Virginia Environmental News
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected an application to build a 20-acre solar panel facility northeast of Harrisonburg. They did so despite nine people, including energy experts, speaking in favor of the project at the board meeting. The stated reason was because the facility would not create “long-term” jobs. Such shortsighted decisions are hamstringing the development of needed inexpensive, renewable energy in rural Virginia.
Virginia lawmakers have passed legislation to prohibit localities from blanket bans of solar farms and instead set up a framework for finding appropriate sites for such projects. Additionally, a pair of bills progressing through the Virginia General Assembly would fast-track adding battery energy storage to existing solar farms.
State regulators recently tweaked the way Dominion Energy charges customers who opt into shared community solar projects. The change unlocks access to Virginians who had been shut out unless they were willing to pay a premium for community solar.
Virginia legislators in the 2026 General Assembly have no intention of stopping the data center boom. They prefer to deal with the skyrocketing energy demand by piecing together a lot of small and medium-sized initiatives in hopes they all add up to enough to meet the moment.
Roanoke City Public Schools has been awarded a 450K state grant to upgrade its emergency shelter capacity at two high schools by building a solar-powered microgrid with a battery energy storage system. It will be the first of its kind in Virginia.
The State Corporation Commission has reasserted its approval of Dominion Energy’s gas power plant in Chesterfield. Southern Environmental Law Center is now filing an appeal on behalf of three environmental groups against the DEQ air permit for the project.
The Trump administration’s failed attempt to block construction of Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm cost the utility $228 million, and tariffs cost another $137 million, but the project should begin sending power to the grid next month.
Our Climate Crisis
Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash according to British climate experts. Models used by states and financial bodies assume the future will behave like the past despite the burning of fossil fuels pushing the climate system into uncharted territory.
Meteorologists in Iceland are concerned that a warming planet could turn their country into a massive glacier. Continued warming could disrupt a vital ocean current that carries heat northward from the tropics. That would make most of the world hotter but northern Europe would cool substantially and Iceland would be at the center of a deep freeze.
Global temperatures have been rising at a constant rate for decades but scientists find that the rate has been accelerating in the past several year.
Methane emissions from wetlands are now rising faster than those from industrial sources, prompting concerns about a climate feedback loop created by global warming.
Politics and Policy
The Trump administration revoked a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. This is the most aggressive move by the administration to roll back climate regulations. It could threaten automakers and oil companies if it survives in court.
Long known for its limited parking, the Austrian capital of Vienna is actually converting more parking space into green space. They are breaking up concrete, not only to cool things off in summer but to encourage alternative transit options.
Researchers say that we should plan for a declining demand in gas stations by the mid-2030s. Electric transportation will become the market leader, but gasoline will still have a share, albeit a declining one.
The Washington Post is gutting its climate team, courtesy of Jeff Bezos. The Post laid off at least 14 climate journalists and only five remain.
The U.S. has renewed threats to quit the International Energy Agency unless it scales back climate advocacy. In response, climate is no longer listed among the agency’s priorities. It instead focuses on energy security, resilience, critical minerals and electricity systems.
Energy
Global investment in the clean energy transition rose to a record $2.3 trillion last year, an 8% increase from 2024.
Solar, wind, and batteries are set to supply virtually all the net new US electricity generating capacity this year.
Renewable energy is now supplying 50% of electricity generation on Australia’s largest grid. Rooftop solar is meeting up to 61% of the grid’s total demand.
China will see its solar capacity outstrip its coal capacity for the first time this year. The forecast is that clean energy, Including hydro and nuclear power, will amount to nearly two-thirds of total power capacity, while coal will amount to a third by the end of the year.
Carbon emissions in China have been flat or fell slightly over the past two years. The rapidly growing electric power sector is the largest emitter and clean energy is covering the growing demand.
