EnviroPolitics Blog

Washington’s lightbulb wars go dark

BY KELSEY TAMBORRINO, Politico Power Switch

A vintage-style incandescent light bulb is shown with an LED light bulb and a compact florescent light bulb.

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Germans study benefits of growing hops for beer under solar panels

Solar panels are mounted on poles above a hops field near Au in der Hallertau, Germany, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Solar panels atop crops has been gaining traction in recent years as incentives and demand for clean energy skyrocket. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

From the Associated Press Posted at 9:08 AM, Jul 22, 2023 and last updated 9:08 AM, Jul 22, 2023

AU IN DER HALLERTAU, Germany (AP) — Bright green vines snake upwards 20 feet (six meters) toward an umbrella of solar panels at Josef Wimmer’s farm in Bavaria.

He grows hops, used to make beer, and in recent years has also been generating electricity, with solar panels sprawled across 1.3 hectares (32 acres) of his land in the small hop-making town of Au in der Hallertau, an hour north of Munich in southern Germany.

The pilot project — a collaboration between Wimmer and local solar technology company Hallertauer Handelshaus — was set up in the fall of last year. The electricity made at this farm can power around 250 households, and the hops get shade they’ll need more often as climate change turbocharges summer heat.

Solar panels atop crops has been gaining traction in recent years as incentives and demand for clean energy skyrocket. Researchers look into making the best use of agricultural land, and farmers seek ways to shield their crops from blistering heat, keep in moisture and potentially increase yields. The team in Germany says its effort is the first agrivoltaic project that’s solely focused on hops, but projects have sprouted around the world in several countries for a variety of grains, fruits and vegetables.

Agrivoltaics is the technical term for using land for both solar energy and crops
Solar Panels Plus Farming? Agrivoltaics Explained (video)

Beer-making hops can suffer if exposed to too much sun, said Bernhard Gruber, who’s managing the project’s solar component — and since there were already solar installations on the farm, it made sense to give them a second purpose by mounting them on poles above the crops.

In addition to shielding plants from solar stress, the shade could mean “water from precipitation lasts longer, leaving more in the soil” and that “the hops stay healthier and are less susceptible to diseases,” Gruber said. A scientific analysis of the benefits for the plants will be concluded in October.

Read the full story here

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GOP-led Appropriations committee approves slashing EPA budget, pulling back Environmental Justice grants

The committee called for more attention to chemical recycling, plastic-based fuel research and PFAS destruction technology.

By Megan Quinn, Senior Reporter, Waste Dive Published July 24, 2023

The sign for the EPA is pictured. — *Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via Getty Images*

Listen to the article5 min

A budget approved by the House Appropriations committee Wednesday proposes major spending cuts to the U.S. EPA and environmental justice efforts, but also outlined support for chemical recycling, plastics research and other waste and recycling initiatives.

The Republican-controlled committee said the fiscal year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies budget bill was designed for “reining in” what it considers unnecessary discretionary spending by proposing a nearly $4 billion cut to the EPA’s budget, which would be a 39% reduction over 2023. It also called for rescinding $1.35 billion in environmental and climate justice grants funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Tracking the future of US recycling policy in Congress

Spurred by market challenges, the Hill has seen a historic influx of big bills. Keep up on all the latest developments with our legislative tracker.

House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said drastic cuts were necessary in part because of national debt and inflation issues. But ranking member Chellie Pingree, D- Maine, said the proposed bill “will completely debilitate America’s ability to address the climate crisis.”

Groups like the Clean Budget Coalition have spoken out against the appropriation committee’s call to rescind EJ grant funding, saying the proposed cuts will have a negative effect on environmental remediation programs and initiatives that battle legacy pollution. It’s also a hit to the federal Justice40 initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities, the coalition said.

