WINCHESTER, Ky. - East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) and environmental groups, once at odds over plans to build a coal-fired power plant, are now united in the search for greener energy options. Their agreement comes as the power company agrees to scratch the plant idea. The cooperative recently reached a settlement with individual co-op members and several groups that had sued to stop plans to build the coal-fueled power plant in Clark County.
Tona Barkley is a member/owner of Owen Electric Cooperative, one of the 16 member co-ops East Kentucky Power serves.
"This collaborative will go on for two years. EKPC is going to put over $100,000 into helping the collaborative do research on energy efficiency and renewable energy as alternatives to producing new power."
East Kentucky Power Cooperative serves more than 500,000 homes, farms and businesses in 87 counties. In June, the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, started an investigation to determine if the project was cost-effective and necessary to meet demand for power, Barkley explains.
"East Kentucky Power has not issued their 20-year load forecast, and they delayed it during this period. We believe that demand is down. The Public Service Commission had also questioned that."
Improving efficiency of the building stock is the cheapest form of "new power" that reduces demand and creates jobs, Barkley says, that the collaborative could bring about.
"We've got a lot of houses and buildings that are very wasteful. There's a lot of heat flowing right out the door - or out the cracks, if you will. There's a lot of work for people who'd be contractors to improve that situation."
The plant was expected to cost $819 million to build, according to EKPC. The utility already spent nearly $150 million on structural steel and other materials for the unit.
The cooperative's leaders say the decision to stop the project was based, in part, on the decreased demand for electricity resulting from a tight economy.
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Researchers at Iowa State University are taking aim at the huge amount of energy used by data centers, now and in the future. They have developed a material as thin as an atom to reduce power consumption.
A national study showed by 2030, 9% of the country's energy will be consumed by data centers, keeping the internet, AI applications and other technology humming.
Matthew Panthani, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Iowa State University, and his team are focused on using light rather than heat to generate power for the data centers sprouting up close to home.
"Iowa seems to be a popular place to build data centers," Panthani observed. "Meta and other companies have built data centers, even in the Des Moines area. They're taking advantage of the relatively low electricity prices afforded by wind energy."
Panthani's lab is focused on developing atom-thin sheets of a silicon-germanium alloy which are stacked in layers and used to create highly energy efficient semiconductors, which can be used in power-hungry data centers.
Using light to transmit data is not new. Companies have used fiber optic technology to transmit light across oceans, for example. But Panthani pointed out doing it on a much smaller scale, such as between components on the computer chips in data centers, is something quite different.
"That's really because there isn't a material that can enable scalable, on-chip light sources," Panthani explained. "The materials that we're developing are intended to have properties, both the manufacturability and properties, that could enable that."
According to the Electric Power Research Institute, the internet's 5.3 billion users can demand as much power as 800,000 households. It will sharply increase this decade, sending the demand even higher and making new technology like this even more important.
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Rising demands for clean energy efficiency are producing a wealth of work opportunities in Illinois. These in-demand jobs are also promoting a healthier environment. According to the Energy.gov report, Energy Facts: Impact of the Investing in America Agenda on Illinois, The Inflation Reduction Act will contribute to job increases by producing $18 billion of investment in clean power generation and storage by 2030. E2 is a nationwide network of business leaders that focuses on environmental and economic policy.
Michaela Preskill, state director of advocacy for E2, said Illinois' "robust and growing" clean energy jobs are driving economic growth.
"Clean energy jobs grew by over 4% last year, and that's eight times faster than the state's overall economy," she said.
Workers manufacturing Energy Star appliances are using advanced materials for the construction and servicing of homes and commercial buildings. These efforts result in cost-effective lighting and HVAC systems, Preskill noted, which saves consumers and homeowners money. The report also claims the Inflation Reduction Act means commercial building owners can receive up to $5 per square foot in tax credits to support energy efficiency improvements.
Clean energy industry watchers predict an 8% growth of employees in Illinois in 2025. Preskill said there is no indication the trend will slow down, but diversity is an issue. The site 'Save-on-energy-dot-com,' says women represent only 22% of workers in the energy sector and 32% in the renewable energy sector. She admits the field is traditionally male, but is optimistic for change.
"It's about 70% male, 30% female in Illinois. We are seeing that more and more females enter year after year. And I think it will slowly become more inclusive. But we got some work to do for sure," she explained.
The International Energy Agency site reports female employees in the energy sector earn nearly 20% less than male workers.
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Groups concerned about pollution and climate change are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a trio of bills dubbed the "make polluters pay" package.
Assembly Bill 1866 would increase fees on 40,000 idle oil wells and accelerate cleanup.
Nayamin Martinez, executive director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network, said right now, companies often pay fees without actually cleaning up "orphan wells."
"The authorities are not proactively going and inspecting these sites," Martinez pointed out. "We have a program that goes to do inspections on active and abandoned uncapped wells, and we have found that many of them are leaking."
The Western States Petroleum Association argued current regulations are sufficient and companies are making progress plugging their idle wells.
A second measure, Assembly Bill 3233, would protect local communities' rights to limit oil drilling. It comes in response to a lawsuit from Chevron, eliminating a part of 'Measure Z' in Monterey County, which would have required companies to phase out oil drilling in that area.
Raquel Mason, senior legislative manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance, said oil wells leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and release other toxic substances into the air and water.
"Those pollutants that are coming off these wells can have different health-harming impacts like respiratory issues, different types of cancer, headaches, nosebleeds," Mason outlined. "We hear about too often from community members who are living near these types of facilities."
A third bill would fine oil companies in the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles $10,000 a month for operating low-producing wells near local neighborhoods.
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