In this edition of Eco Report, Julianna Dailey interviews Dr. Norma Kreilein, a long-time, multi-published advocate for stricter environmental policies and enforcement that protect children’s health in Part 4, about Indiana being considered a “sacrifice zone.” Learn what that means.
According to the New York Times, as President Trump works to blunt the growth of wind and solar power and expand fossil fuel production in the United States, the renewable energy industry is making a new pitch: You need us. Wind and solar developers are increasingly pointing out that America’s demand for electricity is soaring, driven by a boom in data centers, and it’s proving difficult to build enough new gas plants to supply all the extra power that the nation needs.
Wind, solar and battery storage are relatively quick and cheap to construct. That could help avert energy shortages and keep prices low, an argument that renewable energy firms are making to policymakers. These are tough times, politically, for the renewable energy industry. Mr. Trump has been a blistering critic of wind turbines for years and openly promotes fossil fuels like oil and gas, riding into office on a promise to “drill, baby, drill.” He has halted federal approvals for wind farms, placed a moratorium on large solar arrays on public lands and frozen billions of dollars in spending for battery factories and electric grid upgrades.
The New York Times reports that the Environmental Protection Agency said that it was canceling $20 billion in grants for climate and clean energy programs that have been frozen for weeks, a move that was labeled illegal by nonprofit groups that were supposed to receive the funds. The money has been caught in an escalating controversy involving the E.P.A., the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Citibank, where the funds are being held and are now frozen, prompting lawsuits from three nonprofit groups.
The grants were issued to a total of eight nonprofit organizations through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which received $27 billion in funding from Congress through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But since taking office, Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A.’s administrator, has tried to claw back the money, saying they were part of a “scheme” and citing as evidence a hidden-camera video from Project Veritas, a conservative group known for using covert recordings to embarrass its political opponents.
For most U.S. homes, heat pumps are a no-brainer: They can lower energy bills and eventually pay for themselves all while slashing carbon emissions. But the economics don’t work in favor of heat pumps for every home — and particularly not for those in states that have high electricity prices relative to those of fossil gas. Adjusting the structure of customer electricity rates could turn the tables, according to a report out recently from the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The ratio of average electricity prices to gas prices (both measured in dollars per kilowatt-hour) is known as the “spark gap” — and it’s one of the biggest hurdles to nationwide electrification. A heat pump that is two to three times as efficient as a gas furnace can cancel out a spark gap of two to three, ensuring energy bills don’t rise with the switch to electric heat. But in some states, the gulf is so big that heat pumps can’t close it under the existing rate structures.
According to modeling, the winter discount alone can save Minnesota customers in single-family homes on average more than $350 annually once they swap a gas furnace for a heat pump. Combining the winter discount with existing time-of-use rates or simulated demand-charge rates (given in the study) can further reduce annual bills by another $70.
Several companies in the heating/cooling business in Bloomington offer heat pumps. There are various ways they may be set up. Getting the right plan willl save you several hundred dollars each year. A rate design that bases charges on when electricity is used. Known as “time-of-use,” this structure charges more for power consumed during periods of peak demand and less for power consumed at other times, or “off-peak,” coinciding with heat pumps’ prime time. Another plan is called “demand-base rate”.
Stronger rules to protect families from toxic air pollution are “firmly rooted in law,” making them harder to unravel, according to the Environmental Defense Fund lawyers who worked on the standards. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule that will provide families with much-needed health protections from some of the most toxic air pollution emitted by industrial facilities, including petro-chemical plants — pollution that causes cancer, brain damage in children and early deaths.
The rule helps close a loophole from rollbacks created during the first Trump administration that allowed large facilities to be reclassified as smaller pollution sources and legally increase the amount they polluted. “The first Trump administration was marked by unprecedented threats to bedrock clean air protections,” said EDF senior attorney Noha Haggag. “This was a loophole that worked against the spirit of the law. EPA’s action helps restore vital protections that limit toxic air pollution,” says Haggag.
“It helps people across the country breathe easier, and helps address a reckless loophole that enabled increases in industrial air toxic pollution.”EDF was actively involved in challenging that rollback during the first Trump administration and in urging the EPA to close the loophole and protect the people and communities at risk. It remains to be seen as to what will happen with the new Trump administration.
A new Hat Trick! The Supreme Court has rejected three separate attempts by the fossil fuel industry and its allies to block federal rules to rein in the industry’s dangerous air pollution. The Natural Resources Defense Council intervened in each of the lawsuits. The rules aim to cut leaks of the climate super-pollutant methane from the oil and gas sector, reduce carbon pollution from power plants, and curb the toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants linked to asthma, heart attacks, and other serious health harms.
In this edition of Eco Report, Julianna Dailey interviews Dr. Norma Kreilein, a long-time, multi-published advocate for stricter environmental policies and enforcement that protect children’s health in Part 4, about Indiana being considered a “sacrifice zone.” Learn what that means.
Credits:
On Air…………………………………Julianna Dailey
On Air………………………………..Cynthia Roberts
Headlines………………………………….Norm Holy
Feature Report……………………….Julianna Dailey
Script…………………………………..Julianna Dailey
Events Calendar………………………Julianna Dailey
Engineer…………………………….Branden Blewett
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