Energy and Environment News Roundup – 3.4.14
A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.
EMISSIONS
EU ETS auction cuts to breathe new life into carbon markets (via Bloomberg New Energy Finance)
EPA strikes back at sulfur emissions (via National Journal)
ENERGY POLICY
Proposed Congressional bill would revive US rare earths industry (via Navigant Research)
Green groups take aim at US energy exports as Keystone XL attack broadens (via Reuters)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Energy efficiency creates 387% return on investment in US Southeast (via CleanTechnica)
Opower files for $100 million US IPO (via Bloomberg New Energy Finance)
RENEWABLES
Africa takes first steps toward renewables revolution (via Renewable Energy World)
Five lessons US offshore wind must learn from Europe (via Renewable Energy World)
Top 10 metro US areas winning the solar race (via Smart Planet)
Wind power’s big empty space down south (via EarthTechling)
In Virginia politics, renewable energy dwarfed by big utility (via Virginian-Pilot)
KEYSTONE XL/TAR SANDS
Study says Keystone XL would have much larger impact than State Department suggests (via Huffington Post)
Great Lakes oil pipeline raise spills fear amid debate over Keystone XL (via The Guardian)
CLIMATE
EU releases proposals for UN 2015 climate deal (via RTCC)
European support for climate change action “not dented by financial crash” (via The Guardian)
Australia’s climate forecast: Hot days, higher fire risk, more severe droughts (via The Guardian)
Netherlands to upgrade flood defenses to cope with climate change (via RTCC)
OIL
China’s national oil company licensed to seek Arctic oil (via China Daily)
Domestic crude oil drives a cautious US refining revival (via New York Times)
Crude oil export battle flares with dueling reports (via National Journal)
US court rejects BP appeal over Gulf spill losses (via Reuters)
TRANSPORTATION
New US fuel standards aim to cut asthma, heart attacks (via Reuters)
Nissan Leaf sales up again in February, Chevy Volt dips deeper (via Autoblog Green)
Tesla’s battery factory threatens the auto, utility, and building controls market (via Greentech Media)
ENVIRONMENT
Government shutdown cost national parks 8 million lost visitors in 2013 (via Climate Progress)
Harsh winter causing large die-off of invasive insects (via Yale e360)
Study says Americans use twice as much water as they think (via Los Angeles Times)
North Carolina cites five more power plants in massive coal ash spill (via The Guardian)
NATURAL GAS
Russia-Ukraine conflict spills beyond borders into natural gas markets (via Forbes)
Investment report: Marcellus growth not peaking any time soon (via Houston Chronicle)
GRID
Are utility concerns about aging infrastructure overblown? (via Midwest Energy News)
Install a building battery, save the grid? (via GreenBiz)
How will Tesla’s “gigafactory” affect the grid? (via EnergyWire)
OPINION
Vladimir Putin won’t threaten Europe’s gas – for now (via Politico)
Can Congress pass energy efficiency legislation? (via National Journal)
What Opower’s IPO filing tells us about the company (via Greentech Media)
Just another solar deal, or the future? (via EarthTechling)