Energy
‘Let the Sunshine In’: The Fight for Solar in the Tar Heel State
Despite utility opposition and conservative state legislature, the law is slowly shifting toward solar energy.
In North Carolina, renewable energy is more a distant dream than a reality. The state has a modest renewable portfolio standard (10-12% by 2018 or 2021, depending on the utility). Right now, the state is at only about 7%, with the remainder split more or less equally between coal, gas and nuclear. It has old-fashioned …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Growing Schism Between Coal and Oil
They’re both fossil fuels, but their producers don’t always have the same policy views.
Bush’s environmental policies were bad, but Trump’s policies are way worse. One reason is that Bush and Cheney were oilman, and Trump is obsessed with coal. Yes, oil and coal are both fossil fuels, but they have different economics and different policy stances. These are two very different industries. The U.S. coal companies are in …
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CONTINUE READINGOfficially-True Lies
Administration policy is based on a series of falsehoods.
There are some falsehoods which the United States government has now adopted as dogma. They aren’t true but they’re repeated day in and day out. Sadly, they’re sometimes not even deliberate falsehoods, because the people who repeat them have been brainwashed into believing them or are just too ignorant to realize the actual facts. “Greenhouse …
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CONTINUE READINGHouse Republican Tax Plan Would Hurt Climate And Clean Tech Progress
The plan hits electric vehicles and wind energy but could present an opening for a national carbon tax
Republicans in the House of Representatives debuted their proposed tax reforms today, and climate and clean tech advocates are looking to see how the proposals will affect progress on these intertwined issues. Specifically, tax reform could impact electric vehicle and renewable energy deployment, which rely on federal tax credits to stimulate investment and demand. To …
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CONTINUE READINGHot Off the Presses: An Intro to Climate Change Law and Policy
The Paris Agreement. The Clean Power Plan. Geo-Engineering. Trump. And there’s more!
I’m really excited to announce the publication of Climate Change Law: Concepts & Insights (Foundation Press 2017), by Cinnamon Carlarne and me. There are lots of great scholarly tomes on the subject — either monographs or collected volumes. But there really hasn’t been anything that provides a comprehensive introduction to climate law as a whole, …
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CONTINUE READINGFlorida’s Retro Energy Policy
It may be called the Sunshine State, but you wouldn’t know that from the lack of solar.
Florida is the paradigm of the ostrich with its head in the sand. It may be the most vulnerable state to climate change. Yet, the state government is assiduously ignoring the problem though some cities and counties and South Florida are keenly aware of the risks. Even after Hurricane Irma, the governor still professed complete …
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CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy in the Mountain West: A Tale of Two States
Wyoming and Colorado are very different places — but renewables are thriving in both states.
Politics play an important role in determining the fate of renewable energy in particular places, but so does economics. The Trump Administration is trying to shift the economics, but it seems unlikely they’ll be able to have much impact. For now, at least, there are a variety of motivations for states to embrace renewables, as …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Place of Pruitt’s Nightmares
How is California fighting climate change? Let me count the ways.
In his worst dreams, Scott Pruitt must find himself surrounded by solar panels and windmills, pursued by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, who has returned from the future to stop him before he can doom the planet. When he awakes, he realizes to his relief that he’s safe in bed well outside the borders of …
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CONTINUE READINGWill Renewable Energy Keep Getting Cheaper?
Technological and economic forces will continue to cut prices, regardless of Trump.
The Trump Administration is trying to save coal and stop the growth of renewables. Just this week Scott Pruitt issued a proposed repeal of Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Whether or not the repeal succeeds, Pruitt & Co. are fighting against the economic tide. If the price of renewables continues to fall, it will be harder …
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CONTINUE READINGForeseeable Yet Lamentable: Pruitt’s Attack on Carbon Restrictions
As expected, the Trump Administration is trying to repeal Obama’s regulation.
Few things were more foreseeable than a repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) by the Trump Administration. The Clean Power Plan had three strikes against it: (1) it addressed climate change; (2) it disfavored coal and promoted the use of renewable energy in electricity generation; and (3) it came from the Obama Administration. The …
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