Retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient
When we ponder ways to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, nothing says "low hanging fruit" more than retrofitting our existing homes and small businesses to make them more energy efficient. Energy use from commercial and residential buildings accounts for 22 percent of California's greenhouse gas emissions. But relatively simple steps like insulating air ducts, sealing leaks in the building, and improving insulation in the walls can result in ...
CONTINUE READINGKerry-Lieberman and State Government
The Georgetown Climate Center has put together a very useful summary of how the bill would impact state regulation, both positively and negatively. The most important fact is that the summary is fifteen pages long. The bill is obviously a big deal in terms of helping state regulation in some respects and curtailing it in others....
CONTINUE READINGMMS needs more than a facelift
The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought new attention to the Minerals Management Service, the obscure branch of the Department of Interior responsible for overseeing offshore oil and gas production. MMS has been on the hot seat together with BP, Transocean, and Halliburton as Congressional committees and others have begun to look at the combination of technical and regulatory failings that allowed this human and environmental tragedy. The init...
CONTINUE READINGNational Academy of Science Says the Science of Climate Change is Clear and It’s Time to Act Now
The National Academy of Science has joined a growing chorus of scientists and policymakers in underscoring the need for strong action to combat climate change. The Academy released three reports today as part of its America's Climate Choices project, a project Congress requested in the last year of the Bush Administration to address what Congress should do domestically to combat climate change. (In the interest of full disclosure I served as a member of one of th...
CONTINUE READINGBP’s Disastrous PR Blowout
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZidQAf8epE] Even Fox News is berating BP for its callous and inapt public response to the oil blowout. And for good reason. As Newsweek says: This hasn't been a good few weeks for Tony Hayward, the chief executive officer of BP. In the weeks since the huge oil spill in the Gulf began, he has struck an occasionally Churchillian tone: "We are going to defend the beaches," he proclaimed. "We will fix this." But the British leade...
CONTINUE READINGCosts and Benefits of Offshore Oil
In thinking about the economics of off-shore oil, the main benefit is increased energy security. According to an RFF study, Netted out, the Brown and Huntington estimates suggest that the effect of increased U.S. oil production is about $1 per barrel (or 2.4 cents per gallon of gasoline); for each barrel of increased U.S. oil production, the risk to the U.S. economy of supply disruptions is reduced by an expected value of about $1. What is being "netted out"? The d...
CONTINUE READINGGoing Nuclear in Finland
A new film explores how Finland is planning to dispose of its nuclear waste. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXif1MThJ6k]...
CONTINUE READINGGulf spill estimates revised up — again
Let's review the bidding. Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, estimates of the volume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico have gone steadily up. They began at zero, then 1000 barrels a day, then 5000 barrels (210,000 gallons), a number that has been repeated over and over in media reports. But that number may be way too low. By May 1, SkyTruth was reporting, based on analysis of aerial pictures of the oil slick, an estimate of more than 26,000 barrels p...
CONTINUE READINGMurkowski Favors Bailout for Big Oil, Not for Failing Banks
I thought one of the most audacious political stances I'd seen in many years was the Republican position -- dreamed up by GOP pollster Frank Luntz -- that a tax on big banks was actually a big bank bailout. Converting a tax to a government bailout was pure political chutzpah, and some sick form of genius. Now it's the Democrats' turn to cry bailout. Several Democratic Senators -- Lautenberg and Menendez from New Jersey, Nelson from Florida -- have proposed rai...
CONTINUE READINGMore Intrigue for India’s Environment Minister
India's current Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, is not a man to hold his tongue, and has become the most powerful minister in that post since it was founded. Recently, he's been in a lot of hot water for a speech he gave in China, where he castigated other government ministries for being "alarmist" and "paranoid" about "Chinese businessmen entering the industrial sector in India." Already, the Indian press is talking about Ramesh being taken down a peg. But wai...
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