Energy
Can Florida Revolutionize the Nuclear Energy Sector?
A new bill in the Sunshine State’s legislature seeks to streamline the approval process for constructing nuclear reactors.
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Tag: C3 Exclusives
Around the Web
Home Batteries and the Conservative Case for Energy Independence
You wouldn't know it from the political debate, but the fastest-growing corner of the American energy market is also one of the most naturally conservative ideas in it: owning your own power. Home battery storage—the ability to store and manage the electricity that runs your household—is attracting growing investment, and greater attention from conservatives could be beneficial, particularly as the midterm elections approach.
Economics
What Makes This Oil Shock Different
The war with Iran has sent oil prices, and then gasoline prices, sharply higher. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the main U.S. oil benchmark, rose from the mid-$60s per barrel in late February to around $100 on March 19. U.S. gasoline prices have followed suit, with the average price increasing from a pre-war level of under $3.00 per gallon to over $3.70 by mid-March.
Conservation
To Save the Sequoias, Bring Back Good Fire
At the current pace, it would take the Forest Service more than 50 years to treat the 19 most at-risk sequoia groves in the country, a timeline the species cannot afford. With faster treatment efforts, more groves will be safeguarded from out-of-control wildfires.
Energy
America Helped Build China’s Rare Earth Monopoly
China’s monopoly on rare earth elements is not accidental. The United States, once the world leader in rare earth element production, helped create its own decline as environmental regulations and shifting industrial economics pushed production capacity offshore, allowing an increasingly adversarial nation to gain leverage over materials essential to defense systems and advanced technologies. Reasserting U.S. independence will require rebuilding our domestic supply chain and renewed coordination between government and industry.
Agriculture
Natural Biopesticides Could Help Farmers Avoid Residue Limits and Reduce Food Waste
As the global population grows, bio-innovative solutions capable of meeting rising food demand will be critical to sustainably safeguarding the global food supply and mitigating environmental risks. Among the companies contributing to global crop protection efforts is Eden Research, a UK-based developer of sustainable fungicides.
Science & Tech
How to Accelerate American Science
Over the holidays this winter, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) solicited information on how “to accelerate the American scientific enterprise, enable groundbreaking discoveries, and ensure that scientific progress and technological innovation benefit all Americans.” Building on work to accelerate and reform the American scientific enterprise, I offered suggestions for how to effectively direct this effort to improve the function, productivity, vitality, and health of American science. It is a welcome attempt to wrest American science from the grip of malaise that characterizes the status quo. Science is viewed as slowing down, productivity decreasing, and requiring more resources, more grants, and more personnel to achieve tremendous breakthroughs.
Energy
Trump Already Won Gold Stopping Offshore Wind
In its most recent foray against offshore wind, the administration announced it would appeal court rulings that allowed five offshore wind projects to proceed despite last December’s blanket construction halt on national security grounds. Yet the Administration’s ongoing actions risk derailing the possibility of reforming our broken permitting system—a downside far greater than allowing five fully permitted wind projects to go forward.
World
U.S. Natural Gas Is Essential To Affordable and Lower-Emission Energy
America's energy future is often framed as a binary choice between fossil fuels and a clean energy transition. But that framing is misleading, and acting on it could worsen both our energy bills and our climate outcomes. Domestic oil and gas production remains critical to energy affordability, grid reliability, and even near-term emissions reductions.
Agriculture
Bees are Essential to Feeding the World. Can This Company Save Them?
Bees are among the most important and best-known pollinators on the planet. Despite their small size, these insects play an outsized role in sustaining the global food supply. That’s why AI-powered beehive company Beewise wants to save them.