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A simple regulatory fix to the coming power crisis

Our electric regulatory model is broken. It preferentially deploys expensive power sources before cheap ones. It compares the variable costs of dirty fuels to the all-in costs of clean fuels and deludes itself into thinking that the dirty, expensive power is economically advantaged. It places the interests of utility shareholders above the interests of other potential investors in our power grid, massively skewing capital allocation, even while it insulates utility investors from the disciplines imposed by a competitive market.

These problems arise fundamentally from the over-regulation of our electric sector, which has created stable utilities, but virtually no opportunities for the kind of economic "upside" necessary to attract entrepreneurs into the sector. This ought to be good news; after all, we Americans are really good at taking risks, deploying our prodigious entrepreneurial talents and making big financial bets. The problems we face all play to our strengths. Unfortunately, any positive change to our system is by definition deregulatory -- a word that has been politically poisoned by the botched restructuring (don't call it dereg!) in California and Enron's machinations. As factually irrelevant as those bogeymen may be to any discussion of deregulation, they present formidable political obstacles to reform -- and only the most quixotic windmill-tilter chases reforms that are politically untenable to both sides of the aisle.

Houston, we have a solution.

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Slattery discusses energy and environment for rural voters

Jim Slattery, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kansas, dropped by Netroots Nation this morning to talk about how progressives can make inroads in the heartland. His panel, “Rural America and the Progressive Movement,” took a look at some of the reasons rural voters shouldn’t be written off as red. Energy and environment were two […]

Artists and environmentalists team up to create vibrant cityscapes

The Olympic Sculpture Park. Photo: Jeff Wilcox. “Cities are what’s going to get us out of this mess … and what makes cities livable is art.” That was the take-home message, summarized by Cascade Land Conservancy President Gene Duvernoy, following a discussion Thursday on art and the environment at the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture […]

From Pint to Putt

iSave Sure it’s Twitterific, pours a pint, and finds you dinner with a shake of the wrist — but did you know the iPhone also has five apps devoted to conserving gas? Good call! 1, 2, 3, 4, get your action on the floor Rapper Coolio knows global warming is no gangsta’s paradise — so […]

Netroots Nation: David talks about energy and the economy

Who’s that grizzled chap in the plaid? It’s our own David Roberts, on a panel earlier today titled “Debunking the Issue Silo Myth: Why the Broader Progressive Movement is Green,” at Netroots Nation. His part is about 14 minutes into it:

Physicists reaffirm that human-induced GHGs affect the atmosphere

It goes something like this:

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

Of course that's not true. Today a statement appeared on the APS website saying:

APS Position Remains Unchanged

The American Physical Society reaffirms the following position on climate change, adopted by its governing body, the APS Council, on November 18, 2007:

"Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate."

An article at odds with this statement recently appeared in an online newsletter of the APS Forum on Physics and Society, one of 39 units of APS. The header of this newsletter carries the statement that "Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of the Forum." This newsletter is not a journal of the APS and it is not peer reviewed.

For a list of societies that have endorsed the mainstream position on climate change, see this post.

Sick of algae-polluted water, Florida groups sue EPA

A flock of Florida green groups has sued the U.S. EPA, seeking state and national water-pollution standards for fertilizer runoff from factory farms. Nitrogen and phosphorus flow from agricultural operations into many Florida waterways (among other places), triggering algae blooms which suck oxygen from the water and kill off marine life. Exposure to the algae, […]

McCain talks up plans for the auto industry in Michigan

Today, GOP presidential contender John McCain visited the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich., where GM is developing the Chevy Volt, and used the visit to talk up his plan for the automotive sector. In the same speech, he argued that states should be able to determine their own fuel efficiency standards. California and […]

Author Elizabeth Royte chats about the bottled-water boom and backlash

Elizabeth Royte.Photo: Rod MorrisonJournalist Elizabeth Royte drinks tap water, but she spends a lot of time thinking about the bottled kind. In her new book, Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, Royte investigates the causes and consequences of the bottled-water industry’s astounding growth. With her refillable water bottle in hand, […]

Consumers tiring of ads with sketchy eco-claims

As every business and its mom tries to get in on the eco-friendly craze — actual recent press release to hit our inbox: “Portable hot tubs go green!” — consumers seem to be tiring of omnipresent greenwashing, say analysts. “After 18 months, levels of concern on any issue tend to drop off,” says Jonathan Banks […]