Category Archives: Delaney Reynolds

Solar Superpowers in the Age of Electricity

I’m pleased to share a recent editorial that I wrote with my friend (and fellow Plaintiff) Julie Topf about the lawsuit I filed in October against the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) that’s been published as part of the Miami Herald’s The Invading Sea series. The editorial explains that for at least as long as Julie and I have been alive, we are both 25, the PSC has approved every single 10-Year Site Plan that Florida’s electrical utilities have submitted for review as being “suitable,” despite the fact that none of those plans appear to comply with long established state laws that demand a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy so as to lower consumer costs, diversify Florida’s fuel sources, and best protect our natural environment. Laws like the Florida Renewable Energy Policy and Florida’s Comprehensive Plan, for example, that the PSC is charged with regulating and is supposed to enforce but are systemically being overlooked while allowing our electric utilities to build an energy system based almost entirely on sourcing their power from polluting fossil fuels.

Today about 84.9% of Florida’s electrical energy is generated from fossil fuels and, of that, a shocking 81.3% is from natural gas, a pollution generating fossil fuel that emits methane, a deadly chemical, into our atmosphere and oceans. Consider the following illustration from the energy consulting firm Ember, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration through September of last year. As you can see, while coal (illustrated in black) has steadily been declining as a source of energy generation in Florida over the last 25 years the “gas” category, one dominated in our state by natural gas, has skyrocketed.

Unless and until the Public Service Commission stops rubber stamping the electric utilities’ 10-Year Site Plans and starts enforcing our established laws, Florida will continue to be one of the largest polluters in the world while offering our citizens some of the most expensive power on the planet as it misses an incredible opportunity to help lead America into the renewable energy future, the Age of Electricity, that much of the rest of the world is already embracing. You see, 2024 is being viewed by experts as the year that solar power and battery storage for that power truly began reshaping the world’s energy systems at impactful scale as “Solar Superpowers” are emerging all over the globe.

Consider that the International Energy Agency’s 2024 World Outlook makes it clear that while the new U.S. political regime embraces fossil fuels such as oil and gas like it’s still the 1940’s, the rest of the world is enthusiastically embracing renewable energy. In fact, the report suggests that clean energy is on track to generate more than half of the world’s electricity before 2030 and that demand for all three fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) is projected to peak by the end of this decade as clean, renewable energy is entering the world’s energy system at an unprecedented rate. Here’s how Dr. Faith Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, explains the worldwide transition to the Age of Electricity in which energy is sourced from clean renewables such as solar power:

In previous World Energy Outlooks, the IEA made it clear that the future of the global energy system is electric – and now it is visible to everyone.  In energy history, we’ve witnessed the Age of Coal and the Age of Oil – and we’re now moving at speed into the Age of Electricity, which will define the global energy system going forward and increasingly be based on clean sources of electricity.

And with such things in mind, young people all over America, certainly including my friends and fellow Plaintiffs here in Miami-Dade, are forced to ask just why is it that our political leaders and regulatory agencies like the Florida Public Service Commission are so intent on protecting the polluters rather than positioning our country as the world’s leader in renewable energy?

By Delaney Reynolds and Julie Topf

If you grew up in South Florida over the last two decades, as we have, the impacts of climate change increasingly consume your life. Whether rising sea levels along our shores or dead coral reefs in our waters, we see it with our own eyes. We feel it becoming warmer whenever we step outside as record-breaking temperatures become more common and heat surrounds us, not just in the summer, but always.

Our lives have been filled with extreme flooding that disable our neighborhoods even on sunny days, rain bombs that bring life to a standstill, gentrification from developers rushing to capture our limited supply of higher ground and increasingly more destructive monster hurricanes. If you love Miami-Dade like we do, the harm to our lives and threat to our future from the climate crisis is as undeniable as it is devastating.

As our generation inherits this problem, we are focused on addressing the cause –– pollution from fossil fuels –– before it’s too late. This requires a serious shift to renewable energy, a transition that faces obstacles from both Florida’s electric utilities and their exclusive regulator.

