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Electric Vehicles

Here Come the EPA’s New Tailpipe Rules

On car pollution limits, a big energy conference, and ‘kitten season’

Here Come the EPA’s New Tailpipe Rules
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Freeze warnings are in place across many states in the south east • Troplical Cyclone Megan made landfall in Australia • A neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro reportedly recorded a temperature of 144 degrees Fahrenheit as Brazil swelters in an extreme heat wave.

THE TOP FIVE

1. EPA’s new tailpipe emissions rules expected this week

The Environmental Protection Agency this week is expected to officially announce new tailpipe emissions rules that will dramatically reshape the transportation sector over the coming years. If carmakers are to meet the EPA’s new rules, electric vehicles would need to make up a much larger share of car and light truck sales by 2030 than they do now. Last year EVs accounted for about one-tenth of sales. The end goal is to see that rise to two-thirds by 2032, but the nearer-term targets have shifted in response to anger and pressure from carmakers and the United Auto Workers union who argued EVs remain too costly and that the transition should be more gradual. Transportation is America’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the Biden administration sees reducing this pollution as instrumental to the U.S. fulfilling its Paris Agreement commitment of cutting emissions in half by 2030.

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  • 2. ‘Super Bowl of energy’ conference kicks off in Houston

    One of the world’s biggest oil and gas conferences is happening in Houston this week. More than 7,000 people will attend CERAWeek – which has earned the nickname the “Super Bowl of energy” – where industry executives will hear from major producers about market outlooks. The main focus is expected to be energy security, Reutersreported, but “climate concerns are reflected in the conference sessions on carbon sequestration technology and hydrogen fuels, which have become two of the oil industry's favorite means of addressing global warming.” Natural gas – and President Biden’s pause on new LNG export projects – will be high on the agenda. The Houston Chroniclereported that geothermal is also a “hot topic.” And several sessions will focus on the role of nuclear power going forward. Last Energy, a company that builds micro-scale nuclear power plants, apparently plans to hang one of its “nuclear islands” from a crane outside the venue.

    3. South Sudan closes all schools, braces for extreme heat wave

    South Sudan has shuttered all schools “indefinitely” and told parents to keep kids indoors ahead of a two-week heat wave expected to bring temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The east African country is no stranger to heat, but temperatures have rarely exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according toThe Associated Press. “This extreme weather condition poses serious health hazards to children, particularly young learners and adults with underlying health conditions,” said the Ministry of Health. “During the closure of the schools, parents are advised to stop their children from playing outdoors.” South Sudan is one of the five most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, according to the UN Environment Programme, and has over the years seen temperatures rise and floods become more common.

    4. Ocean temperatures break records for full year

    Global sea surface temperatures have been at record highs for at least 365 days now, the Financial Timesreported. On Wednesday of last week ocean temperatures set a new all-time high at 21.2 degrees celsius, or 70.16 degrees Fahrenheit. “This exceptional heat has bleak implications,” the FT said. Some ecosystems, including coral reefs, are already showing signs of devastation. And scientists are increasingly worried about a strong upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. On a macro level, there’s “a lot of concern” that a key ocean current conveyor belt known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could slow due to an influx of fresh meltwater, “with unknown consequences for habitable conditions on Earth.”

    5. China begins construction on major clean energy transmission line

    China has reportedly broken ground on an ultra-high-voltage transmission line that will span 664 miles and help the country integrate growing amounts of clean energy. China is the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, but the country is rapidly expanding its renewable capacity: Last year it installed more new solar panels than the total built by any other country, and its wind installation climbed, as well. Solar installations are expected to rise another 7% this year. But the grid has struggled to keep up. The new $3.9 billion transmission project will serve three provinces, be fed by solar and wind power, and store energy in mountain reservoirs, Bloombergreported.

    THE KICKER

    “Kitten season” – the warmer months when cats are most fertile and begin to reproduce – is starting earlier and lasting longer as the climate warms, putting added pressure on animal rescue shelters.

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    Q&A

    The Renewable Energy Investor Optimistic About the Future

    A conversation with Mary King, a vice president handling venture strategy at Aligned Capital

    The Q&A subject.
    Heatmap Illustration

    Today’s conversation is with Mary King, a vice president handling venture strategy at Aligned Capital, which has invested in developers like Summit Ridge and Brightnight. I reached out to Mary as a part of the broader range of conversations I’ve had with industry professionals since it has become clear Republicans in Congress will be taking a chainsaw to the Inflation Reduction Act. I wanted to ask her about investment philosophies in this trying time and how the landscape for putting capital into renewable energy has shifted. But Mary’s quite open with her view: these technologies aren’t going anywhere.

    The following conversation has been lightly edited and abridged for clarity.

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    Hotspots

    Democratic Climate Hawk Fights Battery Storage Project

    And more news around renewable energy conflicts.

    The United States.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    1. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – The SouthCoast offshore wind project will be forced to abandon its existing power purchase agreements with Massachusetts and Rhode Island if the Trump administration’s wind permitting freeze continues, according to court filings submitted last week.

    • SouthCoast is a crucial example of a systemic dilemma I reported on months back: Wind projects the Biden administration said it fully permitted will likely still be delayed by a blanket permitting freeze because wind energy requires such large infrastructure that projects need regular green lights from the federal government for new activities.
    • In case you missed it, the anti-wind permitting freeze has been a continued issue for SouthCoast and has led to scrapped negotiations on future power deals with Massachusetts.

    2. Tippacanoe County, Indiana – This county has now passed a full solar moratorium but is looking at grandfathering one large utility-scale project: RWE and Geenex’s Rainbow Trout solar farm.

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    Spotlight

    The Trump Solar Farm Slowdown

    Permitting delays and missed deadlines are bedeviling solar developers and activist groups alike. What’s going on?

    Donald Trump and solar panels.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    It’s no longer possible to say the Trump administration is moving solar projects along as one of the nation’s largest solar farms is being quietly delayed and even observers fighting the project aren’t sure why.

    Months ago, it looked like Trump was going to start greenlighting large-scale solar with an emphasis out West. Agency spokespeople told me Trump’s 60-day pause on permitting solar projects had been lifted and then the Bureau of Land Management formally approved its first utility-scale project under this administration, Leeward Renewable Energy’s Elisabeth solar project in Arizona, and BLM also unveiled other solar projects it “reasonably” expected would be developed in the area surrounding Elisabeth.

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