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Kansas dirty-energy advocates make their play to allow coal plants

The fight over coal plants in Kansas has taken another turn. State legislators have introduced a new law that they say is "fair to both sides." That characterization could not be more comical. First of all, the bill was crafted in secret by four legislators who are members of the Kansas Electric Transmission Authority and […]

Hollywood writers strike a blow for the climate

Okay, you're annoyed you can't watch 24, or a full season of House or The Office -- and yes, The Daily Show is kind of lame these days. But on the bright side, as a U.K. Times headline notes:

Viewers turned off by Hollywood writers strike 'may never switch TV on again.'

Yet, as is so typical of the MSM, they completely missed the real story: the connection to global warming. Turning TVs off equals using less electricity equals emitting less carbon dioxide.

How much less?

Super Bowl to be powered by renewable energy

America’s obsession with large men in tight tights reaches its peak at Sunday’s Super Bowl in Arizona. And, as promised, organizers will equal last year’s efforts and do some greening: Enough renewable-energy credits will be purchased to power the stadium, the adjacent NFL theme park, and two nearby luxury hotels. The NFL will plant thousands […]

Blue Bottle generates more than just a caffeine buzz, but what does it mean?

In “Mad Flavor,” I describe exceptional culinary experiences from small artisan producers. Mad Flavor is currently reporting from the San Francisco Bay Area. Now these guys obsess over coffee. I say that with affection. For years, I home-roasted my own green beans. I once owned a vacuum pot, and used it lovingly until it shattered. […]

Schwarzenegger endorses McCain for president, cites green credentials

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Photo: AP/Ric Francis California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger officially endorsed fellow Republican John McCain today in the presidential race. The announcement, held at a solar-energy company in California, is expected to aid McCain’s campaign in the same way an earlier endorsement from green-leaning Florida Gov. Charlie […]

Cali gov Schwarzenegger endorses John McCain

So Schwarzenegger endorsed McCain today, citing his fight against wasteful spending, his "vision" for protecting the environment ("and the economy simultaneously"), and his national security credentials. Of course McCain’s battle against earmarks is entirely symbolic, given that they are a tiny sliver of federal spending. His "vision" on global warming amounts to an outdated and […]

Majora Carter

If this doesn’t get you in your gut, you’ve got serious problems:

California hopes to spur development of less-toxic chemicals

California officials are aiming to spur development of less-toxic chemicals as safer alternatives to widely used toxics and will today unveil their proposals to kick-start the “green chem” revolution. One idea that’s not included on the list of over 800 proposals is additional bans or restrictions on the use of toxic chemicals. Instead, ideas range […]

California and New Jersey have high numbers of PV installations

The following essay is a guest post by Earl Killian.

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Cooler Planet looked at the solar photovoltaic (PV) installation data from the California Energy Commission and made it visual to show just how it is growing. A static view of their data is at the right, but go to the site and move the slider to see the growth from only 1,675 grid-connected photovoltaic installations in 2002 to 29,628 installations in 2008. According to SolarBuzz:

In 2006, 112 megawatts of solar photovoltaics were installed in the US Grid Connect market, up from 80 megawatts in 2005. Demand was led once again by California, which accounted for 63% of the national market. Notwithstanding funding program bottlenecks, New Jersey saw very strong growth in 2006, representing 17% of the national market.

Why would California and New Jersey, with only 12 percent and 2.9 percent of U.S. population respectively, account for such a large fraction of PV installations? Perhaps incentive programs (most recently the California Solar Initiative and the New Jersey Clean Energy Rebate Program) and other policies are working.

Internationally, Germany (8.8 x U.S. in 2006 MW installed) and Japan (2.6 x U.S.) (PDF) are the leaders in PV installations, with California a "distant third" (PDF) according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Most places where PV is economic have some combination of the following (but usually not all):

Grandfathering is Robin Hood’s evil twin

Climate change is regressive. Its effects punish the least fortunate the most -- those who've contributed little to and gained little from polluting economies. But the solutions to climate change can be progressive. Done right, they can share fairly the burdens and opportunities of preventing climate disruption.

I said "can."

If poorly designed, climate policy can also be viciously regressive -- a vacuum cleaner sucking up working families' earning. That's why it's so important to get climate policy right. It's the single most important economic fairness issue facing us right now: more important than reforming payday lending, more important even than reforming health insurance. It's what every advocate for economic opportunity should be losing sleep over -- and jumping to action to help shape the solution.

The most needed measure for minimizing climate disruption is a firm cap on emissions of greenhouse gases and a mechanism for putting a price on those emissions. In short, climate pricing. We need to make prices tell the truth about the climate.