gas prices
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Is a 40-mile all-electric range too much?
I have an article in today’s Guardian online, “Is the Chevy Volt just hype?” I argue that the key to the near-term success for plug-ins in this country is government incentives and mandates, which in turn will critically depend on the outcome of the presidential election. But that should not be a surprise, since no […]
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Gas shortages plague the Southeast
Gas lines snake through parking lots, independent gas retailers ration supplies, and fights break-out at gasoline-starved filling stations across the Southeast … Gas shortages throughout the Southeast continue after several oil refineries in the Gulf Coast region were knocked off line after the double whammy of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Though two refineries have plans […]
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GM flack jumps into Huffington Post fray to defend exec’s climate-change skepticism
We posted last week about GM Vice Chair Bob Lutz expressing a little climate-change skepticism on The Colbert Report. Josh Nelson wrote about it as well over on Huffington Post, and thus began an online conversation with GM’s director of news relations, Tom Wilkinson, who defended both Lutz and the company’s environmental policies. “There is […]
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A weak economy brings a diminished appetite for curbs on carbon emissions
The Freakonomics blog offers up a long-ish but lucid discussion of the ongoing financial crisis. I recommend the whole thing, but in a nutshell: Financial institutions borrow money all the time to fund their investments. When the real estate bubble burst, a lot of those investments lost value rapidly, leaving banks such as Bear Stearns […]
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Touting the Volt, GM exec denies anthropogenic climate change
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was on the “Colbert Report” last night to talk about the new Chevy Volt, but a lot of the conversation ended up being about whether or not Lutz believes in anthropogenic climate change. Colbert, on the Volt: “This is tantamount to admitting that we have to do something about global […]
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The financial meltdown and other considerations for clean energy development
Tom asked earlier what the "anarchic" disintegration of Lehman Brother’s carbon trading desk — taking place within the broader disintegration of the entire company — means in the bigger picture. And the answer, most likely, is pretty much nothing. This is true for a variety of reasons, not least among them that Lehman Brothers was […]
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Obama campaign goes on the attack while McCain’s newest ad calls for more drilling
The Obama campaign is going on the attack today. It’s releasing a new ad, “Honor,” that strings together media quotes accusing John McCain of making false claims and running a sleazy campaign. And Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is hitting McCain with a speech — unambiguously titled “Bush 44” — that argues the Republican […]
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The oil market can’t save us from climate change
Oil prices have plunged by a third since June. What happened? Damned if I know. This is an extremely murky market. Information about supply is notoriously patchy. As for demand, people are writing dissertations about the mentality of mega-fund managers who plunge into securities like oil futures one day, only to bail en masse another. […]
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Bike-hatin’ DOT head Mary Peters warns of decline in gas-tax revenues
Mary Peters, President Bush’s Secretary of Transportation, is best known in green circles for blaming bike-riders and pedestrians for the decay of the nation’s roads and bridges. But green-transit-hating Peters seems to be singing a different tune, now that the Highway Trust Fund is threatened by a decrease in driving. Congress yesterday approved an $8 […]