Energy Efficiency, Industrial, Commercial, Solar, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  June 2, 2018

Weekend reads: Meeting Paris goals (without Trump); Giant corporates going solar & more

Kick back and relax with these must-read energy stories from around the web:

Can the U.S. meet the goals of the Paris deal–despite Trump? (Fast Company)  In the year since Trump announced that he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris agreement–the historic climate deal to cut emissions enough to keep the global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius, and ideally, under 1.5 degrees–the U.S. is still making progress in spite of the federal government’s lack of support. More than nine gigawatts of renewable electricity was added to the American electric grid over the last 12 months. In 2017, U.S. carbon emissions from energy fell to the lowest level in 25 years. 

10 massive corporations going big on solar power (CNBC)  American businesses are investing record amounts in solar, with the top corporate users adding 325 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity last year, according to the "Solar Means Business 2017" report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The impact of corporate solar is significant: the solar installations analyzed in the SEIA report produce enough electricity to power 402,000 U.S. homes and offset 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Here, CNBC's Sustainable Energy looks at the top 10 corporations in the U.S. by their installed capacity of solar power. 

Why now is the time for corporates to set long-term targets for renewables (Edie.net)  A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that corporates have actively sourced renewable energy equivalent to the overall demand of France, but renewables demand could soar if companies turned voluntary agreements into active goals. The new IRENA report, published at last week’s Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in Copenhagen, found that more than 2,400 companies across 7 nations sourced 465TWh of renewable energy in 2017. 

Offshore wind finally gets blowing in the US (Vox)  All the way back in December 2016, I wrote about a milestone: The US finally had its first operating offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm off of Rhode Island. As milestones go, it was somewhat sad (the farm is just 30 megawatts) and late (offshore wind’s been around for 20 years), but at least it signaled the US was in the offshore-wind game. Recent developments suggest that momentum is now gathering in earnest. In 2016, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed energy legislation that, among other things, called for 1,600 MW of new offshore wind energy by 2027.  

Toronto Zoo One Step Closer to Opening Biogas Plant (Renewable Energy Magazine)  On May 9^th, just a little over two years after the project's initial groundbreaking, ZooShare and Canada's Toronto Zoo celebrated delivery of the engine for a biogas plant that will generate electricity from zoo poo and food waste. In addition to the 2,000 tonnes of waste from the Toronto Zoo, the plant will also process 15,000 tonnes of inedible food waste from local grocery stores and turn it into power, heat and fertilizer. The zoo-based biogas plant will cover one and a half acres of the Toronto Zoo's land.

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