{"title":"The Hottest Year in Record and What Sea Sponge Tells Us About Climate Change","authors":"Echo D. Cartwright","doi":"10.1002/gas.22396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22396","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Across the globe, we are witnessing the impact of a changing climate. More frequent and intense hurricanes, devastating atmospheric rivers and winter storms, wildfires, heat waves and droughts, are taking their toll on our daily lives and economic well-being. The goal of the Paris Accord adopted in 2015, was to limit the increase in average global temperature—the combined average of surface ocean and land warming—to 1.5 degrees Celsius (C) (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. However, a new peer-reviewed scientific study released in the Natural Climate Change Journal reveals some startling data. The world passed the 1.5 degree benchmark in 2020, meaning we are two decades ahead of the pace of global warming projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).<sup>1</sup> The findings raise significant questions out our ability to meet the Accord's goals, or whether the average global temperature has or will exceed the Accord's goal of keeping global warming to below 2 degrees. Research evidence of the extent of warming came from studying an unlikely specimen; centuries-old sponges living in the Caribbean Sea.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 9","pages":"13-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140031917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"FERC Needs Court's Help on Pipelines in 2024","authors":"Jeff D. Makholm","doi":"10.1002/gas.22393","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22393","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Late in 2023, Keith Goldberg from Law360 wrote that 2024 would be a year where the courts could show the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the way out of its dilemma regarding how to certificate new natural gas pipelines in an era dominated by climate change exigencies. He described three cases where the courts could do so—one involving a pipeline upgrade to New York City and two others dealing with short pipelines tied to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast.<sup>1</sup> To Goldberg, there are “signs that courts are growing impatient with the agency's continued lack of clarity on how it conducts [climate impact] reviews” tied to its pipeline certification duties. The courts need to intervene. FERC has quite evidently lost its way.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 8","pages":"23-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Infrastructure Permitting and Friction in the Energy Transition","authors":"Richard G. Smead","doi":"10.1002/gas.22394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22394","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ambitious energy transition envisioned by the Biden Administration in the series of enacted statutes, culminating in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and similarly moving forward in a number of states, attempts to walk a tightrope of changing essentially everyone's sources of energy seamlessly, without a premature failure of existing sources. The idea is similar to Al Gore's dream of “flipping a switch.”<sup>1</sup> However, as has been previously discussed in this column, there are a lot of headwinds in trying to achieve that goal.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 8","pages":"27-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fundamental Rethinking of Supply Chain Management","authors":"Soam Goel, David Pretyman, Paul A. DeCotis","doi":"10.1002/gas.22392","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22392","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Labor disruptions, inflation, high interest rates, permitting delays, and long interconnection queues characterized the development and construction of new energy infrastructure in 2023. Terrestrial and offshore wind, solar, transmission, and hydrogen projects have been impacted most, and continued challenges are expected.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 8","pages":"9-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effective Communication of Energy Science and Technology","authors":"Jill Engel-Cox, Kerrin Jeromin","doi":"10.1002/gas.22390","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22390","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although research, development, and deployment of advanced energy technologies are essential for the clean energy transition, communication about these technologies is equally important to their success. Energy is part of everyday life; therefore, changes in energy systems should be accepted by communities and industries. Yet details about energy generation, transmission, and environmental impacts are complex. The combination of commonality and complexity requires communications to use visualization, localization, narrative, and understandable terminology to reach a range of stakeholders. Collaboration between technology experts and communications professionals builds integrity and accessibility of energy information that enables community-based solutions for energy.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 8","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strengthening the Grid: Proactive Transmission Resiliency Strategies in an Era of Intensifying Storms and Climate Change","authors":"Kaitlyn Zolton, Kevin Hade","doi":"10.1002/gas.22391","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22391","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The world is changing, and so are the damages and loss of life and property from more frequent extreme weather events. Climate change is causing a steady increase in the intensity and frequency of severe storms, wildfires, and other natural disasters. Recent studies have shown an increase in electrical outage events correlated to extreme weather events from 50 per year on average in the early 2000s to over 100 annually on average during the past five years.<sup>1</sup> These events cause substantial economic losses through infrastructure damage, manufacturing and labor disruptions, and property value losses.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 8","pages":"18-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Powering Innovation: The Comprehensive Impact of Generative AI","authors":"Shaun Poland, Siddhartha Sharad, Gus Wigen-Toccalino","doi":"10.1002/gas.22385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22385","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the energy and utility sector necessitates distinguishing it from traditional AI applications. AI generally encompasses machine capabilities for tasks that require human intelligence, such as discerning patterns and making decisions. GenAI is a specialized subset of AI and goes further, by creating entirely new content—text, images, or data—through learning from existing datasets and generating new, unique outputs (Figure 1).</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 7","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139419593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Technological Trends Driving Utility Residential Energy Efficiency Program Savings","authors":"Ted Peterson","doi":"10.1002/gas.22386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22386","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In 2023, with increasingly broad adoption of conventional utility energy efficiency programs such as rebates or customer incentives on water heaters, furnaces, and home insulation levels, new and next-generation energy efficiency programs will likely involve increasingly connected devices and technological interventions. This article identifies four technological trends driving utility residential energy efficiency programs for the future. These trends include: (1) home energy reports (or comparative usage efficiency reports); (2) connected reinforced programs including utility pledge programs and demand response programs; (3) smart thermostats; and (4) smart lighting. This article indicates that ultimately, greater convergence around technology is likely to persist given utility investment in Automated Meter Integration (AMI) systems and broader customer-driven technological adoption. Ultimately, this article advocates for continued broad-based adoption of these programs to save energy and mitigate the impacts of climate change.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 7","pages":"12-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139419680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fifth National Climate Assessment Reveals Urgent Action Needed to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions","authors":"Echo D. Cartwright","doi":"10.1002/gas.22387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22387","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) was released in November 2023 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Assessment evaluates the impacts of a changing climate across 10 US regions and a wide range of biodiversity and other interests, including water, forests and ecosystems, coasts and oceans, agriculture and rural communities, the built environment, energy and transportation, health and air quality, and economic and social systems. The Assessment is the fifth such report released by the US government since 2000, using science-based data by more than a dozen US agencies and approximately 750 scientists tracking the impacts of climate change, and peer-reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM).<sup>1</sup> The details outlined within the Assessment are not optimistic. In fact, the extensively peer-reviewed report further quantifies the need to take immediate actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. Immediate actions will require both increased mitigation measures to reduce GHG emissions and adaptation measures as we attempt to live with the impacts of a changing climate.</p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 7","pages":"18-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139419679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Loss and Damage Fund—Operationalized at COP28 but Funding and Allocation Process Unresolved","authors":"David W. South","doi":"10.1002/gas.22389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/gas.22389","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was hosted by the United Arab Emirates. While there were many competing priorities on the COP28 agenda, climate finance was “front and center.”<sup>1</sup> Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, President-Designate for COP28, in a pre-COP letter, stated the need to “radically scale up climate financing” by “delivering on old promises” and “setting the framework” for new finance.<sup>2</sup></p>","PeriodicalId":100259,"journal":{"name":"Climate and Energy","volume":"40 7","pages":"29-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139419682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}