Energy
Energy and Development
Readers of this blog may be interested in a new blog by my ERG colleague Dan Kammen. Dan is currently on leave from Berkeley to head the Clean Tech effort at the World Bank as the Bank’s Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Recent subjects range from cook stoves in Africa to …
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CONTINUE READINGRepublicans Hate Their Grandchildren
Eleven days ago, I was relieved that the Administration stood firm on anti-EPA riders, but asked, “what will the level of EPA funding be? If Congress and the White House agree to serious cuts that starve the agency of necessary personnel, then the absence of a rider is a Pyrrhic victory.” Well, now we know …
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CONTINUE READINGConservatives and climate change
Dan notes, in a recent post, the ways in which potential Republican presidential candidates are backwards-pedaling on whatever statements they might once have made supporting action to address climate change. (Climate change is apparently the new former mistriss — we’ve all flirted in the past with things we now regret.) Former Congressman Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) spoke at UCLA …
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CONTINUE READINGPolitical Fallout from Japan Hits Germany
According to HuffPo, BERLIN — German chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have suffered a historic defeat in a state ballot after almost six decades in power there, partial results showed Sunday, in an election that amounted to a referendum on the party’s stance on nuclear power. The opposition anti-nuclear Greens doubled their voter share in Baden-Wuerttemberg …
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CONTINUE READINGJapan Nuclear Update
The NY Times has a very good page showing the current status of each of the six reactors. All of them remain problems in one way or another, either because of the reactors themselves or the spent fuel. The Post also has an interactive, featuring an animated presentation. No one seems to expect a full …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Dump Trucks v. CARB
The California Dump Truck Owners Association (“CDTOA”) filed suit in February 2011 against the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”). The suit alleges that CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation, which is part of the suite of regulations under AB 32 to address greenhouse gas emissions, is unconstitutional. CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation sets stricter emissions standards for …
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CONTINUE READINGRemembering Warren Christopher
News of the recent death of Warren Christopher prompted memories of a meeting I attended in 1987 — several years before Christopher was appointed Secretary of State by Bill Clinton. A major California utility had hired Christopher’s Los Angeles law firm to take its side in a regulatory proceeding with several billion dollars at risk. …
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CONTINUE READINGThat’s “Chief Justice Bitch”
The ongoing Wisconsin saga of public sector union rights has, predictably, involved the state’s Supreme Court. But in a much more personal way than one would think at first: The April 5th state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, where incumbent Justice David Prosser is seeking re-election, is now being shaken up by news about the …
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CONTINUE READINGJapan Nuclear Situation Now May Be “Stable,” Not “Critical.”
There is now some reason to think that the situation in Japan has stabilized. According to Bloomberg, Japan’s efforts to cool reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant had some success, with reports two of the six reactors are under control and a second electric cable has been connected to the station. Tokyo Electric Power …
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CONTINUE READINGMultiple Failures Exposed Diablo Canyon to Higher Risk
It is a coincidence that the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a new report on nuclear power plant safety while the Japanese nuclear crisis continues to unfold. Yet, the heightened awareness that many people now have of the importance of nuclear plant cooling systems may put us in a better position to understand the …
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