Great Lakes Now

The race for clean energy is local

21 min read

The race for clean energy is local

By Emily Jones and Gautama Mehta, Grist

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

The U.S. power grid is at a critical crossroads. Electricity generation, like every other industry, needs to rid itself of fossil fuels if the country is to play its role in combating the climate crisis — a transition that will have to happen even as energy providers scramble to meet what they claim is an unprecedented spike in electricity demand, attributed to the rise of AI.

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Great Lakes Now Michigan

Energy News Roundup: Retirement is in sight for another huge coal plant | Great Lakes Now

3 min read

Energy News Roundup: Retirement is in sight for another huge coal plant

Retirement is in sight for one of the country’s largest coal plants. Ohio’s James M. Gavin plant, the third most gargantuan in the Midwest and sixth nationwide, will likely be closed or converted to run on gas by 2031, Inside Climate News reported. The two coal plants in the region with more generating capacity — the Gibson plant in Indiana and the Monroe plant in Michigan — are set to retire in 2038 and 2032, respectively, after electric utility Duke Energy proposed a couple of weeks ago to delay the Gibson plant’s closure or conversion by three years from its previous target of 2035.

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Great Lakes Now Michigan

What a Trump vs. Harris presidency might mean for the Great Lakes | Great Lakes Now

9 min read

What a Trump vs. Harris presidency might mean for the Great Lakes

The 2024 presidential election campaign is in the homestretch and results in the Great Lakes states of Michigan and Wisconsin could determine the winner. Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump covet the electors in both states and polling indicates they could go either way.

Great Lakes Now selected three key topics — Great Lakes restoration, Line 5 and groundwater — and asked veteran policy experts Rob Sisson and Lana Pollack for their views on how a Harris or Trump presidency may deal with them.

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Great Lakes Now

Energy News Roundup: Kwik Trip goes electric as federal funds flow in | Great Lakes Now

3 min read

Energy News Roundup: Kwik Trip goes electric as federal funds flow in

Midwestern convenience store giant Kwik Trip is breaking into the charging business. The chain, known for its gas and grocery offerings, will install electric vehicle chargers at “a strategic number of its stores” through its new Kwik Charge program. The announcement comes a few months after Kwik Trip received about $23 million in federal funds aimed at establishing a statewide EV charging network in Wisconsin.

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