The U.S. government seems to be making a truly constructive move on climate change for a change. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced an agreement today between the U.S. and the E.U. proposing "eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services, particularly clean energy technologies." Trade Representative Susan Schwab will go […]
Dems Reach Deal on Energy Bill is the headline from A.P. this morning. What’s in? A 40% boost in the CAFE standards for the automakers and a 15% renewable portfolio standard for the utilities. What’s out? It appears that the rescission of the $16 billion tax breaks presently being enjoyed by the oil and gas […]
Bali and the UN meetings start next Monday, December 3, and run through midmonth. These talks are to formally kick off the negotiations for a post-Kyoto regime on addressing the climate change crisis. It seems like lots of folks are headed out there. I'm now getting about 20 emails a day inviting me to "side events" […]
The heads of government of the Commonwealth have just concluded their biennial meeting, having convened in Uganda. On the subject of climate change, they have put forth a unified position. It appears, however, that it is a watered-down position from what almost all of the 53 nations wished to say. Why? In the words of […]
In a development expected for months, Australia's Labor Party won the national parliamentary elections and will install Kevin Rudd as the new Prime Minister. Rudd has been vocal about getting Australia into a much higher gear in dealing with climate change. Here's the story from AP: Rudd makes global warming a priority. Labor has ambitious […]
Enough hasn't been said about coal here. This is the 600-pound gorilla, sans doute. A friend gave me Big Coal by Jeff Goodell to read and I will get around to it in December during my winter break between semesters where I'm teaching. I have, though, had the time to see Goodell and some other […]
A contemporary variation of "the dog ate my homework" might be "the server ate my blog post" which, in my case, it did. The FPA was doing some sort of server-switcheroo hocus pocus and my post from last Friday got swallowed up in the maw of cryptocyberlimbo. So, here it is, better late than never, and all […]
The energy bills are under threat of having the tax credits for renewables and the renewable portfolio standard unceremoniously yanked by the Democratic leadership. (See last post from November 10 immediately below.) Here's a good look, from RenewableEnergyAccess.com, at the what and the why of this: Lessons from The Political Process: Energy Bill Woes. See […]
The Energy Bills – First, before we get to the reading opportunities, there are rumors in the blogosphere that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are going to offer up the renewable portfolio standard and renewable tax credits as sacrificial lambs to the gods of fossil fuel and nuclear power. See Bye, bye, Ms. Renewable Pie […]
I had the opportunity this summer to write on how American airports are embracing sustainability. I found a pretty great story: a really smart, passionate and committed corps of professionals are creating a very brave new world indeed at our airports. See the story, The Only Way to Fly, from "Planning," the magazine of the […]
The BBC has released a poll showing that people " are ready to make personal sacrifices , including paying more for their energy , to help address climate change." Support for carbon taxes (see previous post below) is very high when it's framed that the money would go to help further renewable energy and energy […]
I've written about Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious energy and environmental plans on a number of occasions. See Congestion Pricing in New York from July and Mike Bloomberg's Earth Day from April. As someone who would've had a role working on environmental issues had Bloomberg's opponent, Mark Green, won in 2001, I might be […]
ICAP , An international coalition has "announced the formation of the International Carbon Action Partnership to fight global warming." Here's the press release from two days ago in Lisbon. ICAP's founding membership includes, among others, New Jersey, California, New York, the European Commission, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. They have come together […]
Coal Plants Blocked – In a somewhat extraordinary recent development, a proposal for two 700 MW coal-fired power plants to be built in Kansas was rejected by the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Roderick Bremby said in his decision: “I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the […]
Energy Conference , In an update from the excellent blog, Hill Heat ("Science Policy Legislation Action"), we learn that we are going to a conference after all on the Senate and House energy bills. See this from my worthy fellow bloggers. I was not reading the tea leaves correctly when I reported in my previous […]