An article from Reuters yesterday flagged the fact that the US fleet has been averaging more miles per gallon thus reducing gasoline use and fewer carbon dioxide emissions. The President made an announcement on raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards last April but the trend to more MPG and fewer GHGs has been […]
The Financial Times had another blockbuster special report on energy out a couple of weeks back. Some highlights: US policy: A nation in thrall to the power of oil in which we learn that federal policy has been generally a failure for decades – no news there, I’m afraid. “The only really successful federal policy […]
Want to save the planet? I do. Want to save money, the public health, energy and not be reliant on Big Oil? Me too. Okay, here’s the equation then: Internal combustion engines are inherently inefficient – losing as much as 85% of the power that goes into the gas tank along the way to moving […]
I’ve been lauding the good folks of California for their progressive views – expressed at the polls last Tuesday – on climate and energy. I should toot the horn for my own state, New York, too. I worked for 11 years for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and came to have a […]
Among the many significant aspects of President Obama’s trip to Asia this week are the agreements and programs that are being announced relative to climate and energy. In India, the headline news was his endorsing India’s quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. But with India being one of the fastest growing […]
I went to an interesting talk last night by Dr. Anthony Fauci. He is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The Foreign Policy Association initiated a new series with his talk: the Dame Jillian Sackler Distinguished Lecture. (She was married to Arthur Sackler, the research psychiatrist and art patron.) Dr. […]
Further to my post immediately below, Californians yesterday showed the world that they, living in the most-populous US state, and the eighth largest economy in the world, care enough about their public health, environment, jobs and the state of the world’s climate system to categorically reject the attempt to roll back their GHG regulations. With […]
I’ve been sitting in yesterday afternoon and this morning on some fascinating discussions on the state of play of GHG regulation, how US politics is influencing our work on climate and energy, and what the world is going to look like tomorrow after the mid-term elections here. (More on that later.) For the moment, the […]
There is a very nice essay on climate change in the NYT this morning in a somewhat unlikely spot: the “Our Towns” column about what’s going on in various locations around the region outside the big city. Peter Applebome’s excellent stories are usually focused on local political, social and cultural highlights. Ignoring the Planet Won’t […]
There is yet more headline news on the renewable energy front. On offshore wind, I’ve been noting some of the positive developments in several of the last posts. Go-ahead for wind to generate 70,000 jobs in Britain is the word from the FT. General Electric, Gamesa and Siemens all announced plans to build big new […]
I noted in the last post below how the UK is ramping up its offshore wind industry and providing the port infrastructure to do this efficiently and in a timely fashion. I also noted recently the major boost that Google’s Eastern Seaboard offshore cable initiative is giving the industry and that the Cape Wind project […]
Offshore Wind and Ports – What’s the big logistical bottleneck that concerns the British as they try to build a formidable offshore wind industry? Port capacity. The good news: The UK’s Crown Estate leased nine sites offshore early this year that, if fully developed, will provide 32 GW of electricity – 25% of the UK’s […]
It was shocking and sad to learn that the great Hermann Scheer died last night. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy. That he had such vision, energy and commitment is one of the reasons why renewable energy is taking its rightful place in the world economy. It will be, before much longer, the dominant form […]
Following up on my post of the other day, there’s a poll just out from the Financial Times and Harris: in the US and the five largest EU countries, “Big majorities of the public … favor the building of more wind farms in their countries, varying from 90% in Spain and 87% in the U.S. […]
The good folks at Change.org have organized this year’s Blog Action Day around water. (Last year was climate change.) Click here to find out why water matters, and to link up with groups that are very deeply involved. Then dive in and get involved yourself.