Tag Archives: Climate Change

Obama's energy "czarina"

From the transcript of a video interview with Carol Browner, proposed assistant to the president on energy and climate, the Washington Post on Thursday, January 15, 2009:

LR: What Bush initiatives do you have your eye on to roll back?

CB: Unfortunately, the list is rather long. . . . The Supreme Court ruled almost two years ago now that the EPA has some authorities to look at greenhouse gas emissions. . . . The current administration declined to do that.

and …

LR: How do you get the American people to change the way they do business?

CB: I don’t doubt that somebody will say, “Oh my gosh, they’re talking about we are never going to be able to drive our cars again.” We are not talking about not driving cars. We are talking about driving different cars . . . cleaner cars. We recognize that, for many Americans, cars are an important part of how they get to work. . . . It’s about figuring out ways to make our lives better. . . . It’s a win-win.

Watch the whole interview here.

From the New York Times on Wednesday, January 14, 2009:

Lisa P. Jackson, chosen to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said at her confirmation hearing Wednesday morning that her first task would be to restore scientific and legal integrity to an agency battered by charges of political interference and coziness with industry.

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

“If I am confirmed, political appointees will not compromise the integrity of E.P.A.’s technical experts to advance particular regulatory outcomes.” LISA P. JACKSON

But she evaded questions on whether as administrator of the E.P.A. she would immediately grant authority to California and 16 other states to regulate vehicle tailpipe emissions, promising only a speedy review of the issue. Nor did she directly answer questions on whether and how the agency would address regulation of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, an authority granted the E.P.A. by the Supreme Court in 2007.

Click here to read the whole article.

China and US in climate change 'suicide pact' — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

From The Hill, published in May, 2008, and retrieved on Monday, January 11, 2009:

Together, China and the United States produce 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their actions to curb or expand energy consumption will determine whether efforts to stop global climate change succeed or fail. If these two nations act to curb emissions, the rest of the world can more easily coalesce on a global plan. If either fails to act, the mitigation strategies adopted by the rest of the world will fall far short of averting disaster for large parts of the earth.

These two nations are now joined in what energy analyst Joe Romm has aptly called “a mutual suicide pact.” American leaders point to emissions growth in China and demand that Chinese leaders take responsibility for climate change. Chinese leaders counter that American per capita greenhouse gas emissions are five times theirs and say, “You created this problem, you do something about it.”

Click here to read the whole report.

Nominated Energy Secretary Chu at Senate confirmation hearing

From the Washington Post on Tuesday, January 121, 2009:

President-elect Barrack Obama’s nominee for Energy secretary, Steven Chu, walked a fine line today between his strong views on the need to combat climate change and the concern of some senators about Chu’s past criticism of coal use, endorsement of gasoline taxes and tepid embrace of a cap-and-trade system for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Chu, who appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was asked about a comment he once made that “coal is my worst nightmare.” Chu told the committee that “if the world continues to use coal the way it is using it today, not only in the United States but in Russia, India and China, it is a pretty bad dream.” But he added that he does not favor a moratorium on coal and said he would seek and fund research on technologies so that the United States could continue to tap its abundant coal reserves.

Click here to read the whole article.

USGBC offers Obama green building suggestions

From usgbc.org, retrieved on Wednesday, January 14, 2009:

In ongoing talks with the transition’s energy and environment team since November, the U.S. Green Building Council has advanced vital green building policy priorities that will simultaneously create millions of green-collar jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and advance proven opportunities to deliver greener, more energy-efficient buildings.

Already, the President-Elect issued a recent commitment to make the U.S. a global leader in green, energy-efficient government facilities, calling for an overhaul of 75% of federal buildings in an effort to save $2 billion through energy efficiency alone. On schools, the President-Elect has said repeatedly that green school funding will be another priority in the economic package.

Click here to read the whole update.

