Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Politics

The Inflation Reduction Act Turns 2

On the climate law’s anniversary, sodium-ion batteries, and hazy skies

The Inflation Reduction Act Turns 2
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: A large wildfire is burning out of control in Izmir, Turkey • Typhoon Ampil has prompted thousands of evacuation orders in Japan • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that last month was the hottest July ever recorded.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Democrats commemorate IRA anniversary with Harris-Walz climate fundraiser

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature climate legislation. To commemorate the event, the Democratic National Committee is hosting a virtual fundraiser for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign at 3pm EDT. The “Climate Voters for Harris Kickoff Call” will highlight the IRA’s accomplishments, and feature comments from former climate envoy John Kerry, Jane Fonda, educator Bill Nye (The Science Guy), and other guests. VP Harris herself will be busy today giving her first major policy speech in North Carolina. She reportedly plans to call for the construction of 3 million new housing units during her first term, a move Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer applauds. After all, he says, housing policy is a climate policy issue: “If America hopes to reach net-zero by 2050, then one of the easiest and cheapest ways for it to do so will be to build more housing, especially in cities and transit-connected suburbs.”

2. East Coast skies darkened by Canadian wildfire smoke

Hazy skies have returned to the East Coast as Canadian wildfire smoke drifts across the country. Air quality has been affected in cities including New York, Baltimore, Boston, D.C., and Philadelphia. The smoke is expected to linger today but could disappear this weekend with the arrival of rain.

X/NWSNewYorkNY and EarthCam

Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and more destructive. There are nearly 900 fires burning in Canada right now, many of which remain out of control, as illustrated below by the red and purple dots:

Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre

3. First U.S. sodium-ion battery gigafactory coming to North Carolina

Leading sodium-ion battery startup Natron Energy announced yesterday it is building a massive $1.4 billion manufacturing plant in North Carolina. Natron already has a facility in Michigan, which is the only commercial scale sodium-ion battery plant in the country. Its new operation will be the first sodium-ion battery gigafactory in the U.S., capable of producing 24GW of batteries every year and representing a 40-times scaling up of production. The factory will create 1,000 clean energy jobs. As Heatmap’s Katie Brigham explained, sodium-ion technology “performs roughly the same as lithium-ion in energy storage systems,” but is far more abundant in the U.S. than lithium, cheaper, and also appears less likely to catch fire than lithium-ion. Research and consulting firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence expects to see a 350% jump in announced sodium-ion battery manufacturing capacity this year alone. And while the supply of these batteries is only in the tens of gigawatts today, Benchmark forecasts that it will be in the hundreds of gigawatts by 2030.

4. Orsted delays Revolution Wind project

Danish renewable energy company Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, announced yesterday it is pushing back the launch of its Revolution Wind project, located off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The project is now expected to start commercial operations in 2026 instead of 2025. The construction delay will cost Orsted $472 million. The company also abandoned its plan to develop green fuels for various industries including shipping and aviation, even though it had already begun construction on the plant. In total, Orsted recorded $575 million in impairment losses in the second quarter of this year.

5. Carbon Mapper methane satellite set for launch today

Yet another methane satellite is launching into orbit today, as early as 11:19 a.m. Pacific time, on a SpaceX rocket. Developed by a coalition of public and private partners and led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper, the Tanager-1 satellite’s precision imaging helps fill a gap in the methane detection universe and complements the abilities of MethaneSAT, the Environmental Defense Fund-developed, Google-backed satellite launched back in March. “While MethaneSAT can detect the total emissions emanating from a particular basin, state, or country, Carbon Mapper can zoom in to figure out what’s going on within 50 meters of accuracy so that operators and regulators can be notified,” explained Heatmap’s Katie Brigham. If you want to watch the launch live, you can do so here.

THE KICKER

Tesla is selling a stainless steel cooler for its Cybertruck that can hold 90 canned beverages and “keep perishables cold and ice frozen for days at a time.” It costs $700.

Tesla

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Climate

AM Briefing: Hurricane Erick’s Rapid Intensification

On storm damage, the Strait of Hormuz, and Volkswagen’s robotaxi

Hurricane Erick Intensified Really, Really Quickly
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: A dangerous heat dome is forming over central states today and will move progressively eastward over the next week • Wildfire warnings have been issued in London • Typhoon Wutip brought the worst flooding in a century to China’s southern province of Guangdong.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Hurricane Erick slams into Mexico after rapid intensification

Hurricane Erick made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Mexico’s Pacific coast yesterday with maximum sustained winds around 125 mph. Damages are reported in Oaxaca and Guerrero. The storm is dissipating now, but it could drop up to 6 inches of rain in some parts of Mexico and trigger life-threatening flooding and mudslides, according to the National Hurricane Center. Erick is the earliest major hurricane to make landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast, and one of the fastest-intensifying storms on record: It strengthen from a tropical storm to a Category 4 storm in just 24 hours, a pattern of rapid intensification that is becoming more common as the Earth warms due to human-caused climate change. As meteorologist and hurricane expert Michael Lowry noted, Mexico’s Pacific coast was “previously unfamiliar with strong hurricanes” but has been battered by epic storms over the last two years. Acapulco is still recovering from Category 5 Hurricane Otis, which struck in late 2023.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Politics

It’s Chris Wright’s Worldview. They’re Just Legislating It.

The energy secretary's philosophy is all over the Senate mega-bill.

Chris Wright.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As the Senate Finance Committee worked on its version of the reconciliation bill that would, among things, overhaul the Inflation Reduction Act, there was much speculation among observers that there could be a carve out for sources of power like geothermal, hydropower, and nuclear, which provide steady generation and tend to be more popular among Republicans, along the lines of the slightly better treatment received by advanced nuclear in the House bill.

Instead, the Senate Finance Committee’s text didn’t carve out these “firm” sources of power, it carved out solar and wind, preserving tax credits for everything else through 2035, while sunsetting solar and wind by 2028.

Keep reading...Show less
Wires and panels.
Heatmap Illustration | Abbr. Projects

When I reached out to climate tech investors on Tuesday to gauge their reaction to the Senate’s proposed overhaul of the clean energy tax credits, I thought I might get a standard dose of can-do investor optimism. Though the proposal from the Senate Finance committee would cut tax credits for wind and solar, it would preserve them for other sources of clean energy, such as geothermal, nuclear, and batteries — areas of significant focus and investment for many climate-focused venture firms.

But the vibe ended up being fairly divided. While many investors expressed cautious optimism about what this latest text could mean for their particular portfolio companies, others worried that by slashing incentives for solar and wind, the bill’s implications for the energy transition at large would be categorically terrible.

Keep reading...Show less