Our best clean energy stories of 2024

👋 Welcome to the last edition of Energy News Weekly of the year! We’ll be taking the next two weeks off, but will return with a roundup of everything that happened over the holidays on Jan. 8.

I’ll leave you with some reading material for the break: Eight of the Energy News Network’s best stories of the year, covering everything from equity in the solar industry to the future of natural gas.

Minneapolis solar nonprofit is proving patience can bring results to lower-income residents: Solar entrepreneur Ralph Jacobson ​“hardly ever had Black customers or Black subcontractors” in his three-decade career. His new nonprofit, Solstar, aims to change that.

Scientists warn a poorly managed hydrogen rush could make climate change worse: A growing body of scientific research highlights the indirect ways hydrogen could worsen climate change — and critics say the federal government is largely ignoring the risks.

A Boston grocery store could become a proving ground for a new approach to equitable community solar: An 81 kilowatt project on the roof of a food co-op will test a community ownership model, and new federal climate policies could help make it scalable.

As Ohio clamps down on clean energy, recent changes make it easier to force landowners to allow oil and gas drilling: The state has seen a big jump in the number of ​“unitization” orders forcing property owners to allow oil and gas development on their land, whether they want it or not.

Offshore wind port siting raises new conflicts for coastal Mainers, environmental activists: Unlike the polarized fights over clean energy projects in other parts of the country, a proposed wind port in Searsport, Maine is creating more personal divides.

Illinois program’s ​‘wraparound’ approach helps formerly incarcerated people land solar industry jobs: The Renewing Sovereignty Project provides job training and financial and social support to help guide ​“returning citizens” into the growing solar industry.

This disaster relief nonprofit is pioneering a clean energy alternative to noisy, polluting generators: The Footprint Project wants to create a solar-powered microgrid ​“lending library” to deploy during disaster recovery efforts to reduce reliance on generators, which increase air pollution and are costly to run.

As Rhode Island considers future of gas, advocates call for ​‘realism’ on cost, availability of RNG: As a state committee studies ways to wean Rhode Island off of natural gas, several of its members want the group’s final report to dismiss renewable natural gas captured from animal manure or food waste as wholly unrealistic.

More clean energy news

🚙 A huge step for vehicle emissions: The U.S. EPA will reportedly give California — along with 11 other states whose vehicle emissions rules are tied to California’s — permission to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, a policy that the incoming Trump administration will quickly try to reverse. (Washington Post)

🚢 ​“Neither sustainable nor advisable”: In a letter set to accompany a federal study on liquefied natural gas’ economic, national security and climate effects, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm writes that the current pace of LNG export growth is ​“neither sustainable nor advisable.” (New York Times)

📃 Permitting fails again: After years of waxing and waning discussion, Congress is once again unlikely to pass a permitting reform bill to speed energy and transmission projects this session after bipartisan negotiations faltered over the weekend. (E&E News)

⚡️ Time to electrify: Experts say there’s a ​“real possibility” the Trump administration will weaken home efficiency and electrification incentives and recommend taking advantage of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits as soon as possible. (Canary Media)

🏭 Regulatory reversal: More than 100 industry groups and chambers of commerce push the incoming Trump administration to weaken or end Biden administration energy and environmental regulations while boosting gas and nuclear power. (Los Angeles Times)

⚖️ Climate suits continue: The Biden administration asks the U.S. Supreme Court to continue allowing states to sue big oil companies they accuse of deceiving the public about the climate impacts of fossil fuels. (Reuters)

📭 Delayed delivery: The U.S. Postal Service has only received 93 of the 3,000 electric trucks it anticipated at this point due to manufacturing delays and supplier infighting, putting the program even more at risk of being undercut by President-elect Trump. (Washington Post)

⛳️ Utilities’ deceptive spending: A new report finds power companies regularly charge customers for nonessential lobbying, advertising and luxury costs, including a 2019 instance in which Dominion tried to pass nearly $1 million in golf and country club memberships to its South Carolina customers. (Floodlight)

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