Dan Esposito

How do we allow (not to mention fund & suppress criticism of) such slaughter--and similar atrocities over the last 20 months and beyond? We all need to speak out more--to save innocent lives and stop the theft of our souls. From Omar El Akkad in "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This"

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Regulating Hydrogen: A Primer for Energy Regulators. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Join Energy Innovation, the Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator, and esteemed regulators from British Columbia, Chile, and New York State on June 25, 10:00 a.m. ET for a virtual discussion on how...

Join @energyinnovation.org and the Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator on Weds. June 25 at 10am for a webinar covering our new Regulating Hydrogen paper, including discussion with a panel of regulators from British Columbia, Chile, and New York State:

energyinnovation.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is actually One Big Expensive Bill that, if passed as is, will do major damage to the U.S. economy, harm workers and families, and put the U.S. in the backseat when it comes to global competitiveness. The team at @energyinnovation.org modeled it, here's what we found:

Increased Biofuel Production in the US Midwest May Harm Farmers and the Climate The expansion of biofuel production as an alternative fuel source not only raises questions about sustainability, but about economic inequities among Midwestern small farmers.

New research from my colleagues out today looking at the environmental and social impacts of food crop-based biofuels in the US, where we now use >30% of the corn supply and >40% of the soybean oil supply (on tens of millions of acres of prime cropland) to produce only ~6% of US transport fuel. 🧪

“Clean” Fuels Policy is a Mess. It’s Time to Get Things on Track. Our new Fuels & Chemicals program will align hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon capture policy with climate realities

I wrote about why we started our new Fuels & Chemicals program--encompassing hydrogen, biofuels, carbon capture, and their derivatives--at @energyinnovation.org, and why the timing felt right to do so. Check out the full Substack post:

thepowerline.substack.com/p/clean-fuel...

It also stresses that regulators can make smarter decisions on these issues by widening their aperture of awareness to consider -- and coordinate with other agencies and authorities on -- other issues affecting hydrogen's growth that may fall outside of their direct decision-making power.

This map highlights 28 countries around the world from which we had energy regulator participants in our workshops. These countries include Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Czechia, Dominica, Estonia, France, Germany, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Peru, Portugal, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.

The roadmap pulls together insights from a collaborative process involving two global workshops and hundreds of comments from energy regulators from around the world. It identifies, organizes, and offers question and priority sets for key issue areas that fall within energy regulators' purview.

A graphic titled "Hydrogen Regulatory Overview." It includes two concentric circles. The inner circle is orange with the sub-title "issues in energy regulators' purview." It includes four bubbles labeled "electricity systems," "natural gas systems," "hydrogen infrastructure," and "pipeline and appliance safety," each with illustrative icons. The outer circle is blue with the sub-title "other issues affecting hydrogen's growth." It includes four bubbles labeled "government policy goals," "emissions accounting schemes," "local air pollution," and "water consumption," again with each having its own illustrative icon. An Energy Innovation watermark logo is included in the bottom-left corner.

The hydrogen hype cycle has confused the industry's growth trajectory--with implications for electric and gas utilities. @oboylemm.bsky.social and I worked with the Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator on a new @energyinnovation.org hydrogen regulation paper:
energyinnovation.org/report/regul...

One Big Blackout Bill? The House Reconciliation Bill Threatens Grid Reliability Early on May 22, the House of Representatives passed its 2025 budget reconciliation bill, which would abruptly end the technology-neutral clean energy tax credits, making any renewable or storage reso

One Big Beautiful Bill, or One Big Blackout Bill?

Killing clean energy tax credits threatens 150 GW of new wind, solar, and battery storage right as surging power demand means America needs new energy more than ever.

Passing the bill could crash our grid.

www.realclearenergy.org/articles/202...

Happy Earth Day from NOAA Satellites NOAA satellites have been monitoring Earth’s weather and environment since 1970, which also happened to be the year the first official Earth Day took place!

Happy Earth Day!! 🌍 Consider how remarkable this planet is. Among all the planets, we live on this one. This is our home. Our beautiful, brilliant orb and all its life forms are worth protecting, preserving, conserving, regenerating, restoring, and replenishing. www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/happy-e...

Replace Comanche coal with renewable 'energy park', not unproven nuclear | PODIUM Pueblo made headlines in 2022 when EVRAZ built a massive solar array to power its Rocky Mountain Steel plant, creating the world’s first solar-powered steel mill, ending 140 years of

A huge energy story is unfolding in Pueblo, CO - with big implications for our state's grid, climate goals, and energy costs.

An "energy park" could help Colorado replace coal and lead US innovation. Me with @michelle-solomon.bsky.social
#COleg #COpolitics
www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/repl...

🚨 The largest federal program helping low income households pay their energy bills no longer has any staff.

