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Climate change could put millions out of work, says U.N.

Not only is climate change not a hoax manufactured by dirty hippies who hope to put every American out of a job, global warming is real enough to, um, put millions of people out of jobs, United Nations officials said yesterday. At a meeting of the International Labor Organization, the heads of the U.N. climate […]

Interview with smart grid expert Steve Pullins, part two

For nearly 30 years, Steve Pullins has worked in and around the utility industry, in capacities ranging from systems engineering to project development to high-level consulting. He currently works at SAIC, where he heads the Modern Grid Initiative for the National Energy Technology Laboratory. I spoke with him at the Discover Brilliant conference in Sep. […]

NRDC says it supports ASCA

Forgive the intermittent posting. The live feed is coming and going a bit. It came back in just in time for me to hear David Hawkins say on behalf of the NRDC -- though not on behalf of USCAP -- that the bill's "emissions reductions in the early years are strong. Toward the end ... we'll need emissions reductions to be stronger than they are." But, he went on, it "merits an affirmative vote."

Prepared statements of those testifying before the committee

Prepared statements, now available:

• Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Ca), Chairman, Committee on the Environment and Public Works
• David Hawkins, Director, Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Dr. David Greene, Corporate Fellow, Geography and Environmental Engineering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Robert Baugh, Executive Director, Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO
• Andrew Sharkey, President and CEO, American Iron and Steel Institute
• Donald R. Rowlett, Director of Regulatory Policy and Compliance, OGE Energy Corp.

Cardin wants more money for public transit

Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) says he can support the bill if it provides more funds for public transportation, including at the state level.

He said this in the context of a response to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who wants the bill changed to a sector-by-sector (as opposed to economy-wide) cap-and-trade system. Cardin suggested that Senators shouldn't be demanding extraordinary changes to the legislation and threatening to withhold support unless their demands are met.

My guess? Cardin's suggestion is futile.

Tom Carper requests improvements in ASCA

Tom Carper (D-Del.) has said he will be able to support the legislation if it:

• includes provisions to mitigate pollutants like nitrogen oxide and mercury found most widely in the northeastern United States;
• moves to a more just allocation system -- one that devotes more credits to cleaner energy sources;
• contains no built-in punishment of early actors, companies that have already begun mitigating their emissions.

Not the most ambitious of demands, but there they are.

New tool helps groups assess large retail proposals

Big-box stores have significant impacts on a community's economy, environment, and character. The Big Box Evaluator (created by the Orton Family Foundation, which offers numerous programs that aid good land-use planning) is a new online tool designed to help citizens, activists, and municipal officials get the basics on these impacts in an unbiased manner.

It's interactive, and lets you plug in variables like tax rates, community demographics, size of a hypothetical big-box proposal, and much more. The outcome is a well-rounded assessment of probable impacts, the good as well as the bad, which will help its users ask important questions when proposals like this come to town.

Target asks USDA to let it label meat treated with carbon monoxide

Under pressure from Democrats in Congress, Target Corp. has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let it attach warning labels to meat it sells that has been treated with carbon monoxide to make it appear fresher than it is. The proposed label reads: “CONSUMER NOTICE: Carbon monoxide has been used to preserve the color […]

Al Gore joins big-name venture-capital firm, will focus on green investment

Former vice president Al Gore has joined a notable venture-capital firm that’s aiming to step up investment in green businesses. In his role as a partner at California-based firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Gore will investigate the potential growth of alternative-energy start-up companies and counsel the firm on related greenish investments. No stranger to […]

The cost of the FutureGen ‘clean coal’ plant doubles

This from Greenwire today ($ub req'd): "The DOE FutureGen program has announced that their "clean coal" plus carbon sequestration is checking in at $1.8 billion for a 275 MW plant, or $6500/kW."

OK, so it's at an early stage, but even if you cut that cost in half, it still doesn't pencil out. How long before we get over the illusion that coal is cheap?

Story below the fold. (Note that I have given them the benefit of the doubt that their description of the plant as a "275 watt" facility was a typographical error.)