This week in buildings, land and industry decarbonization news, NetZero Insider’s Henrik Nilsson wrote about Puget Sound Energy’s efforts to help decarbonize large gas customers with Modern Hydrogen. Modern Hydrogen is a Washington-based company that says it converts natural gas to hydrogen at the point of consumption. Commercial and industrial heat, industrial HVAC, heavy equipment and fleet fueling, and distributed power generation can use its offerings.

The New Scientist reports that indoor marijuana grows uses more energy than all other forms of agriculture in the country. Growing cannabis requires high powered lights and temperature control, which uses significant energy. Cops used to bust growers at homes with suspiciously high electric use, but with the growing legalization movement the industry has engaged in “greenwashing,” the article said. 

The Commonwealth Beacon reports that National Grid abandoned a pilot geothermal heating program in Lowell, Mass., due to higher-than-expected costs. Massachusetts is not a geological hotspot, but utilities are trying harness the basic temperature differences between the surface and deep underground to heat and cool homes using ground source heat pumps. Eversource Energy has a program running in Framingham and National Grid is working on another in Boston. 

Driving Eco looked into the energy usage of the Las Vegas performance venue The Sphere, which has proved popular with tourists and on the internet. The facility with its LED façade uses 28 MW, the equivalent of 21,000 average homes. It has contracted with solar to supply 70% of that, but its power usage is equivalent to a small city. 

Inside Climate News interviewed the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s longtime chief Steven Nadel. Nadel has been with ACEEE since 1989 and has been its executive director since 2001 and over that time has been a key advocate for energy efficiency policies. In the interview, he talks about the efficiency policies in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and a follow up bill Democrats passed with President George W. Bush when they controlled Congress in 2007, both of which were much more bipartisan efforts than energy policy has been in recent years. Nadel saw the issues becoming more partisan starting in 2015. 

Power Magazine ran a column looking into big tech’s support for new nuclear plants as they search for energy to fuel artificial intelligence and the resulting demand it creates. Even with a less climate friendly administration in place, the demand projections from the sector will require new power plants and tech firms have signed development deals to build SMRs, which could help kickstart the industry. 

Read other stories from this week’s intelligence report: