U.S. Postal Service to transform delivery fleet with 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028

The U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday that it intends to purchase at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles as part of a push to transform its delivery fleet.The electric vehicles would amount to more than half the 106,000 vehicles it plans to acquire for delivery between now and 2028. The new vehicles will start to replace its aging fleet of 220,000 vehicles, the Postal Service said in a press release.The Postal Service has faced public pressure from environmental campaigns to electrify its fleet.In April, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the USPS for its failure to conduct an adequate environmental analysis before deciding to replace its vehicle fleet with more “fuel-guzzling combustion mail trucks,” according to a press release from the Sierra Club.“Instead of receiving...

Published on 1/11/2023 (70 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Grid Bottlenecks Could Derail Europe’s Renewable Energy Boom

Europe’s energy transition ambitions face several challenges, but a major impediment to bringing new renewable power online is insufficient grid capacity. Rystad Energy’s current base case forecast has Europe adding as much as 530 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV and onshore and offshore wind between 2022 and 2030, more than 66 GW per year on average. Furthermore, the share of solar and wind combined as a share of total installed capacity surpassed 10% in 2010 and more than tripled in 2021, reaching 34%, according to Rystad Energy research.Growth is not expected to slow down anytime soon, as European countries are planning huge additions of renewables over the next few years. If Europe is to remain a leader in the energy transition, a huge amount of grid capacity will need to be developed, both...

Published on 12/22/2022 (90 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Biden's natural gas "phase out" is the next looming disaster

Back on December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day, appropriately enough), the Biden administration issued a declaration via the Department of Energy ordering all new or refurbished federal buildings to eliminate the use of natural gas and become fully “electrified” beginning in 2025. The order didn’t receive much attention in the press at the time, but this foolish plan needs to be checked at the door. This was, of course, yet another sop to the climate change fanatics, but the White House clearly wanted to bill it in a way that made the plan seem even “better for America.” The order declared that electrifying federal buildings in this fashion would save the taxpayers eight million dollars annually “in upfrontThe Biden administration is casting its plan to phase out the use of natural gas in federal...

Published on 12/19/2022 (93 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

EU leaders have agreed on a new plan to source power that isn't from Russia

BUCHAREST, Romania — The leaders of Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Azerbaijan finalized an agreement Saturday on an undersea electricity connector that could become a new power source for the European Union amid a crunch on energy supplies caused by the war in Ukraine.The agreement involves a cable running beneath the Black Sea that would link Azerbaijan to Hungary via Georgia and Romania.The deal comes as Hungary, which has lobbied heavily against EU sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine, is seeking additional sources for fossil fuels to reduce its heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas.Azerbaijan plans to export electricity from offshore wind farms to Europe via Georgia, a cable beneath the Black Sea, and then to Romania and Hungary.The office of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis...

Published on 12/19/2022 (93 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Why are electric vehicle sales lagging in Texas?

WASHINGTON — So far this year electric vehicles represent almost 7 percent of all U.S. car sales, more than double the rate two years ago, as motorists in California and along the East Coast rush to pick up one of the multitude of new electric offerings from automakers like Ford and Tesla.But in the middle of the country, in states like Texas, the market isn’t quite so charged. In 2022 just 4.3 percent of car sales in Texas were electric models, compared with 19 percent in California, according to the data firm Atlas Public Policy.Electric vehicle sales are rising in Texas, like they are everywhere. But convincing Texans to go electric carries particular difficulty, car dealers and advocates say, mostly because many electric vehicles can’t travel more than 200 miles without a charge and...

Published on 12/14/2022 (98 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

California Offshore Wind Auction Is Second-Biggest in Clamor for Renewable Power

European energy heavyweights dominated a government auction of offshore wind rights Wednesday, with successful bidders spending a combined $757 million on leases for floating renewable power projects along the coast of California.The winning bidders included US joint ventures and units affiliated with Norwegian oil giant Equinor ASA, France’s Engie SA and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S. READ FULL ARTICLE...

Published on 12/8/2022 (104 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Wind Turbines Don’t Even Last 20 Years

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), wind turbines are supposed to have a useful lifetime of 20 years, but real-life evidence shows that wind turbines don’t even last this long before they are torn down and repowered so wind companies can soak up more of your tax dollars. This is why Xcel Energy is spending $750 million on repowering wind projects built between 2008 and 2015.It’s All About the Subsidies, Baby!Thanks to a subsidy that has been “temporary” since 1992, wind turbines receive a federal tax credit of $24 for every megawatt-hour (MWh) generated. The most recent extension of these “temporary” tax credits locks in wind developments at 60 percent of the original subsidy, or $18 per MWh, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.Wind turbines...

Published on 12/8/2022 (104 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Renewables Will Overtake Coal by Early 2025, Energy Agency Says

Worldwide, growth in renewable power capacity is set to double by 2027, adding as much renewable power in the next five years as it did in the past two decades, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.By Elena ShaoDec. 6, 2022Renewables are poised to overtake coal as the largest source of electricity generation by early 2025, the report found, a pattern driven in large part by the global energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine.“This is a clear example of how the current energy crisis can be a historic turning point toward a cleaner and more secure energy system,” said Fatih Birol, the I.E.A. executive director, in a news release. READ FULL ARTICLE...

Published on 12/8/2022 (104 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

US, EU Agree to Intensify Talks on 'Green Subsidies' Dispute

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and European Union agreed Monday to intensify talks to resolve EU concerns over major subsidies for American companies contained in a U.S. clean energy law.Although no deal was reached at a meeting of the bilateral bilateral Trade and Technology Council, the two sides pledged to continue work on preliminary progress and said they would push for a solution that benefits both U.S. and European firms, workers and consumers as well as the climate.“We acknowledge the EU’s concerns and underline our commitment to address them constructively,” the two sides said in a joint statement after the meeting at the University of Maryland in College Park, located just outside Washington.“We underline the TTC’s role in achieving this and in supporting a successful and...

Published on 12/8/2022 (104 days ago) Solar, Wind & EV's

Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in US waters

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Tuesday marks the first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms, in the deep waters off the West Coast.The live, online auction for the five leases — three off California’s central coast and two off its northern coast — has attracted strong interest and 43 companies from around the world are approved to bid. The wind turbines will float roughly 25 miles offshore.The growth of offshore wind comes as climate change intensifies and need for clean energy grows. It also is getting cheaper. The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60% since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. It declined 13% in 2021 alone.Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just...

Published on 12/8/2022 (104 days ago) Oil/Gas, Solar, Wind & EV's