Energy
Getting to 2050
A roadmap for achieving an 80% emissions cut.
To do its part in keeping climate change to tolerable levels, the United States needs to cut its carbon emissions at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. That’s not just a matter of decarbonizing the electricity sector; it means changes in everything from aviation to steel manufacture, and reducing not only CO2 but also …
Continue reading “Getting to 2050”
CONTINUE READINGU.S. Supreme Court Declines to Revive Challenge to Oregon Clean Fuels Program
Legal Challenges to Oregon & California Vehicle Fuel Carbon-Intensity Standards Close to the End of the Line, Clearing Path Forward to Transformative Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transportation Sector
In this post, we continue our discussion of California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which we introduced in our post on October 4, 2018. This is third in that series. This past Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of a federal appeals court decision upholding the legality of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program. That decision finally frees …
Continue reading “U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Revive Challenge to Oregon Clean Fuels Program”
CONTINUE READINGARPA-E: Surviving and Thriving Despite Trump
Trump keeps trying to kill it, but the energy innovation hub keeps on going.
In the long run, supporting energy innovation is among the most important things the federal government can do to address climate change. Naturally, Trump wants to end that. In what has become an annual ritual, his most recent budget proposal calls for eliminating the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The agency’s mission is to support …
Continue reading “ARPA-E: Surviving and Thriving Despite Trump”
CONTINUE READINGHR 9: The First Climate Bill to Pass the House In a Decade
What you need to know about the bill.
Last Thursday, for the first time in a decade, the House of Representatives passed a climate change bill. HR 9, the Climate Action Now Act, passed on a vote of 231-190. The heart of HR 9 is section 3, which blocks the use of any federal funds to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Section 4 …
Continue reading “HR 9: The First Climate Bill to Pass the House In a Decade”
CONTINUE READINGInternational Conference On Electric Vehicles & Urban Residents
Register Today For UC Berkeley Law Event On June 4th & 5th, Co-Organized By University of Paris
Policy makers and industry leaders have a tough challenge making electric vehicles accessible for the world’s urban residents. Many apartment dwellers lack access to dedicated spots with electricity to charge the vehicles, while other city residents may need access to shared EVs to get around city streets. Unless EV leaders can solve these challenges, global …
Continue reading “International Conference On Electric Vehicles & Urban Residents”
CONTINUE READINGIs Socialism Good for the Environment?
The answer is: “Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much.”
Some of the people who are most fervent about the environment these days describe themselves as socialists. But is socialism actually a good thing for the environment? That seems like a significant question in a political context where people on both sides are throwing around the word “socialist” so much, so I decided to see …
Continue reading “Is Socialism Good for the Environment?”
CONTINUE READINGSaved By The…Air Conditioner?
New Paper Proposes Carbon Sequestration From HVAC Systems
You have to like the idea carbon sequestration: if our ability to stop putting carbon into the atmosphere is limited, why not try taking it out? But it always seems to founder on a life-cycle analysis: it costs so much in energy to get the system working that you wind up producing more carbon than you …
Continue reading “Saved By The…Air Conditioner?”
CONTINUE READINGGood News from the States: April 2019 Roundup
While the Feds backpedal, the states move forward on clean energy.
Every day seems to bring more news of the Trump Administration’s dogged efforts to reduce environmental protections and accelerate climate change with increased carbon emissions. But, as has been true since Trump took office, the picture at the state level is much different. State governments across the country have accelerated their efforts to decarbonize, while …
Continue reading “Good News from the States: April 2019 Roundup”
CONTINUE READINGChina’s Energy Transition
Q&A with Barbara Finamore, Senior Attorney & Asia Senior Strategic Director, NRDC
Barbara Finamore is an attorney and leading expert for Natural Resources Defense Council on a wide range of China climate, energy, and environmental issues. I worked with Finamore to found NRDC’s Beijing office in 2006. In her new book Will China Save the Planet?, Finamore explores efforts by China, today the world’s largest emitter of …
Continue reading “China’s Energy Transition”
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change & the Democratic Candidates
The candidates are all in favor of climate action but there are significant variations in their stances.
It’s hard to keep track of the twenty or so Democrats who are in the running for the 2020 presidential nomination. The differences between them on climate policy are minor compared with the gulf between them and President Trump. All of them support the Paris Agreement, unlike Trump. And all of them vow to restore …
Continue reading “Climate Change & the Democratic Candidates”
CONTINUE READING