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It’s new

The Wall Street Journal has just started a blog devoted to energy news, which unlike the rest of its content appears to be free. FYI.

How do you likey?

As many of you probably noticed over the last few years, the search function on Gristmill suuuuuu[time-lapse photography of sun rising and setting]uuuuucked. The blog is based on Scoop, and the search was just Scoop’s out-of-the-box search, which, I say again, sucked. Happily, our geek squad has done something about it. Gristmill search has now […]

What do you think?

The other day I mentioned Energy [R]evolution, a new report/initiative from Greenpeace around renewable energy and emission reductions. I highly recommend it. I’m afraid I can’t muster similar enthusiasm for this video they made to go along with it, though: [vodpod id=Video.14405&w=425&h=350&fv=] Perhaps it’s because I’m a parent now, but my impulse watching this, despite […]

Only it’s Abu Dhabi

Except it's Abu Dhabi investing $350 million in a 500 MW solar plant. My colleague JP Ross just traveled there and met with those guys -- they are serious as a heart attack about building large-scale, central-station solar power.

When even these guys get it ...

In unrelated news, I once heard a story about a company that was entirely dependent for their raw materials on a single supplier. This company heard that their supplier was investing in other products, but thought nothing of it. Soon, the supplier announced they were out of the raw material, and the company went bankrupt. Sad story, huh?

No, you watch it

Michael Crichton appeared on Charlie Rose last night, for an hour of conversation in defense of his global warming skepticism. I have not seen it, and don’t think I’d be physically capable of sitting through the whole thing anyway. Michael Crowley found Crichton’s strained innocence about his political advocacy rather much to take. Over on […]

Smackdown!

File this under "A sign of things to come." A coworker here at Orion magazine buys corn to feed his daughter's sheep, and he reports that his supplier is in a quandary about how to afford the stuff himself these days. Everyone and his brother sees the demand for corn to make ethanol coming, sending corn futures through the roof and driving up prices today.

Rebutting some common criticisms of the carbon tax

Charles Komanoff's excellent work on carbon taxes vs. emission trading tends to attract certain frequent objections. This is an attempt to answer some of them:

Cap and trade is the way we do things now. Politically, we can never win a carbon tax.

Answer: Cap and trade has political heft mainly because it was instituted at a low level over a long period of time -- thus it did not require very high emission reductions. Further, because the emission cap was confined to a few nations, but emission credits can be bought from nations without such caps, the emission reduction as a percent of total emissions in countries taking part in the Kyoto negotiations is even lower than the nominal target.

In addition, emission reductions are measured against a 1990 baseline, which has been increased by 3% due to various revisions (subscription). And while there is room for argument over just how many, there is no question that a fair percentage of Kyoto credits are fraudulent -- excessive credits were granted to EU utilities, and many of the CDM credits sold in China are bogus.

Put a tight enough cap on the number of credits, with stricter controls to prevent fraud, and you will find political resistance is as great as resistance to a carbon tax.

Stars align for climate mega-concerts, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: It’s Official: He Rocks It Takes a Vilsack to Raise Our Hopes Biz, Biz, Oh What a Relief It Is Tune in Tomorrow Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Friends With Benefit Packages What’s Good for the Goose Are You Kind?

You be the judge

The American Association for the Advancement of Science joins the ranks of the alarmists, calling global warming "a growing threat to society" that should be countered with "rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions." AAAS says: The average temperature of the Earth is heading for levels not experienced for millions of years. Scientific predictions of the impacts […]

Bush’s USDA plays footsie with ADM, Cargill, and even the API on farm policy.

Federal investment in agriculture is a very wise, thoughtful investment. How we do it is the critical issue. At the end, I believe strongly it must be predictable, equitable, and beyond challenge. Thus spake USDA director Mike Johanns, commenting recently on negotiations around the 2007 farm bill. That’s awesome. So who will he be approaching […]