Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Natural Gas
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the nonprofit, independent power grid operator for 90 percent of the nation's second-largest state, has become the convenient fall guy for the epic power failure caused by an extreme weather event.
Austin American-Statesman
More cities are banning the use of natural gas in new buildings. Seattle is the latest example.
The Seattle Times
San Francisco becomes the 40th city statewide to legislate a ban on natural gas in development projects.
Smart Cities Dive
CNN host Fareed Zakaria questions whether the goals of Sanders' ambitious Green New Deal are realistic.
The Washington Post
The Trump administration's rollback on August 29 of an Obama-era regulation to reduce methane emissions in the production and distribution of oil and natural gas did not sit well with large oil and gas companies who see value in reducing emissions.
The New York Times
Environmentalists in California are upset that Los Angeles will build a new 840-megawatt natural gas plant to replace a 1,800-megawatt coal plant. The coal plant has been crucial to the economic development of Millard County, Utah.
Los Angeles Times
On Tuesday night, the City Council of Berkeley, Calif., unanimously voted to ban natural gas infrastructure from new buildings starting next year, the first city in the U.S. to pass such an ordinance. Fifty cities in the state could be next.
San Francisco Chronicle
The "War on Coal" is back, in the form of a new grassroots political campaign bankrolled by Bloomberg Philanthropies to decarbonize power generation by targeting existing coal power plants and halting the growth of natural gas replacements.
The New York Times
Last month, the Paris-based International Energy Agency released its annual "Global Energy & CO2 Status Report." Energy consumption grew 2.3 percent with fossil fuels accounting for 70 percent on the increase. CO2 emissions jumped 1.7 percent.
The Washington Post
The U.S. Department of Energy, in partnership with the California Energy Commission and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, awarded $18 million to nine companies and universities to advance natural gas technology for trucks.
Climatewire
Oil independence, a goal set by President Nixon in the depth of the 1973 energy embargo, was achieved in the last week of November thanks to a fluke in record keeping as well as an "unprecedented boom in American oil production."
Bloomberg News
A new report from the International Energy Association projects that petrochemicals will be the largest driver of oil consumption, greatly increasing greenhouse gas emissions and offsetting the effect of electric vehicles on oil demand.
Reuters
Falling costs for renewable energy may lead some to believe that coal and other mainstays have been replaced, but they haven't. Adoption of renewables is not yet outpacing growth in demand for energy.
Axios
At the NATO Summit in Brussels last Wednesday, President Trump charged that Germany was captive to Russia because of its dependence on Russian natural gas, and a new, controversial pipeline from Russia to Germany will exacerbate its dependency.
The Washington Post
The region spanning Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania is claiming a new name.
WOSU
A new natural gas power plant promises a revolution in carbon capture.
Vox
Coal plants will retire faster than analysts had figured under the Clean Power Plan, which the Trump administration is repealing, yet the Department of Energy proposes to make building new coal plants a centerpiece of its energy policy.
Forbes
The International Energy Agency found that China and India were responsible for 40 percent of the increased energy demand. The biggest decrease in carbon dioxide emissions came from the U.S., largely due to increased use of renewables.
International Energy Agency
Opponents cite environmental risks, supporters hope the facility will boost the economy of a struggling community.
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
“It has to be one of the greatest wastes of money in any state’s history,” Alan Greenblatt writes.
Governing
