Articles by Adam Browning

Holmes Hummel on climate policy design

Holmes Hummel is a "Lecturer and Policy Specialist at the UC-Berkeley Energy Resources Group, and previously served as a Congressional Science Fellow focused on energy and climate policy development." That's from her bio. What's not on her bio is the fact that she's smarter than you and 10 of your smartest friends, combined.

She's put together a PowerPoint slideshow and taped a lecture titled, "U.S. Energy and Climate Policy on the Road Ahead," and it's worth your while to give it a read/listen. Find it under the "Recent Posts" section, here.

Combine a carbon standard with a renewable portfolio standard

J Wayne Leonard, CEO of the energy company Entergy, has an op-ed in the New York Times arguing for a carbon cap-and-trade program and against a renewable portfolio standard. What's his beef with an RPS? The problem, according to Leonard, is that an RPS would force his company to invest in renewable energy (!), while a cap-and-trade program would not. Clean coal uber alles!

This, I think, is why some people are suspicious of corporate climate kumbayas like USCAP. There's a sense that perhaps some of the companies are signing on not because they think cap-and-trade will force them to fundamentally change the way they do business, but because they are pretty sure it won't.

Fortunately, we don't have to put all our eggs in the clean-coal basket. We don't have to choose between a carbon standard and a RPS. Leonard's article is Exhibit A for why we need both.

Green Corps

I once bought Nancy Skinner (then executive director of the Climate Group, now my state assemblywoman) a coffee in exchange for hiring advice. Her latte's worth of wisdom: Don't stop interviewing until you find a campaigner -- someone who knows how to rally people behind an idea and make change happen.

If you want to be that kind of person, I can think of no better path than to join Green Corps. Some of the best campaigners I know came out of their training program -- Vote Solar's Claudia Eyzaguirre and Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment California immediately come to mind. Their alumni parties are like the who's who of the progressive movement. Applications are due soon, so get on it ...

Who's killing the plug-in hybrid?

This East Bay Express story is a must-read article. The same folks who decided the hydrogen highway was the road to the future now very well might kill the plug-in hybrid conversion industry.

I'd say we should send them a copy of Who Killed the Electric Car?, but chances are they only have Betamax.