Climate Politics

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  • Confused Chris Christie embraces climate science, rejects climate action

    New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: The threat is real, and we should do less to fight it.Photo: Chuck WalkerThis post was cowritten by Stephen Lacey. Christie: “In the past I’ve always said that climate change is real and it’s impacting our state. There’s undeniable data that CO2 levels and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • State by state, appliance standards save money, create jobs, and protect the environment

    This post was written by Rachel Gold, policy analyst for research at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and a contributing author at the ACEEE blog. Since the 1980s, energy-efficiency appliance standards have been saving consumers money and creating jobs throughout the U.S. These standards translate into savings when new, energy-efficient equipment is purchased, […]

    A.C.E.E.E. Energy

  • Tim Pawlenty is not interested in winning Iowa

    Here’s a great way to start your campaign in Iowa: Tell them you want to phase out ethanol subsidies. Classic Tim Pawlenty! Does he even want to be president? Grist is no fan of corn ethanol, mind you — if you have a spare moment you should get Tom or Dave started, it’s super entertaining. […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Climate policy for conservatives

    Ideally, both sides will agree that this is a bad situation.Suppose you believe, as I do, in basic conservative principles (free enterprise and a market economy, limited government, and minimal change in established institutions that work well), but also acknowledge that anthropogenic climate change presents a sufficient danger that something needs to be done about […]

    Stephen DeCanio Politics

  • Why the environmental justice lawsuit against California’s climate law is misguided

    Environmental justice is a noble cause, but the lawsuit against AB 32 is misguided.On May 20, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith ruled that the California Air Resources Board had not adequately explained its choice of a market-based mechanism — a cap-and-trade system — to achieve approximately 20 percent of targeted emissions reductions by […]

    Robert Stavins Politics

  • New, ‘hidden’ source of renewable energy fights for tax breaks

    Waste heat: It's everywhere, and we're wasting it. (Hence the name.) Giant industrial processes throw off enormous amounts of the stuff, all of it not quite hot enough to be usable in conventional power generation. That's where the waste heat industry comes in. Using liquids that boil at temperatures significantly lower than water, they've created […]

    Christopher Mims Energy

  • Denmark’s government throws down the gauntlet: 100 percent renewables by 2050

    Lots of people talk about the possibility of getting to 100 percent renewables by such and such a date — if every one of these reports came true, we'd be exporting surplus wind power to the asteroid belt by now. But few countries are actually doing it. Denmark is one. And Denmark would like you […]

    Christopher Mims Energy

  • Jon Stewart caused global warming

    The Daily Show – Lisa P. Jackson Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook   EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson was on the Daily Show last night, where she promised she would not regulate Jon Stewart's breathing, even though he admitted that he emits carbon dioxide. UPDATE: EVIDENTLY I […]

    Jess Zimmerman Politics

  • Dem Disease claims another victim

    Beware Dem Disease.Joseph Aldy worked for a while as a top energy aide in Obama’s White House. Apparently, while he was there he caught Dem Disease. Dem Disease is an affliction that causes sufferers to prioritize being viewed as reasonable over securing reasonable policy. The primary symptom is a Tourette’s-like inability to keep from revealing […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Cash incentives for renewables are twice as effective as tax credits

    This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Using the tax code rather than cash incentives to support wind and solar power costs ratepayers significantly more. I wrote about this problem last year because project developers were selling their federal tax credits to third […]

    John Farrell Energy