Clean energy

Junior high students from around Missouri competed to represent the state in a national contest to design and present a vision of an electrified, eco-friendly city that could be a model for life in the future.

The state may not be known for clean energy, but it has many of the raw materials that will be necessary for the transition away from fossil fuels.

Ameren Missouri has plans for solar starting next year, wind in 2026 and battery storage in 2027, with various projects to add capacity in those categories lasting through the mid-2030s.

The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved the high-capacity transmission line to carry clean energy from Kansas through northern Missouri and Illinois despite landowners’ concerns.

There isn’t a specific path for the state’s vision of zeroing out carbon emissions by 2050 and ensuring areas overburdened by past pollution fully benefit from the growing green economy.

Starting this month, the utility company said the bill for the typical Metro East customer will rise $52 a month ($626 a year) because the cost of generating it is much higher.

“The new green economy can be as exclusive and as unjust as the old one,” said the Rev. Rodrick Burton. He and others want local residents to decide how the region responds to climate change.

The proposed clean-energy transmission line would stretch from Kansas to Indiana.

All private coal plants in the state must eliminate carbon emissions by 2030. Publicly owned ones have until 2045 to achieve the same goal.

The Metro East coal-fired power plant must cut emissions 45% by 2035 and eliminate them completely by 2045 if it wants to remain open.