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The offshore drilling moratorium lapses today

Today is Energy Freedom Day — the day the Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling lapses. Let’s all sit back and watch the psychological benefits pour in. Cheap gas is back! Um, soon! Right? (The grumpuses on the Washington Post editorial board don’t think so. They’re just not thinking psychologically enough.) (More on today’s non-celebration from […]

Snippets from the news

• Mayors envision 4.2 million new green jobs. • Investment in cleantech continues to soar. • Greenpeace and Sierra Club Canada: Don’t vote Tory. • Climate change could kill off one-third of species by 2100, say scientists. • Coca-Cola lightens cans in Europe. • IKEA bags bags.

Will the push to open Yucca Mountain shift Nevada toward Obama?

The Bush administration is pushing full speed ahead with plans to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain — and that could affect the presidential race in the battleground state of Nevada, where John McCain and Barack Obama are in a dead heat. Last month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to review the federal government’s license […]

Senate adds renewable-energy tax credits to bailout, to chagrin of moderate House Dems

The Senate is planning to add its tax bill — which includes the extension of renewable-energy tax credits — to the $700 billion bailout package it will be voting on tonight. The addition is intended to “sweeten” the deal in hopes of gathering more votes and ensuring passage of the bailout package. The Senate has […]

CFLs can increase mercury pollution in some areas, study finds

Energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs can lead to an increase in mercury pollution in some regions, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study looked at mercury emissions in 130 countries and all 50 U.S. states to determine what role CFLs, which contain mercury, may have in upping mercury […]

The moral argument for curbing climate change

Robert Farley has a point I would like all environmentalists to have seared to the insides of our eyelids: Simply because something must happen does not mean that it will happen … It’s not that people are stupid (although many are) or dishonest (although many are); its that the institutions make certain outcomes difficult to […]

Umbra on driveways

Dear Umbra, What is the most eco-friendly driveway material? Jean K.Newington, Conn. Dearest Jean, Other than “no driveway because no car,” dunno. I can tell you all the characteristics possessed by a good eco-friendly driveway material, but no single material pulled ahead of the rest and parked itself in first place. Since I don’t know […]

Missourians to vote on renewable energy ballot initiative in November

Renewable things are happening in the heartland. Ohio passed a renewable portfolio standard in the spring, and Michigan did the same a few weeks ago. Renewable activists in Missouri recently qualified a renewable energy standard — Proposition C — for the ballot, and this week the Kansas City Star endorsed the effort. The measure calls […]

Bailout no reason to delay needed public investment

I have been making the point (here, here, here) that we should resist the emerging Very Serious D.C. conventional wisdom that the financial bailout will constrain our ability to make other much-needed public investments. It’s wrong, wrong, wrong. Obama was a little wishy-washy on the subject in the debate, but as Kate noted, in a […]

Is a 40-mile all-electric range too much?

I have an article in today’s Guardian online, “Is the Chevy Volt just hype?” I argue that the key to the near-term success for plug-ins in this country is government incentives and mandates, which in turn will critically depend on the outcome of the presidential election. But that should not be a surprise, since no […]