QUICK NEWS, March 25: Big Oil Millions Block Climate Action; Three Ways New Energy Is A Good Bet

Big Oil Millions Block Climate Action Oil And Gas Giants Spend Millions Lobbying To Block Climate Change Policies

Niall McCarthy, March 25, 2019 (Forbes)

“Every year, the world's five largest publicly owned oil and gas companies spend approximately $200 million on lobbying designed to control, delay or block binding climate-motivated policy. This has caused problems for governments seeking to implement policies in the wake of the Paris Agreement which are vital in meeting climate change targets. Companies are generally reluctant to disclose such lobbying expenditure…[but the best available records suggest] BP has the highest annual expenditure on climate lobbying at $53 million, followed by Shell with $49 million and ExxonMobil with $41 million. Chevron and Total each spend around $29 million…

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…[Part of the spend] goes towards sophisticated efforts to engage politicians and the general public on environmental policies that could impact fossil fuel usage…[A recent example is BP campaign] to reframe the climate crisis as a ‘dual’ energy challenge…[The five companies] support their lobbying expenditures with a financial outlay of $195 million annually for focused branding activities which suggest they support action against climate change…[by] drawing attention to low carbon, positioning the company as a climate expert and acknowledging climate concern while ignoring solutions…[Only 3% of spending is] directed to low carbon projects…” click here for more

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Three Ways New Energy Is A Good Bet 3 Trends to Watch in Renewable Energy in 2019; Wind and solar power will continue to elbow their way onto the electric grid this year, but that's just the beginning.

Maxx Chatsko, March 23, 2019 (The Motley Fool)

“…[For the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, the U.S. agreed to voluntarily cut total carbon emissions at least 26% from 2005 levels by 2025. By the end of last year it had reduced energy-related carbon emissions -- the great majority of total emissions -- 13% from that benchmark…The bulk of the reduction to date has come from retiring coal-fired power plants and replacing the generation with [New Energy and] natural gas…The decarbonization gains should continue for the foreseeable future thanks to the flood of electric vehicles that are about to hit the market and a nearly insatiable appetite for renewable energy projects among electric utilities…The United States counted over 96,000 megawatts of installed wind power and 64,000 megawatts of solar power at the end of 2018. That generated close to 10% of the country's total electricity production, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects the share of modern renewables in the grid to accelerate going forward.

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Wind and solar could reach 11% of total electric output in 2019 and 13% in 2020…[E]nergy storage markets are developing virtually overnight…[T]he United States installed a record 311 megawatts of energy storage in 2018, which should double in 2019 and triple in 2020…[Most forecasts] fail to include two next-generation renewable power sources likely to emerge by 2030: offshore wind power and enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)…The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that over 23,000 megawatts of offshore wind projects could be put into production by 2030, enough to generate about 3% to 4% of the country's total electricity…EGS is still in the earliest stages of development…[but] DOE thinks the United States has at least 100,000 megawatts of next-generation geothermal potential…” click here for more

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