Top News of the Week, August 5 - 9

Bloomberg: Walz’s Climate Record and the Harris Campaign

Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor tapped on Tuesday to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has accelerated his state’s embrace of clean energy and electric vehicles in ways that could become templates for federal action in the next White House, write Jennifer Dlouhy and Ari Natter in 彭博资讯 .

He used a razor-thin majority in the Minnesota legislature to enact a law requiring the state to produce all of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040. It was one of dozens of climate initiatives Walz helped steer through the statehouse, including a $2 billion initiative to expand clean energy investment in the state.

Read more - What Tim Walz's Climate Record Brings to the Harris Campaign - Jennifer Dlouhy and Ari Natter, Bloomberg, August 7, 2024

Washington Post: Americans tapped $8 billion in tax credits on home energy upgrades

The U.S. Department of the Treasury reported Wednesday that American taxpayers claimed more than $8 billion in credits on their 2023 returns—more than twice government projections—for making climate-friendly upgrades to their homes under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The 2022 law dedicated roughly $370 billion to curbing harmful emissions and promoting green technology and included an array of tax credits and rebates for energy-efficient residential improvements. The nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the first-year costs of those incentives at $2.4 billion. In the next two years, it estimated that people would claim more than $4 billion per year in credits.

Instead, data shows more than 3 million households claimed $6 billion in credits for solar panel installation and related projects, as well as $2 billion for other home improvements such as new windows and air-conditioning systems, reports Julie Zauzmer Weil of The Washington Post .

Read more - Americans tapped $8 billion in tax credits on home energy upgrades - Julie Weil, Washington Post/MSN, August 7, 2024

New York Times: The demise of the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world and is often called the largest living structure on Earth. A study published on Wednesday in Nature Magazine found that recent extreme temperatures in the Coral Sea are at their highest in at least 400 years, as far back as their analysis could reach, writes Catrin Einhorn in 纽约时报 .

The study included modeling that showed what has been driving those extremes: Greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans burning fossil fuels and destroying natural places that store carbon, like forests.

Read more - Heat Raises Fears of ‘Demise’ for Great Barrier Reef Within a Generation - Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times, August 7, 2024

Latitude Media: SunPower files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

There were early signs of trouble for SunPower Corporation , writes Lisa Martine Jenkins in Latitude Media . The residential solar giant ran into technical problems last October, Then a subsidiary breached a credit agreement in December, causing shares to plunge and analysts to speculate about whether the once-dominant company was experiencing a cash flow problem.

The company hung on for a few more months before having to significantly restructure in April. That included winding down its direct installation business, which had long been a core function of the company.

Then, earlier this week, SunPower announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell some of its business to a competitor, Complete Solaria . (That company is run by T.J. Rodgers, an early SunPower equity investor and long-time clean energy firebrand who has rejected the reality of human-induced climate change.)

SunPower’s downfall has come at a difficult moment for the residential solar industry, due to both high interest rates and low demand. But other residential solar companies — like competitor Sunrun — have managed to hold on, partly by embracing energy storage.

Read more - SunPower is bankrupt. Competitors see opportunity - Lisa Martine Jenkins, Latitude Media, August 7, 2024