Georgia Environmental Finance Authority’s Post

What solar, wind, renewable energy, net-zero and climate policies have not accomplished. Here is what net zero and climate policies have not accomplished. Solar, Wind, and Peak Oil. 1. Despite the impressive number of new Wind and Solar plants and their gigawatts of energy produced, the reality is that Wind and solar have only supplied 45 Exajoules of energy in the last 27 years, averaging 1.7 exajoules per year. 2. To put this into perspective, each exajoule equals 174 million barrels of oil. The urgency of the situation becomes clear when we consider that until Wind, solar, and renewables can grow exajoules by 9.4 exajoules per year for the next 26 years and have an electricity generation capacity of approximately 250 exajoules of energy by 2050, the "energy transition" will never replace peak oil. 3. Reaching net zero would require more nuclear, hydro, hydrogen, batteries, and whatever other sources of energy we can create. 4. It's crucial to acknowledge the global scale of the issue. From 1997, the year of the Kyoto Protocol, to 2022, the world's dependence on fossil fuels has grown significantly, as the energy use of crude oil has increased by 180 exajoules, a staggering figure. This stark reality underscores that crude nor coal, demand has not peaked. 5. Let's delve into the specific case of China. China has increased its use of crude oil from 5 million barrels per day in 2011 to 11.3 million barrels per day in 2023, representing a rise in energy consumption from 10.49 exajoules to 23.7 exajoules. 6. This increase reflects China's growing reliance on fossil fuels, driven by its rapid industrialization and economic growth. India is also importing more oil per day, a trend that mirrors its own economic expansion. Only when the developing nations' demand for crude oil, coal, and natural gas stabilizes and they have industrialized will there be a peak in oil demand. 7. Additionally, China's coal use in exajoules [EJ] has grown from 22 exajoules in 1998 to 88 exajoules by 2022, an increase of 400%. India's coal use has grown from 457 million tons, or 13.39 Exajoules. to 1155 million tons in 2023, or 33.77 Exajoules, an increase of 252%. Globally, coal consumption has increased from 4.4 billion tons, or 129 Exajoules of global energy, to over 8 billion tons by 2023, or 234 Exajoules, an increase of 181%.  8. Just accounting for coal and crude, the increase in exajoules of fossil fuels consumed is 180 exajoules for crude oil and 105 [234-129], an increase of 295 exajoules in the use of coal and crude.   Article on peak oil: https://lnkd.in/gE_mwmp8. Facts from Vaclav Smil, report on Achieving Net Zero, 2024. I formed a group on Electricity Generation Worldwide, https://lnkd.in/graRy4uz

Utilities have been exploiting customers, communities, and the global environment since they devolved into puppets of enormous fossil fuel corporations. It's great to see the new ICC requiring Illinois utilities to make meaningful improvements without unjustified rate hikes. We hope the final order elevates the progress utilities make on #environmentaljustice and makes strides toward data transparency and accessibility. Environmental Defense Fund is not mentioned in this article, but it has been doing phenomenal work here. #ComEd #PeoplesGas

July 2024 - FERC updates to the Commission’s permitting process for electric transmission facilities and focuses on some of the basic concerns of landowners, tribal communities, environmental justice communities and other stakeholders as outlined in FERC’s Order No. 1977. #FERC #ISO #RTO #transmission #permitting #energy

Grassroots efforts are the best Grassroots efforts to drive homes off fossil fuels and electrify, even better! The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EEBC) effort by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stands to help hundreds of communities to build knowledge and capacity at the city-level to drive adoption. This is a big deal and will push many cities waiting on the sidelines wait for funding to wade into these waters. Bravo DOE for recognizing this need and to the The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for taking action to deliver! ______________ I'm Grant Gunnison Click my name + follow + 🔔 to learn how to get off gas and electrify P.S. If you'd like early access to our platform, repost this! #decarbonization #heatpumps #electrification