Florida’s electricity sector alone produces more climate pollution than many countries’ entire economies, including Colombia, a country with nearly 30 million more people than Florida. In 2022, Florida’s electric utilities themselves produced 40.1% of all climate pollution in our state and have spent decades building a supply chain almost entirely reliant on methane gas, a toxic fossil fuel pollutant that causes 80 times more warming than carbon.

Today, 84.9% of Florida’s electricity generation is from fossil fuels, with a shocking 81.3% supplied by gas. Florida’s three largest electric providers –– Florida Power & Light (FPL), Duke Energy and Tampa Electric (TECO) –– distribute 81% of our state’s electricity, yet source a tiny fraction of their energy from clean renewables like solar. Just 7.3% of FPL’s electricity, 6.3% of Duke’s and 8.0% of TECO’s are sourced from renewables –– pathetic results after a century in “the Sunshine State.”

In 1951, our legislature bestowed the Florida Public Service Commission exclusive authority to regulate electric utilities in the public interest. The commission’s duties include ensuring utilities comply with the Florida Renewable Energy Policy and Florida’s Comprehensive Plan, both designed to promote renewable energy. However, since at least 1999 –– for the 25 years we have both been alive –– the commission has repeatedly approved every single one of our utility’s long-term energy plans, called “10-Year Site Plans,” despite their reliance on fossil fuels and failure to comply with our laws.

The commission’s blatantly utility friendly “rubber stamp” approach is systematically failing us and our environment. It’s locking our state into fossil fuel dependency for decades to come, further exacerbating the climate crisis, with youth, like us, facing disproportionate impacts and risks. That’s why we, alongside four other Miami youth, have filed a lawsuit, Reynolds v. Public Service Commission, asserting that the Commission’s decades-long approval of fossil fuel-dependent energy plans violates our constitutional rights to life, and to enjoy and defend life, as guaranteed under Florida’s Constitution.

If the court agrees, it could declare the commission’s rubber-stamping unconstitutional and force Florida toward a safer energy future. Just like other youth-led constitutional climate cases, including groundbreaking victories in Held v. State of Montana and Navahine vs. Hawai’i Department of Transportation, this case shows how young people are rising up and demanding change to protect their climate rights in court.

The science and solutions are clear: For over four decades, scientists have proven that 100% renewable energy systems can be achieved by or before 2050, including in Florida. The transition to clean energy is no longer a matter of technical feasibility or economic viability. It is also not a political issue, and cannot be treated as such, because climate change transcends political ideologies –– it impacts us regardless of party lines and regardless of whether we “believe” it is real.

This case is about more than just energy policy; it’s about safeguarding our future. We have the right to grow up in a world where our health, safety and environment are protected, not harmed by the decisions our government makes today. It’s time for Florida to take bold action and lead by example to protect the climate and ensure a livable future for us all.

Delaney Reynolds and Julie Topf(From left) Delaney Reynolds and Julie Topf

Delaney Reynolds and Julie Topf are two of the plaintiffs involved in Reynolds v. Public Service Commission, a youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit in Florida.

Happy

It’s right there in the title every darn year. We all know the phrase by heart. Happy New Year!

Happy. As in happiness. As 2024 comes to a close and a new year begins tonight, I’ve been reflecting a lot on a few of the things that made my own 2024 such a happy year for me and that give me hope for our collective futures. In the year ahead we will have plenty of time to tackle our challenges and work to make things better but, for now, I’m going to focus on the progress being made, the good news, and the good within each of us.

* The Florida Panthers WON the Stanley Cup! I love hockey and it sure was a joy to follow my Cats (and rats) on the way to winning our very first championship.

* Graduating from the University of Miami’s law school certainly was a milestone for me in 2024 and I am excited to turn my full academic attention towards completing my Ph.D. over the next couple of years. I’m also humbled that the University kindly included me in this year’s “30 Under 30” class along with 29 other impactful graduates. As we say around here, it’s great to be a Miami Hurricane.

