Rapid Development in Artificial Intelligence Generates New Problems for the Environment

By: Matthew Warren

It’s hard to miss the AI boom that has occurred within the last few years. From classrooms to Coca-Cola commercials,[1] many people who engage in media, writing, or education have been exposed to AI-generated creations in some form or another. Some welcome this new development and proliferation of AI as a new frontier of technological advancement, while others are cautious about its potentially dangerous outcomes.[2] However, beneath any discussions on the merits of AI’s uses lurks a key consideration about the process with which AI functions: the environmental impact of this rapidly expanding technology.

How Grid Resiliency can Help Tackle Climate Change

By Journal Editor

On April 1, 2021

In News & Announcements, In the News

Americans are experiencing the impacts of climate change on an increasingly acute level every day. The February storms across the nation that resulted in rolling blackouts across Texas and several other nearby states underscored the crisis and raised questions about whether the American electricity grid can withstand the negative effects of climate change, such as extreme temperatures, more frequent and intense storms, floods, wildfires, droughts, and more.

Since 2011, the United States has sustained $135 billion in damages from extreme weather and climate disasters, with more than seventy extreme climate events affecting the Midwest.[i] One recent study showed that investor-owned utilities face a $500 billion resilience investment gap.[ii]

Final Carbon Capture Regs Seeks to Boost Development, but Challenges Remain

By Journal Editor

On March 26, 2021

In News & Announcements, In the News

Seeking to clarify the incentives available to developers of projects that capture carbon emissions during emission, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final regulations for Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code in early January.[1]

Section 45Q incentivizes tax equity investors to invest in carbon capture and sequestration (“CCS”) by making financing easier through liberalization of several concepts and provisions.[2] Notwithstanding Section 45Q, though, various costs, inconsistent public support, and transportation and storage challenges remain barriers to implementing CCS.[3]

Chicago-Kent Journal of Environmental and Energy Law

Tag: energy regulation