Former President Bill Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg appeared at a press conference on the Empire State Building’s 80th floor today to announce a cooperative initiative between the Clinton Climate Initiative and other partners to help green New York’s 78-year old signature building. This phase of renovation, expected to take about 18 months. Under the plan, […]
Computers – This is, as you might suspect, an area where lots of energy gets consumed. According to Emerson, at their “Energy Logic” webpage: “Data centers in the United States alone soaked up about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or $4.5 billion worth of electricity in 2006. If current energy usage trends continue, a U.S. Environmental […]
President Obama announced a plan designed, in part, to combat the global food crisis* on the final day of the G-20 summit in London last week. The initiative allots $448 million to address immediate aid concerns in Latin America and Africa, and allocates another $1 billion for the development of a long-term food security strategy. […]
Senior US Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and Ed Markey (D-Mass) today released draft cap-and-trade legislation that would reshape US energy and climate policy through drastic cuts in emissions in the next 20 years and significant increases in renewables by 2025. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), intended to “create jobs, help […]
The Los Angeles Times captures some of the excitement around the stimulus package and the opportunity for it to create jobs. In the bleak economy, such enthusiasm (in addition to federal funding) can help create opportunities. But the sustainability of the of the government largess is questionable unless it can create a market through incentives […]
California’s State Assembly has drafted new legislation in response to the investigation of salmonella contamination of pistachio nuts from Setton Farms of Terra Bella, CA. The draft bill aims to improve food inspections, testing and reporting of contaminated food. An article in the Los Angeles Times makes two important points: First, that the reaction of […]
Last week’s news of a sizable and unprecedented subsidy for solar installations in China generated noteworthy commotion in the market, as Chinese solar companies’ share price soared as investors’ rush to snatch up solar stocks, followed by confusion over the terms of the subsidies, disenchantment at the likelihood of eligibility restrictions, and finally malaise as […]
Black Carbon in Waxman-Markey – As we’ve seen here, particulates from uncombusted materials – coal, diesel, and biomass – have a much bigger impact on the climate than previously recognized, not to mention the devastating direct health impacts. (See under Soot here and at Black Carbon and Solar Cookers.) It is entirely worth noting that […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Setton Farms of California, which grows pistachio nuts for Kraft Foods, Inc., has announced a recall of its crop from the previous year after finding salmonella contamination in tested batches. There have been reported cases of illness related to the contamination which are being investigated. However, […]
Following UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf’s appeal to G-20 leaders to discuss agricultural initiatives for alleviating the global food crisis while meeting in London this week, the Fairtrade Foundation has repeated that call and said a fresh approach to trade was greatly needed to address the issue. The group called on the […]
Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey, chair of the Energy and Environment subcommittee, have just released a “discussion draft” of a comprehensive clean energy and climate change bill. The legislation is titled “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.” (Security is such a reassuring word, […]
The small African island nation of Seychelles has been forced to make a tough choice to improve its food security. The government announced that it will abandon a planned hotel project in order to preserve the land for growing food. Seychelles imports a large amount of its food because it has a dearth of arable […]
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization director-general, Jacques Diouf, called for restraint in tightening credit as a response to the global financial crisis while speaking at the biennial UN food policy conference in Bangkok, Thailand. In another example of the tie between the global food crisis and the economic downturn, Diouf voiced concern that the […]
The Wall Street Journal last week highlighted the growing role that water shortages are playing in the decision about building power plants. A lack of water in 2001 reduced energy in Brazil, which relies on hyrdopower, questioning its reliance on water for such a high proportion of its energy needs. But its not just dams. […]
I don’t know much about President Obama’s game, but I’m guessing, based on his aggressive moves on climate change and energy since just about the moment he took office, that he’s not shy about driving hard to the inside to make points. I’ve been writing here since November about his appointments and initiatives and I’ve […]