A return to $65 oil?

Tight market ahead?

The post Oil prices expected to struggle despite Saudi cuts, but Goldman is more bullish than most appeared first on Global News Video.

By Rebecca Cooke

In one of Caleb Clarke’s earliest memories, he runs down to the creek near his grandfather’s house to fetch casks of ale for his grandfather and his friends. The icy mountain water keeps the bottles cool for them as they sit out on the porch in the sun drinking and chatting away on a New Zealand summer’s day.

Thirty years later he and his partner Sarah Bowman have opened the doors to New Zealand’s first off-grid, zero-waste, solar powered brewery: Aotea Brewing.

Named after the Maori name for Great Barrier Island where the brewery is based, the couple’s business model is challenging traditional brewers to produce more sustainable ale.

They serve their signature Solar Charged Ale in refillable stainless steel flagons to islanders, yachties, and tourists who come to Aotea in search of New Zealand’s untouched wilderness.

While it’s just 62 miles northeast of Auckland, Aotea, Great Barrier Island, is completely off-grid. There is no centralized mains power. No grid-supply electricity, no town-supply water and precious few tarmac sealed roads. Around 80% of the land is designated for conservation. The island is a pristine reserve, home to penguins, dolphins, banded rails, hammerhead sharks, black petrels, and 800 full-time residents who are essentially self-sufficient.

The small but stable island economy revolves around tourism and meeting the basic needs of the islanders. The limited but thriving commercial spaces include a post office, a handful of cafes, four small grocery stores stocked by freight ferries twice per week, and the hub of island gossip: the Irish pub.

But there is a new and ambitious type of business emerging on the island. One that puts sustainability at its core, the one that Sarah and Caleb are spearheading.

Visiting Aotea Brewing on a balmy afternoon in February, the folksy tunes of a local blue-grass band fills the air. A group of hikers laze in colorful bean bags in the field where the brewery is situated. They drink the Solar Charged Ale from flagons, water bottles, and Nalgene flasks just feet away from the ground-mounted solar panels that supply the brewery with all the power it needs.

There’s a relaxed, easy late summer feel to the place and a calming sense that, of all the scenic spots, this is the place to be.

“We wanted to contribute to the economy on the island, and start to change the image of off-grid solar,” Sarah says from behind the bar.

“It’s so often seen as merely providing the basics, but we want to show it to be a way of building thriving, cool independent companies that really benefit tourists and islanders.”

Before deciding to become sustainable brewers, Caleb and Sarah both built careers in sustainability, advising corporate business on how to best integrate sustainability practices into their operations.

“We’ve been doing big-picture sustainability stuff and working with other businesses, but it felt like we couldn’t live our values from the position of just advising others,”says Sarah.

“We wanted to prove and live sustainability on a whole other level. We wanted to truly live our values. If I advise other people to do it then I have to be able to do it myself.” 

The couple have family connections to the island stretching back three generations, but also live part-time ‘in town’ on the North Island of New Zealand. Yet the ambitious brewers decided Aotea was the right place to set up shop, despite the obvious challenges around remoteness and resources.

“Nothing in the sustainability space is black and white. It’s all interpretation and there’s a lot of greenwash that’s around. So we decided to do this on an island that we love, on an island where nothing can be pushed outside the system, or taken away, we have to deal with everything”

“If we’re going to live this value, what does it mean in our day to day lives, in the way that we engage with the community, in the way we try to source things locally, the way that we try to be zero waste?”

The decision to make the island Aotea Brewing’s base introduced significant logistical challenges. The only way to transport the large brewing equipment from the mainland was by privately chartered barge. Caleb remembers the overwhelming sense of facing an uphill challenge in the early days of design and installation.

“We had to figure out the logistics of how to hire a barge from Thames to bring every piece of everything over we needed.” He says. “I had to do long round trips across the Hauraki Gulf on the barge, at midnight with the moonlight lighting up three massive fermenters praying they were securely lashed down.”

