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CEC determines Diablo Canyon needed to support grid reliability

Green Car Congress

The nuclear power plant supplies about 17% of California’s zero-carbon electricity and 9% of total electricity. An extension allows the state to rely less on natural gas and more on clean resources for the electricity grid. This includes extreme heat and wildfires that threaten the grid with growing frequency and intensity.

Grid 199
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Researchers show economic, environmental and grid-resilience benefits of converting diesel trains to battery-electric

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The social cost of carbon emissions starts at US$125?t Dramatic improvements in battery technology, coupled with the existing electric drivetrain in predominantly diesel-electric freight trains in the US, pave the way for a rapid conversion to battery-electric freight rail and with substantial cost savings. t –1 by 2040.

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DOE announces $11.5M in Phase 1 funding for carbon capture and storage program; ARPA-E FLECCS

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million in funding for 12 projects as part of Phase 1 of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E’s) FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) program. FLECCS Phase 1 teams will design, model, and optimize CCS processes that enable flexibility on a high-VRE grid. The US Department of Energy announced $11.5

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Study finds all-electric rideshare fleet could reduce carbon emissions, but increase traffic issues

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Major ridesourcing companies Uber and Lyft have promised all-electric fleets by 2030 in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. Overall, electrification reduces net external costs to society by 3–11% (5–24¢ per trip), depending on the assumed social cost of carbon. —Mohan et al. Mohan et al.

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Nature editorial: environmental and human costs of Li-ion technology must be addressed quickly

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An editorial in the journal Nature calls on policy makers, industry leaders and researchers to mitigate quickly the environmental and human costs of Li-ion batteries. This would have a considerable carbon footprint. Batteries are crucial for Earth’s low-carbon future. — Nature editorial. — Nature editorial.

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California agencies release report charting path to 100% clean electricity; need to triple grid capacity by 2045

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The California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the first joint agency report and a summary document examining how the state’s electricity system can become carbon-free by 2045. California’s electricity mix is already more than 60% carbon-free.

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EPRI Analysis estimates costs of fully developing US smart grid could reach $476B; benefits up to $2T

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Total Smart Grid costs. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has released a broad assessment of the costs and benefits to modernize the US electricity system and deploy the smart grid. The analysis updates EPRI’s 2004 EPRI assessment, which estimated the cost of implementing a smart grid at $165 billion.

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