U.S. Ranks 24th in New Environmental Performance Index, Near Bottom of Developed Countries
04 June
Politics
A coke storage area is seen as steam rises from the quench towers at the US Steel Clairton Works on Jan. 21, 2020, in Clairton, Pennsylvania. White plumes of smoke billow above western Pennsylvania's rolling hills as scorching ovens bake coal, which rolls in by the trainload along the Monongahela River. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
President Trump's claim that the U.S. has the cleanest air and water in the world has been widely refuted by statistics showing harmful levels of pollution. Now, a new biannual ranking released by researchers at Yale and Columbia finds that the U.S. is nowhere near the top in environmental performance, according to The Guardian.
<p>Not only is the U.S. not in the top 10, it's not in the top 20. It ranks 24th in the 2020 <a href="https://epi.yale.edu/2020-epi" target="_blank">Environmental Performance Index</a> (EPI), which was released on Thursday. The top ranked country, Denmark, has made commitments to a carbon-free future, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. By contrast, the U.S., during the Trump administration, has worked at breakneck speed to rollback environmental regulations, expand <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> development, and ditch international treaties protecting the environment. He has even questioned climate science and ridiculed its findings.</p><p>"If you look at Denmark, they're doing great but they're a tiny fraction of overall carbon emissions or greenhouse gas emissions broadly," said Zach Wenderling, lead researcher on the index, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/04/us-ranks-24th-in-the-world-on-environmental-performance" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. "The U.S. is one of the top five players in every greenhouse gas, so we need to do better than just OK if we're going to generate the best practices."</p>
<p>Many signatories to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> have ramped up their commitments to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, especially in Europe. European countries performed the best in the new index. After Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom rounded out the top four, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/04/us-ranks-24th-in-the-world-on-environmental-performance" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Researchers at Yale and Columbia universities produce the global report, which is released every two years. It ranks 180 of the world's nations on 24 key indicators in 10 categories related to environmental health and ecosystem vitality.</p><p>The data-driven and empirical approach to environmental protection makes it easier to spot problems, track trends, highlight policy successes and failures, identify best practices, and optimize the benefits of investing in environmental protection, said Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law and policy at Yale, in a university <a href="https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/dan-esty-on-the-2020-environmental-performance-index" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>"[T]he EPI provides a clear and compelling way to see which countries are leading issue by issue, who is lagging, and what the best policy practices look like across a range of critical environmental challenges," said Esty, in the university <a href="https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/dan-esty-on-the-2020-environmental-performance-index" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<p>Since the EPI was created in the year 2000, the U.S has never reached the top of the rankings.</p><p>"Countries that make an effort do better than those that don't don't and the U.S. right now is not making an effort. That shows up in a stagnation in the rankings where others are really seeing some significant improvements," said Esty, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/04/us-ranks-24th-in-the-world-on-environmental-performance" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>The U.S., which is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions after China, is near the bottom of the rankings for advanced industrial countries. China, which suffers from poor air quality, has made significant investments in solar energy and reducing its dependence on coal, and climbed the rankings to 120th place. China is still a big polluter but has made "much more dramatic progress than other countries," Esty said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/04/us-ranks-24th-in-the-world-on-environmental-performance" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>China's ranking as the world's worst contributor to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> is only recent. Over time, the U.S. has put more heat trapping gases into the air than any other country. India, which also sees its cities choking under polluted air quality, ranked 168th.</p>
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An aerial view of Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and the city's green cover during lockdown, on April 17, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Sonu Mehta / Hindustan Times via Getty Images
By Lauri Myllyvirta and Sunil Dahiya
An economic slowdown, renewable energy growth and the impact of Covid-19 have led to the first year-on-year reduction in India's CO2 emissions in four decades. Emissions fell by around 1% in the fiscal year ending March 2020, as coal consumption fell and oil consumption flatlined.
<p>The decline in emissions reflects the headwinds <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/economy-trapped-in-four-balance-sheet-problem-ex-cea/articleshow/72867290.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">alread</a><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/economy-trapped-in-four-balance-sheet-problem-ex-cea/articleshow/72867290.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">y</a><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/economy-trapped-in-four-balance-sheet-problem-ex-cea/articleshow/72867290.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank"> affecting</a> the Indian economy since early 2019, and increasing renewable energy generation. But our analysis of official Indian data across the nation's entire 2019-20 fiscal year shows the fall has steepened in March, due to measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The country's CO2 emissions fell by an estimated 15% during the month of March and are likely to have fallen 30% in April.</p><p>As with the <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-coronavirus-impact-on-co2-emissions-six-times-larger-than-financial-crisis" target="_blank">global CO2 impact</a> of the pandemic, the longer-term outlook for India's emissions will be shaped, to a significant degree, by the government response to the crisis. This response is now starting to emerge – as set out below – and will have major long-term implications for India's CO2 emissions and air quality trajectory.</p>
<h3>Coal Bearing Brunt of Demand Crunch</h3><p>As lower power demand growth and competition from renewables weakened the demand for thermal power generation throughout the past 12 months, the drop-off in March was enough to push generation growth below zero in the fiscal year ended March, the first time this has happened in three decades.</p><p>Over the preceding decade, thermal power generation grew by an average of 7.5% per year. As seen in the figure below, the dramatic drop-off in total power demand was entirely borne by coal-based generators, amplifying the impact on emissions.</p><p>Coal-fired power generation fell 15% in March and 31% in the first three weeks of April, based on <a href="https://posoco.in/reports/daily-reports/" target="_blank">daily data</a> from the national grid. In contrast, renewable energy (RE) generation <a href="https://posoco.in/" target="_blank">increased</a> by 6.4% in March and saw a slight decrease of 1.4% in the first three weeks of April.</p>
<iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px" style="display: initial; margin: 0 auto;" src="https://cbhighcharts2020.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/india-emissions-fall/india-power-gen-small-multiples.html" width="800px" height="900px"></iframe><span style="display:block; height:22px; max-width:800px;"><img src="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/cbhighcharts2019/cb-logo-highcharts.svg" style="width: 22px; height: 22px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; float:right; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain;"/></span><p>Daily power generation by source and by year in India. Source: <a href="https://posoco.in/reports/daily-reports/" target="_blank">POSOCO</a>. Chart by Carbon Brief using <a href="https://www.highcharts.com/" target="_blank">Highcharts</a>.</p>
<p>The fall in total coal demand extends beyond the power sector and is evident in data on coal supply. In the fiscal year ending March, coal sales by the main coal producer Coal India Ltd fell by 4.3%, while coal imports increased 3.2%, implying that total coal deliveries fell by 2% and signaling the first year-on-year fall in consumption in two decades.</p><p>The trend steepened in March, with coal sales falling 10% while coal imports <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/coronavirus-impact-india-s-coal-import-drops-over-27-pc-to-16-mt-in-march" target="_blank">fell 27.5%</a> in March, meaning that total deliveries of coal to end users fell by 15%, in line with the reduction in power generation.</p><p>In March, coal <a href="https://www.coalindia.in/DesktopModules/DocumentList/documents/nsebseprodmar2001042020.pdf" target="_blank">output increased 6.5%</a> even as sales fell by a record amount. Also, during the full year, more coal was mined than sold, indicating that the reason for the drop was on the demand side.</p>
