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 […]
With apologies to Longfellow, not to mention Paul Revere, I want to recount my recent, close encounters with the British here in New York. As I mentioned in passing here, I was invited to a discussion at the Consulate-General to talk about my thoughts regarding the state of play on climate change; what you, gentle […]
Senatus Populusque Romanus – The Senate and the People of Rome. The old Roman Senate was, on paper, representative of the people. Because the US is a representative democracy, the US Senate was meant, up to a certain point, to perpetuate this same principle. It was, however, certainly less representative, from Day One, than its […]
Forging a new partnership between the United States and China can help address climate change, but only if regulatory and market shortcomings can be overcome. A new alignment on energy and the environment between China and the United States sounds like a formula capable of delivering real solutions on climate-change issues. China’s abundant scientific research-and-development […]
Forging a new partnership between the United States and China can help address climate change, but only if regulatory and market shortcomings can be overcome. A new alignment on energy and the environment between China and the United States sounds like a formula capable of delivering real solutions on climate-change issues. China’s abundant scientific research-and-development […]
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 […]
Coal Mining Debris Rule Is Approved is the story from the "NY Times" earlier this week. National environmental groups and regional groups like the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition were, understandably, up in arms. The NRDC, for instance, said in their release: "The EPA's concurrence and approval of this defective rule governing coal mining is ecologically […]
Okay, so a lot of scientists and engineers are working on CCS. That's clear. The question is: Will their hard work and expertise translate into a viable, affordable mechanism for eliminating, or even curtailing the massive, climate-altering impact of the carbon dioxide that spews inexorably, interminably from the world's thousands of coal-fired power plants? Remember, […]
I wrote a couple of weeks ago here on clean coal technology. First of all, let me explain that I am not rooting against the possibility of finding some way to capture and sequester carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and other sources. It's just that there is so much reliance on coal now, and […]
I sat in on the last day of this event in New York City on Friday, hearing two fascinating panels discuss “Corporate Strategies For Carbon Reduction” (in the context of federal cap-and-trade legislation) and Clean Tech’s role in getting GHG’s down. The main sponsors of the summit were EcoSecurities, one of the world’s largest developers […]
Here's a post I had in February: Coal Takes Some Lumps. I looked then at the demise of the federal government's flagship project on coal capture and storage (CCS) and at the concerted, and sometimes vicious, counterattack launched by a utility in Kansas against the denial of its permits for two new plants. Today's lead […]
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 […]