Energy Policy News

September 22, 2023

Top Headlines

Sustainable Energy for Aviation: What Are Our Options?

Sep. 20, 2023 — Scientists and industry leaders worldwide are looking for answers on how to make aviation sustainable by 2050 and choosing a viable sustainable fuel is a major sticking point. Aerospace engineers took a full inventory of the options to make a ...

Electrifying Vehicles in Chicago Would Save Lives, Reduce Pollution Inequities

Sep. 13, 2023 — If the Chicago region replaced 30% of all on-road combustion-engine vehicles -- including motorcycles, passenger cars and trucks, buses, refuse trucks and short- and long-haul trucks -- with electric ...

Scientists Invent a Bright Way to Upcycle Plastics Into Liquids That Can Store Hydrogen Energy

Sep. 13, 2023 — Scientists have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemicals useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available catalyst, all at room ...

New Study Reveals the Power of Railroads to Buffer Coal Plants from a Carbon Emissions Tax

Sep. 7, 2023 — A new study suggests that railroads are likely to cut transportation prices to prop up coal-fired plants if U.S. climate policies further disadvantage coal in favor of less carbon-intensive energy ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:05pm EDT

Disparities in Who Dwells Behind Crumbling US Levees

Sep. 5, 2023 — In the United States, tens of millions of people live behind levees, but historically disadvantaged groups are more likely to live behind subpar levees and have fewer resources to maintain critical ...

Move Over Lithium-Ion: Zinc-Air Batteries a Cheaper and Safer Alternative

Aug. 21, 2023 — Zinc-air batteries have emerged as a better alternative to lithium in a recent study into the advancement of sustainable battery ...

Effectiveness of Video Gameplay Restrictions Questioned in New Study

Aug. 10, 2023 — Legal restrictions placed on the amount of time young people in China can play video games may be less effective than originally thought, a new study has ...

Cap Top 20% of Energy Users to Reduce Carbon Emissions

July 17, 2023 — Consumers in the richer, developed nations will have to accept restrictions on their energy use if international climate change targets are to be met, warn researchers. The big challenge is to ...

Widespread Illegal Trade of Hazardous Chemicals

July 11, 2023 — Researchers have studied the global trade in highly hazardous chemicals subject to a global treaty -- the Rotterdam Convention. The results are sobering: Nearly half of the total trade volume of ...

Unused Renewable Energy an Option for Powering NFT Trade

July 10, 2023 — Unused solar, wind, and hydroelectric power in the U.S. could support the exponential growth of transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs), researchers have ...

Public Support Hydrogen and Biofuels to Decarbonize Global Shipping

July 6, 2023 — New research into public attitudes towards alternative shipping fuels shows public backing for biofuel and hydrogen. The study also found that nuclear was preferred to the heavy fuel oil (HFO) ...

Potent Greenhouse Gas Produced by Industry Could Be Readily Abated With Existing Technologies

July 5, 2023 — Researchers have found that one method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is available, affordable, and capable of being implemented right now. ...

Energy Insecurity Is an Underappreciated Social and Environmental Determinant of Health

June 29, 2023 — In light of climate change and the impending transition to clean energy, many long-standing programs to address energy insecurity need to be ...

Potential Financial Losses from a Renewable Energy Transition Are Concentrated Among the Wealthy

June 22, 2023 — One common rationale against climate action is that the resulting fossil fuel investment losses could impact people's retirement or long-term ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Do Driverless Cars Feel Safe? New Study Shows Gradual Introduction Needed to Build Comfort Among All Road Users

Aug. 30, 2023 — While self-driving vehicles (SDVs) are being hailed as a solution for safer, more efficient roads, new research suggests some are not quite ready to embrace self-driving cars wholeheartedly -- and ...

Environmental Risks and Opportunities of Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

June 20, 2023 — Researchers are leading an international team whose goal is to create a framework to help governments in the U.S. and around the world assess and prioritize remediation strategies for orphaned oil ...

Clean, Sustainable Fuels Made 'from Thin Air' and Plastic Waste

June 19, 2023 — Researchers have demonstrated how carbon dioxide can be captured from industrial processes -- or even directly from the air -- and transformed into clean, sustainable fuels using just the energy from ...

