The last time I invoked this French lament, it was in reference to President Bush's attempted flimflammery on climate change when he announced ".a new national goal: to stop the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025." Now the Republicans in the Senate have once again blocked the extension of tax credits for renewables. […]
One of the things I taught my international relations students was the importance of regimes. There are critically important international environmental regimes such as the Montreal Protocol, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol, among many others. I also really tried to emphasize to my students the importance of the post […]
Costs , The Center for Integrative Environmental Research has been doing a series of studies on the economic impacts of climate change and the costs of inaction. Their release from Wednesday says: "Climate change will carry a price tag of billions of dollars for a number of U.S. states, says a new series of reports […]
I wrote one week ago about Al Gore's important speech setting a very high bar indeed for renewables. I have believed in 100% renewables for many years but, to tell you the truth, never thought the stars would align as they have to make that vision perfectly realizable. Well, if you've read the many posts […]
China , This article from RenewableEnergyWorld.com, talks about the continuing explosion in China's deployment of windpower and its rapidly growing manufacturing capacity. China was in fifth place worldwide in installed base at the end of last year with 6 GW, heading to 20 GW by 2010, and 100 by 2020. The current global wind installation […]
The big news from Down Under from last week was Pope Benedict XVI's visit. The Vatican has elevated climate change as a concern recently. See this from the "Voice of America." (For something a bit more substantive from The Holy See, see this speech from February at the UN.) The Pope would be preaching to the […]
I wrote about all the huffing and puffing by the "Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound" in my recent look at the great book, Cape Wind. One of their arguments is that the windfarm will destroy the view. Here's the thing: I am among a number of folks who think the view of offshore (or onshore) […]
Al Gore made an important speech today in Washington: In it he challenged the US to become carbon free in its electricity production in ten years time. See this from CNN. Regarding surface transportation, the article quotes him as saying "The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and […]
Further to my last post, here are some more looks at transportation issues. Air Show , This article from the "NY Times" today, The Wild Green Yonder, describes some of the initiatives of the airline industry I touched on the other day: new materials, new engines, new fuels. The article refers to a series of […]
As you no doubt know by now, transportation accounts for about 13% of worldwide GHG. Figure SPM.3. (a) Global annual emissions of anthropogenic GHGs from 1970 to 2004.5(b) Share of different anthropogenic GHGs in total emissions in 2004 in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq). (c) Share of different sectors in total anthropogenic GHG emissions […]
Energy and Commerce Committee – We all seem agreed that substantive federal legislation addressing climate change will emerge from the 111th Congress. It seems entirely likely that the new Congress will have a measurably higher Democratic component than now, in both houses. (See this from PollingReport.com and this from the “NY Times” which reports that […]
I didn't want to leave the impression from my last post that I am wholly cynical about progress on confronting the climate change crisis. On the contrary, I am entirely bullish. I think my posts over time here have very often been about some of the truly extraordinary breakthroughs , politically, socially, and economically , […]
I'm not going to lie to you and say that I've followed these meetings with particular interest. There's nothing binding about what the G8 leaders decide. So, they've come up with a commitment, of sorts, to cut GHG by 50% by 2050. They don't tell you what the baseline is though. How seriously am I […]
As this blog and everybody else and her cousin have been saying for some time now, we can do so much, and faster and cheaper, by optimizing our energy use. The granddaddy of much of this eminently sensible, sober and smart thinking is Amory Lovins. I have directed you to his good works and the work […]
Sorry, folks, for not writing sooner, but we were away for a long July Fourth weekend. Here are some interesting bits now, though. I'll have more tomorrow. Denmark , My favorite journalist, Elizabeth Kolbert, has another minor masterpiece, at the "New Yorker" this week, The Island in the Wind. She's writing about a nearly zero-carbon enclave […]