07Jan

Addressing the 95% Challenge

Over the next 80 years, the U.S. is likely to account for just 5% of global emissions. That’s the finding of Varun Sivaram, an expert at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. As he recently told Axios, while reducing U.S. emissions is important, tackling the 95% percent challenge – rising global emissions – should be […]
04Jan

WV Coal: Back to the Future

Via The West Virginia Gazette: The recent announcement that Mylan, now Viatris, will shutter its Morgantown manufacturing facility and eliminate 1,500 jobs in the process leaves us all with an inexplicable empty feeling and sense of hopelessness. It serves as a brutal realization that longstanding state businesses can be “here today, gone tomorrow” due to […]
16Dec

Modelling the Impossible

“It’s technically possible,” is not the type of a response you want to hear from any expert. It’s the kind of response you get when something is brutally impossible but the person delivering the news wants to soften the blow. A new study from researchers at Princeton charting what’s needed to achieve net-zero U.S. emissions […]
09Dec

Coal’s Time Remains Now

The Economist has decided that it’s time for the world to stop using coal. The magazine argues that based on falling coal demand in Europe and the U.S., it’s not only possible for the world to turn its back on the leading fuel for electricity generation but it’s what responsible nations must do. Perhaps it’s […]
03Dec

Double Down on Carbon Capture Incentives

There is obvious momentum building behind carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). There’s widespread international recognition of the necessity of the technology, the president-elect has made it a centerpiece of his climate and energy approach, and it’s a rare place of bipartisan agreement in a divided Washington. And thanks to IRS guidance issued this May […]
25Nov

Consol Energy Wants to Build an Advanced, Carbon Capture-Equipped Coal Plant. It’s Exactly What U.S. Energy Leadership Demands.

A recent presidential candidate confidently declared that American ingenuity, directed at advanced coal technology, could produce essential breakthroughs. He said, “This is America. We figured out how to put a man on the moon in 10 years. You can’t tell me we can’t figure out how to burn coal that we mine right here in […]
18Nov

Pennsylvania is Flirting with Self-Imposed Energy Disaster

Americans can’t afford to pay more for electricity, especially with millions out of work in the midst of pandemic-induced economic upheaval. Yet, higher electricity costs and economic turmoil are coming if lawmakers continue to pursue policies that mandate an aggressive pivot away from existing baseload power to intermittent, more expensive alternatives. Pennsylvania is now on […]
17Nov

Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Begins with American Mining

Via Inside Sources: As President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris line up their priorities for the coming four years, much of their agenda rests on a foundation provided by the nation’s nearly 600,000 miners — miners and a mining industry ready to do their part to help drive America’s post-pandemic recovery. From infrastructure to affordable, […]
10Nov

Stumbling Over Transmission

The cost of wind and solar power may be falling but building the transmission infrastructure to send power across the country – perhaps the key piece of the renewable puzzle – has only gotten more difficult and more expensive. A reality now playing out in both the U.S. and Europe. Germany’s attempt to pivot to […]
28Oct

The Issue Remains Affordability

With less than a week to the election, it’s worth reminding the candidates – and ourselves – what voters really think about energy issues. Despite the rhetoric about energy mixes of the future or what will and will not be banned, the issue that matters most to voters is affordability. Time and again, in poll […]