Local Climate News
The Vine & Fig Educational Outreach program, called the “The Fresh Veggie Series,” purchases fresh local food from regenerative farms. They deliver the veggies and educational materials each week through five partner farms and 30 regional networks like health clinics, after school youth programming, and section 8 housing locations.
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors turned down a request for a special use permit that would have allowed a battery facility to be built in Timberville. The battery facility would have been used to store energy from a nearby solar facility when the power grid didn’t need it and release it when needed in high-usage periods.
Virginia Energy News
Clean Virginia is again going head-to-head with Dominion Energy to thwart its dominance as the most powerful donor in Virginia politics. Clean Virginia supports candidates that do not take money from Dominion Energy, the state’s biggest utility. Clean Virginia contributed $250,000 to Abigal Spanberger’s campaign for governor.
Dominion Energy reports that the data center boom in Northern Virginia, the world’s largest market, is not slowing down. There is, however, some Wall Street speculation that investment in data centers may decline significantly as President Donald Trump’s tariffs make it more difficult to source parts and raise the risk of a recession.
Dominion Energy plans to install 7,200 solar panels on a closed landfill in Albemarle County. The three-megawatt solar facility will generate enough energy to power as many as 750 houses.
Dominion Energy says that Trump’s tariffs could add $500M to the cost of its Virginia Beach offshore wind farm. To offset these costs, the utility plans to increase customers’ monthly energy bills by an average of 4 cents over the life of the project.
Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power are both pushing Virginia to end net-metering (crediting the surplus electricity that solar installations supply to the grid at the same retail rate they pay for electricity). Clean energy advocates and solar installers are putting up fierce opposition.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two bills for the development of small solar projects and energy storage that had won bipartisan votes and support from Dominion Energy, environmental groups and farm and forestry representatives.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin is working with Democrats who control the General Assembly to increase geothermal energy created by boring deep into the ground to release heat from the earth’s crust.
Our Climate Crisis
Extreme heat has arrived weeks early in India and Pakistan this year as climate change accelerates. Scorching temperatures above 40C (104F) signal a troubling shift toward longer and more intense heatwaves across South Asia.
Politics and Policy
The Trump administration halted work on the next National Climate Assessment, dismissing the more than 400 volunteer scientists and scholars who were working on it. The Congressionally mandated report, produced roughly every four years, summarizes the data and science on how the climate is changing and how that affects agriculture and natural resources.
Trump’s push to save the fading coal industry is getting a warm embrace in West Virginia even though experts say it isn’t possible. That’s because market forces are driving the conversion to cheaper alternative energy sources such as natural gas and clean energy.
The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eliminate its Energy Star program. This would end a decades-old program that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly refrigerators, dishwashers and other electronics and save money on electric bills.
Methane leaking from abandoned coal mines and oil and gas wells is the fourth-largest emitter of the potent greenhouse gas globally. Most governments are, however, reluctant to invest in capping them as there’s little economic return and weak political momentum.
A Republican-led effort to repeal major clean energy tax credits threatens more than $500 billion in pending investment from the Inflation Reduction Act. Many Republican districts, which stand to benefit most from these incentives, are caught between party lines, as business interests and job growth clash with ideological opposition to clean energy.
Energy
More than 90% of the new energy capacity built worldwide last year was clean energy due to plummeting costs and global decarbonization policies. Nevertheless, largely due to increased demand, greenhouse gas emissions from the global power sector rose by 1.7% last year compared with 2023.
PJM, the largest grid operator in the U.S, is partnering with Google to use artificial intelligence to overhaul how it runs its electricity system across 13 states. This has major implications for renewable energy, fossil fuels and an interconnection backlog stalling projects.
For the first time, fossil fuels accounted for less than half of U.S. electricity production as clean power generation surged in March. Gas and coal made up just over 49% of power generation, while solar, wind, hydropower, biofuels and other renewables, and nuclear met 51% of demand.
Pakistan is rapidly scaling up solar energy because it is the cheapest and most available source of energy. Last year, it installed an incredible 22 gigawatts of solar power—more than the UK has added in the past five years combined. It is now the world’s sixth-largest solar market.
