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  • From Solyndra circus to clean energy reform

    Steven Chu appears before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.Cross-posted from the Breakthrough Institute. Step right up to see the latest chapter in the ongoing political circus surrounding the bankruptcy of solar manufacturer and federal loan guarantee recipient Solyndra. Today’s main attraction: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s long-awaited appearance before the eager Republican members […]

    Jesse Jenkins Energy

  • Critical List: Carbon regulation starting; Chu to testify on Solyndra

    A plant in Texas has qualified for the first greenhouse-gas permit in the United States. Any new project that affects greenhouse-gas concentrations will need to have one in the future — though, unlike this one, the permits won’t usually come from the EPA. Texas has just refused to issue its own greenhouse permits. Because we […]

    Sarah Laskow Energy
  • coal train
    coal train

    Coal exports are a bigger threat than the tar-sands pipeline

    This post originally appeared on Sightline Daily. The planned Keystone XL oil pipeline has earned major national attention for the damage it would do to the climate. At the same time, another climate drama is playing out with much less attention as coal companies make plans to export huge quantities to Asia by way of […]

    Eric de Place Energy

  • Cap-and-trade program fuels economic growth in Northeast

    Cross-posted from Climate Progress. A new report finds that America’s first mandatory, market-based carbon cap-and-trade system added $1.6 billion in value to the economies of participating states, set the stage for $1.1 billion in ratepayer savings, and created 16,000 jobs in its first three years of implementation. Says Susan Tierney, managing principal at the Analysis […]

    Stephen Lacey Energy

  • The new fracking battleground: Trenton

    There's a new battlefront in the fracking fight: the Delaware River Basin, which provides water to 5 percent of the country's population. And anti-fracking dreamboat Mark Ruffalo is asking for help in fighting against fracking there. You don’t have to take Ruffalo’s word for it — you probably want to fight fracking anyway. When 350.org […]

    Sarah Laskow Energy

  • Bill McKibben talks Keystone XL on Colbert

    Stephen Colbert can't decide what Bill McKibben's car runs on — broken dreams or hypocrisy — but he's trying hard to get McKibben to abandon it in favor of the Keystone XL bandwagon. No such luck — McKibben sets him straight on how many net jobs the project would create, and how much damage it […]

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • Critical List: TransCanada says Keystone XL will be rerouted; Bloomberg evicts #OWS

    TransCanada officials announced last night that the company would re-route the Keystone XL pipeline away from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska. “I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route," an executive said in a statement. House Republicans are working on a bill that […]

    Sarah Laskow Energy

  • Clean energy has highest return rate of any federal program

    Cross-posted from Climate Progress. The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2001 that a handful of clean energy technologies returned about $30 billion on a research and development (R&D) investment of about $400 million. The United States is an amazing venture capitalist when it comes to clean energy R&D. But the all-Solyndra, all-the-time stenographers of […]

    Joseph Romm Energy

  • What the Keystone XL delay means for tar sands and the green movement

    The Obama administration announced late last week that the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline is going to be reassessed and possibly rerouted, delaying the final decision on its fate until after the election. The coalition that fought the pipeline — enviros, indigenous communities, Nebraska farmers, etc. — is, naturally, over the moon. (See Bill McKibben here […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Has government spending on energy research been a waste?

    Cross-posted from the Council on Foreign Relations. Steve Mufson had a piece in the Washington Post Outlook section this past weekend suggesting that the $172 billion that the U.S. government has spent on early stage energy research since 1961 has largely been a waste. (I say “suggesting” rather than “arguing” because Mufson doesn’t quite make […]

    Michael Levi Energy