Climate Climate & Energy

Sports continue to ‘go green’

It’s everyone’s favorite time: sports roundup time! And our sport-by-sport structure worked so well last time, perhaps we should try it again. Basketball: Three of the four teams in the NCAA Final Four — UCLA, North Carolina, and Memphis — are signatories to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Get with the program, […]

Global temps may drop this year but, alas, world still warming

Brace yourself for climate-change-denier delight, as the World Meteorological Organization is expecting global temperatures to drop this year thanks to a strong La Niña. But, of course, says WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, “When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year. You should look at trends over a pretty long […]

Time bashes grain ethanol

This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

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All that glitters is not gold. And all that grows is not green.

That is the belated realization about grain ethanol -- in fact, about any ethanol whose feedstock is grown on cropland. Joe Romm has done a good job posting on this issue, including his report on the recent studies featured in Science magazine. I'd like to weigh in with a few additional points.

File under: Sherlock, No sh*t

I give you clean coal: The study, “Relations between Health Indicators and Residential Proximity to Coal Mining in West Virginia,” found that in the 14 counties where the biggest coal mining operations are located residents reported higher rates of cardiopulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, and lung and kidney disease. In each of […]

So say Big Oil-friendly opponents of protecting them

You know, if you set aside the massive threats to their habitats posed by global warming and oil and gas development, polar bears are an "otherwise healthy" species.

That was the argument made Wednesday by William Horn, an attorney and former Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish and Wildlife in the Reagan administration, at a Capitol Hill hearing about the ongoing delay in whether to cover the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Horn's case was echoed by several Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

To listen to Horn, the 33-51 percent chance that the recently signed oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast would result in a major offshore oil spill is no big deal. And Horn clung to outdated projections that widespread Arctic Sea ice loss is 45 to 50 years away when, just four months ago, a NASA scientist predicted the Arctic Sea could be ice-free in the summer as soon as 2012.

We all know the threats to polar bears posed by rapid climate change. But what would happen in the case of a major oil spill?

Hydrogen-powered plane makes successful flight

A plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells made three successful test flights earlier this year, Boeing officials announced Thursday. The propeller-driven two-seater, carrying passengers, climbed to 3,300 feet on the power of lithium batteries, then cruised at 60 miles per hour for about 20 minutes powered solely by fuel cells. Sounds like they’ve got the […]

RPJr.’s latest achievement in getting huge news coverage for saying very little

I don’t want to get too far into the kerfuffle over the Nature commentary from Pielke Jr. et al. Just a few quick and I guess fairly cynical thoughts: • The trend toward "spontaneous" technology development and efficiency has been going on for centuries, only to pause during the last few years thanks to a […]

The solution: Output-based standards

This is the fifth and final post in a series on the details required to get carbon policy right. See also parts one, two, three, and four.

So far, I've done a lot of complaining -- which, in and of itself, is just, well ... whiny. Here, then, is a solution.

First, a very brief review:

1. A test of good carbon policy is whether it encourages the private sector to invest capital in projects that will reduce GHG emissions.
2. "Additionality" confuses carbon policy, by preferentially shifting investment toward less economic GHG-reduction technologies.
3. Carbon taxes provide sticks without carrots, and thereby provide no direct incentive to those who might otherwise use carbon pricing to invest in projects that lower GHG emissions.
4. Long-term carbon pricing is necessary to encourage private sector investment. Spots alone will not.
5. Although not covered in this series, it bears repeating that auctions trump allocation.

Unfortunately, virtually all of the GHG-reduction strategies currently in existence (e.g., Kyoto, RGGI) or being contemplated (e.g., Lieberman-Warner, California AB 32) fail one or more of the prior tests. Moreover, all those actual/proposed bills are really complicated, with many moving parts that are rife for gaming -- or, more charitably, significant legislative error. Here, then, is a better approach: output-based GHG regulation.

Notable quotable

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a lull in new [coal] plant development.” — Dynegy Chief Executive Officer and #5 Fossil Fool Bruce Williamson, commenting on the fact that “environmental opposition is making it more time-consuming to build coal-fueled plants.”

Texas forum on what’s new, April 10

For the interest of those who haven't given up entirely on biofuels, I humbly present the National Algae Association forum in Texas on April 10. This meeting will serve as an update on what's new in this promising branch of the nascent sustainable biofuel movement: biodiesel from cultured algae (outside of biodiesel from waste oil, that is).

This week's Renewable Energy World podcast had an interesting interview with the principal of one algae-fuel company, Solix Biofuels. Like all the companies, they have a whole array of challenges to figure out, from competitor algae to stress regimes that are optimal for producing oil. It's actually tough to grow algae -- who knew?