Search Climate Insights Directory

The text describes the evolution of the 'coywolf'—a hybrid of the eastern gray wolf and western coyote—which emerged as a survival mechanism following European settlement, deforestation, and hunting in North America. It uses this example of hybridization to warn that current legislative efforts to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota could lead to the extinction of pure-bred wolf populations due to unregulated killing.

The RMI Community Energy Resource Guide offers a structured process for local governments to transition to clean energy. It outlines a 6-to-12-month planning cycle involving stakeholder collaboration, data baselining, and the selection of sector-specific tactics. The guide details strategies across four primary domains: buildings, electricity supply, transportation, and industry, while emphasizing the role of 'broad enablers' like Green Banks and updated utility regulatory models to scale implementation.

The chemical industry is using federal TSCA reform and the TTIP trade agreement to prevent US states from enacting chemical safety laws that exceed federal standards, potentially turning federal regulations into a ceiling rather than a floor.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analysis finds that two-thirds of U.S. states may be exposing electricity consumers to financial risks due to overreliance on natural gas. These risks include price volatility, potential carbon pricing costs, and the possibility of stranded assets such as underused plants and pipelines. The report rates states across five categories, identifying Florida as the only state with a "High" risk rating in all five. To mitigate these risks, the report advocates for prioritizing renewable energy and energy efficiency over natural gas as a primary solution for carbon reduction under the federal Clean Power Plan.

The paper examines how different DER ownership models can be used to integrate cost-effective technologies into outdated regulatory frameworks. It argues that no single model is universal, but each can work if the value proposition aligns with the public interest and utilizes an adaptive approach prioritizing fair compensation and transparency. Utility-owned models are effective for early adoption and public goals but risk cost overruns and market power issues. Third-party and customer-owned models excel when they have transparent access to the full value of DERs through dynamic rate design or competitive markets.

The report assesses the environmental impact of peat mining in Manitoba, specifically focusing on the Interlake region. It estimates that nutrient leaching from all current peat lease holdings would contribute between 0.02% and 0.35% of total annual phosphorus and 0.04% to 0.87% of total annual nitrogen loads to Lake Winnipeg. Greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change due to peat extraction are estimated to be no more than 0.4 million tonnes CO2e per year, representing approximately 2% of Manitoba's total annual emissions. The document concludes that a cumulative environmental assessment (CEA) is an appropriate methodology for managing these activities and suggests mitigation strategies such as carbon credit trading, immediate post-extraction restoration, and the use of sedimentation ponds and constructed wetlands.

The report highlights Lake Winnipeg's extreme vulnerability to upstream pressures due to its very low volume relative to its massive drainage basin. It argues that managing the lake in isolation is insufficient and recommends a transboundary, basin-wide framework that treats land as 'ecological infrastructure.' By implementing distributed storage and wetland restoration, the region can mitigate floods, capture nutrients, and buffer against climate change while supporting hydroelectric generation. The document draws on case studies from the Columbia River and Murray-Darling basins to illustrate how integrated water resources management (IWRM) and ecosystem services can balance competing economic and environmental needs.

The Union of Concerned Scientists challenges Peabody Energy's 2014 claim that the benefits of CO2 outweigh its costs by 'orders of magnitude,' asserting instead that the social costs of carbon pollution—such as drought, heat waves, and coastal flooding—far exceed any benefits. The document details Peabody Energy's repeated efforts to challenge the EPA's endangerment finding and the IPCC's findings, as well as its affiliations with industry groups like ALEC and ACCCE to promote climate disinformation.

The report argues that while open records laws are essential for government transparency, they are increasingly weaponized to target scientists and academics whose work threatens vested interests. By requesting vast amounts of private correspondence, draft papers, and raw data, harassers aim to chill speech, distract researchers from their work, and undermine scientific integrity. The document provides numerous case studies across fields such as climate science, tobacco research, and environmental health, noting that public universities are often unprepared to handle these intrusive requests. It calls for clearer legal exemptions to protect the scientific deliberative process and the development of institutional guidelines to safeguard researchers while maintaining public accountability.

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that increasing Minnesota's renewable energy standard to 40 percent by 2030 would drive over $6 billion in new capital investments and reduce reliance on imported electricity without significantly impacting retail rates. The analysis indicates that such a policy would increase wind capacity to nearly 6,000 MW and utility-scale solar to over 600 MW by 2030. While a strengthened RES helps position the state to comply with the EPA's Clean Power Plan, the report notes that coal would still provide 38 percent of electricity in 2030 without additional policy actions. The authors recommend combining the strengthened RES with an increased energy efficiency standard of 2 percent annually by 2020.

The report argues that TTIP's regulatory cooperation provisions, primarily based on EU proposals, would institutionalize oversight of US state-level legislation and regulations by federal and international bodies. This framework would likely lead to 'regulatory chill' through onerous procedural requirements, such as early warning systems and trade impact assessments, which favor industry influence over public interest. The document highlights that US states often act as the primary regulators of toxic chemicals and pesticides when federal action is lax, and that TTIP's goal of 'regulatory compatibility' could effectively set federal or international standards as a ceiling, preventing states from adopting more protective measures. It specifically warns that such mechanisms could be used to challenge state-level bans on substances like Bisphenol A (BPA) or pesticide residue monitoring programs in California.

