Under the first-of-a-kind Oregon Power Act, data centers served by the state's two investor-owned utilities can't drive up utility bills or undermine Oregon's clean energy goals. The law has attracted interest from other states considering similar measures.

While Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp are required to follow the provisions of the law, the state's public utilities do not, and in Umatilla Electric Cooperative territory--home to many data centers--emissions have increased by about 570% over the last 15 years, said Joshua Basofin, Oregon clean energy program director at Climate Solutions.

Oregon is attracting data center development because it has relatively low energy costs, access to undersea data cables and offers incentives to draw businesses to the state. Data centers hae been a major factor in driving up utility rattes by 50% since 2021, said Charlotte Shuff, communications director at the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board.

Ideas for helping Oregon meet clean energy goals include asking data centers to deploy energy storage during peak hours. Another proposal offered by Rewiring America: Require data centers to pay for residential customers' heat pumps and rooftop solar to free up capacity on the grid for data centers.

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Learn about host Lisa Cohn's energy writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com

Temperatures, altitude, snow, wind, sunshine and road surfaces can significantly shorten or lengthen how far an electric vehicle (EV) driver can go on a charge.

Lasse Lumiaho, head of automotive at Vaisala Xweather, which provides weather data and intelligence for many Fortune 500 companies, describes a recent study about the factors that affect EV range.

Read the study here.

About the guest:

Lasse Lumiaho leads automotive product development and strategic initiatives at Vaisala Xweather. He has experience working with autotive OEMs and technology suppliers, including Audi, BMW, Bosch, Cerence, Hyundai, KIA, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen to integrate weather intelligence solutions that make roads safer. He focuses on developing innovative solutions that enhance vehicle safety and optimize routing.

Send questions, comments or podcast episode ideas to Lisa@CleanEnergyWriters.com

Learn more about host Lisa Cohn at CleanEnergyWriters.com

With oil prices at the time of this interview–April 2026–close to $100/ barrel because of the war in Iran, will we see higher deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EV)?

Wesley Herche, co-founder of Sustainability Decoded and director of energy and sustainability solutions at Prologis, where he deploys solar, battery storage and commercial EV charging infrastructure for the world's largest companies, provides a global perspective on the status of clean energy and the effects of high oil prices.

Topics discussed include:

• Why large U.S. companies are investing in renewable energy and how high oil prices could affect them.

• EV purchases make up 80% to 90% of new car sales in certain parts of the world. Will this trend continue?

• How China's aggressive deployment of solar will impact oil prices there.

• How Pakistan is insulated to some degree by its solar deployment.

• Why gasoline prices have jumped so quickly in the U.S.

Learn more about host Lisa Cohn at https://cleanenergywriters.com/

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