<h3>Oil Demand: From Weak to Negative</h3><p>Similar to electricity demand, oil consumption has been slowing down since early 2019. This is now compounded by the dramatic impact of the Covid-19 lockdown measures on transport oil consumption. During the national lockdown, oil consumption fell 18% on year in March 2020.</p><p>As a result of low demand due to the coronavirus outbreak and <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-indias-co2-emissions-growth-poised-to-slow-sharply-in-2019" target="_blank">already slower demand growth earlier in the year</a>, consumption during the fiscal grew at 0.2%, the slowest in at least 22 years. Natural gas consumption <a href="https://www.ppac.gov.in/content/152_1_Consumption.aspx" target="_blank">increased</a> 5.5% in the first 11 months of the fiscal year, but is <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/032620-india-lockdown-domestic-natural-gas-demand-set-to-plummet" target="_blank">expected</a> to fall by 15-20% during the lockdown.</p><p>Crude oil production in India decreased by 5.9% compared to last financial year and a 5.2% drop <a href="http://petroleum.nic.in/sites/default/files/mprmarch20.pdf" target="_blank">has been observed</a> in natural gas production during the same time. Refinery production – in terms of crude oil processed – also <a href="http://petroleum.nic.in/sites/default/files/mprmarch20.pdf" target="_blank">fell</a> by 1.1% over the last financial year, compared to 2018-19.</p><p>Crude steel production dropped by 22.7% in March 2020 compared to the previous month and, cumulatively, the financial year 2019-20 saw a decline of 2.2% compared to last year, according to <a href="https://steel.gov.in/sites/default/files/March%202020_0.pdf" target="_blank">Ministry of Steel</a> data.</p>
<h3>CO2 Emissions Down 30% in April</h3><p>Using the indicators above for coal, oil and gas consumption, we estimate that CO2 emissions fell by 30m tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2, 1.4%) in the fiscal year ending March, in what is likely to have been the first annual decline in four decades.</p>
<iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px" style="display: initial; margin: 0 auto;" src="https://cbhighcharts2020.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/india-emissions-fall/india-co2-emissions-fall.html" width="770px" height="550px"></iframe><span style="display:block; height:22px; max-width:770px;"><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org" target="_blank"><img src="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/cbhighcharts2019/cb-logo-highcharts.svg" style="width: 22px; height: 22px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; float:right; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain;"/></a></span><p>Annual emissions from fossil fuel use in India, millions of tonnes of CO2, 1965-2020. Figures for 2009 onwards correspond with financial years ending that March, with the 2020 number showing fiscal year 2019-20. Source: Analysis of Indian government data for this article and <a href="https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html" target="_blank">BP Statistical Review of World Energy</a>. Chart by Carbon Brief using <a href="https://www.highcharts.com/" target="_blank">Highcharts</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, emissions fell by 15% year-on-year in March and by 30% in April. The April estimate is based on power-sector emissions estimated from daily generation data. This assumes oil consumption falls as much in April as in March, which is very likely to be conservative as the national lockdown is continuing until the end of the month, and gas consumption falls 15-20% <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/032620-india-lockdown-domestic-natural-gas-demand-set-to-plummet" target="_blank">as projected</a>.</p>
<h3>Government Response</h3><p>While the current crisis is having a significant impact on India's CO2 emissions in the short term, it could also influence the longer-term trajectory of India's energy use and emissions.</p><p>Although the situation is only beginning to unfold, three possible consequences are already emerging:</p><ul><li>Post-crisis economic stimulus could be directed towards reinvigorating the country's renewable energy program.</li><li>Plummeting electricity demand has brought the power industry's <a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/rs-1-lakh-crore-bad-loans-ailing-indias-power-sector-teri/71721715" target="_blank">long-brewing financial problems</a> to a head, necessitating bailouts with the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-power-purchase-agreements-as-an-albatross-11587489054847.html" target="_blank">potential</a> for structural changes.</li><li>Experience of <a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/covid-19-lockdown-air-quality-in-indias-major-industrial-cities-improve-by-up-to-60-compared-to-last-yr/74931010" target="_blank">exceptional air quality</a> could add momentum to efforts against <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a>, resulting in strengthened targets and standards.</li></ul>
<p>In each case, the crisis could act to catalyse, reinforce or accelerate the factors that have already been driving Indian policymaking in this area.</p><p>For example, the Indian government has already started talking about <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/mnre-urges-states-to-provide-incentives-to-manufacturers/articleshow/75232158.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">support for renewable energy</a> as a part of the recovery, alongside similar <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/04/14/european-leaders-push-green-recovery-plan-for-post-covid-economy/" target="_blank">statements</a> by European leaders. One reason for this continued support is the fact that <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> already offers far cheaper electricity than coal.</p><p>A <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=202339" target="_blank">rec</a><a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=202339" target="_blank">e</a><a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=202339" target="_blank">nt auction</a> secured 2,000 megawatts (MW) of new solar capacity at an average of 2.55-2.56 rupees per kilowatt hour (Rs/kWh, around $34 per megawatt hour). This result came despite the auction being held during the lockdown amid a period of severe uncertainty over the future market and financial situation.</p><p>In contrast, the average cost of a unit of electricity from India's biggest coal generator, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), stood at <a href="https://www.ntpc.co.in/presentations/8262/presentation-15th-analysts-investors-meet-held-mumbai-19082019" target="_blank">3.38 Rs/kWh</a> in the financial year 2018-19 ($45/MWh). This figure will likely keep moving upwards with every passing year due to inflation, increasing operational costs and with implementation of <a href="http://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Thermal_plant_gazette_scan.pdf" target="_blank">stricter emission standards</a>.</p><p>Another example of Indian government support for the renewable industry came in early April when it <a href="https://mnre.gov.in/img/documents/uploads/file_f-1586142405322.pdf" target="_blank">stressed</a> the "must-run" status of wind and solar projects and <a href="https://mnre.gov.in/img/documents/uploads/file_f-1585801699131.pdf" target="_blank">called on</a> distribution companies to make timely payments to power generators.</p><p>The <a href="https://mnre.gov.in/img/documents/uploads/file_f-1587398024891.pdf" target="_blank">Ministry of New and Renewable Energy</a> also extended the timelines for renewable energy projects to be completed for the period of the lockdown and the following 30 days. This will safeguard renewable energy developers from penalties arising due to delays from their committed schedules.</p><p>The ministry has also <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/mnre-urges-states-to-provide-incentives-to-manufacturers/articleshow/75232158.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">written to various states</a> in recent weeks to give a "major push" to domestic renewable manufacturing capacity. Increased domestic supply will strengthen the renewable energy program by strengthening supply chains and political weight for the industry, as long as it does not give rise to excessive protectionism.</p>
<h3>Blue-Sky Thinking</h3><p>Over the past year, CO2 emissions as well as air pollution levels have <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-pollution-quality-2019-saw-more-good-air-days-6198725/" target="_blank">declined</a>. More recently, the sight of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52313972" target="_blank">blue skies</a> during the national lockdown across the country has created a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-coronavirus-delhi-clean-air-pollution/2020/04/10/ac23dd1e-783e-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html" target="_blank">sense of optimism</a> among the public as well as policymakers that the air in India can be cleaned, if appropriate steps are taken.</p><p>Since many of the major sources of pollution – transport, power stations and industry – are also responsible for significant shares of the country's CO2 output, any strengthening of air quality standards – or their implementation – would have knock-on effects on emissions.</p><p>Earlier last year, in response to building public pressure, the environmental ministry announced India's first-ever <a href="http://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NCAP_Report.pdf" target="_blank">National Clean Air Programme</a>. This aims to reduce particulate matter pollution levels across 102 cities by 20-30% by 2024.</p><p>The program also pointed out that India's national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), dating back to 2009, need revision. The standards are much weaker than the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/airpollution/publications/aqg2005/en/" target="_blank">guidelines</a> and there is more evidence of health impacts of air pollution <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30077140" target="_blank">being reported</a> even at low concentrations of pollutants.</p><p>The recent experience of cleaner air and the drastic drop in pollution levels due to coronavirus lockdowns have <a href="https://twitter.com/CSTEP_India/status/1252578515255468032?s=20" target="_blank">started these conversations</a> to strengthen the NAAQS among public, research institutes and civil society organizations. As a result, any return of India's poor air quality and smog can be expected to trigger a stronger public response.</p>
