What Biden’s IRA Has Done for Job Creation

Current conditions: Tropical Storm Ernesto has left hundreds of thousands of people without power in Puerto Rico • Drought from El Niño created a 3 million ton corn deficit in southern Africa • Greece remains on high alert for fires through tomorrow as temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

THE TOP FIVE

1. IRA has helped create more than 334,000 new jobs

Ahead of the upcoming two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the nonprofit Climate Power released a new report analyzing the economic impact of the clean energy investments made possible by the legislation. The topline takeaway: Since August 2022, 646 clean energy projects have been either announced or advanced, creating 334,565 new jobs. Battery manufacturing projects account for the largest share of the new projects, followed by solar projects and EV facilities.

Climate Power

Most of the new projects are located in five states (Michigan, Texas, Georgia, California, and South Carolina) and in congressional districts represented by Republicans in the House of Representatives. These districts alone have seen the creation of 190,727 new jobs and more than $286 billion in clean-energy investment. Projects in low-income communities have brought $114 billion in investment to those areas and created more than 134,000 jobs. The report notes that clean energy jobs tend to pay more, and that most of them do not require a four-year degree, “meaning they’re accessible to all Americans.” Aside from highlighting the “clean energy boom,” the report warns that a second Trump presidency could halt the progress.

2. Vineyard Wind can resume ‘limited activites’ at wind farm, but no power generation

Just a little update on the situation at the Vineyard Wind 1 site off the coast of Massachusetts, where activity has been paused since July because of a broken turbine blade: Following a safety consultation, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has told Vineyard Wind it can resume some limited activities, like installing turbine towers and nacelles (the container at the top of the tower where the generator, gearbox, and other key components are located). But it cannot install any new turbine blades, or resume power production. Vineyard Wind and the blade’s manufacturer, GE Vernova, this week did some “controlled cutting” on the damaged turbine to prevent more debris from falling into the ocean. Now they’re looking ahead to next steps, like removing the blade root and figuring out what to do with the big pieces of debris that fell to the seabed. Before the incident, the partially-constructed commercial offshore wind farm was already sending power to the grid.

3. Climate change is making forest fires worse

Climate change is making forest fires more frequent and more destructive, according to the World Resources Institute. By examining data provided by researchers at the University of Maryland, the WRI concluded that the area consumed by fire annually has grown by 5.4% each year since 2001, and “record-setting forest fires are becoming the norm.” In 2023 alone, the amount of land affected by forest fires was 23% larger than the previous record year. Most of the tree cover loss due to fires is happening in the boreal forests, which is worrying because these forests store between 30% and 40% of the world’s terrestrial carbon.

WRI

The growing number of fires is creating a climate feedback loop: More burning releases more carbon dioxide which creates hotter and drier conditions that are conducive to more fires, and on and on it goes. Aside from emphasizing the need to rapidly curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report calls for ending deforestation, and better wildfire risk management.

4. DOE to put additional $54.4 million toward carbon-capture innovations

The Department of Energy yesterday announced it will put an additional $54.4 million toward developing carbon-capture technologies. This could include innovations that capture the emissions from power plants, industrial facilities, or the atmosphere directly, but also new ways to transport and transfer the CO2 once it has been captured. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is accepting applications now through October 14.

5. Scientists say rate of global warming is expected to slow

In a paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, scientists say the rate of global warming – that is how quickly the planet is heating up – looks like it will slow in the coming decades. In 2025, the rate of warming is expected to be about .38 degrees Fahrenheit each decade, but this will fall to an increase of .27 degrees Fahrenheit per decade by 2050. Those estimates are based on current mitigation policies, and the researchers say the rate could slow even more if we curb fossil fuel emissions more aggressively. There are a lot of caveats and moving parts here, and the researchers are upfront about this, noting that factors like El Niño, fluctuations in aerosol emissions, and the fact that “climate damage may show a non-linear response to amounts of climate change” could render their projections inaccurate. Nonetheless, “various analyses suggest that under current mitigation policies we are at or near a time of peak anthropogenic carbon emissions.”

THE KICKER

“No Republicans voted for the IRA, but they know their constituents are receiving the benefits.” –White House senior climate adviser John Podesta speaking yesterday at an event hosted by think-tank Third Way.