The big book of environmental writing

A book review from slate.com, retrieved on Tuesday, January 13, 2009:

Bill McKibben—who is himself one of the most literate and talented environmentalists working today—has captured the great sprawling contradictions of the environmentalist tradition by locking the great greens of the past two centuries of U.S. history together in the pages of American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. As I pored through the extracts of enviro-speeches, books, and letters, I could see them all massed together in the Library of America’s lobby. Henry David Thoreau, the mud from Walden Pond drying on his heels, smiles and offers Al Gore a huckleberry; Al Gore smiles back and offers him a BlackBerry. Theodore Roosevelt makes them jump by taking potshots at the endangered owl Edward Abbey has brought along. Paul Ehrlich announces with a shriek that there are too many people in the room and chases Rachel Carson out. Everyone begins to shout.

What unites this cacophony? What makes them all environmentalists? McKibben says they all focused on “the collision between people and the rest of the world”—and together they as Americans gave the world the genre of environmental writing. When Europeans and Asians were destroying their forests and burning away their lush ecosystems, nobody was writing books. But the deforestation hinted at in the ancient epics of the old continents was witnessed firsthand by some of America’s greatest writers. They smelled the smoke, and it stung their eyes.

Click here to read the whole review.

Obama would double alternative energy in three years

From the Washington Post on Friday, January 9, 2009:

President-elect Barack Obama said yesterday that he wanted to double the production of alternative energy over the next three years, a goal that will probably require a new set of government incentives for the capital-intensive solar and wind industries.

Six months ago, some of the biggest names in solar- and wind-project finance were firms such as Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, GE Capital, Wells Fargo and Municipal Mortgage & Equity. But many of those firms are mired in their own financial crises, and existing tax benefits for renewable energy projects are now unattractive to them. A technical aspect of the bank bailout has even made renewable tax incentives useless for some profitable banks.

Click here to read the whole story.

Sustainable Sites Initiative announces 2009 benchmarks

From www.sustainablesites.org, retrieved on Friday, January 9, 2009:

The Sustainable Sites Initaitive has announced its “2009 Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009: A compilation of current research, technology, and practices to provide technical guidance and performance benchmarks for sustainable land development and management practices.”

The program, begun in 2007,

“is an interdisciplinary partnership, led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden, working to foster a transformation in land development and management practices. Through the creation and implementation of clear and rigorous design, construction, operations, and maintenance criteria, the Initiative aims to supplement existing green building and landscape guidelines as well as to become a stand-alone tool for site sustainability.

The Initiative envisions that sustainable land practices will enable natural and built systems to work together to protect and enhance the ability of landscapes to provide services such as climate regulation, clean air and water, and improved quality of life. For purposes of the Initiative, sustainability is defined as land practices “that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Click here to read the whole report, “Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks, Draft 2008.”

Department of Energy report: 20% wind energy by 2030

From the U.S. Department of Energy website, posted 5/5/08, retrieved 1/5/09:

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report that examines the technical feasibility of using wind energy to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity demand by 2030. The report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply,” includes contributions from DOE and its national laboratories, the wind industry, electric utilities, and other groups. The report examines the costs, major impacts, and challenges associated with producing 20% wind energy or 300 GW of wind generating capacity by 2030.

The report’s conclusions include:

Reaching 20% wind energy will require enhanced transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems, and increased U.S. wind manufacturing capacity.

Achieving 20% wind energy will require the number of turbine installations to increase from approximately 2000 per year in 2006 to almost 7000 per year in 2017.

Integrating 20% wind energy into the grid can be done reliably for less than 0.5 cents per kWh.

Achieving 20 percent wind energy is not limited by the availability of raw materials.

Read the complete report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030, Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply” (PDF 9.1 MB).

Green ideas for Obama's first 100 days

From Yale Environment 360, retrieved on Friday, December 20, 2008:

Yale Environment 360 asked a wide-ranging group of environmental activists, scientists, and thinkers to answer the following question: If you were advising Barack Obama, what would you tell him are the most important environmental and energy initiatives that he should launch during his first 100 days?

Click here to read the whole article.