* My mother celebrated the fifth anniversary of her cancer diagnosis while remaining ever stoic, upbeat, and positive, which is truly the best possible news I can share from 2024. Talk about happy! She’s an inspiration to me every single day and I am appreciative both for her health and that she’s such a resilient model.

* The Biden Administration (yep politics made the list) implemented so many important initiatives over the last 4 years that hold the promise of providing lasting benefits to our country and environment for decades to come. There’s no shame in growing old and while you can’t win them all, as they say, I certainly believe you can learn far more from the battles you lose than those you win. In time, America will, I am sure, learn from 2024 and become stronger (and I hope happier) because of it.

* Diving amongst a pod of friendly sea turtles early one morning in St. John’s National Park in the U.S. Virgin Islands was a magical experience and just one of the many happy highlights from my summer 2024 National Parks trip that I will always cherish. As of today, I am incredibly fortunate to have visited 41 of America’s 63 stunning National Parks and am well on my way to achieving my goal of seeing each of them during my lifetime.

And speaking of our National Parks, I am extraordinarily thankful for the unbelievable work that our Park Rangers quietly undertake to make these treasured natural places even more special. The folks that wear those iconic campaign hats are truly public servants.

* I am also happy to have learned about the Florida Phoenix and Jason Garcia’s thought provoking Seeking Rents newsletter and podcast in 2024. It’s vital that a fully functioning democracy enjoy robust, independent investigative news journalism and the folks at both Phoenix and Rents sure are doing their part by looking under the hood of Florida’s often less than transparent governmental and corporate leaders’ shenanigans.

And speaking of investigative news, I am happy to have learned about Craig Pittman this year and encourage you to check him out too (I’d suggest starting with his excellent article on how the new electric school buses in Dixie County are protecting kids and drivers while saving taxpayers a ton of money, which you can read here).

* Oh, and speaking of solar power in The Sunshine State, I finally installed a solar power system on my home in Miami this year and that makes me smile every single day. Nearly 30,000 Florida homeowners also installed roof top solar systems in 2024, and I sure am proud (and happy) to be one of them!

* Everyone I met in Italy this year was happy and that certainly included me too. I am indebted to the government officials and academics in Venice that took time to meet with me as I studied their MOSE flood gate system and that region’s dire flooding concerns up close so as to compare their plight to what’s happening here to South Florida as part of my Ph.D. work. And, being able to briefly visit my brother Owen while he was studying in Rome made my trip extra special indeed.

* The lawsuit I filled in October, Reynolds v. Florida Public Service Commission, and the amended lawsuit we filed just this month – that adds my young friends Gabriela, Jasmine, Julie, Tomas, and Vanessa – makes me happy (and hopeful). 76% of the energy Florida’s electric utilities source to make the power they sell is from toxic fossil fuels and generates an estimated 40% of the greenhouse gas pollution in our state. That must stop if we are to ever solve our climate crisis, and the solution begins with the Commission doing its job by enforcing Florida’s long established laws. Thanks to Andrea, David, Mitch, and the entire OCT team for your always incredible professionalism and passion, as well as for supporting me as I try to navigate ways forward to a more sustainable, resilient world.

* The love and devotion I feel and see from my family is my greatest happiness. Family first. Always.

Here’s to hoping your 2025 is filled with friends, family, perfect health, and, yes, happiness. Lots and lots of happiness.

The Petrostate Dinner Party

Over the last two weeks of COP29, taking place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, there has been a lot of discussion about petrostates – and for good reason. By definition, a petrostate is an oil rich nation in which a significant amount of its gross domestic income comes from oil and natural gas and whose economic and political power are typically held by an elite minority while government institutions are often weak, poorly run, and subject to widespread corruption.

