Energy

How To Increase Deployment of Energy Storage To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The white papers keep coming.  Today, UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law released a new report, “The Power of Energy Storage: How to Increase Deployment in California to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” to examine policies that California and federal leaders can implement to increase the state’s energy storage capacity. As California seeks to expand …

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GOP Will Filibuster the PACE Bill, Unless…

A prediction: the Republicans will filibuster Mike Thompson’s bill concerning PACE once it gets to the Senate.  At this point, the Republicans (led by Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured right) are simply uninterested in principles or policy.  That’s particular true in the shadow of the upcoming midterms: stopping the bill will simply be another way to …

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Congress to Intervene in the PACE Saga?

California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s lawsuit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for its stance on the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program may be moot if Congress can act to force FHFA to back down. Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) has now introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would bar FHFA and …

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India Puts US Climate Policy to Shame

While US policymakers — particularly Republicans and  those in coal states — are busy complaining about developing countries not capping their carbon emissions, New Delhi is busy actually doing something about climate change. Two weeks ago, India instituted a tax on coal, instituting a form of carbon tax that talented advocates (such as the good …

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Utilities-Only Carbon Cap

The proposed utilities-only cap-and-trade system could be a step in the right direction, although it’s far from ideal.

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Breaking News: Jerry Brown Sues FHFA and Fannie & Freddie over PACE

As I suspected, we’ve got a lawsuit over the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s position on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). (Background on PACE and the controversy here.)  California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today that his agency is suing these entities in federal court over their unwillingness to …

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Travel Is Broadening–2010 Edition

Having just returned from a trip to Northern Europe, a couple of experiences resonate with me that, I hope, are worthy of sharing here. The first relates to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, British Petroleum, and the distinct ways in which BP’s role and responsibility for the spill are viewed, depending on one’s geographical roots. …

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Stay denied in appeal of offshore moratorium decision

Cross-posted at CPRBlog. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit heard argument today on the Obama administration’s request that it stay the District Court’s injunction of the 6-month deepwater oil development moratorium, and by a 2-1 vote quickly rejected the request. The moratorium halted any new drilling, and the granting of any new permits for …

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FHFA strangles PACE clean energy financing program

Yesterday, the Federal Housing Finance Administration, the agency that regulates bankrupt mortgage insurers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, issued a letter effectively destroying the promising energy efficiency and renewable energy financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). I blogged about Fannie and Freddie’s lender letters on the PACE program a few weeks ago. PACE …

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Another information gap in the Gulf

As the Washington Post points out today, BP’s Regional Oil Spill Response Plan (large file) for the Gulf of Mexico was, like the NEPA analysis and the ESA analysis, wildly over-optimistic. The Response Plan is more realistic than the NEPA documents with respect to the possibilities. It does include worst case scenarios (Appendix H). The …

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