Articles by Eric de Place
Eric de Place is a senior researcher at Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based sustainability think tank.
All Articles
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Something’s wrong when our best option is burning an oil slick
Yesterday was a good day for an energy policy reality check. Because we are in a place where the environmentally responsible choice is lighting a giant oil slick on fire. And that really is the best option available to us right now. That’s how bad the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is. It is […]
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The way to carbon neutrality
My co-presenter at last weekend’s Carbon Neutrality Unconference, smart-guy Pete Erickson of Stockholm Environment Institute, used four slides that are worth sharing again. Taken together, they’re an excellent — if somewhat wonky way — to think about the basic structure of reducing emissions. 1. What are the cheapest reductions? (Click for larger version) This McKinsey […]
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A lesson from California’s bad ballot measure
California’s nascent cap-and-trade program appears to be threatened by a ballot measure that is both substantively idiotic and yet diabolically clever. Basically, the measure would suspend implementation until California’s unemployment rate declines to below 5.5 percent. Financial backing comes from oil companies and other big polluters. Shocking, I know. Anyway, it’s a stupid idea on […]
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Energy Independence Through Greater Addiction
According to President Obama, the only path to energy independence is greater addiction! Or something: Reversing a ban on oil drilling off most U.S. shores, President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced an expansive new policy that could put oil and natural gas platforms in waters along the southern Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico […]
