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Ask a Scientist: The US Has to Do More to Meet Its Carbon Emissions Reduction Goals

Union of Concerned Scientists

The legislation committed nearly $400 billion to support, among other things, wind and solar power, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other clean energy technologies that will make a significant dent in US heat-trapping emissions. EN: We have already seen a great deal of progress.

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What Should EPA Do After Repealing the Clean Power Plan?

Legal Planet

My last post argued that EPA should immediately repeal the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. It attempted to move away from fossil fuels and toward zero-carbon sources like solar power to supply electricity. Here are the options going forward for regulating existing power plants.

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Building a Better Power Grid for Minnesota

Union of Concerned Scientists

Minnesotans are facing concurrent crises of climate change, high energy prices and inflation, and the inequitable public health impacts of fossil fuel air pollution. Renewable energy will help with all of that—but we need a grid that is designed for wind and solar instead of having to rely on expensive coal and gas plants.

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Banks Continue to Prop Up the Fossil Fuel Industry

Union of Concerned Scientists

The International Energy Agency said the world last year saw record growth in solar power, adoption of electric vehicles, and global clean energy investments that outstripped fossil investments last year by $1.74 million people die prematurely from the ambient air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels.

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EPA’s Power Plant Carbon Rules Are Critical—and Complex. Here’s What to Know, and What to Watch.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Multiple lines of analysis make clear that regardless of how cheap wind and solar power get, without directly addressing pollution from coal and gas plants, the country’s clean energy transition will not happen fast enough. EPA ruling, EPA can still establish rigorous carbon emissions standards.

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Minnesota: Will This Be the Year for a 100-Percent Carbon-Free Electricity Policy?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Those scenarios showed that the IRA would accelerate solar and wind deployment and reduce carbon emissions to 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. It’s time for the state Legislature to ensure the two utilities meet those goals and urge them and others to accelerate their progress.

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How Will DTE’s Long-Term Plan Impact Michigan’s Clean Energy Future?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Earlier this year, the MPSC approved a settlement agreement on Consumers Energy’s integrated resource plan that commits the company to retire all its remaining coal-fired power plants by 2025, construct no new fossil gas infrastructure, and build large amounts of new solar power between now and 2040.