Colorado utility bills could rise, emissions cuts would be slowed if Trump ends clean energy tax credits GOP Reps. Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd join fight to protect federal energy tax credits behind $3.7B in projects and investment in their districts

Colorado utility bills could rise, emissions cuts would be slowed if Trump ends clean energy tax credits

📣 BREAKING: The UK Climate Change Committee now says there’s no role for hydrogen in building heating.

That’s study #61 on my list showing little to no role for hydrogen in heating—up from 54 in my meta-review from Dec 2023: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee (ITIAC) released our first report containing recommendations on how DOE can accelerate a transition to clean, competitive U.S. #manufacturing. Check it out at: www.energy.gov/sites/defaul...

What To Know About Final 45V Tax Credit Rules For Electrolytic Hydrogen: A Win For Consumers, Industry, And Climate • Energy Innovation Treasury's final ruling on 45V tax credits for hydrogen provides a compromise for all sides and creates green guidelines.

Want a deeper dive into what made it into the final 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit rules? In a new blog, we share six insights on the electrolytic hydrogen side, covering pros/cons for emissions integrity, investment risk, and industry viability:

energyinnovation.org/expert-voice...

Clean hydrogen rules can catalyze growth — if industry unites behind them The final 45V rules provide much-needed business certainty. Seeking late changes would only bring uncertainty and years of delay.

NEW: The U.S. Treasury's final 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit rules are out. In my new @latitudemedia.bsky.social op-ed, I argue these rules are a remarkable compromise that can spur a domestic clean hydrogen industry--but stakeholders must unite:

www.latitudemedia.com/news/clean-h...

There’s Something for (Almost) Everyone in the Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules The Biden administration is hoping they’ll be a starting gun for the industry. The industry may or may not be fully satisfied.

It's the moment you've been waiting for... a new 2,000 words (ok its a bit more) from me on the 45V hydrogen tax credit. Except this time we have final rules!
"3 Pillars" are still in...sort of. Path for existing nuclear, w/ 200 mw cap per reactor. More details inside ⤵️ heatmap.news/climate/fina...

🤔Curious about what our Reports #Wrapped2024 looks like?
energyinnovation.org/research-res...

New to @bsky.app and want to follow our experts? Here's a starter pack
go.bsky.app/8E1BeV5

Hydrogen Policy's Narrow Path: Delusions And Solutions - Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology Hydrogen policy that isn't carefully designed can reverse, delay, or raise emission reduction costs while failing environmental justice goals, potentially dooming the hydrogen industry.

The paper includes two sets of policy recommendations: tools to boost hydrogen's uptake in high-value uses, and measures to minimize risks of H2's low-value uses. This thread is too long already, so I'll cover these another time. For now, read them here:
energyinnovation.org/publication/...

Key Finding 6: Hydrogen's uptake in high-value uses will require targeted demand-side policies. Supply-side subsidies alone will not ensure this outcome (and may make better alternatives for low-value uses look worse). Policymakers need to intervene.

Key Finding 5: In the U.S., hydrogen's market potential for high-value uses exceeds clean H2 production goals--so any H2 flowing to low-value uses cuts into decarbonizing high-value sectors on the needed timeline. (Efficiency, biofuels can help cut H2 demand in high-value uses.)

Key Finding 4 (cont.): This figure shows using clean electricity to displace fossil fuel power almost always does more to reduce GHGs than using it to electrolyze H2 for use in any downstream application. H2 is important, but it must not reverse progress on cleaning the grid.

Key Finding 4 (cont.): This figure shows the net climate pollution impact from hydrogen production and use. Blue bars = GHGs avoided from H2 use. Turquoise dashed line = GHGs emitted from electrolytic H2 production that fails to meet certain guardrails (the "three pillars").

Key Finding 4: Electrolytic hydrogen that relies on fossil fuel power would fail to reduce net climate pollution across all end uses, with steel as the lone potential exception. H2 would almost universally do MORE HARM THAN GOOD if its production isn't subject to strict rules.

Key Finding 3: Hydrogen's low-value uses often increase the risk of social harms and inequitable outcomes, while its high-value uses generally do the opposite. Proactively directing H2 away from low-value uses and toward high-value ones can help rather than set back equity goals.

Key Finding 2: Hydrogen's low-value uses depend much more on the development of sprawling H2 pipelines and end-use equipment than its high-value uses. Thus, H2 infrastructure likely can be focused on tight industrial clusters--it need not be intertwined throughout the economy.

Key Finding 1: Hydrogen's low-value uses are all when used for energy (e.g., burning it for heat or generating electricity from a fuel cell), while its high-value uses are all when used as a feedstock (e.g., refining or building more complex chemicals).

We define low-value hydrogen uses as applications where H2 is likely to be outcompeted by alternative clean technologies. We define high-value uses as applications where H2 can eventually compete with alternatives on a level playing field, or where no alternatives exist.