<h3>Power-Sector Bailouts</h3><p>As demand for thermal <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rs-70-000-cr-covid-19-package-for-power-firms-cabinet-approval-expected-soon/story-QJpV5trLmebMW9NEnl0ZnO.html" target="_blank">power generation plummets</a>, so too do the earnings of India's electricity industry. In this way, the coronavirus crisis has brought the long-brewing financial woes of the country's power sector to a head.</p><p>The Indian government is working to finalize an economic relief package for the sector, initially <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rs-70-000-cr-covid-19-package-for-power-firms-cabinet-approval-expected-soon/story-QJpV5trLmebMW9NEnl0ZnO.html" target="_blank">pegged at</a> INR 70,000 crore ($9bn) and now <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/rs-90000-crore-scheme-in-offing-for-power-companies/articleshow/75436263.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">reportedly</a> worth INR 90,000 crore ($12bn).</p><p>The sector was already struggling before the coronavirus crisis, making it a major source of <a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/rs-1-lakh-crore-bad-loans-ailing-indias-power-sector-teri/71721715" target="_blank">bad loans and financial distress</a>.</p><p>The reasons behind the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/industry/energy/producers-feel-the-heat-as-power-distribution-losses-widen-11579632769183.html" target="_blank">chronic financial losses</a> of the power industry and <a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/covid-19-power-discoms-will-require-subsidies-of-rs-1-lakh-crore-in-2020-21/75539215" target="_blank">dependence</a> on government bailouts are easy enough to see. <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/delhi-govt-to-use-pvt-discom-subsidies-to-clear-dues-of-state-run-power-stations/1935729/" target="_blank">Discounted electricity tariffs</a> are offered for agricultural and domestic consumers, with farmers even being provided with electricity for <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/proposed-electricity-act-may-rework-slabs-for-residential-consumers/article31395464.ece" target="_blank">free</a>, and losses covered from industrial and commercial consumers and state budgets. There are major <a href="https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/covid-19-impact-turbulent-times-for-power-distribution-sector/75420652" target="_blank">losses</a> in transmission and <a href="http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/Smart-meters-Invaluable-in-the-current-scenario-imperative-in-a-post-COVID-world/06-05-2020-191305/" target="_blank">theft</a> of power. Distribution companies have <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-power-purchase-agreements-as-an-albatross-11587489054847.html" target="_blank">committed</a> to purchasing excessive amounts of power as a part of a push to expand thermal power generation, leading to the country's coal <a href="https://thewire.in/energy/climate-change-coal-india" target="_blank">power overcapacity</a> issue.</p><p>If the forthcoming government bailout allows these structural problems to persist then it could mean old coal power stations are able to continue operating, entrenching the country's dependence on fossil-fired generation. On the other hand, the bailout could be conditioned on reforms and restructuring, facilitating the achievement of national clean-energy goals.</p><p>There are already <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/the-clean-environment-were-enjoying-currently-will-only-be-short-term-without-fundamental-changes/" target="_blank">calls</a> for a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/covid-19-india-needs-a-green-economic-stimulus-opinion/story-MnFm3MdzRWWv1pD5COFKzJ.html" target="_blank">g</a><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/covid-19-india-needs-a-green-economic-stimulus-opinion/story-MnFm3MdzRWWv1pD5COFKzJ.html" target="_blank">r</a><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/covid-19-india-needs-a-green-economic-stimulus-opinion/story-MnFm3MdzRWWv1pD5COFKzJ.html" target="_blank">een</a> recovery package in India. These questions — re-invigorating the renewable energy program, mitigating the rebound of air pollution and addressing the structural problems of the thermal power sector — will be at the heart of determining the outcome.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-indias-co2-emissions-fall-for-first-time-in-four-decades-amid-coronavirus" target="_blank">Carbon Brief</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Political divisions are a growing fixture in the United States today, whether the topic is marriage across party lines, responding to climate change or concern about coronavirus exposure. Especially in a presidential election year, the vast divide between conservatives and liberals often feels nearly impossible to bridge.
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/deidra-miniard-1006054" target="_blank">Deidra Miniard</a> is a PhD Student in Environmental Science at Indiana University.</em>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joe-kantenbacher-1006141" target="_blank">Joe Kantenbacher</a> is a Research Associate in Environmental Science at Indiana University.</em>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shahzeen-attari-1006142" target="_blank">Shahzeen Attari</a> is an Associate Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.</em>
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Disclosure statement: Shahzeen Attari receives funding from the National Science Foundation from Decision, Risk and Management Sciences. This work was also possible in part by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation fellowship and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellowship to Attari. <em>Deidra Miniard and Joe Kantenbacher do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/both-conservatives-and-liberals-want-a-green-energy-future-but-for-different-reasons-134534" target="_blank">The Conversation.</a></em>
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<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920558117" target="_blank">Our research</a> examines <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Mxn0PmkAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">what people know</a> about the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YRtYhoMAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">energy sources</a> in use today in the United States, and what types of energy they would like to see the nation <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DKLxPT8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao" target="_blank">using in 2050</a>. Energy connects to many important issues, including climate change, jobs and economic growth, equity and social justice, and international relations. It would be easy to assume that America's energy future is a highly polarized topic, especially when the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-13/trump-team-is-sued-by-states-over-epa-s-new-dirty-power-rule" target="_blank">clashing with many states led by Democrats</a> over energy policies.</p><p>However, in a nationwide online survey, we recently found that broad support exists across the political spectrum for a future <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920558117" target="_blank">powered mostly by renewable energy sources</a>. Our work highlights a consensus around the idea that the United States needs to move its entire energy system away from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources.</p>
Assessing Perceptions
<p>To explore people's views on energy sources, we conducted an online survey of 2,429 adults across the U.S. Our participants represented a range of political ideologies, with 51% self-identifying as liberals, 20% as moderate and 29% as conservative. To investigate patterns in the data, we analyzed responses based on participants' political ideologies.</p><p>Our survey asked people to estimate the shares that various energy sources contributed to all energy use in the United States, including activities like generating electricity, running factories, heating homes and powering vehicles. We asked participants to estimate what percentage of U.S. total energy used came from nine energy sources: coal, oil, natural gas, solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal and nuclear power.</p><p>Next we had participants describe what they viewed as an optimal mix of these nine energy sources that they hoped the U.S. would use in the year 2050. We also asked what kinds of policies they would support to move the nation from its current status to the future that they envisioned. In a follow-on study, we are examining how factors such as cost and environmental impact influence people's preferences for one energy source versus others.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7577c70dfbaf7dc44448c72d61be5800"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ppjmvjpDrbE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Estimations of Today’s Energy Mix
