Climate Climate & Energy
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Europe, pioneering ways to fubar a carbon trading system
For the first years of the European Union’s cap-and-trade program (the EU ETS, for acronym lovers), permits were given away to polluters for free. Not only were they given away, but they were wildly overallocated based on inflated baseline numbers, meaning that the early years of the program produced far less in the way of […]
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Big drop in U.S. electricity consumption confounds utilities
Big drops in electricity consumption across a range of U.S. markets have utilities sweating, scratching their heads, and rethinking their business plans. U.S. electricity consumption, especially household consumption, has typically grown by some 1 to 2 percent a year, but in markets from Colorado to Minnesota, household energy use has dropped anywhere from 3 to […]
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NOAA: Second warmest October on record
NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reports: Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for October and ninth warmest on record for the January-October year-to-date period. Given that this report is just out, I’m assuming they have sorted out the data entry issues that […]
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Shell Oil can’t drill in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, says appeals court
Shell Oil’s plans to drill in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea have been shot down by a federal appeals court. The Minerals Management Service failed to take a “hard look” at the impact of drilling on whales and subsistence hunters, the court ruled, and there remain “substantial questions as to whether [the plan] may cause significant harm […]
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Cash from U.K. carbon auction may not go toward fixing climate
The United Kingdom held the E.U.’s first carbon-permit auction this week, raising some $80 million — but has angered environmentalists by socking away the funds into general coffers instead of promising to put the money toward tackling climate change.
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Climate activists take heart from Obama’s remarks
It was snowing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning as hundreds gathered to ask for action — the kind of omen that those of us who obsess about global warming look for. Maybe the incoming Obama administration really is ushering in a new climate to our nation’s capital! The president-elect certainly sent a strong […]
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Not 2030 as originally reported
The first rule of journalism: Do not talk about journalism. No, that isn’t it. The first rule of journalism is “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” which is to say never rely on any non-primary sources, especially other journalists. So this recent post, “Ahnold going to pump it up: Schwarzenegger mandates […]
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Placing coal reserves into trust status would be a nice gift to our kids’ future
A generation before David Brower started raising hell at the Sierra Club, a similarly militant scientist named Victor Ernest Shelford organized the Ecological Society of America, becoming its first president in 1916. Shelford stepped down from that position when the Ecological Society of America shied away from taking controversial stands. With a small group of […]
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The X-Prize and the dream of a losing presidential candidate
John McCain might have lost the presidency, but he still has a shot at achieving his battery dream. The X-Prize Crazy-Green-Idea contest has three finalists, and one of them stars a magic battery. Check them out and vote here.
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Governors’ Summit videos
Just FYI, the sessions at the Governors’ Climate Summit Kate and I are attending are all being recorded and are available online. One thing I’ve learned so far: No matter how important carbon measurement and tracking and inventories are, they cannot be rendered interesting on a panel. Kudos for the effort, though!
