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Research Institutions Receive EPA Grants to Explore Impacts of the Energy Transition on Underserved Communities

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Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 9/5/2023 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $11 million dollars in research grant awards to 11 education and research entities. The funding is to be used for researching the financial and environmental impacts of the transition away from fossil fuels in Tribal and other underserved communities. The funding comes at … Read more

The Rise of Sustainable Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow HVAC Systems

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Matt Blocker, Zondits guest, 8/22/2023 Matt is Senior Manager of Commercial Product Development at Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US. With threats from climate change increasing rapidly, everything feasible must be done to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The HVAC industry plays an important role in these efforts. Changes in refrigerants for commercial HVAC systems are … Read more

California Introduces Graduated Income-Based Electric Rates

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Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 8/15/2023 For most California residents, electric rates will soon be based partly on customer income levels. A controversial law passed last year required regulators to establish the new rate structure by the summer of 2024. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is now considering several proposals detailing how the new rates … Read more

Maritime Shipping: Overcoming the Challenges of the Clean Energy Transition 

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Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 8/8/2023 Zondits has reported extensively on alternative transportation fuels. That reporting has focused on land and air transportation. But with the recognition that almost all internationally traded goods, including fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal, and liquid natural gas, are transported by sea. The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates … Read more

Are You a Star Wars or Star Trek Fan? 

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Nunzio Peleggi, Zondits guest, 8/1/2023 Star Date 2023: The need to hyper speed or warp speed, or the deployment of clean power and grid infrastructure. If you’re a Star Trek fan, then it’s Warp speed, if you’re a Star Wars fan, then it’s hyper speed.  Both allow you to travel faster than the speed of … Read more

From Snowman to Sun-powered: After a Hundred Years, My Old Maine House Gets Heat Pumps

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Camryn Hansen, Zondits guest, 7/25/2023 After years of considering heat pumps and hearing from a series of contractors that my house was not a good candidate, I took the plunge and installed them anyway. I’ve now lived with my heat pumps for a full year, and here’s the rundown.  I live in Portland, Maine in … Read more

It’s the Gophers vs. the Flickertails

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Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 7/18/2023 “America is a bifurcated country. Half the people don’t want anything to change — ever — while the other half want everything to change, especially if change means eliminating the use of fossil fuels.”  So begins an article in CleanTechnica, an online independent journal covering technical and policy issues affecting … Read more

500 Mile SunZia Renewable Energy Transmission Project to Break Ground

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Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 7/11/2023 Zondits has published several articles regarding the difficulty of expanding U.S. electrical transmission and distribution networks to facilitate the rapid growth of large-scale solar and wind renewable energy projects. However, some encouraging news is coming out of the American Southwest.  The Associated Press and multiple Southwest U.S. news outlets are … Read more

Considering Grid Impact as Electric Vehicle Adoption Explodes

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GianGabriel Masoni Dobles, Zondits staff, 7/5/2023 Originally published for Utility Analytics Institute, Zondits received approval to repost the following article about grid impacts from electric vehicles. A group of analytics professionals and experts in electric vehicle adoption and grid integration pooled their insights on the best practices to overcome the challenging obstacles of electric vehicle … Read more

The Custom Conundrum: Accelerating Building Electrification

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GianGabriel Masoni Dobles, Zondits staff, 6/27/2023 Valerie Nibler, Zondits contributor Energy efficiency efforts have made a significant shift toward building electrification in recent years, as the transition to clean renewable energy sources has moved front and center. For single-family homes, the effort has focused on heat pumps for space and water heating as well as … Read more