Something for nothing... really? @gernotwagner sends along this image from the latest document by the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), implying that there are some measure that we can take literally for free or better than free (i.e. they will yield profit as well as climate dividends). Top of the list? Solar energy and wind energy....
As I get ready to teach the energy unit, I'm catching up on the latest news about offshore wind energy production in Maryland.
In December 2021, the Maryland Public Service Commission rewarded renewable energy credits to two companies for their plans to build offshore wind energy plants 15 miles out of Ocean City. Plants are expected to be operational by 2026, in time to meet the requirements of the Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2019, which requires that half of the energy used in Maryland come from sources like solar or wind.
February 2022: the groundwork is being laid in Sparrows Point for a large steel plant that will produce the turbines and "monopiles" which are the structures to which the turbines are attached.
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Update, August 2022: Virginia is getting in on the action. Two test turbines have been up and running since Fall 2020, and the full project will consist of 176 turbines, enough to power 660,000 homes, by 2026.
In other words, things keep moving...
Great thread by @GernotWagner detailing why the currently fashionable holiday for gas taxes (such as the one that recently went into effect in our home state, Maryland) is probably not the best idea. The basic idea (in his Bloomberg column): higher prices motivate people to use their cars less, and that's a good thing. Rather than making gas cheaper, we should just give people money to let them make up the difference in their own way. As he puts it, "Don't decrease energy prices. You'll encourage consumers to use more of it, and you'll send more $€¥£ to Putin."