Energy

New York, California and nine other states sued the Trump administration over its failure to finalize energy-use limits for portable air conditioners and other products.  The new standards would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save businesses and consumers billions of dollars, and conserve enough energy to power more than 19 million households for a year, but the U.S. Department of Energy has not met a requirement to publish them by now, according to attorneys general who filed the lawsuit against the DOE in federal court in San Francisco. [node:read-more:link]

The Science Team of the Canadian Research Icebreaker CCGS Amundsen has cancelled the first leg of the 2017 Expedition due to complications associated with the southward motion of hazardous Arctic sea ice, caused by climate change. [node:read-more:link]

World coal production had its biggest drop ever last year, 230 million tons of oil equivalent (mtoe), BP reported Tuesday in its 2017 Statistical Review of World Energy. China led the way with a 7.9 percent decline in coal production (140 mtoe), followed by the U.S. with a 19 percent drop (85 mtoe). For the first time, China surpassed the U.S. as the world’s biggest producer of non-hydro renewables. “The fortunes of coal appear to have taken a decisive break from the past,” BP’s chief economist Spencer Dale said Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]

A fight that involves dueling environmental constituencies is brewing over plans for a massive transmission line that would run through the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin and into northeastern Iowa. [node:read-more:link]

In the Secret City, the not-so-secret passwords of “carbon dioxide” and “ethanol,” combined with a press release and video sent out at the same time, triggered intense media coverage last fall of an “accidental” discovery at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The ORNL video went viral, with a quarter million views the first week after its release (as well as more than 100,000 views since then). You can play the YouTube video by searching for “ethanol ORNL video.”  An article based on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory release became Popular Mechanics’ most popular story of the year. [node:read-more:link]

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week announced a new Clean Climate Careers (CCC) initiative that will aim to create 40,000 clean energy jobs by 2020. Renewable energy, aiming to procure an additional 2.5 million MWh each year. According to the governor's announcement, it is "the largest clean energy procurement by a state in U.S. history." New York rolled out its plan in the wake of President Trump's announcement that he would pull the United States out of the United Nations Paris climate accord. [node:read-more:link]

Almost a year after New York became the first state to approve subsidies for nuclear reactors threatened with closure, efforts to replicate the model elsewhere are proving a tough sell. Lawmakers in Connecticut failed to pass a bill overnight that was designed to shore up a nuclear plant. Dominion Energy Inc., which mounted a high-profile campaign to win higher revenue for its Millstone station, said it would “continue assessing our investments” in the state as a result. [node:read-more:link]

FirstEnergy's effort to convince state lawmakers that it must have more than $300 million a year in new customer charges to keep its nuclear power plants running is approaching a stall point.The Ohio Senate's Public Utilities Committee wrapped up its fourth hearing Thursday on the special nuclear funding legislation, without reaching a conclusion.In fact, most of the 13 members on the committee had drifted away by the time the last witnesses gave their testimony opposing Senate Bill 128.Over 40 witnesses have submitted written testimony, much of it in opposition.  Many of them have then app [node:read-more:link]

The Heritage Foundation Blueprint for Agriculture includes a lengthy chapter on U.S. biofuels policy and the renewable fuel standard (RFS). Heritage concludes that ethanol and other current biofuels are harmful to agriculture, the environment, and consumer.Heritage claims the U.S. biofuels policy “is a case study in the unintended consequences of government intervention.” For example, biofuels have created higher livestock prices for livestock farmers and ranchers. [node:read-more:link]

The Nevada State Legislature has passed a bill that's expected to revive the state's ailing rooftop solar market. The Assembly voted to approve a Senate version of the bill late Sunday night, with just a day remaining in the legislative session. The bill (AB 405) would reinstate net energy metering for residential solar projects, but at a discounted compensation rate. AB 405 would immediately allow rooftop solar customers to be reimbursed for excess generation from a solar system at 95 percent of the retail electricity rate. Over time, though, customer compensation would decline. [node:read-more:link]