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EnergyPlatform.News(letter)
February 3, 2025
In this week’s edition of energy and environmental policy news across the states: A closer look at the life cycle, benefits and costs of solar panels; Pennsylvania carries the energy load for PJM states; Texas’ water supply worries; Colorado’s quiet economic reliance on oil and gas; and Florida’s struggle to control wild hogs.
Plus: Commentary from key voices on policies affecting energy and the environment.
Recent advances in solar technology have driven down the cost of panels while increasing efficiency. These same innovations are also creating new environmental challenges that raise questions about the costs and benefits of expanding solar and underscore the tradeoffs that factor into every energy policy decision.
Pennsylvania continues to export more of its electricity than any other state in the nation, while Virginia now imports more energy than any other, federal data shows. The dynamic highlights the flow of electricity across the grid in PJM, the regional transmission organization coordinating wholesale electricity across much of the Mid-Atlantic.
The only other states within PJM’s 13-state territory to generate more electricity than they consume: Illinois, West Virginia and Michigan.
Texas must get serious about its future water needs, spending steadily and smartly to protect its massive economy from the high likelihood of a devastating drought, an influential state think tank argues in a recent study.
Colorado has steadily built a public reputation for embracing the renewable energy and battery, storage and grid modernization sectors, but oil and gas have quietly remained a powerful employer and critical economic engine.
They’re called wild hogs, feral hogs and razorbacks – an invasive species that’s been a huge problem in Florida, all over the Southeast and beyond.
But while six states, led by Texas, are now using contraceptive-laden food to help control the wild hog population, Florida is still working to get on that list.
The relationship between natural gas and agricultural productivity is a vital yet often overlooked aspect of modern farming. In short, we are now producing far more with far less.
Over the past century, the U.S. has seen remarkable agricultural output growth, largely thanks to technological advancements and the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers, which rely heavily on natural gas.
We’re adding news and commentary from
more states each week.
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