#Minnesota lawmakers are taking bold steps toward a cleaner, greener future by debating a groundbreaking bill to transform the state's #energy landscape. Similar permitting reforms have been implemented in #Illinois and #Michigan. Here's what you need to know: 🍃 Leading the Charge: The #Midwest is at the forefront of #permittingreform, paving the way for #wind and #solar farms and essential #transmissionlines to deliver #cleanenergy. This proposed bill in Minnesota aligns with the state’s commitment to sourcing 100% of its energy from #carbonfree sources by 2040. 🔧 Streamlining Processes: The proposed Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act is set to revolutionize how energy projects are approved. This bill is a game-changer by reducing procedural requirements, consolidating review authority, and cutting down on lengthy approval times. It could slash up to nine months from a process that often spans over five years, all while ensuring public input. 🏗️ Economic Benefits: These reforms promise significant economic advantages beyond #environmental gains. Energy projects bring substantial economic benefits to communities, and by expediting approvals, we can unlock job creation and investment opportunities across the region. 🌎 State-Level Leadership: While federal action remains gridlocked, states like Minnesota are taking matters into their own hands. This localized approach accelerates clean energy adoption and allows other states to follow suit. 🚀 Unlocking Potential: With the clear need for expansion of transmission lines underway in the Midwest, state-level permitting reform is more crucial than ever. Projects like the Grain Belt Express can be expedited by streamlining approval processes and connecting wind and solar farms to communities needing clean energy. 📈 Building a Sustainable Future: Minnesota's permitting reform bill signals a significant step forward in collective efforts to combat #climatechange and build a #sustainablefuture. 🌟

“Governor Gavin Newsom plans to slash funding for batteries and utility customers to help with grid emergencies — but money for fossil fuel generators keeps flowing. Now, as California and the U.S. West face forecasts of a hotter-than-average summer … two of the only state-funded programs that don’t rely on fossil fuels to combat those grid emergencies are under threat.” Why? We know that these programs “could enable $550 million per year in consumer savings in California…and that VPPs are the ‘lowest cost way’ for utilities and regulators to handle load growth and lower rates for everyone.” Meanwhile, “Another $1.3 billion in funding has been promised to companies that own and operate aging fossil-gas-fired ‘peaker’ power plants in Southern California that were slated to be closed in 2020 under environmental regulations. Those plants are a particularly egregious target for state funding, environmental advocates said, given that they burden surrounding communities with harmful air pollution, and have been unprofitable to operate absent state subsidies.” https://lnkd.in/gBi3u7sX

Have the goals of New York’s #CLCPA have been met?  No, yet successful achievement of the goals of the CLCPA is one of the highly questionable conclusions a zoning board of appeals adopted in finding that a community solar project was not a public necessity justifying the grant of a use variance. Now that determination is before the state courts, the second time this ZBA’s rejection of the solar project has been challenged. The dispute concerns the application of the public utility use variance standard, which requires local zoning authorities to consider the public necessity for a utility project, rather than applying the standard state-mandated variance considerations. After being directed by a court to apply the public utility standard to the solar project, the ZBA found the solar developer had failed to establish that the project was a public necessity, a decision that rested mainly on the Board’s conclusion that there was no demand for solar in the town or county, and even if there was, another proposed large solar project satisfied that need. Most legal disputes involving the public utility standard concern whether it is applicable, while this new dispute delves into what constitutes a public necessity. My colleague @Alicia Legland and I recently wrote an article in the New York Law Journal outlining the history of the public utility variance standard and the tension between municipal home rule zoning powers and energy generation and distribution companies. The CLCPA and its related state policies add another dimension to the debate, and we explore how the ZBA went about this consideration, and how the courts may address the debate here and in future cases.

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP's Real Estate, Land Use & Environmental attorneys Brooke Miller and Megan La Tronica discuss the hurdles and the steps you can take to successfully implement a battery energy storage systems project in this article: https://lnkd.in/gAf7tPnk

$649,482 Granted to Local Governments by Illinois EPA The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) has given $649,482 to seven local government units for energy planning and efficiency projects from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The EECBG Program aims to support municipalities and counties in development or revision of preexisting strategic plans in energy and climate action, thus preparing those local governments for future funding opportunities from the State and Federal government.   IEPA Director John J. Kim says "Through this competitive grant program, Illinois EPA is investing U.S. Department of Energy funds in energy planning," totaling over $1.55 million so far. EPA funds from the DOE are also going towards projects in areas including environmental justice concern, focusing on energy efficiency, resilience, and clean energy technologies.   #Illinois #Chicago #EPA #IEPA #Environmental #Energy #Midwest