He continues: “We had to use equipment that could fit into shipping containers. Just that one element changed the design of the brewery. It wasn’t so much that the shipping container was a cool architectural design, it was because we had to be able to get it on the barge and off and across the island. The shipping containers had to be twenty foot rather than forty, because they wouldn’t fit around the tight, winding island roads.”

Yet the two biggest challenges, the remoteness and the island being completely off-grid, spurred on the vision of Aotea brewing as a truly sustainable business.

Caleb says, “The island can be a tough place. It’s so remote, you learn to get by with less, which is in a way the purest form of sustainability.”

For traditional brewers, carbon emissions quickly rack up. Automated brewing powered by fossil fuels, transportation of heavily packaged products, and water intensive brewing methods all contribute. But Sarah and Caleb took a holistic approach to eliminating Aotea Brewing’s environmental impact.

They chose not to use grain mills and extractors to make the brewing process more efficient. Instead, they mill the grain by hand, saving energy and the materials and cost of shipping in the equipment.

“It’s sort of against human nature, it kind of feels inefficient if you’re doing things manually. There’s a sense that you’ve got to automate. But doing it manually makes you feel closer to the history of the industry. People have been making beer for 30,000 years and they never had grain mill augers 30,000 years ago.” Caleb says.

The brewery particularly focuses on saving water, which is traditionally very intensive in the brewing process. Aotea Brewery reuses their waste water. It’s used for cleaning and then discharged on site to drip-feed fruit trees that will eventually bear limes and lemons for their cocktails.

Around 3 liters of water is used to every liter of beer the brewery produces. Commercially, this figure is over double that, at an average of 6-8 liters per liter of beer. Part of that water saving comes from not having packaging that needs to be washed or cleaned for each use.

The couple are looking to launch a nationwide brew challenge, to motivate small-scale brewers to use less water for each pint of ale they brew. They hope to achieve a 2 to 1 ratio of liters of water per beer brewed whilst retaining the full flavor profile.

“I think that will become a huge challenge for the industry as things like droughts become more severe. We’re actually gaining a long-term competitive advantage because we’re forced to think about these things now because we’re off-grid.” says Caleb. 

In Sarah and Caleb’s vision, Great Barrier Island could be transformed into a sustainability hotspot that goes beyond just its natural beauty. It raises a glass to the notion of Great Brewery Island, a pioneering hub for zero-waste brewers committed to better beer, one crisp, golden pint at a time. 
 


 

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: Aotea Brewing, brewery, New Zealand

About the Author

The Beam The Beam Magazine is a quarterly print publication that takes a modern perspective on the energy transition. From Berlin we report about the people, companies and organizations that shape our sustainable energy future around the world. The team is headed by journalist Anne-Sophie Garrigou and designer Dimitris Gkikas. The Beam works with a network of experts and contributors to cover topics from technology to art, from policy to sustainability, from VCs to cleantech start ups. Our language is energy transition and that’s spoken everywhere. The Beam is already being distributed in most countries in Europe, but also in Niger, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Japan, Chile and the United States. And this is just the beginning. So stay tuned for future development and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium.

The post Building A Zero-Waste, Solar-Powered Brewery On An Off-Grid Island appeared first on Global News Video.

We believe very strongly that the Al-Ula declaration resolves all of the outstanding issues and concerns that the countries’ parties would have had.

Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister

Not about Iran or Washington

The post End of Qatar blockade is ‘a win for the region,’ Saudi foreign minister says appeared first on Global News Video.

It’s a mid-late Sunday morning and as my cats race around my home like its Nurburgring, I open Twitter to see a tweet by Earl of Frunkpuppy that inspires this piece. In his tweet, below, Earl shared an image of four Tesla-related headlines over the years.

Looking over the past year, it does seem as if Tesla was the star of its own Shakespeare play.

A story in 4 acts $TSLA pic.twitter.com/MH5cIlspet

— 🐶Earl of Frunkpuppy🐶 (@28delayslater) January 3, 2021

Act I: Tesla Selling 500K Cars In 2020 “Absurd.”

