Can clean up technology save the world?
Mayhem is drizzling down in Washington as your house battles to choose an audio speaker. However off capital, one more large shift is happening.
The U.S. economic situation remains in the onset of what can be a significant technical improvement.
Driven partly by the billions of bucks in the Rising cost of living Decrease Act, significant amounts of cash are moving right into establishing tidy power to shift the country far from shedding nonrenewable fuel sources, the key motorist of the environment dilemma. And also business throughout numerous markets are angling for their item of the pie.
Wind and also solar designers remain to multiply, business brand-new and also old are putting billions right into making and also billing electrical cars, initiatives to capture carbon air pollution from nuclear power plant and also the ambience are bring in restored passion, and also also oil and also gas business are discovering overseas wind financial investments and also geothermal power.
And also while the feasibility of nuclear blend power is years away at best, a current clinical advancement has actually brought the globe a small action better to possibly affordable, carbon-free electrical energy.
The power and also technology fields are coming to be so laced that Power Assistant Jennifer Granholm, that supervised last month’s blend news, will certainly talk Friday at the the Customer Modern technology Organization’s CES seminar in Las Las vega.
However the cornucopia of tidy power modern technology is not without difficulties and also dangers. This year’s CES top will certainly likewise concentrate on cybersecurity dangers, as one instance. The conversation is prompt provided the worrying uptick in physical and also cyber strikes on the power grid.
Zooming out, there is likewise a line of review that financial development sustained by the growth of brand-new modern technology could act as a plain Band-Aid for worldly destruction. Carbon-free power might prevent the demand for shedding nonrenewable fuel sources, however it doesn’t do a thing to steer major economies away from consuming more and more of everything.
For example, public transportation advocates were frustrated that the Inflation Reduction Act and 2021’s bipartisan infrastructure law directed so much more money toward electric vehicles. For one, EVs require a huge amount of critical minerals mining. But it also means ignoring the downside: Maintaining U.S. car culture is a resource-intensive vision of the future.
Regardless of your take, money is flowing into these technologies. The fight over what kind of carbon-free energy drives major sectors of the economy is here, and it’s just getting started.
It’s Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [email protected]
Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Annie Snider breaks down how the Supreme Court’s decision in an upcoming case could complicate a Clean Water Act rule from the Biden administration.
Rep.-elect George Santos has admitted to misleading his constituents about working at Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and to lying about his educational credentials. The New York Republican also falsely claimed that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, claimed his mother’s life.
Then, there are his climate falsehoods, writes Scott Waldman.
Before he was elected in the November midterms, Santos claimed that he had helped develop carbon capture technology, that he played a major role in oil and gas development and that he admonished officials with Goldman Sachs who supported renewable energy.
Climate crunch time
Tasked with proposed clean air rules and climate mandates, EPA is behind schedule at the outset of 2023, writes Jean Chemnick.
If the agency does not pick up the pace, advocates warn it could jeopardize the administration’s chances of defending its rules in court, or it could open the door for a Republican president and Congress to easily reverse them in 2025.
Speaking of the courts
From pipeline permitting to agency rulemaking, federal courts are poised to decide a suite of legal challenges in 2023 that could set the pace of the nation’s transition far from fossil fuels, writes Niina H. Farah.
The rulings could also tee up a clash between Congress and the courts.
Greening France
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced a new bill that would encourage “green” industries to bring production plants back to France, writes Clea Caulcutt.
Le Maire said the measure would complement France and Germany’s push to get EU partners to adopt “a European Rising Cost Of Living Decrease Act.”
Impacts: Climate change is putting more women at risk for domestic violence.
Power o’clock: Wind and also solar developers are concocting elaborate plans to provide round-the-clock renewable power, the industry’s holy grail.
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A federal court has slapped down a Louisiana ordinance that jeopardized a $4.5 billion hydrogen and carbon storage project.
The Biden administration has tapped Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Willie Phillips to serve as acting chair until the president nominates and wins Senate confirmation of a permanent chair.
The New York Department of Financial Services released draft guidance for financial lenders with sweeping guidelines about how they should prepare for climate change.
That’s it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
