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Entries Tagged as 'electricity'

Thinking about Virginia legislature and (Dominion) Electric School Bus legislation

January 24th, 2020 · Comments Off on Thinking about Virginia legislature and (Dominion) Electric School Bus legislation

Between a Dominion Power Electric School Bus (ESB) project and Governor Northam ESB demonstration programs, Virginia is on the cusp of becoming the national leader of ESB adoption and, through a major acquisition program, could change the game nationally when it comes ESBs and, potentially, government investment in electrifying large vehicle fleets. There are, at […]

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Tags: Dominion Energy · dominion virginia power · Electric Buses · electric vehicles · electricity · Electrification · schools · virginia

Virginia’s Clean Economy Act: Are the analytical underpinnings fatally (pessimistically) flawed

December 22nd, 2019 · Comments Off on Virginia’s Clean Economy Act: Are the analytical underpinnings fatally (pessimistically) flawed

Last week, a broad environmental coalition and multiple Virginia state legislators coalesced for the announcement of the “Virginia Clean Economy Act” (VCEA). When one sees organizations like CCAN and its climate hawk founder/director Mike Tidwell pushing hard to build momentum for the VCEA, the presumption has to be that this is serious action that would […]

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Tags: ActOnClimate · analysis · clean emissions · Cost-Benefit Analysis · dominion virginia power · electricity · Electrification · environmental · environmental economics · renewable electricity standards · virginia

How fast can Virginia get to 60% clean electrons? Scratches on a back of an envelope

December 22nd, 2019 · Comments Off on How fast can Virginia get to 60% clean electrons? Scratches on a back of an envelope

The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) targets having 60 percent of Virginia’s electrons ‘clean’ (e.g., low-to-no carbon emissions on generation) by 2036 and 100 percent by 2050. While finally, if passed, legislating a clean power (more prosperous and resilient) future for the Commonwealth, this bill would still leave Virginia a middling player (not a leader) […]

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Tags: clean emissions · dominion virginia power · electricity · Electrification · renewable electricity standards · renewable energy · virginia

Dominion Virginia Energy’s Electrifying Bus Announcement: Thoughts on this potentially game changing move

September 3rd, 2019 · Comments Off on Dominion Virginia Energy’s Electrifying Bus Announcement: Thoughts on this potentially game changing move

Last Friday, Dominion Virginia Energy announced a major electric school bus (EV Bus) program: to replace 100% of the diesel school buses (roughly 13,000), in its service area, by 2030 with EV Buses. This is a potentially game changing initiative that could rapidly drive down EV Bus prices and open the door for rapid moves […]

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Tags: bus · Dominion Energy · dominion virginia power · Electric Buses · electric vehicles · electricity · Energy · green schools · PHEV · schools · virginia

Virginia Energy Plan: @GovernorVA should GO BIG or go home …

August 23rd, 2018 · Comments Off on Virginia Energy Plan: @GovernorVA should GO BIG or go home …

Governor Northam has a real opportunity – assuming he seizes it – to set Virginia on a path toward increased prosperity, improved security, and global leadership this fall. “Virginia law requires the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) to write a ten-year Energy Plan in the first year of every new administration. The statute lists […]

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Tags: building green · bus · business practice · dominion virginia power · economics · electric vehicles · electricity · Electrification · emissions · Energy · environmental · green · green schools

BP’s “Stair Step” approach to coal and renewables in the electricity sector?

June 15th, 2018 · 1 Comment

BP’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, is perhaps one of those for who the old EF Hutton ad applies: when Spencer Dale speaks, people should listen. Thoughtful, substantive, and often incisive about what has happened, is happening, and might/potentially could happen in the energy sector. Dale’s presentations aren’t only substantive, but articulately engaging and done in […]

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Tags: coal · electricity · Electrification · Energy · Energy Forecasting

When “fast facts” aren’t truthful, aren’t factual …

February 12th, 2018 · Comments Off on When “fast facts” aren’t truthful, aren’t factual …

Axios is a Washington creation in the media culture. Well-funded and (extremely) well-promoted, it seems targeted at influencing influencers. Core to the overall approach seems to be a ‘#bothsiderism” approach, to present both sides of a political issue typically without stating how “one side” is simply outside the realm of truthfulness and that the “political” […]

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Tags: electricity · energy information administration · solar

Electric ship: powered by and carrying coal (scratching head)

November 25th, 2017 · Comments Off on Electric ship: powered by and carrying coal (scratching head)

Shipping is highly polluting — burning pretty much the dirtiest liquid fuels with limited (to no) pollution controls, shipping pollution is extreme.  A variety of measures are occurring, worldwide, to tackle this — from global agreements on shipping to nations creating regulations as to pollution in their coastal waters and ports, to the introduction of […]

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Tags: China · electric vehicles · electricity · Electrification · Energy · Maritime

Playing math games with something in a recent @EIAgov report

June 1st, 2016 · Comments Off on Playing math games with something in a recent @EIAgov report

Joe Romm’s Renewables Are Leaving Natural Gas In The Dust This Year opens In the first three months of 2016, the U.S. grid added 18 megawatts of new natural gas generating capacity. It added a whopping 1,291 megawatts (MW) of new renewables. The original title: “U.S. Grid Added 70 TimesMore Renewables ThanNatural Gas In First […]

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Tags: analysis · electricity

In light of shockingly low Mexican solar electricity prices, should Sunshot program change its targets?

March 31st, 2016 · Comments Off on In light of shockingly low Mexican solar electricity prices, should Sunshot program change its targets?

When Secretary Chu announced the Department of Energy’s SunShot program in February 2011, many (okay, most or nearly all) energy (related) analysts thought that the target of $0.05 per kilowatt hour for large-scale solar electricity delivery to the grid was beyond simply ambitious.  Great, perhaps, to have a stretch goal but I can recall multiple […]

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Tags: electricity · Solar Energy