The first act recaps a 2014 article published on Seeking Alpha by Mark Spiegel, who is well known for being a member of the “TSLAQ” group — people on Twitter who have been convinced or pretended to be convinced that Tesla would go bankrupt. Spiegel seems to block anyone (even me) who has anything positive to say about Tesla. 

In his article, Spiegel addressed “bullish” Wall Street projections for Tesla, which was guidance from Tesla. Those projections showed that Tesla would go from selling 35,000 cars in 2014 to 500,000 cars in 2020. One reason Spiegel believed this wouldn’t happen is because it had never been done before. “No complex product manufacturer has ever grown that quickly from a revenue base of $3 billion or more.” 

Act II: New China Factory Closed Due To Pandemic

Fast forward to 2020. As the new year, 2020, begins, everyone has a hopeful outlook — Tesla has just opened its Shanghai factory in China and is on the brink of becoming the world’s most valuable automaker — while being more than just an automaker.

Then the worst happens — a global pandemic begins. It starts in China, where Tesla just opened its brand new Gigafactory, and one wonders if Tesla’s new factory will be shut down, and for how long. The next headline from Frunkpuppy’s tweet comes from Observer. Tesla does face a test as its factory closes down. Even though Tesla’s second gigafactory and second Model 3 factory isn’t the only factory closing in China at this time (early 2020), the article claims that Tesla’s future looks increasingly shake. “Its new China factory, a big factor behind its stock surge lately, has halted production amid the deadly coronavirus epidemic.”

With Tesla being in China, the company is placed in a unique position that our own government failed to take advantage of when the pandemic and the lockdowns happened here. Tesla works with the Chinese government and reopens its factory as we shut down here in the US — yes, China manages to curb the virus and reopen fairly quickly. Tesla, being the only foreign company to own its own factory in China, has a unique learning opportunity (one that it did later use in reopening its Fremont factory after the shutdowns in California).

Act III: Tesla Shuts Down Fremont Factory

This next headline, “After Mounting Criticism, Tesla Will Shut Down California Factory,” comes from The New York Times. Tesla does shut down its California factory, a bit later than many expected. The article notes that Tesla “caused uproar by continuing production even after Alameda County officials issued a shelter-at-home order.” The article weaves a tale of a company that seemingly doesn’t care about the law or its employees but keeps out one key element: Elon Musk’s email to his employees telling them not to feel obligated to come to work:

“I’d like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable, please do not feel obligated to come to work. I will personally be at work, but that’s just me. Totally OK if you want to stay home for any reason.”

The article also failed to mention that other automakers were open for business at this time.

Inter-Act Monologue

Before we get to the final act, I need to set the scene. It’s 2021 now, but the road to this moment in time has been rocky and challenging for everyone traveling it. For Tesla, there have been many challenges as well but it has met those challenge with its fierce spirit of innovation and this is what leads to the final act.

Tesla made history in 2020. It became the world’s most valuable automaker — against all odds. There was a stock split, drama with county officials as well as politicians, one of which cursed at Elon Musk on Twitter, the usual media attacks on Elon Musk, and the constant criticism of Tesla by the stock’s bears.

Tesla also held it’s Battery Day event, where it announced its 4860 tab-less battery cells. And in a leaked email back in October, Elon Musk encouraged Tesla employees to make that 500,000 goal for 2020. In the memo, Elon Musk said that Tesla had a shot at producing 500,000 cars this year. In the face of the most challenging year for many if not most people on the planet, Tesla had the chance to meet a goal that Spiegel and many others in 2014 said was absurd. Critics jeered, many thought this was impossible, but as we go into the final act, we can see that impossible can be broken up into two words: I’m Possible. 