A large New Mexico developer is ditching gas to save money and avoid the hassle of installing gas lines. It’s faster and cheaper to build all-electric houses where you don’t have to put in the gas lines or the vents to get all the gas created pollution out of the building.
A wave of affordable Chinese-made EVs is accelerating the global shift away from petrol cars. Demand is soaring in emerging markets from South America to southeast Asia.
As U.S. automakers are scaling back their production of EVs, Ford and Tesla are pivoting to building large-scale batteries for the electric grid.
The manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China’s economic growth last year and drove more than 90% of its investment growth.
Offshore wind showed up big and delivered consistent, reliable power during the East Coast’s winter storm and brutal cold snap.
China’s largest EV battery makers are teaming up to build a shared facility for producing solid-state battery materials, a move that could bring cheaper, longer-lasting electric vehicles to market faster.
Tech companies are building data centers with their own private power plants across the US. It’s a risky bet that will increase carbon emissions and other pollution.
Land, Food, and Agriculture
What happens when a neighborhood is built around a farm? Some developers are creating “agrihoods” that reimagine urban living by putting food, not cars, at the center of the community.
Korean farmers are facing mounting losses from heat waves, heavy rainfall, droughts and shifting growing seasons. They are now plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit filed against the state-owned electric utility and five of its power-generation subsidiaries that are emitting carbon pollution.
Climate change is exacerbating feelings of uncertainty and hopelessness among Canadian farmers. Guilt, panic and hopelessness are becoming familiar emotions as they face increasingly extreme weather.
Renewable energy projects can help small-scale farmers make ends meet, but some rural residents don’t like changes to the landscape and diminishing agricultural land. The real threat to farmland, however, is urban sprawl into rural areas, not solar development.
Climate Justice
Making a complete U-turn, President Trump recently signed a bill giving more than $4 billion to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Since 1981, this initiative has helped millions of Americans pay their utility bills, undertake energy-related home repairs, and make weatherization upgrades that save them money.
Democratic lawmakers in Maine voted last June to cut support for community solar as a way to lower energy costs. Now, it turns out that natural gas—not solar panels and wind turbines—is the primary driver behind soaring power prices, according to the state’s energy department.
Lawmakers in California, Hawaii and New York have introduced measures which would authorize their attorneys general to sue fossil-fuel companies on behalf of residents whose insurance premiums have soared amid climate disasters.
Thermal drone footage shows that Elon Musk’s AI power plant in Mississippi continues to flouting clean air regulations with its unpermitted portable gas turbines.
Louisiana residents in “Cancer Alley” communities already saturated with petrochemical pollution now face four proposed, commercial-scale, fossil fuel based, “blue ammonia” plants. They would be allowed to discharge more than 2,800 tons of air pollutants annually.
As the Trump administration cracks down on climate change activism, members of several environmental groups fear they are being targeted.
Climate Action
Tired of paying for gasoline? Switching to an EV could cut your annual car expenses 40-65%. Furthermore, choosing a 2022–2024 EV offers a sticker price comparable to a used gas car.
We tend to focus on clean energy but overlook the surprising value of the energy we don’t use. For example, improving your home’s caulking, weatherstripping, and insulation can turn what seems like an extra up-front cost into long-term net savings and reduce your carbon emissions.
EV adoption is leading to rapid and significant cuts in air pollution in California.
Battery prices in the UK have come down to a level where they can save you money even if you don’t have solar panels. You can store electricity when it is cheapest at off-peak times, then use it, or sell it back to the grid, when rates spike in the evening peak.
Encouragement boosts people’s likelihood to take climate action. We want to frame it as really giving people tangible ways that they can make a difference while adding to their lives instead of just taking away from it.
Every trip to the store, drink at a restaurant, or discard of a recyclable item can feel like a small moral referendum. Bring the reusable bag. Skip the straw. Rinse the yogurt cup. Even as customers strive to cut back, Big Oil is doubling down on single-use plastic packaging.
Support AFP
Share
