ESG & Industry Updates

The Power of Real-Time Fuel Pricing

In the fast-paced world of fuel purchasing, timing is everything. Imagine being able to lock in fuel prices at the exact moment they hit rock bottom. That’s the power of real-time fuel pricing offered by the DKB Online Fuel Platform. This innovative tool allows you to monitor market moves and secure the best prices from your screen or smartphone. By harnessing real-time data, businesses can make informed decisions, avoiding the pitfalls of price spikes and ensuring cost efficiency.

Topics: Technology, fuel management, fuel, fixed pricing, online fuel buying

Nationally, we are seeing a lot of change afoot on issues surrounding emissions and climate change, but at the state and regional levels we are largely seeing a continuation of standing policies. The following is a quick rundown of some of the news you may have been seeing about the attempt to overturn the Clean Air Act itself, or alternatively, to rescind EPA waivers in California - both of which could impact the Massachusetts’ Advanced Clean Trucks Rule, among other environmental policies.

Topics: EPA, Climate Change, clean air act, Trump Administration, Inflation Reduction Act, CARB, ACT

Chinese startup DeepSeek has disrupted the AI industry with its R1 reasoning model, which was trained in just two months for $5.6 million using less powerful chips. The model is said to be 45 times more efficient than U.S. rivals and quickly became the most downloaded free app in the U.S., even surpassing ChatGPT. Its launch rattled markets, wiping nearly $1 trillion in value from major U.S. tech firms like Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle as investors worried about the threat to American AI leadership.

Topics: AI

Lithium-ion batteries have been around since the 1980s, with their major technology relatively unchanged. Their use however, has expanded exponentially, particularly in the age of electric vehicles. Tesla, Nissan, GM and others rely heavily on Lithium-ion battery systems for their hybrid and fully EV vehicles. One of the major hurdles cited for EV adoption is the driving range possible between charges. 

Topics: battery, ev, solid state battery

First - a reminder - Tariffs are (as of writing) still set to kick in this weekend on all imports from Mexico and Canada, and thus far they do not exempt oil imports from Canada, which could impact New England over the next several weeks, barring updates. We won't know what, if any, impacts there will be until early next week, most likely. Petitions are pending to exempt oil imports from the tariffs but there has not been any publicly confirmed change on that by the Administration as of Friday afternoon. Additionally, there are looming questions about price impacts on electricity in Northern New England that is Canadian sourced and whether that would be subject to the same 25% tariff.

Topics: EPA, Climate Change, tariff, Trump Administration, Biden Administration, paris accord, offshore wind, ev

The change in Presidential Administrations this December-January season has left an unprecedented amount of issues open across the transition period, including a multitude that specifically affect the Energy and Transportation Industries. Truth be told, there are too many items up in the air to cover where we are on all of them in one update, so we will try our best and keep you posted as the news cycles turn.

Topics: Carbon Emissions, tariff, Trump Administration, Biden Administration, ZEV

MassDEP adopted the CARB (California Air Resources Board) Heavy Duty Omnibus and Advanced Clean Truck Regulations (aka 310 CMR 7.40) December 2021, along with several other States. The bill took effect January 1, 2025.

Topics: EPA, Massachusetts, Carbon Emissions, net-zero, decarbonization, CARB, ZEV

The next chapter of Massachusetts Climate Change regulation kicks on January 1^st with emissions and storage reporting requirements for the DEP due throughout 2025 ahead of the full enactment of the Clean Heat Standard kicking on in January 2026.

Topics: Massachusetts, Carbon Emissions, decarbonization, clean heat standard

Massachusetts passed a long awaited and much debated climate change bill this week and sent it to Governor Healey’s desk Thursday afternoon.

Topics: Massachusetts, Climate Change, renewable energy, environmental justice

As we round into 2025, and the election day preceding it, we thought it would be helpful to highlight energy related tax, credit, and funding items that either have an expiration looming December 31, 2024, are slated to kick on January 1, 2025... OR that have their passage or continuation hanging in the balance depending on how the election goes.  If you're in Massachusetts, there are a host of additional items on the horizon, by the way, the following are Federal Level items:

Topics: Biodiesel Tax Credit, Biodiesel, Carbon Emissions, Trump Administration, Biden Administration, Inflation Reduction Act, Carbon Capture, Clean Fuel Production Credit, renewable diesel