing up for it for years.  This is particularly true of Massachusetts and Illinois.

Actions by individual states are not an antidote to inaction by the federal government, but they help.  At this point, about one-third of the country’s population lives in states that have laws requiring a transition to 100% carbon-free electricity, 100% renewable electricity, or net-zero emissions. 

All of this activity began in 2015, when Hawaii passed its renewable energy law.

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Inside Clean Energy: Here Are 5 States that Took Leaps on Clean Energy Policy in 2021

Photo, posted August 12, 2021, courtesy of Glacier NPS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Vineyard Wind Prepares For Construction | Earth Wise

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Vineyard Wind 1 will be the first utility-scale offshore wind energy project in the United States.  It will be located 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts and will consist of an array of 62 wind turbines, spaced one nautical mile apart.  It will generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power over 400,000 homes.

The project has recently closed on $2.3 billion of senior debt financing, which sets the stage for construction to begin.  The joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure partners is one of the single largest investments in a renewable energy project in the U.S.  The financial close is basically the final milestone for launching the project following years of clearing regulatory and other hurdles.

With the financial closing, Vineyard Wind will be instructing its contractors to begin work.  Onshore work will start this fall and offshore work will begin in 2022.

The project will use Haliade-X wind turbine generators made by GE.  These are some of the largest and most powerful wind turbines currently available, each one capable of generating 13 megawatts of electricity.  The electricity generated by the turbines will be collected by an offshore substation and then transmitted to shore.  Two submarine cables will bring the electricity from the substation to a landing point in Barnstable.  The cables will be buried six feet below the seafloor.  Underground cables will then route the power to an onshore substation in the village of Hyannis where it will be connected to the New England Grid.

Vineyard Wind is the first of many offshore wind farms in the works for the Northeastern United States.

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U.S.’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project prepares for construction

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of Andy Dingley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Major Funding For Novel Energy Storage | Earth Wise

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The accelerating adoption of wind and solar energy is driving a growing interest in energy storage technologies.  An electric grid dominated by intermittent power sources will need large-scale energy storage.  Grid-scale energy storage is expected to increase at least 10 times over the next decade and this will require nearly $300 billion in investments over that time period.

Much of the effort in energy storage has focused on battery storage.  But there are other storage technologies that are attracting attention and investment.

Energy Vault is a Swiss-based company specializing in gravity and kinetic energy-based energy storage.  Their technology uses a multi-headed crane to store energy generated by renewable sources by stacking heavy blocks made of composite material into a tower, capturing potential energy from the elevation gain of the blocks.  To produce electricity, the crane lowers the blocks to the ground, driving generators in the process.  The company has just raised $100 million in funding from investors. 

Malta, Inc. is an energy storage company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that is developing an electro-thermal energy storage system.  Energy generated from renewable (or other) sources drives a heat pump to create thermal energy producing both hot and cold reservoirs.  The heat is then stored in molten salt while the cold is stored in a chilled liquid.  To generate electricity, the temperature difference between the two reservoirs is used to drive a heat engine.  Malta has recently raised $60 million in new funding including significant support from Chevron Energy Ventures.

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Energy Vault Raises $100 Million In Series C Funding

Chevron backs long-duration thermal energy storage developer Malta

Photo, posted October 16, 2019, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Is U.S. Offshore Wind Finally Happening? | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind capacity has been growing rapidly in recent years, especially in Europe and China.  Globally, there is now more than 30 GW of offshore wind and industry experts predict that there will be well over 200 GW of installed capacity by 2030.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has only two small pilot projects, one with five turbines off Rhode Island and another with two turbines off Virginia.  But after many years of battles with determined opponents, false starts, regulatory struggles, and other hurdles, the U.S. offshore wind industry appears to be poised to take off.

A combination of significant commitments by power companies to purchase offshore wind power, strong support by the Biden administration, and billions of dollars in investments is creating the new-found momentum.

New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland have collectively committed to buying 30 GW of offshore electricity by 2035.  (That’s enough to power roughly 20 million homes).

Among the first major offshore installations to be completed in the next few years in the U.S. will be Vineyard Wind, 15 miles off of Martha’s Vineyard, another wind farm 60 miles east of New York’s Montauk Point, a third fifteen miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, and a fourth off the Virginia Coast.

Offshore wind projects will create nearly 40,000 jobs just in the New York-New Jersey area over the next ten years.  There is still some opposition from elements of the commercial fishing industry and from some coastal residents.  However, with state and federal governments committed to reducing carbon emissions and rapidly reducing regulatory barriers, and with the price of offshore wind continuing to get lower and lower, most observers agree that the U.S. offshore wind industry is finally on the verge of really getting going.

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On U.S. East Coast, Has Offshore Wind’s Moment Finally Arrived?

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Giant Jellyfish | Earth Wise

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There have been recent news stories about giant jellyfish washing ashore from Maine to the south coast of Massachusetts.  These stories have claimed that some of these lion’s mane jellyfish have been the largest on record and even might be the largest animals in the ocean.

