Electric Vehicle Tour Touts Job Creation Savings Through Clean Energy / Public News Service

Pittsburgh is one of the stops on a nationwide summer tour to raise awareness of electric vehicles and clean energy.

The group Elected Officers to Protect America reported that electric vehicle registrations increased by approximately 82% in 2022 compared to the previous year.

Jake Pawlak, deputy mayor and director of the City of Pittsburgh’s Office of Management and Budget, said the city will invest $15 million in electric vehicles for its fleet this year with federal aid. He added that Pittsburgh is working with organizations on a new program to help low-income residents reduce energy costs through more electrical appliances, weather conditions and solar installations.

“Our goal is to significantly reduce the energy burden of 100 Pittsburgh residents by the end of this year,” Pawlak explained. “And over the next six years, do it for 10,000 people in the southwestern Pennsylvania region.”

Pittsburgh’s goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030 is the same goal President Joe Biden has set for the country. Pawlak notes that Pittsburgh is leveraging its position as a federal workforce center by partnering with businesses, unions and government to create clean energy job training programs.

Khari Mosley, a member of the Pittsburgh City Council, said Pennsylvania’s transition to clean energy is an opportunity to revitalize the city and become a leader in a new, sustainable economy. He added that this includes improving infrastructure to withstand extreme weather conditions and have an economic and environmental impact.

“Pittsburgh can truly be a leader for the country,” Mosley said. “By investing in these new technologies that will not only deliver economic prosperity, but also make our cities more resilient in the fight against climate change and ensure that the next generation of Americans are truly environmentally responsible, they have set our country on the right path.”

Brittany Prischak, deputy director of sustainability for Allegheny County, said the county has been investing in electric vehicles since 2020. She added that Pennsylvania is also implementing charging station infrastructure, which is now standard for all new construction and construction projects. renovation.

“We have great partners – Duquesne Light Company and West Penn Power – who operate in Allegheny County,” Prischak emphasized. “They have helped us with infrastructure or electrical upgrades at our facilities so we can put in charging stations and make sure our vehicles get to their destinations.”

Pennsylvania has seen a significant increase in electric vehicle purchases. As of December, there were more than 47,000 electric vehicles registered in the state.

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Big Oil is reneging on companies’ public commitments to help prevent catastrophic climate change, according to a new analysis of eight of the largest U.S. and European producers.

US-based corporations Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil received “grossly inadequate” ratings on all of the report’s criteria.

David Tong, global campaign manager for the industry advocacy group Oil Change International and co-author of the report, said just 5% of capital investment in the sector is in clean energy. More than 90% of energy is spent on fossil fuels.

“None of them are even close to meeting what is needed to address the climate crisis,” Tong said. “Rather than cutting production, almost everyone is pushing to increase production in this critical decade.”

Several oil companies mentioned in the report said they had misrepresented their climate plans. The oil and gas industry argues that finding new places to drill is necessary to meet demand during the transition to clean energy, especially in industries that are difficult to electrify, such as concrete production and air travel.

The world’s leading scientists say fossil fuel pollution must peak by 2025, then fall by 43% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to prevent the worst impacts of a changing climate. Tong pointed out that science shows there is no way to meet climate goals by increasing oil and gas production.

“If companies stopped approving new fields, what would be left in their existing production fields would be enough to meet global energy demand,” Tong argued.

With oil and gas corporations unlikely to voluntarily change their business model, Tong believes governments will have to intervene. The market can also play a role. Tong pointed to new global data showing that for the first time, every dollar invested in fossil fuels is investing $2 in clean energy.

“The transition is underway,” Tong stressed. “Governments must stand up to pressure from the industry that has done the most to cause the climate crisis and accelerate change. It’s happening, it’s just not happening fast enough.”

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Environmental advocates in Connecticut want the General Assembly to address climate action during a special session this week because lawmakers have failed to act on several climate bills.

The latest greenhouse gas emissions inventory from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection found that emissions increased from 2020 to 2022.

Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, said the recent high temperatures are a sign of what’s to come if the state continues to delay climate action.

“We’re not making progress,” Brown said. “We are going backwards and it has a real impact on health. Look at today. I can almost guarantee you there will be a lot of asthma attacks and heatstroke and things that really affect their health first and foremost.”

Brown and others are focusing on House Bill 5004. It updates Connecticut’s 16-year-old climate goals and aligns gas system planning with mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also sets heat pump targets to decarbonize buildings.

Republican obstruction and general uncertainty are blamed for the bill’s failure despite overwhelming support. The special session will be held on June 26-27.

Outside of this year’s shortened legislative session, the main reason climate action is stalled is disinformation.

Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, noted that the issue arose as the state tried to pass new clean car standards. He said the long-term effects of inaction on climate change could harm the country.

“First of all, we will be left behind economically in terms of what the future economy will look like,” Swan noted. “Secondly, we are enabling climate denialist countries to continue to act in really harmful ways.”

A Yale Program on Climate Change Message survey found that a majority of voters nationwide support climate legislation at the state and federal levels, and only 15% of respondents said they thought the U.S. government was responding well to the climate crisis.

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Today is the summer solstice, the sunniest day of the year, and Indiana conservationists say they have a plan to make the most of the sun’s energy.

In a new report titled Mining the Sun, The Nature Conservancy says the fastest way for a country to achieve energy independence is to use unused land – such as abandoned mines, brownfields or landfills – to build solar and wind farms.

Sean Mobley, senior policy associate at The Nature Conservancy-Indiana, said there is less opposition to using lands that are not otherwise used.

“If you have acres of abandoned mines or brownfield sites, they don’t really serve any social or economic purpose anymore,” Mobley noted. “We see clean energy as a way to reuse it on productive acres.”

Mobley noted that clean energy is a way to reuse land for farming. In a survey conducted by the Nature Conservancy, 66% of Hoosiers support solar energy production, and 69% support adding state incentives to facilitate the development of solar and wind energy on brownfields and mine sites.

Mobley emphasized that solar power capacity tripled statewide from 2021 to 2022, and Indiana ranks eighth in the nation in projected solar growth through 2025. He added that the state Department of Natural Resources currently has $385 million in federal grants available for the recultivation of abandoned mine areas.

“There are just over 150,000 acres of mine lands, primarily in southwestern Indiana, that would be suitable for solar development,” Mobley emphasized. “We will restore economic and conservation value to these acres.”

The Mining the Sun report outlines the steps needed to develop policies that generate new revenue streams for landowners and create jobs in the construction and maintenance industries.

“I think the first step will be to develop a bill for the next legislative session that would direct the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to update the Indiana Reclamation Plan for the Abandoned Mine Sites Program,” Mobley urged.

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