Overnight Energy: US communities say dire predictions in UN climate report already unfolding

by Rachel Frazin - 08/17/21 5:48 PM ET

HAPPY TUESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, your source for the day’s energy and environment news.

Please send tips and comments to Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin. Reach Zack Budryk at zbudryk@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow him at @BudrykZack.

Today we’re looking at some communities saying they’re already facing climate change impacts, the Energy Department’s projection for solar and a reinstated mask mandate for some spaces within national parks.

APOCALYPSE NOW? US communities say dire predictions in UN climate report already unfolding

For many U.S. communities, the bleak predictions laid out in a new United Nations climate change report are more a reflection of the present and not just what’s to come.

Residents in places like Miami and Alaska say they are already seeing the consequences of warming temperatures and rising sea levels, while the West deals with wildfires and last week’s alarming projections from a U.N. panel have those same residents bracing for more challenges.

The “report makes it glaringly clear that we really don’t have any time to waste when it comes to climate solutions,” said Carly Ferro, director of the Sierra Club’s Utah chapter, where residents have sustained wildfires and drought in recent years.

What’s going to happen overall: The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of significant global impacts, including heat waves, more frequent and intense precipitation and droughts, as climate change persists.

But what’s going to happen to the U.S. (and other nearby places)? The report predicted temperature changes across North and Central America that are larger than the global average and increases in extreme high temperatures, increases in relative sea level rise along most coasts and more extreme storms.

In the central and western U.S., increased drought and fire conditions are likely, while the northern part of the continent, including Alaska, is expected to see “very large” temperature increases.

But residents, government officials and environmental advocates in various locations across the U.S. say they’ve already started to see the impacts predicted in the U.N. report.

HERE COMES THE SUN: Solar could provide 40 percent of US power generation by 2035, Biden administration says

The Department of Energy is projecting that solar power could comprise up to 40 percent of U.S. power generation nationwide by 2035, an increase of more than tenfold from today, with better incentives for renewable energy.

In a memo released Tuesday, department officials cite a pre-publication study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicating that solar energy would need to grow at 3 to 4 times its current rate to reach this point.

With this level of acceleration, the memo states, solar generation could increase from 3 percent now to more than 40 percent over the next 14 years.

The memo identifies a number of strategies officials say could advance this goal, including clean energy tax credits, investment in the grid and transmission lines and increased deployment to low-income communities.

“Meeting these goals will require billions in investment and market opportunities through 2050 across clean energy generation, energy storage, electricity delivery, and operations and maintenance — including in low-income and community solar,” the memo states. “Investments that lower both the hardware and soft administrative costs of solar will save consumers thousands of dollars on their residential systems and help lower their utility bills.”