The report argues that current U.S. distributed solar (DPV) business models are overly customer-centric and fail to capture operational grid benefits, leading to conflict between utilities and solar companies. It proposes three 'bridge' business model building blocks: increasing access via subscription models, optimizing deployment for capacity and grid services, and bundling solar with other distributed energy resources (DERs). The authors emphasize that maximizing DPV value requires collaboration to reduce 'soft costs' and a shift toward standardized valuation methodologies and transparent data sharing between stakeholders.

The document examines Gevo's GIFT platform, which converts corn sugars into isobutanol for use as a fuel additive or chemical feedstock. It highlights that achieving 'advanced biofuel' certification from the US EPA is critical for the technology's commercial success, as the product would otherwise be only marginally better than ethanol in terms of carbon impact. The report notes significant financial instability at Gevo, including a risk of insolvency and potential delisting from the NASDAQ. Economically, retrofitting an ethanol refinery with GIFT and a combined heat and power (CHP) system would increase capital requirements by approximately 60%. Additional risks include past process contamination at a Minnesota plant, ongoing patent litigation with Butamax, and the emergence of potentially cheaper ethanol-to-butanol conversion technologies.

The report argues that traditional bundled, volumetric block rates are obsolete for a grid with increasing distributed energy resources (DERs) because they fail to reflect the temporal and locational value of electricity. It proposes evolving rate design along three continuums: attribute unbundling (separating energy and capacity), temporal granularity (moving toward real-time pricing), and locational granularity (addressing distribution 'hot spots'). The authors suggest a transition strategy using a combination of evolving default rates and opt-in alternatives, supported by third-party technologies to maintain a simple customer experience. Recommendations for regulators include increasing data transparency, enhancing valuation methodologies for DER attributes, and establishing clear timelines for rate transitions.

The report details the expansion of solar energy in the U.S., focusing on rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, large-scale PV, and concentrating solar power (CSP). It highlights significant cost reductions, the role of state and federal incentives, and the environmental benefits of transitioning from fossil fuels to solar, while addressing grid integration challenges and land-use impacts.

The document describes how climate change and human pressures will affect the Great Lakes Region, specifically highlighting risks to human health, the regional economy, and the cultural sense of place.

The report details the 'Lake Winnipeg Bioeconomy Project', which investigates the use of cattail (Typha spp.) as a sustainable biomass feedstock. Through pilot harvests at Pelly’s Lake, Manitoba, the study demonstrates that using a rotary disc mower with conditioning rolls improves harvesting efficiency and drying times, enabling the use of large square balers. The harvested biomass was processed into solid fuel cubes and biocarbon (biochar), with the latter showing a higher heating value (31.41 MJ/kg) than wheat straw biocarbon (23.75 MJ/kg). Nutrient analysis indicates that cattail ash can serve as a potassium-rich fertilizer, though its phosphorus is largely insoluble at neutral pH. The report estimates the total cattail biomass resource in southern Manitoba between 2.7 and 5.4 megatonnes per year.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) recommends that the EPA establish specific emission rate standards for existing fossil fuel-fired utility boilers (1,450 lbs/MWh) and natural gas combustion turbines (1,100 lbs/MWh). The proposal centers on a 'model' interstate emission credit trading rule that allows states flexibility in compliance, including the use of state-specific emission budgets. Analysis by The NorthBridge Group indicates this approach could reduce electric sector carbon dioxide emissions by 27 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, resulting in a total reduction of 636 million metric tons. The report argues that nearly 70 percent of these reductions would come from optimizing fossil dispatch. Beyond climate benefits, the proposal is estimated to avoid over 2,000 premature deaths annually due to reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The total monetized health and climate benefits are estimated at $34 billion in 2020, significantly outweighing the $9.4 billion compliance cost.

The report argues that the current U.S. agricultural landscape is dominated by corn and soybeans due to federal subsidies, which contradicts national nutritional goals. Using economic modeling, the authors find that aligning production with healthy dietary guidelines would significantly increase fruit and vegetable acreage while reducing cereal grain production. Such a transition would likely improve public health, reduce environmental degradation from monocropping and livestock operations, and create new economic opportunities for farmers, particularly in the Midwest.

The report details a September 2013 briefing on America’s Power Plan (APP), focusing on the transition to a high-renewables future in the U.S. Midwest. It examines the need for new utility business models to handle decarbonization and distributed energy resources (DERs), highlights Minnesota's legislative progress on solar and renewable standards, and discusses Xcel Energy's experience integrating variable wind power. Key recommendations include adopting performance-based regulation, streamlining 'soft costs' for solar PV, and integrating distribution planning into state resource processes.