Good morning and happy Friday,

The past week brought “dangerously cold” temperatures to much of the country, including Texas, where in 2021 a similar deep freeze wreaked havoc with the power grid. Fortunately, this time around, the system “held firm,” thanks to “Texans’ efforts, ‘along with additional grid reliability tools that helped [ERCOT] get through record-breaking peak times.’”

And as the U.S. Department of Interior proposed new rules to help advance the development of wind and solar on public lands, an endeavor that entails both promise and challenges, a new business in Kern County – California’s “oil county” – is hoping carbon capture offers a way to reinvent and revitalize its economy. 

Read on for more.

In many states, ambitious climate goals are putting clean energy supporters on a collision course with neighbors who don’t want wind or solar projects in their communities – and setting the stage for “political backlash that may escalate.” Here’s how things are shaping up in Michigan:

• Utilities in Michigan are required to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. That means building a lot of renewables, which is going to require a “massive increase” from the 17,000 acres currently being used to an additional 209,000 acres.
• Michigan’s 1,200+ townships hold a lot of power, and among the state’s 83 counties, 20 have passed local laws blocking or delaying wind or solar developments. However, Public Acts 233)/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=2023-HB-5120) and 234)/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&objectname=2023-HB-5121) “preempt existing local siting authority,” giving the state the power to override local opposition to clean energy projects it deems in the state’s interest.
• Local officials in Michigan and elsewhere say they “are the public servants closest to and most directly accountable to voters,” and should have the final say “when it comes to land use and what gets built near homes.”

Pony up. As similar challenges play out across the country, Indiana may have at least one piece of this puzzle figured out. Counties with overly restrictive ordinances for wind or solar aren’t eligible for clean energy incentives, but under a newly passed law, if the differences don’t pose a significant barrier to renewable energy projects, communities can still receive the incentives – $1 per MWh generated, for a full decade. Now that’s putting your money where your mouth is.

Social media companies “claim to be green,” but YouTube is making up to $13.4 million a year from ads on nearly 100 channels that disseminate “misleading climate talking points,” according to a just-released report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). Here are some alarming statistics:

• “Old climate denial” – i.e., anthropogenic climate change isn’t happening – is being pushed aside by “new climate denial,” which shifts gears from rejecting climate change to “attacks on climate science and scientists, and rhetoric seeking to undermine confidence in solutions to climate change.”
• Researchers determined that “new climate denial” narratives constituted 70% of climate denial content on YouTube in 2023, up from 35% six years ago. YouTube is the social media platform of choice among 13-17-year-olds, and CCDH’s study found that one-third of U.S. teenagers agreed that “the impacts of global warming are beneficial or harmless.”
• CCDH CEO and founder Imran Ahmed didn’t pull any punches, saying “It is hypocritical for social media companies to claim to be green but then monetize and amplify lies about the climate...they should refuse to amplify or monetize cynical climate denial content that undermines faith in our collective capacity to solve humanity’s most pressing challenge.”

Skate to where the puck is. CCDH’s stated goal in releasing the report is to ensure climate change advocates and others “doing the hard work to green our economic models and incentives” have their eye on the ball and are working to “effectively counter what our opponents are doing now,” not fighting battles from six years ago.

• Facelift: DOE announces $34 million to improve reliability and security of US power grid
• Leaving A Legacy: John Kerry steps down as the Biden administration's climate envoy
• Wide Open Spaces: BLM proposes 22 million acres in Western states to solar

• Sacramento County CA supervisors approve Sloughhouse Solar project
• Solar farm proposal for Muncy area draws interest in Pennsylvania
• Canton Maine residents approve moratorium on solar project 
• BLM invites comment on proposed solar project in Nye County Nevada
• Muscatine County Iowa poised to enact wind farm moratorium
• Mahoning County OH considers expanding solar and wind farm ban

Scientists have come up with new technologies that could give a whole new meaning to the words “power plant.” Specifically, the sexily named “Multisource Energy Harvester on Textile and Plants for Clean Energy Generation from Wind and Rainwater Droplets” — or if you’d prefer something a bit easier, “fake leaves made from Teflon” — can generate electricity.

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As the article explains, nature provides many potential sources of electrical energy, including solar and wind. However, the intermittent nature of these resources can be a disadvantage.

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In response, “multi-source energy harvesters have emerged as a method to capture energy from different renewable sources in one device, maximizing potential output.” The non-technical, oversimplified explanation is that they created fake leaves covered in nanogenerators that can collect the kinetic energy produced by small movements.

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Researchers say this proof-of-concept “power plant” could someday be used in “larger systems or networks of power plants to produce clean energy from natural sources.” We’ll give two green thumbs up to that!