By Arjun Makhijani, PhD. Decarbonizing the U.S. electricity sector by phasing out existing nuclear is technically, economically, and environmentally better This post is a complement to a prior one, which dealt with: (1) Is nuclear clean? and (2) Can new nuclear power plants reasonably be expected to contribute significantly
By Arjun Makhijani, PhD. Keeping the lights on with solar and wind energy I’ve written two posts on nuclear – one on new plants and the other on existing ones – indicating we shouldn’t build new ones and phase out existing ones. Some people with impeccable credentials don’t agree.
By Cristina Muñoz De La Torre How many natural disasters did you see in the news in 2021? The answer is zero. What you likely saw was a natural hazard that resulted in a disaster because of cumulative past and current human actions and decisions. The term “natural disaster” is
By Arjun Makhijani, PhD. Millions of low-income families already face crushingly high burdens of energy costs. High energy costs burdens as a percentage of income are a principal cause of financial distress, creating conflicts between paying utility bills or rent or buying medicines and food. The consequences include ill-
By Zully Juarez At Just Solutions Collective, we are working to broaden and deepen the understanding of equitable and effective policies and projects to build the capacity of communities to replicate, scale and build support for justice-centered solutions. We took a deeper look at the Portland Clean Energy Fund
By Sylvia Chi Yesterday, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), marking a major achievement for both the Biden Administration and the usually-gridlocked Congress. The IIJA makes critical investments in the country’s infrastructure, including an unprecedented $47 billion for climate resilience. The bipartisan bill also
By Arjun Makhijani, PhD. Three major electricity grid disasters in just over a year are exemplary of the havoc that climate extremes are causing and what needs to be done about it: (i) the howling winds of the 2020 derecho, when hundreds of thousands lost power in Iowa and Illinois
By Zully Juarez Scaling Up & Building Solutions to Expand Frontline Community-Led Solar The Just Solutions Collective and the People’s Solar Energy Fund presents, “The Rising Dawn: How equitable solar policy can forward economic and climate justice”, a three-part blog series of policy models and insights from
By Zully Juarez "Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward." - Nelson Mandela The Just Solutions Collective and the People’s Solar Energy Fund presents, “The Rising Dawn: How equitable solar policy can forward economic and
By Zully Juarez No sun outlasts its sunset, but it will rise again and bring the dawn - Maya Angelou Frontline Community-Led Solar Policy Solutions The Just Solutions Collective and the People’s Solar Energy Fund presents, “The Rising Dawn: How equitable solar policy can forward economic and climate justice”
By Arjun Makhijani, PhD. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2017, about 50 million U.S. households were under such economic stress that they could not cover an unexpected $400 expense, like the breakdown of a car or a sudden health problem, without borrowing; many are unable to cover