<p>We found that our respondents had some misperceptions about <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/" target="_blank">where energy in the U.S. comes from</a>. They tended to underestimate U.S. reliance on oil and natural gas and overestimate coal's contribution. We believe Americans may not realize how dramatically electric utilities have <a href="https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2019/" target="_blank">switched from coal to gas for power generation</a> over the past decade, and may therefore have dated impressions of coal's prevalence.</p><p>Conversely, we found that participants overestimated the contribution of lesser-used energy sources – specifically, renewables like wind and solar power. This pattern may partially be explained by people's general tendency to inflate estimates of small values and probabilities, which has been seen in areas ranging from <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16054" target="_blank">household energy use</a> and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/14/5129.short" target="_blank">water use</a> to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-20983-001" target="_blank">risk of death</a>.</p><p>In the case of the U.S. energy system, this bias means that people think our current energy system is greener than it really is, which could reduce the perceived urgency of shifting to lower-carbon sources.</p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1252567935807299586" id="twitter-embed-1252567935807299586" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1252567935807299586&created_ts=1587470442.0&screen_name=EIAgov&text=%23TodayInEnergy+-+Wind+and+natural+gas-fired+generators+led+U.S.+power+sector+capacity+additions+in+2019%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FRB0EUmVxlL&id=1252567935807299586&name=EIA" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="ab20141afc9af14a89ad91b6c5b48746"></iframe>
Shared Goals, Divergent Pathways
<p>When we asked participants to indicate the amount of each energy source they hoped the U.S. would use in 2050, the broad consensus favored a future in which the nation primarily relied on renewable energy and used much less fossil fuel. Conservatives, moderates and liberals shared this outlook.</p><p>Particular preferences for a lower-carbon future varied somewhat by political ideology, but on average all groups supported an energy mix in which at least 77% of overall energy use came from low-carbon energy sources, including renewable fuels and nuclear power.</p><p>This bipartisan consensus wavered, though, when we asked participants whether they supported or opposed 12 energy policies – six that would lead to larger roles for low-carbon energy sources, and six that would increase use of fossil fuels.</p><p>Liberal participants showed strong support for policies consistent with increased use of low-carbon energy sources, such as providing government funding for renewable energy and subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles. They strongly opposed actions that would increase reliance on fossil fuels, such as relaxing oil drilling regulations or lowering fuel economy standards.</p><p>On average, conservative participants supported several policies that favored low-carbon energy use, though not as strongly as their liberal counterparts. Conservatives tended to be closer to neutral or only slightly opposed to policies that promote fossil fuel use.</p><p>The sharpest contrast between the two political groups was over building and completing pipelines to move oil from extraction points to refineries in the U.S. Several <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824445928/builder-of-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-says-its-moving-forward" target="_blank">proposed pipelines</a> have generated <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/climate/dakota-access-pipeline-sioux.html" target="_blank">intense controversy</a> in the past years. Conservatives generally supported pipeline development, and liberals generally opposed it.</p>Achieving a Low-Carbon Future
<p>An important argument for transitioning to low-carbon energy sources is to limit climate change to manageable levels. Recent polls show that climate change remains a politically divisive issue, with <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/276932/several-issues-tie-important-2020-election.aspx" target="_blank">far more Democrats than Republicans</a> rating it as extremely important to their vote in the 2020 presidential race.</p><p>Recent research has shown that both Democrats and Republicans strongly support renewable energy development, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111448" target="_blank">do so for different reasons</a>. Democrats prioritize curbing climate change, while Republicans are more motivated by reducing energy costs. We see these motivations playing out in the real world, where conservative oil-producing states like Texas are experiencing <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/03/12/a-renewable-energy-boom-is-changing-the-politics-of-global-warming" target="_blank">huge booms in renewable energy generation</a>, driven primarily by the improving economics of renewable energy.</p><p>Realizing the shared vision of an energy system dominated by renewable energy will mean reconciling partisan differences over how to achieve that future. While there is no single rationale that will convince all Americans to support a transition to low-carbon energy sources, our results are encouraging because we find consensus on the U.S. energy future – everyone agrees that it should be green. </p>From Your Site Articles
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Wind turbines generate electricity at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm near Palm Springs, California, with snow-covered Mt. San Jacinto in the background on Feb 27, 2019. Robert Alexander / Getty Images
Renewable energy in the U.S. has beaten coal as the country's leading electricity source for a record 40 days.
<p>The record, <a href="https://ieefa.org/ieefa-update-renewables-surpass-coal-in-u-s-power-generation-throughout-the-month-of-april-2020/" target="_blank">reported</a> by the <a href="https://ieefa.org/" target="_blank">Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis</a> (IEEFA) Monday based on U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, far surpasses the previous record of nine days during April 2019. It suggests that the falling energy demand due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> lockdowns could lead renewables to generate more electricity than coal overall for the first time this year.</p><p>"IEEFA had <a href="https://ieefa.org/ieefa-update-renewable-generation-is-set-to-surpass-coal-in-2021/" target="_blank">forecasted that power generation from renewables</a> would likely surpass coal-fired generation in 2021, an important milestone in the energy transition that is well underway," the group wrote. "But in the first quarter of 2020, renewable generation unexpectedly exceeded coal, and with this strong performance continuing in the second quarter, there is an increasing chance that the milestone could occur this year."</p>
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<p>In 2019, renewables only beat out coal for a total of 38 days. April was their most successful month, when they generated more electricity than coal for a total of 19 days. April of 2019 was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewables-beat-coal-us-april-2639001918.html" target="_self">also the first month</a> when renewables generated more electricity than coal in the U.S. overall.</p><p>This April, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower" target="_self">hydropower</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a> generated more electricity than coal for every day of the month, but clean power's winning streak actually began March 25 and has extended at least to May 3, IEEFA said.</p><p>Green energy's success is down to a number of factors, IEEFA explained:</p><ol><li>Low gas prices</li><li>Warmer weather</li><li><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-renewable-energy-capacity-coal-2638790502.html" target="_self">Increased renewable energy capacity</a> added to the grid last year</li><li>Decreased energy demand due to the coronavirus lockdowns</li></ol>
<p>Falling energy demand is a boon for renewables because coal is more expensive, meaning it is usually cut first by utilities when demand falls, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-lockdowns-renewable-energy-overtakes-coal-record-40-days/" target="_blank">CBS News explained</a>. This has played out internationally as well. The International Energy Agency (IEA) <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/greenhouse-gas-emissions-coronavirus-lockdowns-2645880717.html" target="_self">reported last week</a> that only renewable energy sources had grown in 2020 so far and were expected to continue growing, while all the major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> were in decline.</p><p>"This is a historic shock to the entire energy world. Amid today's unparalleled health and economic crises, the plunge in demand for nearly all major fuels is staggering, especially for coal, oil and gas. Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use," IEA Executive Director Dr. Fatih Birol said at the time. "It is still too early to determine the longer-term impacts, but the energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before."</p><p>The IEEFA data also affirms that coal is on the way out despite the efforts of President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> to bolster the industry, as CBS pointed out. And while the pandemic may have accelerated the shift, it did not cause it. As early as January, coal's market share fell below 20 percent for the first time in decades, IEEFA said. Several utilities have also promised to phase out coal-fired plants between 2030 and 2050, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/496181-renewable-generation-surpasses-coal-for-40-straight-days" target="_blank">The Hill reported</a>.</p><p>"The fate of coal has been sealed, the market has spoken," University of Texas energy expert Michael Webber told The Guardian in 2019. "The trend is irreversible now, the decline of coal is unstoppable despite Donald Trump's rhetoric."</p>
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A lumber cuts a tree with a chainsaw. Taiyou Nomachi / Getty Images
By Richard Orange
The harvesting machine takes just one second to fell the towering spruce, and another to strip the branches and scan its trunk for defects.
