Advanced Energy Perspectives

This week, Florida’s legislature returns to Tallahassee for the 2022 session, but work advocating for advanced energy among state policymakers has already been underway for several weeks. 

What electric school buses do for air quality is well known. Swapping diesel buses for electric buses eliminates these vehicles as sources of local air pollution, which affects the schoolchildren who ride them every day as well as the communities they travel through. But investing in electric school buses also contributes to the economy. With the funding for school bus electrification provided in the recently passed infrastructure bill, that economic boost is on the way. 

We all know that electric vehicles (EVs) are the future, and they’re here today. They’re quicker, quieter, and cheaper to own than old-fashioned gas-powered cars. But the market for EVs is still evolving, with a limited number of models available (though more on the way). And vehicular travel is still built around gas guzzlers and gas stations. In the world of today, how do you find an EV that’s right for you? Even worse – how do you advise someone else about what EV might be right for them? Faced with that dilemma, one of my colleagues took to AEE’s transportation-oriented Slack channel for guidance. Here is the chat that ensued.

California’s legislative session drew to a close on September 10 this year, uncharacteristically early, and with less fanfare than in years past. In many ways, the session started off like a sequel to the one prior, with economic recovery, energy reliability, and wildfire severity all top of mind. But rather than a sprint, with a crowded field rushing to the tape, the 2021 legislative session was more like a marathon, with fits, starts, and a finish line stretching an additional week, when the tally for the September 14  gubernatorial recall election was finished. The implications of this consequential recall campaign – including raised stakes for the state’s clean energy ambitions – reverberated throughout the Capitol and, in some cases, had a chilling effect on political appetites. But in the end, the advanced energy industry gained major breakthroughs on electric transportation, with some unfinished business, as wildfire concerns dominated the conversation on reliability and resilience.