Final Act: Tesla Made 500,000 Cars In 2020

The headlines can be a bit confusing, but in a nutshell, Tesla has achieved its goal of producing 500,000 cars in 2020. As for delivering them, Tesla almost made it. Tesla was able to deliver 499,550 vehicles in 2020. Some of the headlines claimed that Tesla delivered 500,000 cars, while others painted a dramatically exaggerated tale of Tesla’s woeful failure from failing to deliver 500,000 cars. Also noteworthy: The 499,550 figure is an estimate, and Tesla’s initial estimates at the very beginning of the quarter tend to be conservative. So, it’s quite possible Tesla actually did reach 500,000. In any case, though, a tiny percentage difference does not really matter, and there’s a thing called “rounding up” that certainly applies in a case like this at a scale like this.

And one final comment on this: Tesla did surpass 500,000 vehicles produced in 2020, despite the pandemic, even basically reaching 510,000 (rounding up a tiny bit).

You can read more details about Tesla’s numbers here: Tesla: 499,550 Vehicles Delivered in 2020, 509,737 Vehicles Produced (Charts).

Epilogue

The tale above is just a snapshot of Tesla’s multi-faceted story. Tesla has had many bumps and bruises along the way as well as many successes. For a moment — in 2018 — things looked really dark, but in the end, Tesla prevailed. Today, we are at the dawn of another new year. We don’t know what 2021 will bring, but with hard work, high hopes, and a bit of faith, I believe that Tesla will continue to lead the EV revolution.

Tesla’s success is something that pushes other automakers to try new ways of thinking. Tesla has also proven that electric vehicles can also be both high-volume and profitable. So can renewables and clean energy — you don’t have to choose between profits and cleantech if you know how to lead and innovate. 
 


 

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: $TSLAQ, Tesla, Tesla deliveries, Tesla history, Tesla production, Tesla sales, Tesla short sellers, Tesla stock

About the Author

Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, member of the International Gem Society, and a Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.” Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter at all hours of the day & night.

The post A Tesla (TSLA) Story In 4 Acts appeared first on Global News Video.

The post Saudi Arabia restores diplomatic ties with Qatar after three-year rift appeared first on Global News Video.

SoftBank has finally ended months of speculation about its future in India’s renewable energy market. 

Image: Zach Shahan – CleanTechnica

SoftBank has sold its 80% stake in a joint venture platform, SB Energy, to Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Indian telecom giant Bharti Enterprises owns 20% in the venture and has decided to stay put in the business. 

According to media reports, SB Energy has been struggling to raise capital to execute solar and wind energy projects that it had secured in competitive auctions. The last major project that the company had secured was 600 megawatts in a 2 gigawatt auction conducted by NHPC earlier this year. 

SoftBank had entered the Indian renewable energy in 2015 with ambitious plans to set up 20 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity with an investment of $20 billion. But like several other renewable energy developers in India, SB Energy’s plans also ran into trouble. 

Increasing competition, lengthy delays in payments by distribution utilities, and regulatory delays in adoption of tariffs severely affected developers’ capability to execute new projects. 

Several established developers like Azure Power, ReNew Power, and Acme Solar either sold operational assets or equity stakes to raise funds. Many companies that operated solar and wind energy projects as non-core business also sold off their assets. 

The onset of the COVID pandemic further aggravated the financial condition of project developers. A sharp decline in economic activity and power demand meant that distribution utilities were hesitant to sign new power purchase agreements. According to media reports, the government has so far failed to find buyers for 18 gigawatts of solar power capacity it contracted in recent auctions. 

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: ACME Solar, Azure Power, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, CPPIB, India, india renewable energy, renew power, SB Energy, softbank

About the Author

Saurabh An avid follower of latest developments in the Indian renewable energy sector.

The post SoftBank Exits India Renewable Energy Market, Sells Stake To Canadian Pension Fund appeared first on Global News Video.

Coal restrictions leading to blackouts?