<p>"This one is very straight," operator Antonio Petersson Kvennefelt says of the trunk gripped by the arm of his machine, as a screen in front of him flashes with data.</p><p>"The computer decides what it wants the logs to be. This one is for Långasjö, a sawmill in Sweden."</p><p>Kvennefelt has been working in the forests around the city of Växjö in southern Sweden for more than 20 years. When he started out, decisions were mostly left to the forest workers' judgement, but the industry is now more high-tech. </p><p>"The computer makes sure each sawmill gets exactly what that sawmill wants," he explains.</p><p><span></span>And across the world, what saw and pulp mills want is more and more wood.</p>
Demand for Wood
<p>According to the latest figures from the <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1256261/icode/" target="_blank">UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)</a>, global forest production hit record levels in 2018. Up 11% on the year before.</p><p>"We see an increasing demand for almost all of our products," says Göran Örlander, strategist at Södra, Sweden's largest association of forest owners. "The most obvious demand is for biofuels at the moment. Everybody wants to have biofuels to replace fossil fuels."</p><p>The idea is that burning wood becomes close to carbon neutral if the forests from where it is taken are replenished at the same rate as they are felled for fuel.</p><p>But critics question whether this is the case in every country which claims to provide sustainable wood, and say some of what is supplying the current boom in biomass fuels comes from existing forests rather than sustainably managed plantations.</p><p>They also point to the carbon emitted from the soil of cleared forests, and to the emissions created in the felling and processing of wood products.</p><p>In 2017, 200 scientists wrote to the EU questioning its assumption that wood biomass for energy should be treated as a renewable fuel.</p><p>Nonetheless, according to the trade body Swedish Forest Industries, the country's trees are now capturing and storing a net 48 million tons of CO2 a year as they grow, while another seven million are stored in long-lasting products made from Swedish wood. Taken together, that is enough to make Sweden effectively carbon neutral.</p><p>But Professor Johan Bergh, who heads the forestry department at Växjö's Linnaeus University, just a short walk away from Södra's offices, says there are very few other countries in the same position.</p><p>"Globally I don't think the forest resource is enough," he told DW. Particularly not, he added, to supply the transport industry with wood-derived bioethanol or biodiesel.</p><p>"A lot of forest would be needed to replace fossil fuels in vehicles," he says. "It would require at least half of the new forest growth in Sweden at a national level, and of course at a global level, it would be much, much more."</p><p>Other industries are also increasingly showing an interest in wood as a resource.</p>
Not Just for Heating
<p>Södra has teamed up with Dutch airline KLM to explore the feasibility of producing jet fuel from forest biomass, and is also working with the Scandinavian airline SAS on plans for a pilot biofuel plant in the north of Sweden.</p><p>Bioplastic packaging — some of which relies on wood fibers — currently makes up just one percent of total plastics production. But that is expected to grow over the coming years. </p><p>Architecture firms are also racing to use cross-laminated timber to replace carbon-intensive concrete and steel, and wood-based fibers now represent about six percent of all textiles.</p><p>The attraction is clear. When wood is used in buildings, for example, carbon is taken out of the carbon cycle and stored for as long as the building stands.</p><p>But according to preliminary findings from a joint United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UN Food and Agriculture Organization study into future supply and demand scenarios, even if every effort were made to maximize global forest cover, doubling the use of wood in buildings, furniture and other products would reduce rather than increase the amount of carbon sequestered globally.</p><p><span></span>"The projected increase in wood products carbon in this scenario was not enough to offset the loss in biomass carbon due to increased removals depleting forest stocks," the authors wrote.</p>The Limits of Wood
<p>There are also limits to the use of wood for heat and power.</p><p>Back in 2010, EUwood, a study led by the University of Hamburg warned that "even if all measures for increased wood mobilization" were implemented, by 2020 the European Union's domestic sources would struggle to satisfy wood demands and meet renewable energy targets.</p><p>By 2018 the EU was already supplementing its wood pellet consumption with imports to the tune of eight million tons. And some conservationists argue member states' use of biomass is driving deforestation and boosting carbon dioxide levels.</p><p>But at Växjö Energy, a Swedish heat and power plant, which became a 100 percent biomass facility in December, chief executive Erik Tellgren is not worried about supply. He says forest owners currently leave most of the branches and tops of trees they cut down to rot.</p><p>"There is still a potential of at least twice the amount of residue streams in the forest today that is simply left there," he says. </p><p>There are also other potential changes that would create space for the expansion of global forest cover. Rod Taylor, Global Director of the Forests Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI), believes a shift in global diet away from meat would allow the replanting of huge areas of marginal pastureland.</p><p>"The really big win comes through plantations in countries where wood grows fast, like in Brazil," he argues. "If you have very eroded, low productivity pastureland, and you start planting that up with trees, it could pull a lot of carbon out of the sky."</p><p>Bergh believes it would be possible to at least double forest stocks in key exporting countries such as Sweden, Canada and Russia, while increasing production at the same time.</p><p>But with so many industries now looking to the forests for their future carbon-neutral feedstock, even that would be unlikely to cover growing demand.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/is-there-enough-wood-in-the-world-to-feed-sustainability/a-53225899?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2645913821#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trump Admin Sits on $43 Billion Intended for Clean Energy Loans While Unemployment Soars
01 May
Politics
In September 2011, the DOE issued a $90.6 million loan guarantee to finance Alamosa, a 29.3-MW high concentration photovoltaic solar generation project in Colorado. The project started commercial operations in April 2012 and created 75 construction jobs and hundreds of supply chain jobs across several states. U.S. Department of Energy
While the nation struggles to find ways to put money in peoples' pockets and to ramp up the economy so people can get back to work, over $43 billion in low-interest loans earmarked for clean energy projects sits undistributed by the Trump administration, according to The New York Times.
