The UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) is a guiding scientific document for what countries must do to combat global climate change. While the final report is due for publication in the month of October, the leaked report has already got the world worried. According to the report, our planet will soon exceed 1.5°C of warming unless nations implement “rapid and far-reaching” actions to reduce carbon emissions.
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The draft summary of IPCC report on climate change contains dire news about the warming of the planet. It suggests that our planet will warm beyond the key limit and is at very high risk of crossing the 1.5°C mark of temperature rise by the year 2040. According to the report, in some places, the temperature rise has already exceeded by 1.5°C. The warming has occurred more over land than over the oceans and is particularly intense in the Arctic.
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In the month of May this year, Oregon based NuScale Power accomplished a significant feat. It completed Phase 1 review from the U.S. regulators for the design of its small modular reactor. It is being seen as an early but crucial step in the development of small nuclear technology. Two other firms, Holtec International and BWXT mPower, are also moving through the pre-application process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the approval of their small modular reactors.
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New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has held many responsibilities associated with promoting renewables and energy efficiency, but the offshore wind challenge is a slightly complicated one. In case of offshore wind power, it not just has the responsibility of moving the process but also coordinating different agencies tasked with regulating and supporting the complex projects associated with offshore wind power.
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Offshore wind has been slow to develop in the US but thanks to aggressive renewable mandates in several coastal states and declining costs, the pace is finally picking up. Presently, there’s only one offshore wind farm in the United States – the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm. But, with states like New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey looking to up their clean energy usage in the US, the excitement around offshore wind energy is steadily increasing.
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In 2016, New York approved clean energy standard, mandating 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. It was deemed as the most ambitious clean energy mandate in the state’s history to fight pollution and climate change. Taking a step closer towards its 2030 goal, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced a new solicitation for 1.5 million megawatt hours of renewable electricity, to be delivered by 2022.
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The United States used 97.8 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy in 2016. That’s more than double the energy used by Russia the same year. That said, thanks to the increased use of natural gas in the last decade, the country has not only been able to keep up with the growing energy demands but has also achieved its lower carbon emission goals.
The natural gas sector has witnessed great innovations in the past few years due to the natural gas boom in the United States.
There is hardly an issue or a sector which is untouched by politics. With the growing concern for the environment and inclination towards clean energy sources, fuel and energy have become the primary agendas in the upcoming U.S. elections. Donald Trump’s election as a president heralded a seismic shift in the US domestic energy policy, unraveling many of the former President’s key energy policies. Trump ripped up the Obama era’s energy regulations, which left many concerned.
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When it comes to offshore oil and gas drilling, different candidates have different views on the controversial issue. While some support drilling in U.S. waters, some are skeptical of it or are even outright opposed to the idea of offshore drilling.
A majority of candidates, however, have gone on record against offshore leases, citing the threats they pose to the environment and their adverse effect on tourism-related jobs.
Gone are the days when the role of windows in the house was just limited to being a source of fresh air and natural light. U.S. Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have recently developed photovoltaic windows that can generate energy from the sunlight apart from functioning as regular windows.
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