Bloomberg Commits $500million. True story, my first winter in Baltimore, someone had donated a ton of money border the walkways with granite pavers which were a blast during icy days. Bloomberg is allocating capital to better causes these days, committing another $500million to close the remaining coal plants in the US. Here’s my issue with this approach. The world would be a better place if that money endowed solar advocacy, our industry has the best return on investment when it comes to lobbying because we have the facts and voters on our side. So how about a compromise? $400million for coal and $100million for solar?
Deregulation Autopilot Gone Awry. Trump is looking to clear the proverbial field for auto OEMs, setting up a fight with California over fuel standards. The problem with that is that OEMs know that the trend goes the other direction and a 2 year return to the 1980s isn’t going to help their shareholders. They know that cars need to be electric and efficient regardless of the regulation and changing the rules stops them from being able to explain to their short term focused shareholders what they need to be doing right now.
A Debate Topic Versus Debate. The DNC says that climate change will be a topic during the debate and Presidents need to be able to multi task. So I ask the DNC, what will the question be? What will you do about climate change? Your answer in 90 seconds, go! This will only lead to a 6 minutes abs scenario where everyone goes for the 100% by answer and forgets the meat of the topic. Solving energy transition in coal communities, retooling manufacturing to clean energy (candidates should come visit me in Walnut Creek), and how to leverage climate topics in foreign policy to get other countries on board.
Fire Season Starts. PG&E had its first outage this weekend, shutting off power to about 25,000 customers and businesses. This wasn’t a population center but it caused chaos with calls flooding the 911 centers. Imagine when this strikes the Bay Area and business, factories and hotels have to shut down or go to backup generators.
- Utility Dive: Bloomberg commits $500M to phasing out coal, halting new gas plants
- Time: The World’s Largest Automakers Asked Trump Not to Loosen a Climate Change Standard. Here’s Why
- Think Progress: DNC argues climate will still be debate topic after nixing dedicated debate. History says otherwise.
- San Francisco Chronicle: PG&E restoring power after intentional shut-offs affect 20,500 customers
- Greentech Media: Summit Ridge Energy Secures Project Finance Fund for 100MW of Community Solar
- New York Times: California Reckons With the Cost of Wildfires to Come
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann