July
2018
Did
You Know - How
is the Recreational
Marijuana Industry
Affecting Energy
Consumption?
As
the legal recreational
marijuana industry expands,
cannabis cultivation and
manufacturing remains an
energy-intense process.
Suppliers in
Massachusetts begin to
face obstacles as they are
met with new energy
regulations by the Cannabis
Control Commission (CCC),
who are working to make sure
that growers' concerns are
heard and that they adhere
to the new limits and
restrictions. These
regulations may have future
impact on the industry
nationwide.
Innovative
solutions are emerging to
help reduce energy costs
without hurting production.
Co-founders of STEM
Cultivation, Chris Denaro
and Kyle Moffit have created
the STEM Box. "The STEM Box
is a self-contained,
vertical, hydroponic pot
farm," describes Denaro.
Inventions
like this open the door for
future breakthroughs in
agricultural
sustainability.
See more on this story here.
Energy
Investments Up and Down
There's
bittersweet news for clean
energy for the early half of
2018. Global investments in
wind power have shot up, while
solar energy has suffered a
decline.
Wind
energy investments total about
$60 billion from January
through June, a 33% jump from
the same time last year. A
large part of it is due to a
couple of multi-million and
billion dollar projects. One
of note is the development of
a wind farm in the North Sea
totaling $1.5 billion.
Solar
energy investments, however,
have fallen 19%
globally from 2017.
While wind
investments grew in
China, solar dropped 29%,
bringing the global market
down with it, as Beijing
announced the slowing of solar
developments. China's not the
sole reason for the slump;
solar farms have become
cheaper to build, leading to
less investments.
Click
here to learn
more.
How
will the New Supreme Court
Nominee Affect Government
Energy Agencies?
New
Supreme Court nominee, Brett
Kavanaugh already has some
worried about his previous
judicial track record.
Specific concerns are
arising as to how this will
translate in regard to his
role in the high court.
In the past, he has called
into question the
constitutionality of
independent regulatory
agencies, such as the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC). Kavanaugh claims
these agencies are a
"threat to individual
liberties" because leaders
cannot be removed at will by
the president the way cabinet
members can. The FERC and
other agencies worry that
Kavanaugh's affinity for
strong presidential powers
will spell bad news for them
if their constitutionality
ever comes into question in
the Supreme Court.
There is also worry that
Kavanaugh may curtail some of
the EPA's more ambitious
policies and programs, as he's
shown skepticism in the past
towards overreaching agency
authority. Critics worry that
he will undo set regulations
and overturn important
precedents protecting the FERC
and EPA. Lawyers in the
industry, however, caution not
to read too much into
Kavanaugh's past opinions and
rulings as a D.C. Circuit
judge as the weight of certain
decisions becomes greater and
requires more thought when
decided by the highest law of
the land.
For
more on this story from, click here
"U.K.
Energy Costs Headed Higher
With Plan to Leave Single
Market'
As
Britain gears up to leave the
EU in March 2019, uncertainty
builds in the energy industry
as the British plan to leave
the EU's single market. The
U.K. still wants to maintain
neighboring nations as trading
partners, as they are
the third largest user
of energy in Europe. The
importance of partnerships
with these countries is
underscored by the fact that
London is a main trading hub
for gas.
There’s a risk “... there’s so
much uncertainty about the
rules that investment doesn’t
happen because people are so
unsure about what’s going to
happen,” says Oliver Perry, a
principal at a utilities
company in London. The British
government has estimated it
will need 100 billion pounds
to keep power on beyond 2020,
making it an especially
troublesome time for investor
uncertainty. With over a
dozen fading power plants
dropping out of commission in
the next decade, investors
will need more reassurance
about the future of the
European energy market.
To continue reading this story,
click here.
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