Energy
Odds Are that Energy Technology Will Advance Faster Than Expected
In a post yesterday, I discussed a point that Sam Savage makes about climate change in his book, The Flaw of Averages. He makes another point that I think is very important: . . . if we continue developing sources of renewable energy at our current average rate, we may indeed be doomed. But we …
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CONTINUE READINGMeeting the Energy Needs of the Global Poor
A billion people rely on primitive smoky cookstoves that damage their health and cause significant global warming. Much more needs to be done to address this problem.
CONTINUE READINGTwo Important New Papers About Climate Policy
The latest issue of Science has two key papers on climate policy. First, Tim Searchinger, Dan Kammen (a faculty member at ERG), and others argue that an accounting exemption for bioenergy that appears in the Kyoto Protocol, the European carbon trading scheme and draft legislation on Capitol Hill treats all biofuels as “carbon neutral” even …
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CONTINUE READINGOil Shale, Greenhouse Gas, and Federal Lands
Back in 2005, a Rand report assessed the merits of pursuing oil shale (a rock formation particularly prevalent in the U.S.) as an option for extracting liquid transportation fuel. The authors said: “Heating oil shale for retorting, whether above ground or in situ, requires significant energy inputs. Over at least the next few decades, this …
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CONTINUE READINGThe New Top 40: Facing Up to the Worst Coal-Fired Powerplants
People are talking about it in emails and all over the blogosphere – it turns out that coal-fired electric power is not as cheap as many people want to think it is. In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress directed the National Academy of Sciences to “define and evaluate key external costs and benefits—related …
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CONTINUE READINGFree Trade, Deregulation, and Clean Energy — A Good Mix?
Some scholars like to suggest that there is a natural regulatory cycle: the perception of market failures leads to regulation, and the perception of regulatory failures leads to deregulation. While the 1990s were dominated by free trade agreements and economic deregulation, many political observers see greater acceptance of regulation now, in light of investor malfeasance …
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CONTINUE READINGNew EPA Greenhouse Gas Rulemaking Not Quite What it Seems
EPA is proposing to tailor the major source applicability thresholds for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and title V programs of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and to set a PSD significance level for GHG emissions. This proposal is necessary because EPA expects soon to promulgate regulations …
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CONTINUE READINGJackson Announces Proposed New Stationary Source Rules for Greenhouse Gases
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, speaking at the California Governor’s Global Climate Summit, has announced a proposed new Clean Air Act rule requiring new and modified stationary sources to install the best available control technology to control greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The text of the proposed new rule can be found here. According to a press release about …
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CONTINUE READINGA Better Day for Salmon on the Klamath River
Why would a major utility corporation agree to remove four of its hydroelectric power plants and pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the privilege? As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, that is exactly what would happen under a tentative agreement between PacifiCorp and various other parties, including several American Indian tribes. The dams in …
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CONTINUE READINGHey planet, we owe you one!
According to the Global Footprint Network, today is Earth Overshoot Day. We have already used up as many resources in 2009 as the planet can produce in a single year. The rest of the year represents deficit spending. “It’s a simple case of income versus expenditures,” said Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel. “For years, …
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