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The Contradictions of Trump 2.0
Tonight, for the third time, Donald Trump will accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president. But this time, for the first time ever, Trump is also on track to outright win the presidential election he is involved in. He has opened a two-point lead in polling averages, but some polls show a more decisive margin in swing states; no Democrat has been in a worse position in the polls, at this point in the election, since the beginning of the century. Even Trump’s decisions — his selection of JD Vance as his vice president, for instance — suggests that...
The Us vs. Them of Energy
“We need a leader,” said JD Vance as he accepted the Republican nomination for vice president, “who rejects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s Green New Scam and fights to bring back our great American factories.” The election, he said, is “about the auto worker in Michigan, wondering why out-of-touch politicians are destroying their jobs,” and “the energy worker in Pennsylvania and Ohio who doesn’t understand why Joe Biden is willing to buy energy from tinpot dictators across the world, when he could buy it from his own citizens right here in our own country.”This is the tale Vance tells...
What Republicans Have Been Saying About Energy at the RNC
Current conditions: The Acropolis in Greece was closed yesterday due to excessive heat • The Persian Gulf International Airport recorded a heat index of 149 degrees Fahrenheit • Recent flooding in Brazil exposed a 233-million-year-old dinosaur fossil.THE TOP FIVE1. Republicans slam Biden energy policy at RNCEnergy hasn’t dominated the conversation at the Republican National Convention this week, but it’s certainly been a talking point. Last night North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum gave a speech focusing on the topic. “Teddy Roosevelt encouraged America to speak softly and carry a big stick,” Burgum said. “Energy dominance will be the big stick...
Florida’s Climate Tech Hub Has a Florida Problem
The Biden administration loves a hub. There are the hydrogen hubs, the direct air capture hubs, and now there are the tech hubs. Established as a part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the $10 billion program has so far seeded 12 such hubs across the country. Four of these are focused on clean energy and sustainability, and one is located in the great state of Florida, which recently passed legislation essentially deleting the words “climate change” from state law. The South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub did not, in the end, eliminate climate from its name. But...
America Wasn’t Built for This
America is melting. Roads are buckling everywhere from Houston to Aurora, Colorado, and in June caused traffic jams in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Last week, a New York City bridge that had opened to let a ship pass got stuck after expanding in the heat, forcing thousands of commuters to detour. The mid-June heat wave led to thousands of flight delays; more recently, even Toronto’s Pearson International Airport warned travelers to brace for heat-related complications. Commuters along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor have been harried by heat-induced delays for weeks. The train delays have affected an especially large population. The Northeast Corridor is the...
Vineyard Wind Is Having Turbine Troubles
Current conditions: Torrential rain brought flash flooding to Toronto • A wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Kauai has been contained • Parts of southern Spain could hit 111 degrees Fahrenheit this week.THE TOP FIVE1. Intense heat waves and thunderstorms torment millions of AmericansThe extreme heat wave over the East Coast may very well break a record in Washington, D.C., today that was set during the 1930s Dust Bowl: the longest stretch of days with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The mercury yesterday hit 104 degrees, after similarly scorching numbers on Monday and Sunday, tying the existing record of...
How to Decarbonize the World’s Biggest Ships
Jesse is on vacation until August, so this is a special, Rob-only summer episode of Shift Key. Shipping is the backbone of the modern economy. At least 80% of all goods worldwide are shipped as ocean cargo, and the global economy rises and falls on the free movement of gigantic ships across the sea. But container ships and bulk carriers burn what’s known as bunker fuel, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels. The international shipping industry generates 3% of global carbon emissions, a proportion that’s projected to rise through the century. Most proposals to decarbonize ocean freight have focused on using...
The Future of Nuclear Fusion Is Clear — Legally, At Least
After decades of research and billions of dollars in funding, nuclear fusion has produced “net energy” (more energy coming out of a reaction than was necessary to start it) in exactly two places in our solar system: Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and the sun. Even the scientists who did it on Earth say that using the technology for real-world energy generation is still a “very distant” prospect. On the bright side, however, the regulatory path for fusion energy has gotten a lot clearer. The ADVANCE Act, signed by President Biden last week, contained language that will simplify the path...
Wind Is More Powerful Than J. D. Vance Seems to Think
It’s a good thing most of us aren’t accountable for every single silly thing we’ve ever said, but most of us are not vice presidential running mates, either. Back in 2022, when J.D. Vance was still just a “New York Times bestselling author” and not yet a “junior senator from Ohio,” much less “second-in-line to a former president who will turn 80 in office if he’s reelected,” he made a climate oopsie that — now that it’s recirculating — deserves to be addressed.If Democrats “care so much about climate change,” Vance argued during an Ohio Republican senator candidate forum...
Republicans Have No New Ideas About Energy
National political conventions don’t make for the best TV. Prime-time speeches are delivered by a parade of party celebrities and last for only a few minutes — typically just enough time to bash gas prices (nonsensically) and get in a few digs at the opposition. The highlight of the Republican National Convention’s broadcast out of Milwaukee on Monday night was, in fact, entirely wordless: former President Donald Trump’s walk across the floor with a conspicuous white bandage over his ear. The only words that really mattered on Monday were reviewed and approved behind closed doors. “It’s a different kind of...
