Climate Climate & Energy
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Dam it all
TucuruÃ, Brazil's second largest dam has many times the GHG emissions of a natural gas plant of the same capacity -- though there is fierce argument over whether that output substantially exceeds what a natural watercourse would produce. (The emissions are due to methane from trapped organic matter in the dam.)
There is now a proposal to tap that methane to run gas turbines and produce electricity, reducing the emissions many times, since CO2 from burning the methane has a much lower impact than the methane itself. It would also close to double the electrical output from the dam. This seems very close to an acknowledgment that critics of methane from dams are correct. Outside of estuaries, I don't know many natural water courses that might be tapped in such a way. I have to admit that it is an ingenious solution to the problems of dams as methane sources.
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Find ITT on eBay
Ecuador offers to keep oil in the ground for compensation Ecuador offered to play “Let’s Make a Deal” this week, suggesting that it could afford to keep a pristine area from oil drilling if developed nations and green groups ponied up some cold, hard cash. “We are willing to do this sacrifice, but not for […]
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Wisdom from the heart of coal country
It's not news when I criticize Congress's proposals to subsidize coal-to-liquids (CTL). After all, my focus is avoiding serious global warming, which CTL would only make more likely.
But when two newspapers from traditional coal regions say "no" to CTL, that is a man-bites-dog story.
The Kentucky Herald-Leader has a great headline:
Liquid coal a new version of snake oil: Don't subsidize energy plans that would worsen global warming.
The Roanoke Times of the coal-region of Southwestern Virginia has an equally strong headline:
Billion-dollar boondoggle: Coal-to-liquid technology is expensive, harmful to the environment and inefficient. The federal government should take no part in subsidizing it.
Wisdom in the media on these issues is rare. Kudos to both papers for putting the long-term national interest above short-term local interests.
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Carbon tax v. cap and trade — the hottest arguments since McCartney v. Lennon
The argument over the best climate change mitigation policy is gathering steam. Busting out all over. Topping the charts. All the kids are dancing to it. Before getting to the latest, though, it’s worth making a simple point: either cap-and-trade or a carbon tax could reduce GHG emissions if properly designed and implemented; either could […]
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The Whine of the Motor
Big Auto pleads for smaller gains in fuel efficiency The heads of Ford, GM, and Chrysler returned to Washington, D.C., yesterday to try to convince Congress not to hike fuel economy standards. Next week, the Senate will consider a proposal to raise average fleet-wide mileage to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 from the current […]
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We’re Sorry, Angela
G8 participants report climate-agreement highs and lows We can’t possibly do justice to the intricacies of this week’s G8 summit in this space. So brace for some injustice: German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the G8 to agree to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. U.S. President George Bush doesn’t dig that […]
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Geek bleg
Not to out myself as a total geek (or has that boat sailed?), but I’d really love to read this report: "Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy, and What It Means To You." My geekdom has limits, though, and I’m not about to pay for it. Any chance a Gristmill reader has a […]
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(Or take the bus)
From Wired: How much are you paying for gas? Depends on where in the world you’re parked. In oil-producing nations like Venezuela and Iran, you can fill up for as little as 17 cents a gallon. But in tax-happy Germany and South Korea, you’ll pay more than six bucks. So even when prices hit near-record […]
