Is anyone else confused by the timing of Memorial Day? I keep thinking it’s one more week away, but actually, it’s Monday. The republicEn.org team honors those who have given their lives to protect our freedoms.
This week’s must read: The House’s 11th Hour Cuts to Clean Energy Tax Credits, Explained (Heatmap)
First of all, h/t to our friend, Meredith Davis, Communications Director for Alliance for Market Solutions (and my friend!) for putting Heatmap on my proverbial map! When trying to make heads or tails of the vote on repealing IRA provisions, I found their reporting the most direct.
In summary, the bill, which now moves to the Senate for consideration:
“Eliminates the electric vehicle tax credits after this year, except for vehicles produced by automakers that have sold fewer than 200,000 tax credit-qualified cars, which will be eligible for one additional year. It still terminates tax credits for residential energy efficiency, rooftop solar, and new, energy-efficient homes. And it still ends the clean hydrogen tax credit at the end of this year. But for the clean electricity subsidies, the revised text nixes the previously proposed three-year phase-down schedule and bluntly cuts off any project that doesn’t break ground within 60 days of the bill’s passage — basically the same deal handed to the hydrogen industry.”
The EcoRight Speaks, Season 10, Episode 13, featuring LanzaTech Chief Science Officer Zara Summers
I am beyond excited to bring you this week’s guest.
I had the pleasure of meeting LanzaTech’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Zara Summers when I was at EarthX. We were both presenters at the Women’s Earth Summit and she had me enraptured with the cool innovations she is leading for her company. Basically, she had me at the Athleta pants made with recycled carbon.
Prior to Lanza, Zara spent almost 10 years at ExxonMobil where she held a variety of scientific and leadership positions, all focused on helping to provide biological solutions for navigating the energy transition. Most recently, she worked to drive the development of a corporate research strategy on Nature Based Solutions and worked to understand the impacts of subsurface microorganisms on underground CO2 sequestration. Throughout her career, Zara has been most energized by working to identify solutions to enhance economic, environmental, and climate stability. At LanzaTech, Zara leads the passionate and innovative Science team, combining biology and engineering to tackle carbon transformation. The Science team works to provide solutions to address society’s challenge of mitigating climate change while providing the world the energy and products required to not only survive, but thrive.
Zara holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts and completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I had talking to her.
Coming up next week, the OG EcoRighter, our very own Bob Inglis, shares his thoughts on EcoRight fundraising, the state of politics, and other hot topics on his mind.
ICYMI: Our successful webinar this week
We had a riveting conversation about the current state and future of climate policy and partisanship with The Breakthrough Institute’s Alex Trembath.
Missed it? You can watch here!
Many in attendance asked for a copy of Alex’s slides. To access them: click this link.
Here are a few other links that may come in handy:
- The Breakthrough Institute
- Abundance 2025 – event in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 4-5
- Follow Alex @atrembath on X
From my home state of Maine
This article’s headline caught my attention—Maine’s heat pump boom has been promising for rural workforce development. Can it last? (The Maine Monitor)
As a Mainer, I know the conundrum of heating (especially) but increasingly cooling (thanks, climate change, for ruining a good thing) homes. I also, having grown up in a papermill town, understand how hard it is to find jobs in the rural parts of the state.
“Workforce development has become a priority for the state as the clean energy industry grows,” a theme the article explores. Maine has had success in adopting heat pumps across the state, and jobs have grown quickly — particularly in rural areas.”
Honestly, I didn’t know heat pumps were gaining ground in Maine until my brother got a job working for one of the heat pump manufactureres in the state.
I hope they can keep it going!
Have a nice weekend, readers.