News from a Changing Planet -- This Week on Earth #22
Michigan's clean energy BFD, lithium-ion battery alternatives, challenges facing offshore wind development and more!
MICHIGAN GOES BIG: The state just passed one of the country’s most ambitious clean energy bills. (Inside Climate News)
This past week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a bill that will require the state to get 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040. Lots of other states (12) have laws like this, but Michigan’s is especially ambitious, given its starting point.
First, its target for this shift to clean energy is 2040, sooner than every state except Rhode Island. And it’s starting with quite a lot of fossil fuel energy — about 62 percent of the state’s electricity still comes from fossil fuels. Last year, Michigan got 15 percent of its electricity from renewables, and 23 percent from nuclear power. Compared to its Midwestern neighbors with similar laws on the books —Minnesota (58 percent carbon-free) and Illinois (66 percent) — it has a much longer way to go.
But this also matters because of the political reality it’s demonstrating. According to Dan Gearino, who wrote the article for ICN:
“The transition to clean energy in this region is a vital part of the country’s transition. Midwestern states are some of the most dependent on fossil fuels and they are closer to the political center than states in the Northeast and the West Coast.
Once the transition gains momentum in the Midwest, it’s a sign that these kinds of policies have reached the mainstream.
“This is heartland policy,” [said Jacob Corvidae, a clean energy analyst at RMI,] about the three states’ energy policies. “And I think that really signals that this is because hearts and minds are changing, people’s understanding of the challenges and possibilities are changing, and the economics have changed. And I think it is a pretty major emblem of that change.”
UPPING OUR SODIUM INTAKE: Progress is being made on making some batteries from sodium, which could ease electrification and geopolitical pains. (The Economist)
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