Hidden in Plain Sight: Windshield Washer Fluid Is an Unexpected Emission Source

May 30, 2023 — Exhaust fumes probably come to mind when considering vehicle emissions, but they aren't the only source of pollutants released by a daily commute. Researchers report that alcohols in windshield ...

Hydrogen Battery: Storing Hydrogen in Coal May Help Power Clean Energy Economy

May 26, 2023 — The quest to develop hydrogen as a clean energy source that could curb our dependence on fossil fuels may lead to an unexpected place -- coal. Scientists have found that coal may represent a ...

Communities Should Reconsider Walking Away from Curbside Recycling, Study Shows

May 22, 2023 — Researchers took a deep dive into the economic and environmental value of community recycling efforts and compared it to the value of other climate change mitigation practices, concluding it provides ...

New Supply Chain Model to Empower Seabound Hydrogen Economy

May 22, 2023 — A team of researchers has created a new supply chain model which could empower the international hydrogen renewable energy ...

Driving on Sunshine: Clean, Usable Liquid Fuels Made from Solar Power

May 18, 2023 — Researchers have developed a solar-powered technology that converts carbon dioxide and water into liquid fuels that can be added directly to a car's engine as drop-in ...

'Improved' Cookstoves Emit More Ultrafine Particles Than Conventional Stoves

May 11, 2023 — Improved cookstoves, which are widely used for cooking in developing countries, produce twice as many harmful ultrafine air pollution particles (PM0.1) as conventional stoves, according to a new ...

Cleanup of Inactive Gulf of Mexico Wells Estimated at $30 Billion

May 8, 2023 — A new article examines the cost to plug 14,000 wells that are inactive, have not produced for five years and are unlikely to be reactivated in the Gulf of Mexico region, which is the epicenter of ...

Tiny Microbes Could Brew Big Benefits for Green Biomanufacturing

May 8, 2023 — Scientists find new route in bacteria to decarbonize industry. The discovery could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing of fuels, drugs, and chemicals. A research team has ...

Prolonged Power Outages, Often Caused by Weather Events, Hit Some Parts of the U.S. Harder Than Others

May 1, 2023 — New research found that Americans already bearing the brunt of climate change and health inequities are most at risk of impact by a lengthy power ...

Next Decade Decisive for PV Growth on the Path to 2050

Apr. 18, 2023 — Global experts on solar power strongly urge a commitment to the continued growth of photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing and deployment to power the planet, arguing that lowballing projections for PV ...

Moving Towards 3 Degrees of Warming -- The Phasing out of Coal Is Too Slow

Apr. 6, 2023 — The use of coal power is not decreasing fast enough. The Paris Agreement's target of a maximum of 2 degrees of warming appear to be missed, and the world is moving towards a temperature increase ...

Levies on Renewable Energy Profits Could Serve as a Barrier to Achieving Net Zero Targets in the UK

Apr. 5, 2023 — Placing levies on the profits made in the renewable energy industry could hinder the UK's ability to meet its 2050 net zero carbon reduction targets, an expert has ...

More Predictable Renewable Energy Could Lower Costs

Mar. 24, 2023 — Lower electricity costs for consumers and more reliable clean energy could be some of the benefits of a new study by researchers who have examined how predictable solar or wind energy generation is ...

Improved Wastewater Treatment Could Lead to Significant Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mar. 23, 2023 — New research has shown that methane emissions from urban areas are underestimated by a factor of three to four and that untreated wastewater may be a contributing ...

At Least 80% of the World's Most Important Sites for Biodiversity on Land Currently Contain Human Developments

Mar. 23, 2023 — At least 80% of sites identified as being internationally important for biodiversity on land currently contain infrastructure -- of which more than 75% contain roads. In the future, more sites that ...

Mercury Emission Estimates Rarely Provide Enough Data to Assess Success in Eliminating Harmful Global Gold Mining Practice

Mar. 22, 2023 — A global treaty called the Minamata Convention requires gold-mining countries to regularly report the amount of toxic mercury that miners are using to find and extract gold, designed to help nations ...

Public Acceptance of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Removal Could Be Improved in Developing Countries

Mar. 21, 2023 — People might be more positive to the removal of fuel subsidies if told where the money would be spent instead. This has been shown in a study which investigated attitudes towards removing fossil fuel ...

Wednesday, August 30, 2023