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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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