Latest Articles

How to green your kids this summer

Once more unto the beach! Photo: Tom Twigg Child-rearing may be the ultimate eco-conundrum: If you have a child, you’re adding to a population that’s already burdening the planet. And as you raise that child, you may be too tired and burdened yourself to care whether all your choices are green. On the other hand, […]

Senate Republicans block movement on two bills to spur renewable energy investment

With gas prices now averaging a record $4.04 a gallon in the United States, the Senate voted on two bills Tuesday that would have revoked tax breaks for Big Oil and extended tax credits to renewable energy. Proponents of the two measures touted them as vital for consumer relief and transition to new energy sources, […]

China …

… is heading for a wall. In the debate over climate and sustainable development, people often talk about China as though it is some sort of rapacious automaton, blindly dedicated to growing its economy no matter the cost. But while I’ve never been to China, I’m told it’s filled with intelligent people. They know how […]

The U.S. media discover how food production works without access to cheap oil

The story is legendary in peak-oil circles: Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union pulled the plug on Cuba’s cheap-energy, cheap-food era. (See Bill McKibben’s feature piece on the subject here.) No longer would the fading superpower accept the tiny island nation’s sugar as payment for crude oil. From then on, only hard currency would do. […]

Japan sets emissions-reduction goal for 2050 but not sooner

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced Monday that Japan will aim to cut greenhouse-gas emissions between 60 and 80 percent by 2050, but did not give in to strong pressure to set an emissions-reduction target for 2020. Fukuda gave a nod in the direction of a shorter-term goal, saying Japan’s emissions will likely drop 14 […]

Reflecting on his daughter’s future, a father says the green movement must diversify

The face of America is changing — is the environmental movement ready to face change too? “Kyra, do you know this is yours?” I ask, looking down at the skinny little girl with big, curly, dark brown locks. Her hair to body proportion resembles Thing One and Thing Two from Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the […]

Today’s gas consumption shows that price increases are only one part of the solution

As SUV sales plummet and gasoline use finally drops, one meme spreading around is, "Looks like people respond to price after all." The implication seems to be that any demand response other than zero proves that prices are wonderfully effective.

The problem, however, is not response is or might be zero. (I can think of few who ever claimed that.) The problem is that it takes a big price increase to produce a small response.

The current data support the conventional wisdom: 40 to 50 percent long-term elasticity, low enough to discourage us from relying on price as the main means of reducing emissions, high enough encourage us to use price as one among many means. At first glance, the raw data are even more discouraging than the conventional wisdom: Inflation adjusted gasoline prices have risen almost two-and-a-half times since 2000. Gasoline demand has dropped by slightly over 20 percent. But long-term elasticity is, by definition, a delayed response -- at least three years.

Also, if we are interested in price response as opposed to income response, we have to adjust for growth in GDP. So a rough calculation yields 45 percent long-term elasticity (with some biases that probably overstate the result). Here are two graphs, the first of raw data, the second after adjustment (click for larger versions):

Boxer op-ed argues the Climate Security Act vote was a big step forward

Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wrote an op-ed in today’s San Jose Mercury News on the failed Climate Security Act that she championed in the Senate. In it, she argues that last week’s vote was an important advancement. “[O]ur strong vote proves that we are moving in the right direction,” she […]

Former French prez launches foundation to preserve biodiversity

Former French President Jacques Chirac has launched a foundation aimed at preserving cultural and natural diversity that humans seem intent upon obliterating. The Chirac Foundation will provide funds to improve access to water and medicines in developing countries, fight deforestation and desertification, and preserve languages and cultures that are on the verge of dying out. […]

Good big-picture view of the emerging cleantech market

I found this video, from an NDN event called “Understanding the Cleantech Investment Opportunity,” intensely educational (warning: it’s over an hour long):