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Converting Coal Power Plants to Nuclear Gains Steam

Cars That Think

On a planet aspiring to become carbon neutral, the once-stalwart coal power plant is an emerging anachronism. It is true that, in much of the developing world, coal-fired capacity continues to grow. But in every corner of the globe, political and financial pressures are mounting to bury coal in the past.

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DOE Regional Partnership Initiates CO2 Injection in Lignite Coal Seam

Green Car Congress

A US Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) team of regional partners has begun injecting CO 2 into a deep lignite coal seam in Burke County, North Dakota, to demonstrate the economic and environmental viability of geologic CO 2 storage in the US Great Plains region.

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CMU county-level study shows plug-ins have larger or smaller lifecycle GHG than gasoline ICE depending on regional factors

Green Car Congress

Past studies have shown that life cycle plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) emissions depend heavily on the assumed electricity grid mix, driving patterns (including drive cycle and distance) and climate (including ambient temperature). All vehicles have higher emissions in Minnesota, a colder state, compared to California.

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Researchers describe the “where” and “when” of life cycle emissions from gasoline and ethanol in the US

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Researchers from the University of Minnesota have produced a spatially and temporally explicit life cycle inventory (LCI) of air pollutants from gasoline, ethanol derived from corn grain, and ethanol from corn stover for the contiguous US (the lower 48 states). Dashed lines show US average emissions. Credit: ACS, Tessum et al.

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Study finds removing corn residue for biofuel production can decrease soil organic carbon and increase CO2 emissions; may miss mandated 60% GHG reduction

Green Car Congress

Using corn crop residue to make ethanol and other biofuels reduces soil carbon and under some conditions can generate more greenhouse gases than gasoline, according to a major, multi-year study by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln team of researchers published in the journal Nature Climate Change. —Liska et al. g CO 2 e MJ ?1

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The EV Transition Explained: Policy Roadblocks

Cars That Think

economy away from dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum, coal and natural gas to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035. The fight over how to fairly implement EV charging networks in Minnesota is another example of the tricky politics PUCs are involved with.

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Perspective: Regional Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Programs May be the Solution

Green Car Congress

Cap-and-trade was first tried on a significant scale twenty years ago under the first Bush administration as a way to address the problem of airborne sulfur dioxide pollution–widely known as acid rain–from coal-burning power plants in the eastern United States. Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Waxman of California and Edward J.

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