The truth of these accounts is rather suspect.  For one thing, it is rather difficult to measure the size of a jellyfish when it is out of the water.  Gravity compresses and spreads out the bell portion of the animal, and that makes up the bulk of its mass.  For example, a jellyfish bell that measures four feet across on the beach would appear to be much smaller if the animal was floating in the water.

Some claims that lion’s mane jellyfish are larger than blue whales date back a full century and are very much disputable.  The claimed size certainly included the animal’s long tentacles, and such things hardly compare with a blue whale.

In any event, the current spate of jellyfish sightings is not necessarily that unusual.  Many factors influence jellyfish populations, including water temperature and food supply.  It is possible that warming water temperatures may be influencing the jellyfish population this year, but there is not enough data to know for sure.

People do need to be cautious around lion’s mane jellyfish.  They do sting and while their stings are not as bad as those of a number of other species, they can be a problem for people who have allergic reactions.  Furthermore, the stinging cells remain active in a jellyfish that has washed ashore.

Sightings of these animals are continuing, and reports of larger specimens continue as well, even if they don’t compare with blue whales.

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Jellyfish larger than blue whales?

Photo, posted September 13, 2015, courtesy Derek Keats via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Massachusetts And Energy Policy | Earth Wise

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The transition to a renewables-based energy future continues to accelerate, but there are still many forces that can slow it down.  Government policy has a major role to play.  At the moment, the federal government is trying to prop up the fossil fuel industry with financial incentives and rampant deregulation.  So more than ever, innovative policies at the state level are essential drivers for revolutionizing the energy system.

One state where policy is trying to make a big difference is Massachusetts, which has created the Clean Peak Energy Standard or CPS, finalized and approved in late March and now taking effect.   A clean peak standard is a regulatory tool to reduce the costs and environmental impact of periods when electricity demand is highest, and generation tends to be the most polluting.  The CPS requires electric retailers to procure a minimum percentage of their annual electricity sales from renewable generation or energy storage.  That minimum amount will increase each year.

The CPS is formulated to incentivize better utilization of clean energy technologies to supply power when energy demand is high.  The problem is that there are times when the sun is not shining and the wind isn’t blowing, but energy demand is at its highest.  The solution is to use energy storage technologies that can supply power when it is needed.  Furthermore, storage can be relied upon during times of extreme weather that cause power outages.

Massachusetts has already started using energy storage in its grid.  The small town of Sterling installed an energy storage system in 2016 that provides crucial backup power to the police station and emergency dispatch center, thereby keeping first responder operations running even during extended power outages.

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Massachusetts is setting the benchmark for nationwide clean energy transformation

Photo, posted March 30, 2012, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Cost Of Rising Seas

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Coastal cities in the United States are grappling with the need for extensive infrastructure projects to protect against rising seas and worsening storms.  The cost of these projects will be enormous, and it is unclear how to pay to them.

Boston has many neighborhoods in low-lying areas, and it is estimated that $2.4 billion will be needed to protect the city from flooding.  The city abandoned plans to build a harbor barrier that would have cost $6 to $12 billion because it was economically unfeasible.

Charleston, South Caroline needs $2 billion to reduce flooding that occurs regularly during high tides.  The Houston, Texas area needs $30 billion to provide protection against a 100-year flood.  Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damages in Texas in 2017.  New York City is considering a $10 billion storm surge barrier and floodgates to shield parts of the city from rising waters.

Florida faces the greatest exposure to flooding with an estimated $76 billion in costs to address some of its problems.

At the federal level, multiple agencies represent potential funding sources, but none offer the kind of money required to address the need.  This places a heavy burden on state and local governments.  Various states have passed legislation related to shoreline resiliency and flood abatement, but relatively little funding has been approved.  Some bond measures have passed, but the totals are small compared with what is needed.

Educating people about the costs of not doing anything or not doing enough soon enough is essential.  As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, not spending a large amount of money on resilience can result in having to spend a colossal amount of money on recovery.

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Who Will Pay for the Huge Costs of Holding Back Rising Seas?

Photo, posted December 26, 2013, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fresh Water Under The Sea

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A new survey of the sub-seafloor off the U.S. Northeast coast has revealed the existence of a gigantic aquifer of relatively fresh water trapped in porous sediments lying beneath the salty ocean.  This appears to be the largest such formation ever found.

The newly-discovered aquifer stretches from the shore at least from Massachusetts to New Jersey and extends more-or-less continuously out about 50 miles to the edge of the continental shelf.   The deposits begin at around 600 feet below the ocean floor and bottom out at about 1,200 feet.  If all that water was found on the surface, it could create a lake some 15,000 miles in area.  The researchers estimate that the region holds at least 670 cubic miles of fresh water.

Researchers made use of innovative measurements of electromagnetic waves to map the water, which had not been detected by other technologies.   It was already known that fresh water existed in places under the sea bottom as a result of oil drilling as far back as the 1970s.  But there was previously no hint of the extent of the undersea aquifer. 