<p>The president has long questioned the efficacy of renewable energy sources, has suggested that <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a> turbines cause cancer, and championed <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> as a clean and efficient source of power. Despite his reluctance to champion green energy infrastructure, some lawmakers and energy experts think it is unacceptable that tens of billions of dollars that Congress long ago authorized, with bipartisan support, has not been dispersed.</p><p>"We're searching high and low all over Washington, DC, for money to put people back to work and here we have more than $40 billion," said Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University, who served at the Energy Department in the Clinton administration, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/climate/clean-energy-loans-coronavirus-trump.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "This is the moment to really put these programs back in gear."</p><p>The loans passed through Congress well before the coronavirus forced nearly 30 million people into unemployment. However, they have been held up by the Energy Department.</p>
<p>"They haven't put out any or almost any of these loans since he's become president," said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/climate/clean-energy-loans-coronavirus-trump.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "There's an ideological or political aspect to this. The president is not someone who seeks to promote the clean energy sector."</p><p>Holding up the loans during the pandemic seems particularly strange since the money could help many people to start working. Anne Reynolds with the Alliance for Clean Energy told <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/04/19/dead-in-the-water-new-yorks-clean-energy-sector-looks-for-a-jump-start-1277764" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> that energy efficiency companies have laid off between 40 and 50 percent of their workforce.</p><p>In New York, for example, the state saw layoffs to nearly 5,000 clean energy jobs in March. Congressman Pallone said that the renewable energy sector had created more than 3 million jobs.</p>
<p>"These utility-led programs could drive significant job and economic growth statewide as we step out of our current pause," said Reynolds, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/04/19/dead-in-the-water-new-yorks-clean-energy-sector-looks-for-a-jump-start-1277764" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> reported. "We are at risk of losing a skilled and trained workforce as work is stalled, and job losses and furloughs accelerate."</p><p>While an injection of capital would help restart green energy projects and allow companies to hire back employees, there is little reason to believe the Trump administration will issue any of the loans.</p>The last new project to be approved under the loan program was in 2016, under the Obama administration. To get the money out of the government's hands and into an investment in renewable energy infrastructure, Pallone said he plans to find a way to address the unspent loans in the next stimulus.
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Michael Moore's 'Planet of the Humans' Documentary Attacks Climate Solutions
01 May
Insights + Opinion
Michael Moore at the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2019 in Cannes, France. Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images
By Dana Nuccitelli
Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates have long been allies in the fight to keep unchecked industrial growth from irreversibly ruining Earth's climate and threatening the future of human civilization. In their new YouTube documentary "Planet of the Humans," director Jeff Gibbs and producer Michael Moore argue for splitting the two sides. Their misleading, outdated, and scientifically sophomoric dismissal of renewable energy is perhaps the most dangerous form of climate denial, eroding support for renewable energy as a critical climate solution.
<p><br/></p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/michael-moores-planet-of-the-humans-documentary-peddles-dangerous-climate-denial/" target="_blank"><em>Yale Climate Connections.</em></a></p>
<p>"Planet of the Humans" by the end of April had more than 4.7 million views and fairly high scores at the movie critic review aggregator <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/planet_of_the_humans" target="_blank">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. The documentary has received <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/24/1939980/-Planet-Of-The-Humans-Is-Moore-Trouble-Than-It-s-Worth-A-Non-Review" target="_blank">glowing reviews from numerous climate "deniers"</a> whose names are familiar to those in the climate community, including Steve Milloy, Marc Morano, and James Delingpole. Some environmentalists who have seen the movie are beginning to oppose wind and solar projects that are absolutely necessary to slow climate change.</p><p>The film by these two "progressive" filmmakers may succeed where Fox News and right-wing talk radio have failed: to undermine humanity's last best hope for positive change. As energy journalist <a href="https://ketanjoshi.co/2020/04/24/planet-of-the-humans-a-reheated-mess-of-lazy-old-myths/" target="_blank">Ketan Joshi wrote</a>, the film is "selling far-right, climate-denier myths from nearly a decade ago to left-wing environmentalists in the 2020s."</p><p>The film follows Gibbs as he visits various green technology sites in the United States and ostensibly learns that each one is just as bad as the fossil fuel infrastructure that it would replace. Unfortunately, the movie is littered with misleading, skewed, and outdated scenes.</p><p>"Planet of the Humans"' approach is fundamentally flawed – Gibbs focuses almost exclusively on the imperfections of technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, biomass, and electric cars without considering their ability to reduce carbon and other pollutants. The film suggests that because no source of energy is perfect, all are bad, thus implying that the very existence of human civilization is the problem while offering little in the way of alternative solutions.</p>
A Badly Outdated Portrait of Solar and Wind
<p>In an interview with Reuters, Michael Moore summarized the premise of the film: "I assumed solar panels would last forever. I didn't know what went into the making of them."</p><p>It's true. Solar panels and wind turbines don't last forever (though they do last several decades), and like every other industrial product, they require mining and manufacturing of raw materials. Sadly, that's about as deep as the film delves into quantifying the environmental impacts of renewable energy versus fossil fuels. In fact, the misinformation in the film is at times much worse than ignorance.</p><p>In one scene, author and film co-producer Ozzie Zehner falsely asserts, "You use more fossil fuels [manufacturing renewables infrastructure] than you're getting benefit from. You would have been better off burning the fossil fuels in the first place instead of playing pretend."</p><p><span></span>That's monumentally wrong. A <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-wind-nuclear-amazingly-low-carbon-footprints" target="_blank">2017 study in Nature Energy</a> found that when accounting for manufacturing and construction, the lifetime carbon footprints of solar, wind, and nuclear power are about 20 times smaller than those of coal and natural gas, even when the latter include expensive carbon capture and storage technology. The energy produced during the operation of a solar panel and wind turbine is 26 and 44 times greater than the energy needed to build and install them, respectively. There are many life-cycle assessment studies arriving at similar conclusions.</p><p>The film's case is akin to arguing that because fruit contains sugar, eating strawberries is no healthier than eating a cheesecake.</p><p>It's true that the carbon footprint of renewable energy is not zero. But the film somehow fails to mention that it's far lower than the fossil fuel alternatives, instead falsely suggesting (with zero supporting evidence) that renewables are just as bad. The closest defense of that argument comes when Zehner claims that wind and solar energy cannot displace coal, and instead retired coal power plants are being replaced by even larger natural gas plants.</p><p>In reality, coal power generation in the U.S. has declined by about half (over 1 trillion kilowatt-hours) <a href="https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2019/" target="_blank">over the past decade</a>, and it's true that natural gas has picked up about two-thirds of that slack (670 kWh). But growth in renewables has accounted for the other one-third (370 kWh). As a result, power sector carbon emissions in the U.S. have fallen by one-third since 2008 and continue to decline steadily. In fact, electricity is the only major sector in the U.S. that's achieving significant emissions reductions.</p><p>It's true that natural gas is a fossil fuel. To reach zero emissions, it must be replaced by renewables with storage and smart grids. But thus far the path to grid decarbonization in the U.S. has been a success story that the film somehow portrays as a failure. Moreover, that decarbonization could be accelerated through policies like pricing carbon pollution, but the film does not once put a single second of thought into policy solutions.</p><p>In perhaps its most absurd scene, Gibbs and Zehner visit a former solar facility in Daggett, California, built in the mid-1980s and replaced 30 years later. Gazing upon the sand-covered landscape of the former facility, Gibbs declares in an ominous tone, "It suddenly dawned on me what we were looking at: a solar dead zone."</p><p>Daggett is located in the Mojave Desert. Sand is the natural landscape. Solar farms don't create dead zones; in fact, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/09/crops-under-solar-panels-can-be-a-win-win/" target="_blank">some plants thrive</a> under the shade provided by solar panels.</p><p>It suddenly dawned on me how hard the film was trying to portray clean energy in a negative light.</p>
A Shallow Dismissal of Electric Vehicles
<p>In another science, Gibbs travels to a General Motors facility in Lansing, Michigan, circa 2010, as GM showcased its then-new Chevy Volt plug-in electric hybrid vehicle. Gibbs interviews a representative from the local municipal electric utility provider, who notes that they generate 95% of their supply by burning coal, and that the power to charge the GM facility's EVs will not come from renewables in the near future.</p><p>That is the full extent of the discussion of EVs in the film. Viewers are left to assume that because these cars are charged by burning coal, they're just <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing" target="_blank">greenwashing</a>. In reality, because of the high efficiency of electric motors, an electric car charged entirely by burning coal still produces less carbon pollution than an internal combustion engine car (though more than a hybrid). The U.S. Department of Energy has <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html" target="_blank">a useful tool</a> for comparing carbon emissions between EVs, plug-in hybrids, conventional hybrids, and gasoline-powered cars for each state. In Michigan, on average, EVs are the cleanest option of all, as is the case for the national average power grid. In West Virginia, with over 90% electricity generated from coal, hybrids are the cleanest option, but EVs are still cleaner than gasoline cars.</p><p>In short, EVs are an improvement over gasoline-powered cars everywhere, and their carbon footprints will continue to shrink as renewables expand to supply more of the power grid.</p>A Valid Critique of Wood Biomass
