Energy
Coal, China, and Pollution
Air pollution in China is a global problem, because of climate change, and a California problem, because pollutants from China reach the U.S. West Coast. An article in the current issue of Nature has good news and bad news about coal and pollution in China. The good news is increased pollution control. The authors estimate …
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CONTINUE READINGGreen Industry Growth
Here’s a list of the fastest growing industries from the Washington Post: 1. Generic pharmaceuticals 2. Solar panel manufacturing 3. For-profit universities 4. Pilates and yoga studios 5. Self-tanning product manufacturing 6. 3-D printer manufacturing 7. Social network game development 8. Hot sauce production 9. Green and sustainable building construction 10. Online eyeglasses sales. I’m …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Opinion on Environment and Energy
Gallup has issued the results of a very interesting poll about environment and energy. Here are their findings: There’s surprisingly broad support for more vigorous environmental enforcement and more clean energy, including about half of Republicans. The reason for the partisan gap is that there’s such strong support among Democrats, not so much that all …
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CONTINUE READINGCould Self-Driving Cars Help The Environment?
As companies like Google pioneer technologies to allow cars to drive themselves, futurists have been imagining a world where autonomous vehicles rule the roadway. Using computer programs, map data, complex sensors, and soon the ability to “see” all vehicles within miles, these cars hold the promise of averting the vast majority of car accidents caused …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Trouble at Fukushima
According to the Washington Post, the situation inside the reactors is grim. Tuesday’s examination with an industrial endoscope detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the chamber. Plant officials previously said more than half of melted fuel has breached the core and dropped to the floor of the primary containment vessel, …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA Unveils Carbon Standard for New Power Plants
This morning, U.S. EPA released its anticipated rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. The proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act purports to set national limits on the amount of carbon pollution new power plants can emit. Today we’re taking a common-sense step …
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CONTINUE READINGDavid Owens Overstates the Rebound Effect’s Relevance
Here is an impressive blog post. I didn’t write it! Shakeb Afsah and Kendyl Salcito present a data filled post that takes David Owen’s Rebound Effect quite seriously. I respect hypothesis testing! Owen’s sexy hypothesis is that the Prius actually contributes to climate change! How could this happen? The Prius has such a high MPG that it effective …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Commerce Department Undercuts Clean Energy
The Commerce Department’s decision to levy tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports has been in the news for a couple of days, but should receive more attention for envir0nmental policy wonks than it has so far. The Obama Administration has basically decided to impair clean energy production with its decision, even if the tariffs are …
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CONTINUE READINGAttack of the Dim Bulbs (A Dismayingly On-Going Series)
And the government would have banned Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Oh yeah, Obama’s regulators actually did just that. That was Governor Romney on March 19. I hope he was more careful with the facts when he worked for Bain. If not, he would have cost lost a lot of money, not to mention the liability …
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CONTINUE READINGEnergy Scholarship Symposium in the Journal of Economic Perspectives
As I argued about three months ago, the Journal of Economic Perspectives ought to be on the regular reading for anyone interested in environmental law and policy. The most recent quarter’s issue shows why: it features a fascinating symposium on “Energy Challenges”. Not all of the articles will be music to environmentalists’ ears: for example, …
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