A shift in coal flows

The post Chinese cities reportedly go dark as country faces shortage of coal, a major Australian export appeared first on Global News Video.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) will host an informational webinar for its new $45 million Fiscal Year 2021 Systems Integration and Hardware Incubator funding opportunity on January 6, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. ET. DOE seeks to fund 10–20 research and development projects that will advance solar hardware and systems integration in the following topic areas:

• Grid-Forming Technologies Research Consortium
• Integrating Behind-the-Meter Solar Resources into Utility Data Systems
• Product Development and Demonstration

SETO staff will discuss the topics in depth and explain the types of projects we’re looking to fund.

Mandatory letters of intent for this funding opportunity are due January 11, 2021, at 5 p.m. ET.

Learn more about the topic areas and register today.

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: Department Of Energy (DOE), DOE, Research Roadmap on Grid-Forming Inverters, Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), University of Maine, US, US Department of Energy (DOE), US solar manufacturing, WEbin

About the Author

U.S. Department of Energy The mission of the U.S. Energy Department is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. Learn more.

The post US Energy Department To Put $45 Million Into Solar Hardware & Systems Integration — Find Out More appeared first on Global News Video.

On Tuesday, voters in the US state of Georgia head to the polls in twin Senate runoff elections. The elections are taking place because no candidate received more than 50% of the November votes, so Georgia law requires the top vote-getters to contend in a runoff. If both Democratic candidates win, the Senate will have a 50-50 tie, and Democratic Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote.

Image: Zach Shahan — CleanTechnica

That would be a step in the right direction to deal with the climate crisis, as the Republicans have turned a proverbial blind eye to soon-to-be former President Donald Trump’s executive orders that have shattered over 100 environmental regulations.

Until recently, Georgia hadn’t taken the center stage in many media stories. Then November’s federal election demanded a recount, and the US clung to news of whether Trump or Biden would carry the state. Now Georgia’s Senate runoff races are featured news. In one race, a career businessperson (he made his millions demonstrating how US labor could be moved offshore) is poised against a relatively unknown documentary filmmaker. In the other race, the wealthiest person in the Senate is juxtaposed against the leader of the Ebenezer Baptist Church — the same church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached.

It’s money against media and morality. And climate policy hangs in the balance.

As our own Zachary Shahan has posed, “Georgia, What have your Republican Senators Done for You?”

To begin to live up to its renewable energy potential, Georgia must set statewide emissions reduction targets. Its climate activists have a significant task ahead to shift the political landscape in Georgia away from conservative ideologies about fossil fuel permanence toward visionary yet prudent climate legislation. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp won’t be of much help — he rejects calls for him to initiate executive orders that would enhance climate action and, instead, suggests that local solutions are best.

Cities in Georgia are making progress toward a zero emissions future. Atlanta has committed to 100% clean energy by 2035, and Savannah’s town hall gatherings reinforce many citizens’ desire for the same goals. But more is needed, and Tuesday’s Senatorial races will definitely be determining factors.

Quick Facts about Georgia’s Energy Production

The US Energy Information Agency (EIA) offers the following overview of Georgia’s energy production (updated November, 2020).

• The Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, with the capacity to receive 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, added liquefication and export facilities with the capacity to export 350 million cubic feet per day. Export operations began in August, 2020.
• Two new nuclear reactors under construction at Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power plant will almost double the plant’s generating capacity and have planned startup dates in 2021 and 2022.
• Natural gas accounted for 46% of Georgia’s net electricity generation in 2019, the state’s four operating nuclear reactors accounted for 26%, coal accounted for 20%, and renewable energy, including hydroelectric power, contributed nearly 9% of the state’s utility-scale generation.
• Georgia leads the nation in densified biomass fuel manufacturing capacity and is a leading wood pellet exporter.
• In 2019, Georgia ranked 9th in the nation in electricity net generation and 7th in retail sales of electricity. Because the state uses more electricity than it generates, Georgia receives additional electricity from other states.

Georgia is a state that needs to move to much more renewable energy, and it can leverage its geographic attributes to enact legislation to fight the climate crisis. A shift toward renewable energy in Georgia would make a real impact on reducing emissions. “Georgia is at a clean energy crossroads,” argues Jennette Gayer, state director of the group Environment Georgia. “We have the potential to continue to grow our clean-energy footprint. The question is do we flatline or continue that upward trajectory.”

