The Montgomery County Energy Team receives tons of newsletters and articles every day, and these are a few articles that we wanted to share this month. These articles range from county, state, national and international stories, we hope you find them as interesting as we did.
100% Renewable Energy: Grist built a tiny model town to show what it would look like if we tried to transition to 100% clean energy, www.grist.org
Alternative Energy: Recently, there has been an expansion and a positive shift in people embracing renewable energy sources, both on international and local levels, www.dailyinfographic.com
Batteries: The advent of "big battery" technology addresses a key challenge for green energy – the intermittency of wind and solar. Could these batteries make fossil fuels obsolete? www.bbc.com
Biomass: Many are resorting to biomass energy because it is considered to be an organic and renewable energy source that many believe will serve as a reliable "transition" from fossil fuels to cleaner sources, such as solar and wind energy, www.greenmatters.com
Clean Energy: The U.S. Congress passed a massive spending bill that includes $35 billion in energy research and development programs, a two-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit for solar power, a one-year extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind power projects, and an extension through 2025 for offshore wind tax credits — a significant last-minute boost for clean energy industries, www.greentechmedia.com
Climate Change: Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become the first US city to mandate the placing of stickers on fuel pumps to warn drivers of the resulting dangers posed by the climate crisis, www.theguardian.com
Coal: The operator of the largest coal-fired power plant in Maryland, GenOn Holdings, Inc. announced that it would cease operations at its 50-year-old Morgantown power plant in Charles County by 2027, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, www.marylandmatters.org
Congregations: EPA report shows onsite renewable energy growth among worship facilities, www.churchexecutive.com
Electrifying Homes: Replacing your gas furnace, water heater, stove, and clothes dryer promises to lock in long-term environmental and economic benefits—but beware of surprise costs, www.bloomberg.com
Emissions: After a record breaking wildfire season that burned more than four million acres on the West Coast, and a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season that included 30 named storms (12 of which made landfall), the news that carbon emissions would drop a record 2.4 billion tons in 2020 seemed like a turning point for the climate, www.fastcompany.com
Energy Efficiency: Maryland ranked #6 according to the ACEEE 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, www.dc.citybizlist.com
Green Roof and Solar Report: This project examines the feasibility of combining green roofs and solar panels on top of the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus as a case study, www.sustainability.illinois.edu
Hydrogen: A flood of investments and energy industry pledges made 2020 a breakout year for low-carbon hydrogen. But 2021 may be when the hype gives way to hard questions, www.eenews.net
Peecycling: Urine diversion shows multiple environmental benefits when used at city scale, www.umich.edu
Resolutions: According to experts, these nine (9) climate resolutions should be kept in 2021, www.forbes.com
Solar: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $45 million for research to advance solar hardware and systems integration, including the creation of a consortium dedicated to developing control technologies for a modernized electric grid, www.energy.gov