Energy

Welcoming Stanford to the Eco-Blogosphere

Stanford Law School has a new blog, “Environment and Energy Insight,”  which may be of interest to our readers: At Environment & Energy Insights, you will find a new post on our blog at least every two weeks that will address a topic of immediate relevance to environmental lawyers and policymakers. The authors include Meg …

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In Terms of Ethanol, Corny Is Not Funny

Today’s NY Times has an excellent op ed on corn ethanol.  In terms of the environmental impact, the author (Russell Harding) says: . . . .  if ethanol use was really helping the environment, it might be worth putting up with higher costs. But many environmental groups dropped their support for corn-based ethanol after two …

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Business Gets Ready for Emission Cuts

Today’s NY Times reports: Much of corporate America has already been thinking about how to comply. Many businesses concluded years ago that such limits were inevitable, and they have been calling on Congress to define the exact rules they will need to follow. Already, many companies are recording their emissions and analyzing the results. Some …

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War Tax=Carbon Tax

Congressman David Obey yesterday called for a war tax to pay for troops in Afghanistan. While the idea of a war tax makes all the sense in the world (if health care can’t add to the deficit, why should our wars?), Obey’s proposed tax on upper-income earners is aimed at the wrong source. Instead of …

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China’s Problems, Our Problems

President Obama’s trip to China (noted here yesterday by Dan Farber) refocused world attention on China’s mushrooming contributions to global warming. Many have declared that China has eclipsed the United States as the number one emitter of greenhouse gases, and it is evident that its emissions grow by the day. Perhaps the most devastating examples …

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About China But Were Afraid to Ask

As President Obama heads to China, the World Resource Institute has launched a very interesting new website devoted to China, energy, and climate change.  The chart above is an example of the kind of information on the website.  Notice for example the important role of manufacturing emissions on the Chinese side versus transportation emissions on …

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Public Focus on Climate Change Slow to Develop, Hard to Sustain

The date was August 4, 1977, and Congressman Peter Rodino inserted, in the Congressional Record, an article from the New York Times that had run a week earlier.  The Times article reflected on the Carter Administration’s effort to encourage the greater of coal as a power plant fuel.  The Times said: “The National Academy of …

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One-Stop Shopping for Climate Information

CITRIS, which is  a University of California engineering consortium, has a really useful site called Climate Navigator.  The site is a great source of information about the many dimensions of climate change, from policy to energy technology.  One neat feature is an interactive model that allows you to design your own global climate policy, setting  …

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Thoughts About the Future of Nuclear Power

Apparently, substantially safer designs for nuclear reactors are now available.  But the safe storage and disposal of nuclear waste is a significant challenge and a yet unresolved problem. Presently, waste is stored at over a hundred facilities across the country, within seventy-five miles of the homes of 161 million people. The major problem is the …

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Paying for Those Transmission Lines to Promote Renewable Energy

Even people who could not care less about renewable energy development have heard the plea: in order to deliver big bunches of power from central station renewable sources, we need lots of new transmission lines. If so, then who should put up the money to get the lines built? In a decision issued a few …

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