What’s keeping heat pumps from taking off

ELECTRIFICATION: While heat pumps are gaining popularity as a clean, efficient HVAC solution, cost concerns and the work involved in electrifying homes and buildings remain a barrier. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE:

• As climate change brings mounting challenges to vulnerable nations, wealthy countries need to spend 10 times more than they currently are to help them adapt, United Nations experts say. (Grist)
• The U.S. Senate asks insurance companies to disclose if they’re dropping customers or considering doing so in areas where extreme weather is mounting. (New York Times)
• Austin, Texas, becomes the largest city in the country to drop minimum parking requirements for new developments in a move aimed at lowering emissions and increasing housing supply. (Texas Tribune)
• Organizers at six colleges ask the attorneys general of their states to investigate their universities’ fossil fuel investments. (Guardian)

POLITICS: Democratic senators look to find common ground with Republicans who’ve introduced a bill to levy fees on imports from countries with high carbon emissions. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS:

• The Biden administration postpones an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico amid a legal fight over protections for an endangered whale. (Associated Press)
• Wyoming oil and gas producers urge regulators to reject Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed 30% rate hike, saying it would wipe out their profit margins. (WyoFile)

SOLAR: The U.S. Energy Department will spend $440 million to install solar panels in Puerto Rico, an investment it says will lower energy costs for as many as 40,000 families. (The Hill)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Climate and clean energy advocates in New Hampshire say a pending proposal to define nuclear power as clean energy could undercut solar and wind power in the state. (Energy News Network)
• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign a series of bills lawmakers have now mostly passed to ramp up renewable energy targets and move wind and solar permitting decisions to state regulators. (Bridge)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• The journey of a Beta Technologies’ electric plane down the East Coast provides a glimpse into the future of electric aviation. (New York Times)
• A rail technology company unveils a battery-powered locomotive with a battery capacity of 7 MWh, which the company calls the first of its kind. (Canary Media)
• New data show electric vehicles accounted for 21.5% of all cars sold in California during the first nine months of the year. (Los Angeles Times)
• Michigan utilities and researchers are working to expand and improve accessibility of electric vehicle charging stations as vehicle adoption is expected to grow. (WMMT)

WORKFORCE: Amazon, PepsiCo, and other major companies launch a ​“Clean Energy Procurement Academy” that aims to give companies in their supply chains the technical skills needed to transition to clean energy. (Utility Dive)

GRID:

• As Texas voters consider a ballot measure offering low-interest loans to gas-fired power plant operators, the state’s grid operator asks generators to prepare to unretire power plants in the event of a major winter storm. (E&E News)
• The Tohono O’odham Nation’s chairman calls on the Biden administration to halt construction on a segment of the SunZia transmission line in southern Arizona, saying it could harm cultural sites. (Arizona Daily Star)