Energy

Over the years, top-ranking wind and solar markets have overlapped in just a few states. Where wind flourished, solar usually hung back, and vice versa. “Each of our technologies has largely had their own playpen,” said Anthony Logan, a North American wind analyst at energy and consulting company Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.But now analysts say that’s changing. Dirt-cheap solar costs, record-setting growth and movement into new markets, plus the ability for solar to complement wind production, mean the technology is now encroaching on onshore wind’s territory. [node:read-more:link]

Michigan Technological University researchers found that increasing renewable and distributed generation energy sources can save Michigan electric consumers money. However, as three Michigan Tech researchers contend in a new study, while utility fuel mixes are slowly shifting away from fossil fuels toward renewable sources, Michigan utilities, and U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Unsafe contamination from coal ash disposal sites at half a dozen power plants in western North Dakota has seeped into groundwater sources, according to a report from an environmental group.The Environmental Integrity Project collected industry monitoring data for its nationwide report, which found that six of seven coal-fired power plants in North Dakota leaked contamination into groundwater sources at levels exceeding those deemed safe — in one case, by a factor of 100.But state health officials and representatives of the utilities that run the coal-fired power plants say none of North Da [node:read-more:link]

As Congressional leaders in Washington, DC remain stalled out on climate-related legislation, states are moving forward, even in conservative parts of the country. New Mexico is the latest. The southwestern state is the latest to embrace carbon-free electricity, passing a bill that will require all electricity from public utilities to come from carbon-free sources. The bill, which passed 43-22 in New Mexico’s increasingly Democratic legislature, requires the state (now one of the country’s top oil, gas, and coal producers) to get 50% of its energy from renewables by 2030 and 80% by 2040. [node:read-more:link]

Connecticut’s solar industry and environmental advocates are fiercely lobbying state lawmakers to reverse or at least delay action they took last year changing how consumers are compensated for solar energy generated from rooftop panels.About three dozen workers in the industry that installs solar panels gathered Wednesday at the Capitol, urging legislation they say will save industry jobs in Connecticut, estimated at more than 2,000. The legislature’s clean energy caucus said the state’s solar industry faces an "existential crisis.” [node:read-more:link]

By 2040, rainfall on wheat, soybean, rice and maize will have changed, even if Paris Agreement emissions targets are met; projections show parts of Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australia will be drier, while the tropics and north will be wetter. [node:read-more:link]

Two bills allowing the state of South Dakota to prosecute pipeline demonstrators and their funders — and use money from damages to fund law enforcement and pipeline costs — moved to the Senate floor on Wednesday. Introduced by South Dakota Gov. [node:read-more:link]

President Trump proposed significant budget cuts to the government agencies responsible for overseeing the nation’s energy and environmental policies, including a 31 percent reduction in spending at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). [node:read-more:link]

The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a plan meant to expand the U.S. market for corn-based ethanol and place trading restrictions on credits that refiners use to prove they are using biofuel. The Environmental Protection Agency proposal is a first step in fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promise to unleash sales of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol and deliver at least a symbolic victory to corn farmers in the Midwest who have been battered by his trade fight with China. Air pollution requirements currently block sales of that E15 gasoline from June 1 to Sept. [node:read-more:link]

The New Mexico State House on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 489 44-22, requiring the state to generate 100% of its electricity from carbon-free resources by 2045. The Energy Transition Act, introduced in February and approved by the State Senate last week, also increases the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2040, echoing Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's campaign promises. It also includes securitization provisions to help recover the costs of coal plant retirements and allocates funds toward transitioning mining communities. [node:read-more:link]