Energy
Advocating for making energy more affordable and reliable, Locke provides groundbreaking research and policy proposals that looks to halt the government’s destructive green energy transition.
Bill Would Protect Consumer Choice in Home Appliances
In a recent post, I discussed the sudden war on gas-fired stoves and appliances being waged by environmental extremists in government, not just in the Biden administration but even in…
Fact Check: How Many Wind Energy Manufacturing Jobs Does North Carolina Have, Really?
The Cooper administration’s announcement of a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the nation of Denmark to share “knowledge, data, and best practices” over offshore wind energy development predictably set their media…
North Carolina’s CO2 Emissions Were Already Cut Nearly in Half Before the Carbon Plan
The belief that North Carolina’s electricity-based CO2 emissions are still going up is wrong; they’ve fallen by 46.1 percent since 2005. The belief that North Carolina could positively impact the…
Green Hydrogen Isn’t Nearly As Simple As Promised
The Wall Street Journal on February 16 took careful note of “Europe’s Lesson in Green Hydrogen.” That lesson places significant doubt on hydrogen as the “carbon-neutral fuel of the future”:…
Biden Bureaucrats vs. Gas-Fired Stoves
Last month people were outraged when a rogue commissioner on the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission began speaking openly of banning gas stoves. In response, the Biden administration and their…
How Do the Carbon Plan’s Mandates Align with State Law? Part 5
The Carbon Plan acknowledges that Duke Energy Progress (DEP) customers pay electricity rates that are 19 percent higher than Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) customers, because DEP has more solar and…
How Do the Carbon Plan’s Mandates Align with State Law? Part 4
The Utilities Commission wants Duke to model taking on onshore wind generation and study offshore wind generation. Onshore wind generation is very expensive, needs costly transmission upgrades, and also requires…
Electric Vehicles Top 50k in NC, But Need 2,500% Increase to Meet Cooper’s Goal
To reach Cooper's goal, the number of EVs registered in NC would need to increase nearly 25-fold in just seven years, a spike of almost 2,500%.
How Do the Carbon Plan’s Mandates Align with State Law? Part 3
The Utilities Commission’s initial Carbon Plan directs Duke to go ahead and procure 2,350 MWs of new solar generation — that’s on top of the 1,200 MWs of solar they…
How Do the Carbon Plan’s Mandates Align with State Law? Part 2
To meet the law’s requirements of being least-cost while maintaining grid reliability, the Utilities Commission’s initial “Carbon Plan” sees natural gas as a “bridge fuel” until sufficient zero-emissions resources “are…
How Do the Carbon Plan’s Mandates Align with State Law? Part 1
By law, the Utilities Commission’s Carbon Plan must chart the “reasonable,” “least cost path” to emissions reductions with “least cost planning of generation” that would “maintain and improve upon the…
Power Generation During Blackouts Shows the Importance of Nuclear
Hourly grid data during the Christmas Eve blackouts showed wobbles in increased coal and natural gas generation, where three plants experienced equipment failures that kept those generation sources from contributing…