Next-gen heat pumps could save billions

ELECTRIFICATION: A new Department of Energy program aims to help manufacturers develop next-generation heat pumps that can replace large buildings’ rooftop heating and cooling systems and save U.S. businesses as much as $5 billion annually. (Utility Dive)

ALSO: Clean energy advocates and professional cooks continue to work to electrify restaurant kitchens and homes in Berkeley, California, even after a court shot down the city’s natural gas-hookup ban. (Guardian)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• While the average electric vehicle today gets the equivalent of 106 miles per gallon, new technology could double that number to more than 200 in the coming decades, a report suggests. (Washington Post)
• An appeals court upholds the U.S. EPA’s decision to allow California to set its own electric vehicle sales mandates and tailpipe emissions limits. (Reuters)

OIL & GAS:

• Federal officials approve the construction of a deepwater oil export facility off the Texas Gulf Coast that will be the largest oil export terminal in the U.S. (Houston Chronicle)
• Democratic senators join climate advocates at a protest decrying utilities that spend ratepayer money on fossil fuel lobbying. (Guardian)
• House Democrats call out Republicans for conditioning Ukraine aid on an increase in natural gas exports. (The Hill)

EMISSIONS:

• The U.S. EPA issues a new rule requiring more than 200 chemical plants to reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer, winning praise from environmental justice advocates in Louisiana’s ​“Cancer Alley.” (Associated Press, WWNO)
• San Jose, New York, and San Francisco top a ranking of cities whose transit systems have the biggest impact on reducing transportation emissions. (Axios)

GRID:

• The U.S. Department of Energy awards about $5 million each to three organizations to tackle key research and development barriers to long duration energy storage. (Utility Dive)
• Development of advanced transmission lines remains stalled over cost concerns even as top U.S. officials and new reports make a case for their potential to carry up to four times more power than conventional lines. (E&E News, subscription)
• Texas solar and battery installations are growing so much that federal energy officials say there’s less need for natural gas generation during the day. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, PV Magazine)
• Vermont utility Green Mountain Power used its residential customers’ battery storage systems to offset the drop in solar power during Monday’s total eclipse. (WCAX)

NUCLEAR: Experts are divided on whether Georgia Power’s costly, long-delayed expansion of its nuclear Plant Vogtle heralds a new era for nuclear power development or will discourage future investment in the power source. (Grist)

SOLAR: New York officials confirm Tesla’s Buffalo solar panel factory uses panels made by a competitor on its roof, not its own product. (Investigative Post)

CLIMATE:

• Bloomberg Philanthropies awards $50,000 each to 100 cities worldwide to launch youth-led climate programs. (Grist)
• Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa says her positions on conservation, reducing emissions and being a clean energy-leading country drove her interest in chairing the Conservative Climate Caucus. (Daily Iowan)