Currently there are about 40 petrostates around the world and as mankind considers ways to reduce fossil fuel consumption it’s estimated that 28 or so of those face significant economic risk from our global energy transition as demand for oil and gas declines along with prices for those products. Not surprisingly, the petrostates are fighting back by touting their oil and gas resources, and one of the schemes they are using is to host COP sessions like this year’s in Azerbaijan or 2023’s in the UAE.

The December 2023 chart below, based on data from the International Monetary Fund and an analysis by the Carbon Tracker Institute, illustrates petrostates that are most vulnerable from the transition to sustainable energy and away from fossil fuels. That analysis concluded that 28 of the 40 petrostates could lose more than half of their revenue under a moderate-paced energy transition in-line with current governmental climate commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The size of each circle illustrates the population of each country. Those listed in the upper right of this table are deemed most vulnerable to the transition while those in the lower left corner less vulnerable.

The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook forecasts that demand for oil, gas, and coal will likely peak by 2030 as the prices for alternative forms of energy become less and less expensive. Such predictions are the reason that many nations around the world (this is especially true of the seven major industrial nations, or G7, as they are known within the UN: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and USA, as well as the EU nations) have announced various plans to ban the sale of new gas and diesel vehicles, as well as gas fired boilers in the future, thus, reducing demand for such fuels. And many of the world’s nations, at least most of them, plan to increase, perhaps even double, steps to become more energy efficient by 2030 or so. Such steps and realities will make maintaining current revenue from polluting fuels nearly, if not, impossible for the petrostate nations and the pressure is on them to transform their economies while the world, in turn, transforms its approach to energy.

Much of the discussion at COP29 and around the world has become centered on whether a petrostate should be allowed to host future COP meetings given the possibility for bias in wanting to prolong their fossil fuel revenues for as long as possible. As part of what I sense is their strategy to fight back, to protect their established oil and gas industries for as long as possible, petrostates have become active in hosting the UN’s annual climate conference. In fact, the last three host nations (Egypt in 2022, the UAE in 2023, Azerbaijan in 2024) are all petrostate nations.

“A Gift From God”

Selecting Azerbaijan to host this year’s COP has long been controversial not only because it’s a petrostate in which oil and gas accounts for an estimated 2/3 of its total economy (GDP) and an estimated 90% of its exports, but because Mukhtar Babayev, an oil company executive at Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company SOCAR, was selected as its COP President.

Or there’s the Azerbaijan President, Ilham Aliyez, who in his opening speech in Baku to begin COP29 ordained his country’s oil and gas reserves a “gift from God,” stunning COP attendees intent on reducing fossil fuel emissions. Needless to say, when the host country’s top governmental official wants to tout his rich fossil fuel resources at a conference supposedly focused on transitioning the world away from those exact products, we have a problem.

“There are a lot of joint ventures that could be established. SOCAR [State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan] is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia. We will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever. At any case, this is something you need to be talking to SOCAR and I’d be happy to create a contact between yourself and them, your team, and their team so they can start discussions.”
Elnur Soltanoz, Azerbaijan COP29 CEO
Azerbaijan Deputy Energy Minister & SOCAR Board of Director’s Member

Then to make matters worse, as I posted last week, there is also COP29’s CEO, Elnur Soltanov, Deputy Energy Minister for the country and a SOCAR Board member, who was secretly filmed touting the “investment opportunities” in the state-owned oil company (SOCAR). The video was recorded by the human rights organization Global Witness, which had a person fictitiously posing as an investor from Hong Kong explain that his business was interested in helping sponsor COP29 but wanted to discuss investing in SOCAR in return. Mr. Soltanoz was eager to suggest potential investments in gas production in his country and to offer to introduce the pretend investor to his buddies at SOCAR.

I suppose it will not at this point surprise you to learn that nearly 1,800 coal, oil, and natural gas lobbyists obtained access to COP29 in Baku. That’s more than the delegations of every other country attending except for the host nation (Azerbaijan), next year’s host nation of Brazil, and Turkey. Heck, it’s been reported that the 10 nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, especially sea rise, collectively only have 1,033 delegates in attendance. As was obvious last year in Dubai and is again in Baku, it is increasingly an unfair fight where fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber those trying to solve the climate crisis.

