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“There’s this sort of poetic coming-about for New Bedford as a center of energy,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. “We eschew all those victimhood labels. So to become a leader in offshore wind, to compete successfully for investment and to grow, it was really an opportunity for us, for our residents, to see our city in a different way, for the rest of the world to see our city in a different way.”
CLEAN ENERGY
Must Be Equitable
Public housing retrofit program should go farther. The new effort from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would commit over $837 million to fund climate retrofits and boost resiliency in the federal public rental units that most need the upgrades. Those would include installations like solar panels, heat pumps, wind-resistant roofing, and other insulation and resiliency upgrades. But while advocates have praised the goal of the program, they say it doesn’t go nearly far enough. One HUD official said the program is expected to reach hundreds of properties, while roughly 24,000 are eligible. (Grist)
CLEAN ENERGY
Has Many Benefits
One step closer to wind turbine recycling. While 90 percent of a wind turbine’s parts are already recyclable, turbine blades, which can be as long as half a football field, have typically been difficult and expensive to break down — until now. Danish wind company Vestas recently announced a breakthrough chemical technology that can break down old blades and recycle them into high-quality materials. While the process hasn’t scaled up yet, other forms of turbine blade recycling — from simply shredding the blades to pyrolysis — are also in the works. Altogether, commercializing these processes could help the world avoid a projected 43 million tons of blade waste by 2050. (CNN)
CLEAN ENERGY
Is A Good Investment
Solar investment overtakes oil production. Global investment in clean energy is expected to hit $1.7 trillion this year, the majority of the expected $2.8 trillion global investment in energy overall for 2023, according to analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Investment in solar energy is expected to attract $1 billion per day, overtaking the amount of investment in oil production for the first time in history. As governments become more supportive of the energy transition, it will only accelerate the trend of driving clean energy costs down, the IEA projects. Despite these milestones, the report also warns that investment in fossil fuels remains above the levels needed to achieve net zero by 2050. (CNBC)
New Bedford aims to become a wind power leader. The Massachusetts seaside town was known for “lighting the world” with its whale oil lamp industry in the 1800s, but now the city is redefining its energy legacy as it strives to become a major offshore wind hub. With commercial-scale offshore wind farms being planned along the East Coast, residents and officials see the burgeoning industry as a major economic opportunity to bring millions of dollars flowing through the community. New Bedford opened the first U.S. port designed for offshore wind in 2015 — today the offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind is leasing the marine terminal, while construction and worker training efforts are taking shape across the city. (Associated Press)
CLEAN ENERGY
Is Replacing Fossil Fuels
Clean energy manufacturing puts net zero in reach. With clean energy manufacturing capacity expanding rapidly, global solar and battery supply chains are now on track to meet the 2030 milestones necessary to reach net zero by 2050, according to IEA analysis. The IEA notes that solar, battery, and electrolyzer supply chains are booming, though heat pump and wind supply chains are growing more slowly. While clean energy manufacturing will need to continue growing to achieve global climate goals, the IEA analysis could give policymakers and project developers more confidence in the pace of the energy transition. (Bloomberg $)
The world’s first green shipping corridor is taking shape. The Los Angeles-to-Shanghai shipping route is one of the world’s busiest — and soon, it could become the cleanest. The two cities formed a partnership last year to promote cleaner maritime shipping supply chains by deploying zero-emissions trucking and cargo handling equipment. Meanwhile the International Maritime Organization has set a goal of reducing the sector’s climate pollution by half by 2050. Major shipping companies are also exploring new technologies to reduce the climate pollution from cargo ship fuels, including mechanical sails, batteries, low-carbon liquid fuels like hydrogen and methanol. (Associated Press)
CLEAN ENERGY
Is Challenging
Grid interconnection delays are threatening climate goals. Even though more and more clean energy resources are being installed, the inability to connect them to the grid could jeopardize states’ climate goals, according to a new report from the National Resources Defense Council. PJM, the country’s largest grid operator, has an especially extensive backlog of renewable energy projects — roughly 95 percent of the nation’s utility-scale projects stuck waiting to be connected to the grid are in PJM’s interconnection queue. With interconnection queues expected to grow as more clean energy projects are developed, advocates say interconnection requests need to be processed faster to avoid a bottleneck that could halt the energy transition. But advocates say proactive transmission planning — including upgrading and constructing new transmission lines — will be necessary to avoid delays. (Energy News Network)
MULTIMEDIA
Charts: New clean energy jobs will outweigh fossil fuel job losses