Renewable Energy Potential in Georgia

As reported by NPR, like most states in the Southeast, Georgia doesn’t have the kind of state-level mandates that have propelled the growth of renewable energy in other parts of the country. Nor does public concern over the climate crisis or the need to curb greenhouse gases take priority when statewide issues are discussed. Here’s the state of the state of renewables in Georgia.

Hydroelectric power: Georgia holds a wealth of natural and manmade bodies of water which could become hydropower energy sources. Georgia is one of the 10 largest hydroelectric power producers east of the Rocky Mountains and is the 14th largest producer of hydroelectricity in the nation as a whole. In 2020, utility-scale solar and hydropower for the first time generated more electricity than coal during the first half of the year. Of course, hydropower can also cause environmental and social threats, such as damaged wildlife habitat, harmed water quality, obstructed fish migration, and diminished recreational benefits of rivers.

Solar generation: Georgia is ranked as having the 9th highest potential solar capacity in the US. It doesn’t offer tax credits, and the legislature has never created a state renewable portfolio standard requiring utilities to sell renewable energy. There is no net-metering law to let solar homes sell excess energy back to the grid at retail prices. Since land is highly priced, the solar boom is reaching to the state’s farthest corners — often peanut, corn, and cotton country. In northern Georgia, the town of Dalton added a new industry to its manufacturing mix: the largest solar panel assembly plant in the Western hemisphere, a $150 million investment. Moving the state’s conservative legislature toward new policies that encourage rooftop or smaller-scale distributed solar will be a bigger political lift.

Offshore wind: Like Rhode Island, Georgie has the capacity along its Atlantic coast to harness offshore wind. Trump’s decision to rule out energy development along the coast of Florida and neighboring states would bar not just offshore oil and gas drilling – but coastal wind farms, too. The decision contrasts with bipartisan support for offshore wind from federal and state officials, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The Georgia Climate Project

The Georgia Climate Project believes that Georgia can emerge as a clear leader on climate change with a track record of rigorous analysis and constructive engagement among diverse groups leading to practical, science-based solutions that reduce risks and maximize opportunities associated with a changing climate. The Project seeks to mobilize the economic, environmental, and medical research community to answer a series of key climate research questions called Georgia’s Top 40.

A multi-disciplinary team of experts from across the state has developed the Georgia Climate Research Roadmap to help policymakers and practitioners better understand and address climate change in Georgia. The 40 questions in the Roadmap are grouped into the following categories:

• weather and climate
• ecosystems in Georgia
• oceans and coasts
• agriculture, forestry and food
• water
• energy and transportation
• human health
• communities and infrastructure
• human values, social equity, and environmental justice
• mitigation and adaptation across multiple sectors and scales

“This type of information is going to be really important for policymakers,” says David D’Onofrio of the Atlanta Regional Commission. “On our side, we’re already making plans to do more work on one of the big infrastructure questions by identifying vulnerabilities in our transportation system to climate change and extreme weather.”

Each year in November, the Project hosts the Georgia Climate Conference, an event that gathers hundreds of experts from public, private, and non-profit sectors to discuss what a changing climate means for Georgia, and propose solutions to mitigate these consequences. Stakeholders at the conference have expressed how essential it is that the private sector serves as a positive influence on environmental policy in the absence of federal action. The event also allows academics to engage with the community and share their particular areas of expertise with the greater public. The Georgia Climate Conference is hosted by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and brings together more than 430 leaders and experts from the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors to collaborate, raise awareness of work across the state, highlight progress, and identify opportunities to do more. They’re focusing in 2021 on 2 areas:

1. What does a changing climate mean for Georgia?
2. What can we do about it?

Every individual has the power to make a difference in their community, even in the wake of government inaction, and people are beginning to realize this in Georgia through the Climate Conference and other advocacy efforts. 
 


