A very Happy New Year to you! The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) team is off to a busy start talking to key stakeholders to assess the state of the Northwest clean energy economy and working with our modeling partners to analyze how the region might get on the path to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Before I tell you about our programs, I want to express the CETI team’s appreciation for the significant financial support we received in 2022. We raised a record $308,000 from 51 new and 50 returning individual donors; $225,000 in foundation grants for general support; and $230,000 from a variety of nonprofit, foundation, and industry funders specifically earmarked for our Net-Zero Northwest work.
We kicked off the year interviewing key clean energy stakeholders to learn their views on both the Northwest clean energy economy and CETI. Since January 6, we have interviewed 44 individuals representing 28 different entities from utilities, state governments, private sector businesses, and nonprofit climate and clean energy advocates.
With this work, we aim to assess: 1) the Northwest’s capacity to achieve ambitious emission-reduction goals and make good use of federal funding allocated for clean energy investment; and 2) CETI’s impact to date and potential role to accelerate equitable decarbonization in the region. We look forward to sharing our key takeaways from this effort next month.
Evolved Energy Research, our decarbonization modeling partner, completed the first two tasks of the Net-Zero Northwest study: a Core Case where the Northwest economically achieves net-zero emissions by 2050 and a series of sensitivities that probe different potential regional transmission options.
The Evolved team is now modeling scenarios that involve rapid or constrained transportation electrification and various clean fuels pathways. Throughout February, they will also explore natural gas versus electrification in buildings, different levels of distributed energy resources, and the health impacts of reduced tailpipe and smokestack emissions.
On January 10, BW Research (BWR) began modeling the employment and workforce implications of achieving the Core Case. This work will be completed by late April. We anticipate beginning to release Evolved’s pathways modeling in April and BWR’s jobs analysis in May.
Researcher Ruby Moore-Bloom wrote up our favorite 2022 decarbonization podcasts, with a focus on those that inform our program work. Our list includes conversations about low-carbon cement technologies; electric appliances with built-in batteries; community support for renewable energy projects; how methane emissions differ from carbon dioxide and why they matter; and analysis about the Inflation Reduction Act.
We are back with another quiz to test your knowledge of the Northwest energy system, with help from our Northwest Clean Energy Atlas. This month, we’re asking: Natural gas constituted what percentage of energy resources used directly in the residential sector throughout the four Northwest states in 2020? Visit the Northwest Energy Resources and Uses visualization to see how much natural gas residential buildings used from 1960-2020. Click here to submit your answer and/or provide feedback on the Atlas in general.
We plan to unveil our second Claiming Power short film at the end of February. This project tells the story of how the Lummi Nation is embracing clean energy solutions to achieve energy sovereignty, teach renewable energy skills, and create jobs.
Back to you next month with updates on our Net-Zero Northwest modeling and clean energy economy assessment.
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