Climate Climate & Energy

A simple regulatory fix to the coming power crisis

Our electric regulatory model is broken. It preferentially deploys expensive power sources before cheap ones. It compares the variable costs of dirty fuels to the all-in costs of clean fuels and deludes itself into thinking that the dirty, expensive power is economically advantaged. It places the interests of utility shareholders above the interests of other potential investors in our power grid, massively skewing capital allocation, even while it insulates utility investors from the disciplines imposed by a competitive market.

These problems arise fundamentally from the over-regulation of our electric sector, which has created stable utilities, but virtually no opportunities for the kind of economic "upside" necessary to attract entrepreneurs into the sector. This ought to be good news; after all, we Americans are really good at taking risks, deploying our prodigious entrepreneurial talents and making big financial bets. The problems we face all play to our strengths. Unfortunately, any positive change to our system is by definition deregulatory -- a word that has been politically poisoned by the botched restructuring (don't call it dereg!) in California and Enron's machinations. As factually irrelevant as those bogeymen may be to any discussion of deregulation, they present formidable political obstacles to reform -- and only the most quixotic windmill-tilter chases reforms that are politically untenable to both sides of the aisle.

Houston, we have a solution.

Netroots Nation: David talks about energy and the economy

Who’s that grizzled chap in the plaid? It’s our own David Roberts, on a panel earlier today titled “Debunking the Issue Silo Myth: Why the Broader Progressive Movement is Green,” at Netroots Nation. His part is about 14 minutes into it:

Physicists reaffirm that human-induced GHGs affect the atmosphere

It goes something like this:

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

Of course that's not true. Today a statement appeared on the APS website saying:

APS Position Remains Unchanged

The American Physical Society reaffirms the following position on climate change, adopted by its governing body, the APS Council, on November 18, 2007:

"Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate."

An article at odds with this statement recently appeared in an online newsletter of the APS Forum on Physics and Society, one of 39 units of APS. The header of this newsletter carries the statement that "Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of the Forum." This newsletter is not a journal of the APS and it is not peer reviewed.

For a list of societies that have endorsed the mainstream position on climate change, see this post.

New white paper provides more details on output-based standards

For those of a policy-wonk bent. For those who simply loved my earlier post on output-based standards for greenhouse gas control and have been thirsting ever since for more details (I know you're out there!). For those who wait eagerly at their mailbox waiting for the current issues of electricity policy magazines to arrive ...

Yea, verily, I bring you this [PDF].

A white paper just published in The Electricity Journal, providing much more detail than was appropriate for a blog post on the concept of output-based CO2 standards, and hopefully clarifying some of the details.

Antarctic icebergs scraping seafloor bare more often due to climate change

The warming Antarctic is changing life on the seafloor as well as above as icebergs freed from surrounding sea ice earlier than in previous years can pummel bottom-dwelling creatures for much of the year, according to a new study. “Our results suggest that as the winter sea-ice season shortens, the thousands of icebergs that float […]

Climate change and the null hypothesis

An excellent post by my colleague John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State climatologist, can be found here. An excerpt:

Ugandan coffee endangered by climate change

Uganda’s coffee industry could be basically kaput in 30 years, according to a new Oxfam report. Uganda is Africa’s second-largest coffee exporter after Ethiopia, but the report direly predicts that if “average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee.” In the […]

Watch the video of Gore’s speech today

If the summary and full text of Gore's speech have left you wanting more, here's the vid:

Ugly babies

“Ethanol is an ugly baby, but it’s our baby. I’m not against any fuel unless it’s foreign.” — oil billionaire and energy independence evangelist T. Boone Pickens

Gore calls for carbon tax, 100 percent renewable electricity by 2018

[Editor's note: The headline was mistakenly published to read "energy" in place of "electricity." The fault lies with the Grist editorial staff instead of with Joseph Romm. Our apologies to Joe.]

July 17, 2008
A Generational Challenge to Repower America (as prepared)
D.A.R. Constitution Hall
Washington, D.C.

Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more -- if more should be required -- the future of human civilization is at stake.

I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse -- much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.