Ravenswood Generating Station is a 2,480 megawatt power plant in Long Island City in Queens, New York. It is owned and operated by LS Power/Helix Energy Solutions Group. The plant is fueled primarily by fuel oil and natural gas which heats the boilers.
So what’s the biggest barrier people face to making home energy upgrades?
By far, it’s the upfront cost. About 65 percent of all respondents had concerns about the expense, more than double the 29 percent of households that stumbled over the next most identified hurdle: unclear costs and benefits. The researchers say that the cost barrier underscores how important it is to publicize and develop programs, like those in the IRA, that help people pay for decarbonizing tech.
Another clear trend is that renters reported rarely making or instigating home energy updates. That’s not surprising since building owners are typically responsible for major renovations and appliances. But it does underscore the fact that “renters need more help” to find opportunities to decarbonize their homes, either on their own or working with the building owner, Fuentes said.
Almost half of the participants surveyed said it’s important to them that the equipment for the upgrade is available through big-box stores, such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and Best Buy. Visibility is key, Fuentes told Canary Media. The team recommends programs that promote zero-carbon appliances through these retailers.
As for what motivates people to make home energy upgrades, the team found that across the U.S., residents who have already made decarbonizing updates are strongly spurred by common desires: to reduce their energy bills and environmental impacts, as well as increase the comfort in their homes.
Last year was the hottest ever recorded, according to temperature data going back to 1850. And it beat the previous record by a wide margin, according to new data released by the European Union's weather and climate monitoring agency, Copernicus.
2023 beat out 2016, the previous leader for hottest recorded global average temperature, by nearly two-tenths of a degree Celsius (about four-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit), according to the E.U. data. The high average temperatures reflected record-high ocean temperatures globally and were exacerbated by a strong El Ni?o climate pattern.
Global temperatures last year were nearly 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than average global temperatures in the late 1800s, when humans first began emitting large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.
The numbers are in, and scientists can now confirm what month after month of extraordinary heat worldwide began signaling long ago. Last year was Earth’s warmest by far in a century and a half.
Global temperatures started blowing past records midyear and didn’t stop. First, June was the planet’s warmest June on record. Then, July was the warmest July. And so on, all the way through December.
Averaged across last year, temperatures worldwide were 1.48 degrees Celsius, or 2.66 Fahrenheit, higher than they were in the second half of the 19th century, the European Union climate monitor announced on Tuesday. That is warmer by a sizable margin than 2016, the previous hottest year.