<p>The film devotes a half hour to the practice of burning trees for energy. That's one form of biomass, which also includes burning wood waste, garbage, and biofuels. Last year, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3" target="_blank">1% of U.S. electricity</a> was generated by burning wood, but it accounted for 30% of the film run time.</p><p>In fairness, Europe is a different story, where wood biomass accounts for around 5% of electricity generation, and which imports a lot of wood chips from America. It's incentivized because the European Union considers burning wood to be carbon neutral, and it can thus be used to meet climate targets. That's because new trees can be planted to replace those removed, and the EU assumes the wood being burned would have decayed and released its stored carbon anyway.</p><p>There are <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/3/4/18216045/renewable-energy-wood-pellets-biomass" target="_blank">numerous problems</a> with those assumptions, one of which is unavoidable: time. Burning trees is close to carbon neutral once a replacement tree grows to sufficient maturity to recapture the lost carbon, but that takes many decades. In the meantime, the carbon released into the atmosphere accelerates the climate crisis at a time when slashing emissions is increasingly urgent. That's why <a href="https://www.dogwoodalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Scientist-Letter-to-Governor-Cooper_11-15_2017.pdf" target="_blank">climate scientists are increasingly calling on policymakers</a> to stop expanding this practice. So has 350.org founder Bill McKibben since 2016, <a href="https://350.org/response-planet-of-the-humans-documentary/" target="_blank">despite his depiction in the film</a> as a villainous proponent of clearcutting forests to burn for energy.</p><p>It's complicated, but the carbon footprint of biomass <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/is-burning-wood-for-energy-worse-for-the-climate-than-coal" target="_blank">depends on where the wood comes from</a>. Burning waste (including waste wood) as biomass that would decay anyway is justifiable, but also generally only practical at a relatively small scale. A more detailed investigation of the wood biomass industry could make for a worthwhile documentary. It's still a small-time player, but it does need to stay that way.</p>The Bottom Line
<p>Gibbs asks, "Is it possible for machines made by industrial civilization to save us from industrial civilization?"</p><p>Why not? Industrial civilization has a non-zero climate and environmental footprint, but the impact of green technologies like EVs, wind turbines, and solar panels is much smaller than the alternatives. They represent humanity's best chance to avoid a climate catastrophe.</p><p>The filmmakers call for an end to limitless economic growth and consumption. It's difficult to envision that goal being achieved anytime soon, but even if it is, human civilization will continue to exist and require energy. To avert a climate crisis, that energy must be supplied by the clean renewable technologies pilloried in the film. To expand on the earlier analogy, the filmmakers seem to believe we should improve nutrition not by eating healthier foods like strawberries, but rather by eating a bit less cheesecake.</p><p>Like Fox News and other propaganda vehicles, the film presents one biased perspective via carefully chosen voices, virtually all of whom are comfortable white men. It applies an environmental purity test that can seem convincing for viewers lacking expertise in the topic. Any imperfect technology – which is every technology – is deemed bad. It's a clear example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. In reality, this movie is the enemy of humanity's last best chance to save itself and countless other species from unchecked climate change through a transition to cleaner technologies.</p>
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View of downtown Los Angeles, California amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 21, 2020. According to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, Los Angeles on that day saw some of the cleanest air of any major city in the world. VALERIE MACON / AFP via Getty Images
The decline in energy demand driven by coronavirus lockdowns will trigger a record fall in greenhouse gas emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.
<p>The Paris-based agency predicted a drop of eight percent, almost six times the last record, set in 2009 and triggered by the global financial crisis. It is also twice as steep as all emissions declines since World War II combined. However, the agency cautioned that this decline on its own is not a solution to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"Resulting from premature deaths and economic trauma around the world, the historic decline in global emissions is absolutely nothing to cheer," IEA Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol said in a <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/global-energy-demand-to-plunge-this-year-as-a-result-of-the-biggest-shock-since-the-second-world-war" target="_blank">press release</a>. "And if the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis is anything to go by, we are likely to soon see a sharp rebound in emissions as economic conditions improve."</p>
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<p>Birol did note, however, that a rebound in emissions is not inevitable, as he added his voice to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-earth-day-coronavirus-climate-crisis-2645802263.html" target="_self">growing global call</a> for a green recovery process.</p><p>"[G]overnments can learn from [the post-2008] experience by putting clean energy technologies – renewables, efficiency, batteries, hydrogen and carbon capture – at the heart of their plans for economic recovery," he said. "Investing in those areas can create jobs, make economies more competitive and steer the world towards a more resilient and cleaner energy future."</p><p>The IEA's Global Energy Review is based on more than 100 days of data so far this year. It predicts that global energy demand will fall by six percent in 2020, the equivalent of losing the entire energy demand of India and seven times the 2008 decline.</p>
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<p>All major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> have taken a beating so far and are expected to decline further.</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">Coal</a> demand fell by almost eight percent in the first quarter of 2020 and could fall eight percent for the whole year.</li><li><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">Oil</a> declined by almost five percent in the first quarter and could fall by nine percent for the year.</li><li><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">Natural gas</a> declined by two percent so far and is expected to fall by five percent for the year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/30/covid-19-crisis-demand-fossil-fuels-iea-renewable-electricity" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. While gas has been less impacted than oil and coal, that would still be its steepest decline since it became a widely-used energy source in the mid-20th century.</li></ul><p>Only <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> sources saw growth, and are expected to continue to grow throughout the year. This is because <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> turbines and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a> panels cost little to operate, so when electricity demand declines, they get priority on the grid, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/climate/global-emissions-decline.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200430&instance_id=18089&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&section=whatElse&segment_id=26264&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19" target="_blank">The New York Times explained</a>.</p><p>This means low carbon energy sources are expected to continue moving in the direction that began in 2019, when they overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity for the first time in 50 years. By the end of 2020, they should account for 40 percent of the world's electricity.</p>
<p>"This is a historic shock to the entire energy world. Amid today's unparalleled health and economic crises, the plunge in demand for nearly all major fuels is staggering, especially for coal, oil and gas. Only renewables are holding up during the previously unheard-of slump in electricity use," Birol said. "It is still too early to determine the longer-term impacts, but the energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before."</p><p>The IEA estimates are based on certain assumptions, namely that lockdown measures are loosened in the coming months and the economy begins to recover.</p><p>"Some countries may delay the lifting of the lockdown, or a second wave of coronavirus could render our current expectations on the optimistic side," Birol told <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-iea-energy-coronavirus/coronavirus-lockdowns-set-to-slash-energy-demand-emissions-by-record-amounts-iea-idUKKBN22C0HL" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>The question for climate advocates is whether the decline in emissions can be sustained. This is a tall order. The United Nations has estimated that emissions need to decline by around eight percent per year through 2030 in order to keep temperatures "well below" two degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, The New York Times reported.</p><p>However, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-italy-air-pollution-2645508891.html" target="_self">declines</a> in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a> that have accompanied the lockdowns may provide an effective argument for cleaner energy.</p><p>"I hope the striking improvements in air quality we've seen remind us what things could be like if we shifted to green power and electric vehicles," Stanford University earth scientist Rob Jackson told The New York Times. </p>
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Investing in renewables typically pays off over time. Mint Images/ Bill Miles / Getty Images
You may think it would be pricey to rent an apartment in a sleek new complex with rooftop solar and ultra-efficient appliances. But Silver Star Apartments in L.A. houses formerly homeless and disabled veterans.
