Energy Resources & Access

Dustin Mulvaney was featured in a May 2023 KSQD Sustainability Now! episode on the social and ecological impacts of large solar farms in the desert and whether they can contribute to a “just energy transition”. Listen here

Tiehm’s buckwheat, the rare wildflower at the center of controversy for supposedly “standing in the way” of a lithium mine, is teetering on the edge of extinction. Dubious conservation programs, touted loudly by a mining company and its boosters, not only will fail to prevent the plant’s extinction in its natural range, but they do damage to the reputation and practice of rare plant conservation.

Xantha Bruso is now Senior Director of Transportation Electrification at Energy and Environmental Economics Inc (E3), where she is quantifying the value of Vehicle Grid Integration, projecting local adoption of EVs for distribution grid and...

An April 2023 study led by Joseph Rand at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, found there are over 10,000 projects representing 1,350 gigawatts (GW) of generator capacity and 680 GW of storage currently in the interconnection queue lines across the United States. Interconnection queues are lists of utility projects that are seeking to connect to the electric grid, and waiting to undergo studies before they can be built.

Climate Policy Lab, directed by Kelly Gallagher, has released the Global Public Energy RD&D Expenditures Database, a comprehensive database covering public expenditures in energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) for countries that have declared an interest in and commitment to innovation in clean energy technologies.

As the nation looks to transition to more forms of renewable energy, the country’s millions of acres of public lands could be key, drawing concerns over how local habitats could be impacted.

“Despite the evidence that environmental permitting is done on time and with little to no litigation while upholding environmental standards, the narrative that permitting reform is needed for clean energy deployment persists.”