Long lines for gas and skyrocketing retail gas prices marked May 2021 as a memorable month for automobile owners. While gasoline shortages in the early 1970s were caused by an international oil embargo, this more recent supply shortfall resulted from…
The last few years, especially these last few months, have seen aviation emission regulation like never before. At home and abroad, the aviation industry appears to be making significant inroads relating to emissions from engines “typically used in…
New England is Facing a Gas Shortage that Could Threaten Many this Winter. What can be Done? With winter fast approaching, many New England states and their residents are at risk of not having enough fuel to meet their heating and power generation…
By Alex Sugg, Staff Contributor
By Diego Huerta, Staff Contributor.
By Jaclyn Lee, Staff Contributor
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In September 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) began its highly anticipated proceeding to reevaluate the state’s net energy metering successor (NEM 2.0) tariff. Expected no later than January 2022, the decision from the national leader in solar electricity production could have far-reaching impacts on the future of customer-owned solar generation and battery storage.
By Blake Ellis, Staff Contributor
In February 2021, the state of Texas experienced unprecedented power outages caused by severe winter storms. Conservative politicians and media were quick to blame the use of renewable energy as the culprit of the outages. The facts present a different explanation.
By Farrah Yan, Staff Contributor
COVID-19 has brought a lot of uncertainty to renewable energy projects. Even though the government recently enacted bills to extend renewable energy tax credits, whether this relief will be effective is of a question. As Joe Biden has put great emphasis on funding clean energy projects for his upcoming term, the questions are: what are some effective methods to boost the renewable energy industry? Are these methods viable under COVID-19?
By Volodymyr Ponomarov, Staff Contributor
The European Green New Deal is an environmental plan aimed at making Europe carbon-neutral by 2050.[1] In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the European Union (“EU”) initiated the revision of a number of international agreements. Among one of those agreements is the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”). In July and September, 2020, the European Commission and EU Member States had two rounds of negotiations at the Energy Charter Conference dedicated to the modernization of the ECT.[2] The call for the ECT’s reform was, among other things, prompted by the ECT’s purported “serious threat to Europe’s climate neutrality target and more broadly to the implementation of the Paris Agreement.”[3]
The ECT’s modernization is important because this is the first targeted attempt to reshape the unique, legally-binding, energy-related multilateral treaty and marks a step towards compliance with the Paris Climate Accord. Additionally, modernization of the ECT provisions is relevant to U.S. companies investing in both the renewable and fossil fuel energy sectors of the ECT Member States. At this point, it is unclear how the two rounds of negotiations went and whether the actual changes are coming in the nearest future. The third round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in December 2020. This post will take a closer look at the ECT’s history, goals, and environmental standards. Furthermore, this post will address novel critiques as to its incompatibility with the Paris Climate Accord.
By Robert Patton, Managing Editor
The coronavirus pandemic provides a unique opportunity to address global climate change.