It's one of a small but growing number of affordable housing developments built to meet stringent green building standards.
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Amanda Sturgeon is former CEO of the <a target="_blank" href="https://living-future.org/">International Living Future Institute</a>. The nonprofit certifies buildings that meet strict targets for energy and water use.
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"Climate benefits are that they're typically zero-energy homes," she says. "So … being able to generate all the energy for the homes from renewable resources."
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She says investing in renewables typically pays off over time. But the upfront cost can be a barrier for affordable housing developers.
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So the institute works with about 20 affordable housing developers in the U.S. And it's created a toolkit with resources for designing and financing affordable zero-energy buildings. Sturgeon says a number are already under construction.
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"Once you have built examples," she says, "you can then sort of show people it's possible, and they can feel it and really see that this is something that other people can invest in."
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<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/04/toolkit-helps-housing-developers-design-affordable-climate-friendly-residences/" target="_blank"><em>Yale Climate Connections.</em></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Solar panel installations and a wind turbine at the Phu Lac wind farm in southern Vietnam's Binh Thuan province on April 23, 2019. MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP via Getty Images
Renewable energy made up almost three quarters of all new energy capacity added in 2019, data released Monday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows.
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<p>That's a record breaking figure, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/06/new-renewable-energy-capacity-hit-record-levels-in-2019" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. As is the fact that more than one third of global power is now provided by renewable sources like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind </a>and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a>. But IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera warned that governments must not backtrack on this progress as they work to jump start their economies in the wake of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"In responding to today's crisis, governments may be tempted to focus on short-term solutions," he said, according to The Guardian. "Yet distinctions between short-, medium- and long-term challenges may be deceptive. The pandemic shows that delayed action brings significant economic consequences."</p>
<p>Overall, the report found that renewable energy added slightly less overall capacity in 2019 compared to 2018, at 176 gigawatts (GW) compared to 179. However, the amount of new fossil fuel power added also declined, The Guardian pointed out. Renewables also grew 2.6 times more than <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> and made up 72 percent of new energy capacity added, the report found.</p><p>"Renewable energy is a cost-effective source of new power that insulates power markets and consumers from volatility, supports economic stability and stimulates sustainable growth," La Camera said in a press release. "With renewable additions providing the majority of new capacity last year, it is clear that many countries and regions recognise the degree to which the energy transition can deliver positive outcomes."<br></p>
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<p>Renewable energy grew by 7.6 percent in 2019. On a regional level, 54 percent of that growth occurred in Asia. When it comes to power sources, 90 percent of the growth was driven by solar and wind, which increased by 98 GW and around 60 GW respectively.</p>
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<p>However the 2020 outlook may be less bright, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/the-coronavirus-is-hitting-renewable-energy-supply-chains-factories.html" target="_blank">CNBC reported</a>. There are concerns that the coronavirus pandemic and the plummeting of oil prices may decrease renewable energy investments, and there are already signs that the virus is interfering with renewable energy supply chains.</p><p>For example, Wood Mackenzie projected on Monday that 3 GW of wind and solar installation in India could be delayed because of the coronavirus lockdown and noted that the solar sector in India was heavily dependent on photovoltaic imports from China, which were impacted by the virus.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Global Wind Energy Council said in late March that wind's previously projected growth over the next five years would "undoubtedly be impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, due to disruptions to global supply chains and project execution in 2020."</p><p>WindEurope said 18 manufacturing sites in hard-hit Spain and Italy are now closed, though the majority of the continent's wind turbine factories remain open.</p><p>"As an existential threat, the multi-faceted fallout from coronavirus … now sits alongside climate change as a defining challenge of our time," La Camera wrote, as CNBC reported.</p>
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In Germany's Hunsrück village of Schorbach, numerous photovoltaic systems are installed on house roofs, on Sept. 19, 2019. Thomas Frey / Picture Alliance via Getty Images
Germany's target for renewable energy sources to deliver 65% of its consumed electricity by 2030 seemed on track Wednesday, with 52% of electricity coming from renewables in 2020's first quarter. Renewable energy advocates, however, warned the trend is imperiled by slowdowns in building new wind and solar plants.
<p>The federal BDEW energy and water federation and Baden-Württemberg state's ZSW solar and hydro research center observed a 7% percent renewables jump from 44.4% in the same period last year, in comparison to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> consumption.</p><p>Wind, especially offshore wind turbines, solar panels and other sources generated 77 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) compared to 67 kWh in the first quarter of 2019.</p><p>Using the standard EU's electricity consumption measurement, Germany's total, also from conventional <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">gas</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/nuclear" target="_self">nuclear</a> plants, amounted to 148 billion kWh.</p>
<p><br>The 7% jump in renewables came despite conventional plant closures and pandemic impacts on industry, officials said, while also noting "special effects" such as record winds in February and plentiful sun in March that benefited turbines and voltaic panels.</p><p>That trend could, however, not be extrapolated for the whole of 2020, warned the BDEW and ZSW, pointing to local objectors and current investor indecision.</p><p>Some residents, arguing on health and scenic grounds, resist the building of more wind turbines and the laying of extra arterial power lines to transmit electricity captured at North Sea wind farms to Germany's industrial south.</p>
<p>The record figures stand in contrast to investment deterrents, which if not quickly removed would make Germany's target of 65% self-sufficiency unreachable, said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae.</p><p>Germany's pandemic-induced economic woes compounded the situation, Andreae added.</p><p>Given the current downturn, ZSW executive board member Frithjof Staiss contended that investors would turn to renewable energy projects that were less fraught with risk than the current "volatile share market."</p><p>The renewables record, noted the BDEW and ZSW, was achieved despite the shutdown of Germany's Philippsburg 2 nuclear power plant at the end of 2019 and the placing of brown coal power plants on standby to cover emergencies.</p><p>Using another measure, gross electricity produced, the two groups calculated that with exported electricity included in their calculation, renewable sources made up 49% of Germany's gross electricity production in the first quarter of the year.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/renewables-make-up-over-half-of-germanys-power-mix/a-52986924?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>
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