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New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli to leave her post

From NJ Spotlight News

New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli will be stepping down from the post after a historic tenure overseeing the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Persichilli announced her plans in an interview with NJ.com, saying she planned to officially retire at the end of August.
Touted by Gov. Phil Murphy in his then-daily COVID press briefings as the women “who needs no introduction,” Persichilli became the public face of the state’s response to the pandemic — in both its triumphs and failures.
Persichilli, a former hospital administrator and the first nurse to serve in the state’s highest health position, mostly drew public praise from advocates today.
“Judy was the steady hand and calm voice we needed during the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes,” said Cathy Bennett, president of the state’s hospital association.

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Rich lode of lithium needed for electric car batteries could boost Taliban and its new Chinese partners

The Pentagon dubbed Afghanistan ‘the Saudi Arabia of lithium.’ Now, it is American rivals that are angling to exploit those coveted reserves.

CHAPA DARA, Afghanistan — Sayed Wali Sajid spent years fighting American soldiers in the barren hills and fertile fields of the Pech River Valley, one of the deadliest theaters of the 20-year insurgency. But nothing confounded the Taliban commander, he said, like the new wave of foreigners who began showing up, one after another, in late 2021.

Once, Sajid spotted a foreigner hiking alone along a path where Islamic State extremists were known to kidnap outsiders. Another time, five men and women evaded Sajid’s soldiers in the dark to scour the mountain. The newcomers, Sajid recalled, were giddy, persistent, almost single-minded in their quest for something few locals believed held any value at all.

“The Chinese were unbelievable,” Sajid said, chuckling at the memory. “At first, they didn’t tell us what they wanted. But then I saw the excitement in their eyes and their eagerness, and that’s when I understood the word ‘lithium.’”

A decade earlier, the U.S. Defense Department, guided by the surveys of American government geologists, concluded that the vast wealth of lithium and other minerals buried in Afghanistan might be worth $1 trillion, more than enough to prop up the country’s fragile government. In a 2010 memo, the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, which examined Afghanistan’s development potential, dubbed the country the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” A year later, the U.S. Geological Survey published a map showing the location of major deposits and highlighted the magnitude of the underground wealth, saying Afghanistan “could be considered as the world’s recognized future principal source of lithium.”

Read the full story here

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An old, obscure federal law (the Jones Act) makes Philly Shipyard a player in offshore wind energy

By Frank Kummer, Philadelphia Inquirer

Few realized until President Joe Biden’s visit to the city Thursday that the Philly Shipyard could become a player in the offshore wind industry emerging off the Eastern seaboard.

The shipyard signed a contract as far back as 2021 to build the Acadia, a 461-foot-long, highly specialized vessel that’s needed to get the skyscraper-high turbines set in the seafloor. A key boost for the shipyard: An old and obscure federal law known as the Jones Act that requires vessels transporting cargo within the U.S. to be built in the U.S. instead of overseas.

Who is building the Acadia?

The Acadia is being built at the Philly Shipyard for the Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., the country’s largest dredging operation, which has jumped into the offshore wind business.

At least initially, the ship would be used for the Empire Offshore Wind project, a joint venture between Equinor and BP for wind farms approved off the New York coast.

Biden announced Thursday during a steel-cutting ceremony for the ship that it would be the first offshore wind vessel of its kind to be made in the United States.

The vessel would be built by the pool of 1,400 workers and nine unions based at the shipyard, according to Matthew Cassidy, a spokesperson for the shipyard. The ship’s steel plates will be made by United Steelworkers in Indiana. Biden said the activity surrounding the ship would generate an estimated $125 million a year as it is being built.

The ship is expected to be complete for delivery in 2025, according to the Philly Shipyard’s second quarter report, and is about 6% complete.

What will the ship do?

The vessel would be used as part of subsea rock installation work for the Empire Wind I and II wind farms to be built off the coast of New York, according to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock company literature. The two wind farms would have the capacity to provide power to more than one million homes in New York.

The rock installation will be used to protect and stabilize monopile foundations, electrical substructures, and export cables by the mid-2020s, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock said.

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