An 800-megawatt solar farm, the biggest east of the Mississippi, is now powering Chicago. The city is sourcing around 70% of the power for its municipal operations from the facility. That includes big energy users like O’Hare and Midway airports.
Europe’s biggest power blackout in over 20 years unleashed hours of chaos for people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France. As nations race to decarbonize their energy supplies and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, power grids face mounting challenges as wind and solar power introduce variability and complexity to grid operations.
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, says the cause of the recent massive power outage remains unknown, but that renewables are not to blame. He stressed that he will not deviate from his commitment to renewable energy, calling it “our country’s energy future” and “our only and best option.”
A huge new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is moving forward in southwest Louisiana as the Trump administration fast-tracked the project’s approval. This expanded LNG infrastructure is harming the gulf coast, damaging air and water quality, and destroying property values.
US produced more than three times as much solar, wind, and geothermal power in 2024 as it did in 2015. Progress has happened everywhere as Americans are realizing that renewable energy – power from the sun and wind doesn’t pollute, never runs out, and shows up for free.
The European Union plans to end all Russian gas imports by the end of 2027. They plan to do this through the rapid deployment of renewable energy.
Food and Agriculture
Farmers in California’s water-stressed Central Valley are fallowing land and installing solar, providing financial stability and saving water. Some are even growing crops beneath and between solar panels, which is great for plants stressed by too many rays. Still others are letting that shaded land go wild, providing habitat for pollinators and fodder for grazing livestock.
Billed as a type of food system that works in harmony with nature, “regenerative” agriculture is gaining popularity as a way to improve the health of soil, water, and ecosystems. Some no-till regenerative programs, however, are being used to “greenwash” the routine use of synthetic fertilizers and dangerous herbicides on farm fields.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will bring back deleted climate content on its website following a lawsuit filed on behalf of farmers and environmental groups. The removed content created information blackholes for farmers navigating unpredictable weather and seeking sustainable practices.
Climate Justice
Research by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that half of global temperature rise and a third of sea-level rise can be attributed to the world’s 122 largest fossil fuel and cement producers. They insist that corporate accountability be among future climate action measures.
Climate Action
“Deep Change Theory” indicates that many sustainability projects are superficial because they focus on small changes within the system without changing the system itself. A new U.N. report maps a path toward a more sustainable future and challenges society to question basic assumptions and values about the environment, consumption, and waste.
The Edinburgh Street Stitchers take to the streets with their banner inviting people to #stitchitdontditchit. They repair their garments in public and teach interested passers-by how to do the same. The fashion industry emits more carbon than aviation and shipping combined; extending a garment’s life by nine months can cut its environmental footprint by up to 30%.
Major scientific societies will independently publish research for the stalled National Climate Assessment after the Trump administration removed the project’s scientific teams.
A coalition of aviation professionals warns that the industry must urgently control flight growth and adopt deeper emissions cuts. Aviation’s environmental toll is growing and, if we do not act, will be about a quarter of all human-caused emissions by 2050.
Vienna has the goal of getting its climate pollution down to zero by 2040. In addition to mandating solar panels and energy-efficient buildings, it is heating thousands of homes with geothermal energy. Cities all over the world can make a big difference because 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions come from cities.
A small startup in Massachusetts has built and road-tested a solid-state battery that has the potential for faster charging, greater range, and improved safety. The batteries still have significant manufacturing challenges but if the technology can be pushed into mass production, the ripple effects could be vast.
Maine’s new energy-efficiency plan is projected to lower electricity bills for the state’s residents. It is heavily focused on getting electric heat pumps in as many homes as possible. A low-income household can get rebates of up to $9,000 for heat pump installations, and homes at high income levels qualify for up to $3,000.
Would you swap your plane ticket for a seat on a zeppelin airship? Nearly a century after the Hindenburg, a new generation of airship companies say they have a greener alternative for tourism and cargo flights.
Earl Zimmerman is a member of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley Steering Committee.
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Chris Graham