The water probably was trapped by sediments deposited during the last ice age when sea levels were much lower.  But modern subterranean runoff from land sources might also be a contributor.

If water from the aquifer was to be withdrawn, it would still have to be desalinated for most uses, but the cost would be much less than processing ordinary seawater.  There is probably no need to do this in the Northeastern US, but the discovery suggests that such aquifers probably lie off many other coasts worldwide and could provide desperately needed water in places like southern California, Australia, the Mideast or Saharan Africa.

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Scientists Map Huge Undersea Fresh-Water Aquifer Off U.S. Northeast

Photo, courtesy of August 1, 2015, courtesy of Michael Vadon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Two Million Solar Installations

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Three years ago, we reported that the United States had installed its one millionth solar energy system, a feat that took 40 years to accomplish.  Recently, the Solar Energy Industries Association announced that there are now more than 2 million U.S. installations.

Analysts forecast that there will be 3 million installation in 2021 and 4 million in 2023.

California continues to lead the nation in installing solar power.  More than 50% of the first million installations were in that state and California accounted for 43% of the second million.  Its share is nevertheless slowly dropping with the growth of the residential solar sector that is rapidly diversifying across state markets.  Some places have seen extremely rapid growth.  In South Carolina, there were barely more than 1,000 cumulative installations in 2016; today, the state is home to more than 18,000 solar systems and expects to add 22,000 more over the next five years.

The five leading states in terms of number of solar installations are California, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.    Other states recently seeing rapid growth in solar installations are Texas, Utah, Florida, Rhode Island and Maryland.  Looking ahead, Illinois is forecast to grow from only 4,000 installations today to nearly 100,000 by 2024.  The top ten state markets apart from California expect to add nearly 750,000 installation over the next five years.

The United States is at least the third nation that is home to more than 2 million solar installations.  (Australia hit the milestone late least year and Japan actually topped 2 million in September 2014).

According to forecasts from analyst first Wood Mackenzie, by the year 2024, there will be on average one new solar installation every minute.

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The United States surpasses 2 million solar installations

Photo, posted January 11, 2012, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Thoreau And Climate Change

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Henry David Thoreau was a 19th-century American naturalist, philosopher, poet, essayist, and social reformer.  He is best known for “Civil Disobedience,” an essay advocating for the rebellion against an unjust government, and for “Walden,” a book about his experiences living simply in nature.  Now, Thoreau’s observations from “Walden” are the foundation of a new study exploring the effects of climate change on tree leaf-out and the emergence of spring wildflowers. 

This research, which was recently published in the journal Ecology Letters, relies on Thoreau’s scientific observations gathered during the 1850s when he spent 26 months living in isolation at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.  These observations from Thoreau were combined with current research to measure tree and wildflower leaf-out dates for 37 different years between 1852 and 2018.  “Leaf out” refers to the time in spring when plants and trees begin producing leaves.  An alteration in this timing can have a domino effect throughout an ecosystem.

Over the past century, temperatures in Concord, Massachusetts have warmed five degrees Fahrenheit.  As a result, leaf-out dates have changed significantly.  According to researchers, wildflowers are leafing out about one week earlier, while trees are leafing out about two weeks earlier than they did 160 years ago. 

Ground-dwelling plants like wildflowers have a narrow window to accomplish growth, photosynthesis, and reproduction, before the canopy trees leaf out and block the sunlight.  Temperature-driven shifts in the timing of tree leaf-out between Thoreau’s time and now are likely already hindering wildflower abundance and flowering. 

As the climate continues to warm, the already small window of time between wildflower emergence and tree leaf-out will likely shorten further. 

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Using Thoreau, scientists measure the impact of climate change on wildflowers

Photo, posted August 13, 2008, courtesy of Adam Pieniazek via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Septic Systems and Water Contaminants

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A recent study has shown that septic systems in the U.S. routinely discharge pharmaceuticals, consumer product chemicals and other potentially hazardous substances into the environment.   The comprehensive study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, raises health concerns since these chemicals can end up in groundwater and drinking water supplies.

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Offshore Wind Progress

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Last December, the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States started operation off the coast of Rhode Island.   The Fisherman’s Energy Atlantic City Windfarm off the coast of New Jersey is under construction.  With the lengthy logjam finally broken, there is increasing activity in the emerging U.S. offshore wind sector.

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New York’s Solar Boom

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that the state’s support for solar power initiatives has resulted in an 800% increase in industry growth since 2011.   New York’s various renewable energy programs have resulted in $1.5 billion in investments.  The NY-Sun Initiative has produce a 10-fold increase in solar projects in several regions of the state.  The Mohawk Valley led the way with an almost 16-fold increase in solar capacity.

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A Big Wind Farm for New York

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The Board of Trustees of the Long Island Power Authority has voted to approve the nation’s largest offshore wind farm, which is also the first offshore wind farm in New York.  The South Fork Wind Farm, located 30 miles southeast of Montauk, New York, will be a 90 megawatt facility that will provide enough electricity to power 50,000 Long Island homes and help meet increasing electricity demand on the South Fork of Long Island.

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