The Dubai Document

Not surprisingly, last year’s host country (Dubai, UAE) had similar ethical challenges that illuminated the potential conflicts of interest petrostates and the COP meeting present to the UN. There were, for example, a reported 2,500 fossil fuel industry lobbyists in attendance. Then there was the fact that while greatly touting his country’s investments in sustainable energy, the conference was, you guessed it, led by the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Dr. Sultan al-Jaber.

It was not lost on attendees, myself included, that while hosting a conference intent on phasing out fossil fuels, ADNOC plans to spend upwards of $150 billion to increase its oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day, something that’s estimated to vault them into becoming the world’s seventh largest oil producing nation. Adding to the understandable concern over UAE as the COP host last year was the news that it had used the conference as a device to negotiate nearly $100 billion in oil, gas, and petrochemical sales for ADNOC. That figure was reported to be five times more than what ADNOC had negotiated just one year before, in 2022, and more money than in the four years prior to COP28 combined.

Dr. Sultan al-Jaber also took the opportunity to use the global stage as the host nation to question the science related to climate change, suggesting that there was “no science behind phasing out fossil fuels” (there are reams of such science and only someone with a vested interest in protecting the goose that lays the golden egg, as they say, would suggest otherwise). You can read more about the shenanigans that took place in Dubai, much of which I witnessed there firsthand, in a post I wrote last December entitled COP Out? The Dubai Document here.

COP30: Here We Go Again?

Brazil, next year’s COP30 host, while not a petrostate, given its diverse economy is the largest oil producer in Latin America, the 7th largest producer of crude oil in the world as of 2023, and is expected to vault into the number four position over the next couple of years based on newly discovered oil reserves it intends to harvest. In fact, Brazil’s government has announced plans that indicate their oil production will double by 2029, peaking at around 5.4 million barrels of oil per day, while also saying it plans to join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Here’s the Top 10 Oil Producing nations in 2023 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA):

So far as allowing petrostates to host future COP meetings, it’s my thinking that since we have a global climate problem every nation on earth should have a seat at the table that decides how to solve the issue by phasing out mankind’s use of fossil fuels, including oil and gas. However, that table does not need to be located in a petrostate country as it hosts a COP conference. The farce that pretends that such countries are not foremost protecting their main industry must end.

In addition to rethinking which countries deserve to host these talks, it has become clear that as petrostates become more desperate to protect their main source of income, the UN must implement aggressive, non-negotiable, ethical guardrails for all attendees. That most certainly starts with host nations and their leadership. If we are ever to phase out fossil fuel use, then host countries and their leaders must be as unbiased as possible while being required to follow strict policies and procedures related to their nations’ oil holdings. They should obviously not be attached to those industries and most certainly should not be touting the businesses that distribute the very products causing the world’s climate pollution. Such things should be strictly outlawed and vigorously monitored.

And while we rethink the effectiveness of future COP conferences, the time has also come to address the extraordinarily excessive number of oil and gas industry lobbyists participating in COP. To be clear, those industries should also have a seat at the negotiating table; I mean, who knows, perhaps one or more of them will come up with viable solutions to our climate crisis as they too increasingly face the threat of lost revenue and dying businesses. But, the current sheer number of attendees reeks of corruption and deceit. One or two lobbyists per company or trade group would seem more than enough to participate.

COP has served a remarkable purpose in bringing the nations of the world together to discuss solutions for a truly global, shared crisis. But change is needed. After 29 COPs the time has come to consider a radical new design that’s intensely and only focused on phasing out fossil fuel use, helping build a resilient world for those suffering from the damage mankind’s pollution has already caused, and from what they will increasingly suffer from in the future. Just as is the case in fighting our climate crisis, reforming COP needs to happen quickly and comprehensively if we are to ever hope to solve this growing, obvious issue.

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