 

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: environment georgia, georgia, Georgia Climate Conference, Georgia Climate Project

About the Author

Carolyn Fortuna Carolyn Fortuna (they, them), Ph.D. is a writer, researcher, and educator with a lifelong dedication to ecojustice. She’s won awards from the Anti-Defamation League, The International Literacy Association, and The Leavy Foundation.
As part of her portfolio divestment, she purchased 5 shares of Tesla stock.
Please follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Georgia On My Mind: Senate Runoffs & Renewables appeared first on Global News Video.

On the last day of 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his administration shared a plan that will deal a major blow to fossil fuel automakers while severely cutting the state’s greenhouse-gas emissions in the next decade and beyond. These changes include the mandate that all new cars sold in the state will be electric by 2035, The Boston Globe reports.

In a press release, Governor Baker brought up the costly impacts of climate change. “The people of Massachusetts are experiencing record droughts, increased risk of wildfire, severe weather, and flooding in our coastal communities.” He added, “The costly impacts of climate change are on display in the Commonwealth, making it critical that we take action.”

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides noted that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require hard work and noted that the plan established a blueprint to help the state. “We know that achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050 will require hard work and collaboration across all sectors of the economy,” she said. The plan “establishes a blueprint that will help us achieve our climate goals in a way that is cost-effective and delivers significant benefits to residents across the Commonwealth, especially those in our most vulnerable communities.”

The Plan

The plan, titled Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap, has more changes that will take place over the course of the next decade. One thing it noted is that deep decarbonization requires a systems engineering approach. This is due to fossil fuels powering every aspect of our economy and daily lives. It is like a house filled with rot — a deep retrofit is required.

Energy Efficiency of Buildings

One part of the plan takes the energy efficiency of buildings into consideration, the focus being on deep improvements to buildings, such as air sealing, insulating walls and roofs, and installing triple-pane windows. This focus will reduce the airflow and allow energy recovery ventilation systems to ensure healthy buildings — especially during the post-Covid-19 era.

Low-Income vs High-Income Populations

There are matters that will require greater energy use, though. Around 20% of Massachusetts homes do not have any home air conditioning, and 60% more rely on window or wall units. Data indicates that the lower-income populations have less access to air conditioning than higher-income populations, unsurprisingly. This issue, the plan noted, is exacerbated by a warming climate. Building simulations of a pre-1950 single family home showed that indoor temperatures today could exceed 91°F, which is the temperature where heat exhaustion and heat stroke become a risk according to the Mayo Clinic.

Emissions From New Buildings

Emissions from new buildings, the plan pointed out, are most likely to grow to 1.5 MMTCO2 by 2050 under a base building code assuming the slow and steady advancement of the building code to 2050 without the implementation of a net-zero on-site emissions policy. Adopting such a policy, though, would reduce 2050 emissions from residential and commercial new construction by 54% if implemented in 2030 and by 87% if implemented in 2023.

Making The Shift From A Fossil Fuel Grid To A Renewable Energy Grid

Today, the Northeast electricity system has been designed to balance demand for electricity with centralized large-scale fossil fuel, hydropower, and nuclear resources. The flow of electricity normally goes one way — from its generation source to the customer. The plan noted that for the state to meet future decarbonization goals, the electricity system will need “significantly more renewable resources.” You cannot adequately cut carbon emissions and stop global warming without shifting from fossil fuels to zero-carbon electricity generation sources.

The state will have to adapt the grid and the plan noted that the two-way flows of power and variable resources require a more dynamic grid to respond to electricity supply and demand in real time.

The plan also includes fluorinated gases, solid waste management, wastewater treatment, natural gas transmission and distribution, the challenges of additional carbon dioxide removal, and more ways to address the state’s emissions and how it plans to tackle the challenge of lowering them. You can read the full plan here. 
 


 

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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021

Tags: Charlie Baker, Kathleen Theoharides, Massachusetts, Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap

About the Author

Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, member of the International Gem Society, and a Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.” Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter at all hours of the day & night.

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