What to Know About Vance’s Climate Stance
Current conditions: A year’s worth of rain fell in one day in China’s Henan province • A tornado reportedly touched down outside Chicago’s O’Hare Airport • The heat index could reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit today in Washington, D.C.THE TOP FIVE1. Trump announces J.D. Vance as VP pickDonald Trump has tapped Hillbilly Elegy author and Ohio junior senator J.D. Vance as his 2024 running mate. In recent years Vance has become a vocal climate change skeptic, casting doubt on the role of carbon emissions in warming the planet. As Heatmap’s Jeva Lange and Matthew Zeitlin write, he is a champion...
The Dream of 24/7 Clean Electricity Gets a Funding Boost
The United Nations calls 24/7 carbon-free energy generation, also known as hourly matching, “the end state of a fully decarbonized electricity system.” It means that every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed is matched with a zero-emissions electricity source, every hour of every day. It’s something that Google and Microsoft are aiming to implement by 2030, and it represents a much more significant climate commitment than today’s default system of annualized matching So here’s a positive sign: LevelTen Energy, the leading marketplace for power purchase agreements, just raised $65 million in Series D funding, led by the investment firm B Capital...
J. D. Vance Loves to Hate on ESG
On Monday afternoon, following a flurry of leaks ruling out North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Donald Trump’s pick for vice president, the former president announced Hillbilly Elegy author and Ohio junior senator J. D. Vance as his 2024 running mate.A favorite of Trump’s son Don, Jr. who has molded himself into a populist on the intellectual vanguard of conservatism, Vance has taken on aggressive, culturally inflected views on climate change. While just four years ago he was saying that the United States has a “climate problem,” he has since tacked hard to the...
The Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Are Effectively Dead
Few aspects of Biden’s climate law have spurred more controversy than the “three pillars” — a set of rules proposed by the Treasury Department for how to claim a lucrative new tax credit for producing clean hydrogen. Now, it appears, the pillars may be poised to fall.The Treasury has been under immense pressure from Congress, energy companies, and even leaders at the Department of Energy to relax the rules since before it even published the proposal in December. The pillars, criteria designed to prevent the program from subsidizing projects that increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rather than reduce them,...
Welcome to Hell, East Coast
The heat is not going anywhere anytime soon, so keep reading to discover how you might feel it this week. Thousands are still without power in Texas with relief efforts ongoing Shawn Schulze, CEO of the American Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast Region, has been driving around Texas to coordinate relief efforts after Hurricane Beryl. On Sunday, he pulled over in his car to talk to me about what the situation is like on the ground. A week ago, power outages caused by the hurricane pushed over 2 million Texans into the dark during a record-breaking heat wave, seeing heat indexes...
The Subtle Energy Themes of the 2024 RNC
Current conditions: Russia declared a state of emergency as forest fires rage near the Black Sea • Tornado sirens sounded in downtown Chicago last night • It will be rainy and hot in Milwaukee today for the start of the Republican National Convention. THE TOP FIVE 1. RNC to go ahead in Milwaukee despite Trump assassination attempt The Republican National Convention will go ahead as planned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week, even after Saturday’s assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. During the four-day event, the party will formally designate Trump as its presidential candidate and learn who will be running alongside...
Is Sodium-Ion the Next Big Battery?
In the weird, wide world of energy storage, lithium-ion batteries may appear to be an unshakeably dominant technology. Costs have declined about 97% over the past three decades, grid-scale battery storage is forecast to grow faster than wind or solar in the U.S. in the coming decade, and the global lithium-ion supply chain is far outpacing demand, according to BloombergNEF. That supply chain, however, is dominated by Chinese manufacturing. According to the International Energy Agency, China controls well over half the world’s lithium processing, nearly 85% of global battery cell production capacity, and the lion’s share of actual lithium-ion...
Tesla Is Delaying the Robotaxi Reveal
Current conditions: Heavy rains triggered a deadly landslide in Nepal that swept away 60 people • More than a million residents are still without power in and around Houston • It will be about 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Berlin on Sunday for the Euro 2024 final, where England will take on Spain.THE TOP FIVE1. Biden administration announces $1.7 billion to convert auto plants into EV factoriesThe Biden administration announced yesterday that the Energy Department will pour $1.7 billion into helping U.S. automakers convert shuttered or struggling manufacturing facilities into EV factories. The money will go to factories in eight...
U.S. Wind and Solar Just Hit a Power Milestone
Current conditions: More than 10 inches of rain fell over nine hours in southwestern China • Wildfires are spreading in Canada, with at least 140 burning as of yesterday afternoon • The streets of Cape Town in South Africa are under water after severe storms caused widespread flooding. THE TOP FIVE1. Wind and solar surpass nuclear in U.S. electricity generation More electricity was generated by wind and solar than by nuclear plants in the first half of 2024 for the first time ever in U.S. history, Reuters reported, citing data from energy think tank Ember. Solar and wind farms generated...
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