Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

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Senate votes to revoke tougher EPA emissions regulation for trucks
Source: CNN Politics

CNN — The Senate voted Wednesday to rescind a Biden administration emissions regulation for heavy-duty trucks that Republicans decry as too burdensome, warning it will hurt the trucking industry and have negative ripple effects through the economy. The vote was 50-49, with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia the only Democrat to vote with Republicans.

Republicans utilized the Congressional Review Act, which allows them to bypass Democrats who control the chamber and force a floor vote to revoke the rule at a majority threshold, not the 60 votes often needed to pass legislation.

The Republican-led House is expected to pass the measure as well, although it’s unlikely either chamber would be able to override an expected veto by President Joe Biden. The Office of Management and Budget issued a veto threat ahead of the vote.

The final rule, which was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency in December, sets “new emission standards that are significantly more stringent and that cover a wider range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions compared to today’s standards,” according to the EPA, which said the change is needed because emissions from those trucks are “important contributors to concentrations of ozone and particulate matter and their resulting threat to public health.”
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics ... index.html
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EPA allows gasoline with higher ethanol blend during summer
Source: AP

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE an hour ago
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Fuel stations throughout the country will be able to sell gasoline blended with 15% ethanol during the summer under an emergency waiver issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency in a move that could reduce prices at the pump and boost demand for the Midwest-based ethanol industry.

The EPA framed its decision as a way to reduce gasoline prices at a time of market supply uncertainty because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agency said its action also encourages U.S. energy independence and supports American agriculture and manufacturing.

“Allowing E15 sales during the summer driving season will not only help increase fuel supply, but support American farmers, strengthen U.S. energy security, and provide relief to drivers across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol and the higher 15% blend hasn’t been allowed in the summer because of concerns it could worsen smog during hot weather.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ethanol-epa- ... a5ff06911c
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Can Morocco solve Europe’s energy crisis?

8 hours ago

Morocco has big ambitions to export electricity produced by solar and wind farms to Europe, but should it be prioritising such renewable energy for its home market?

"The resources we have here could be one of the big, big answers to European demand," says Moroccan energy entrepreneur Moundir Zniber.

Mr Zniber is a passionate man who senses opportunity out of crisis.

"I think Morocco represents the best opportunity to get the European continent away from the dependency it has today on Russian gas," he says.

Mr Zniber has spent the past 15 years building his company, Gaia Energy, into one of the leaders of a renewable energy revolution in his home country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65415529
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New hybrid photocatalysts for water splitting with an internal quantum efficiency above 100%
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-05-hyb ... iency.html
by Ingrid Fadelli , Tech Xplore
As hydrogen inside fuel cells can generate electrical power, scalable methods to reliably split water into hydrogen and oxygen could have valuable implications for the energy industry. These methods could help to produce large amounts of hydrogen for more sustainable energy solutions, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on Earth.

One approach to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen requires the use of photocatalysts, materials that can absorb light and use its energy to initiate chemical reactions. This approach essentially entails irradiating these materials with light, triggering the reaction through which water molecules become hydrogen and oxygen.

Researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in China recently introduced new hybrid photocatalysts that exhibit a remarkable internal quantum efficiency above 100%. These materials, introduced in a paper in Nature Energy, were found to overcome some of the shortcomings of previously proposed photocatalytic systems for water splitting processes.

"Over the past decade, researchers have made numerous attempts to achieve a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of more than 10%, which is a competitive benchmark efficiency in the hydrogen market," Dr. Xuanhua Li, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Tech Xplore.

"To achieve this goal, the internal quantum efficiency (the ratio of the number of incident photons absorbed to twice the amount of hydrogen produced) of the photocatalyst during the photocatalytic water splitting reaction must reach a moderately high value (ideally >100%) over a wide range of excitation wavelengths."

Several past studies have tried to devise useful strategies to improve the quantum efficiency of photocatalysts and photoelectric devices, as most previously reported efficiencies were insufficient to enable the widespread use of water splitting processes. One strategy that was found to be particularly promising leverages the so-called multiple exciton generation (MEG) effect, in which a nanocrystal quantum dot absorbs a single photon to generate multiple excitons.
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Senator Whitehouse: 275 of 315 Pages of GOP Debt Limit Bill Are Big Oil Favors
https://truthout.org/articles/senator-w ... il-favors/

The proposal contains the entirety of Republicans’ H.R. 1, a major pro-fossil fuel package.

As congressional Republicans unite around their plan to hold the economy hostage in order to advance their extremist debt limit package, some Democrats are pointing out that the vast majority of the bill is dedicated to favors for the fossil fuel industry.

Last week, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the Limit, Save, Grow Act, dubbed the “Default on America” bill by Democrats. In the hearing, Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) pointed out that a whopping 87 percent of the bill is comprised of “giveaways” for Big Oil, calling it a “field day for polluters.”

“The party’s funders, chief among them the fossil fuel industry, demand reward. And 275 of the 315 pages of the dirty ‘Default on America’ bill are devoted to giveaways to the fossil fuel industry,” Whitehouse said.

He went on to say that, within his and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-New York) bill to suspend the debt limit through the end of next year, “the section that would actually suspend the debt limit is 31 words.” He added, “the Senate should pass this bill immediately.”
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Biden administration announces nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural communities
Source: AP

BY DREW COSTLEY today

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a nearly $11 billion investment on Tuesday to help bring affordable clean energy to rural communities throughout the country.

Rural electric cooperatives, renewable energy companies and electric utilities will be able to apply for funding through two programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a media briefing on Monday.

Vilsack said it was the largest single federal investment in rural electrification since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936 as part of the New Deal.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the Rural Utility Service to work collaboratively with our great partners, the Rural Electric cooperatives, in order to advance a clean energy future for rural America,” Vilsack said. “So this is an exciting and an historic day, and it continues an ongoing effort to ensure that rural America is a full participant in this clean energy economy.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/climate-envi ... 978746b54c
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