renewable energy

Guest Blogger Ken Alex: California’s Road to 2020 and Beyond

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Four years ago, when I was the head of the Attorney General’s environment section,  I wrote a series of guest blogs for Legal Planet …

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If It Quacks Like a Duck: Intermittent Renewables and the Grid

At an energy policy conference that I attended on campus recently, one of the speakers asked how many people in the audience were familiar with the Duck Chart. As someone who tries to stay on top of things in the energy world, I was surprised by how many people raised a hand to express familiarity …

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D.C. Circuit’s biofuels mandate ruling

The D.C. Circuit issued an opinion last Friday in American Petroleum Institute v. EPA, concerning EPA’s biofuels mandate. (N.Y. Times; slip opinion). The part of the mandate at issue required refiners to incorporate higher levels of cellulosic fuel into transportation fuel. Cellulosic biofuel is in the class of “advanced biofuels” that could actually offset greenhouse gas …

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What to expect from President Obama’s inaugural address

The countdown to President Obama’s January, 21 2013 inauguration begins: there are only ten days left for the President’s speechwriters to put the finishing touches on the President’s second, and final, inaugural address.  The inaugural address is the first of two important opportunities President Obama will have in the coming months to describe the course …

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The Current U.S. Energy Pathway is Paved with Coal, Oil and Natural Gas

How well are we doing, in our efforts to strip fossil fuels from our energy mix? If you want to believe the most recent estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the answer is: not so well. As EIA prepares its 2013 report on the impact of various proposed policy changes, it asks itself: …

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Renewing Britain’s Clean Energy Vows

The British are ramping up their efforts on renewable energy.  The NY Times reported a few days ago that the new plan will “gradually quadruple the charges levied on consumers and businesses to help support electricity generation from low-carbon sources, to a total of about £9.8 billion, or $15.7 billion, in the 2020-21 fiscal year, …

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Why the GOP Should Embrace Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

There’s a lot of discussion these days about how the Republican Party should reposition itself in light of last week’s election results.  Support for renewables and energy efficiency would make sense as part of a package of policy adjustments — it would strengthen the Party’s appeal to swing voters, women, and younger voters, with only …

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The trouble with resource shuffling

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Jon Wellinghoff recently voiced concern that California’s cap-and-trade program could lead to unforeseen consequences that would upset energy markets. He was speaking about resource shuffling, and echoing a letter his fellow Commissioner sent to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in August. What is resource shuffling? According to CARB, …

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Heller versus Berkley in the Silver State

As in other states, the Nevada Senate race features a gap between the “greener” Democratic candidate, Shelley Berkley, and the Republican Dean Heller.  But it plays out a little differently. Heller’s website is strangely reticent about energy and environmental issues, while Berkley focuses heavily on the issues most relevant to Nevada — renewable energy and …

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Subsidizing Fossil Fuels While the Wind Sector Bleeds Jobs

Yesterday, Jonathan Zasloff wrote a post on Senator Alexander and Representative Mike Pompeo’s Wall Street Journal op-ed opposing the wind energy tax credit, which is set to expire at the end of 2012 barring Congressional action.  Yesterday’s post raised the question of how traditional fossil fuel subsidies compare to renewable energy subsidies. A 2009 Environmental …

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