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Everything You Need To Know About Where Obama And Romney Stand On Energy Policy by Daniel J. Weiss and Jackie Weidman, grist.org | October 1, 2012
The United States is in the midst of significant changes in our energy outlook. We are producing and burning more natural gas for electricity, while reducing coal use. Domestic oil production is at a 15-year high while oil imports are at a 15-year low. Renewable electricity doubled over the past four years, while worldwide carbon pollution and the impacts of climate change grow. The next president will face these and other serious challenges posed by a changing energy world. President Barack Obama’s first term featured the adoption of essential toxic and carbon pollution reduction measures to protect public health. In addition, he modernized fuel-economy standards for the first time in two decades, which also helped the auto industry; invested in energy efficiency and renewable electricity; and created tens of thousands of jobs. Gov. Mitt Romney’s energy agenda couldn’t be more different. read more »Carpe Climate: House Dems Seize Extreme Summer To Attack GOP by Tim McDonnell, grist.org | September 27, 2012
In these first days of autumn, temperatures are finally starting to break after the country’s third-hottest summer on record. But meanwhile, most of the country is still locked in terrible drought, rebuilding after wildfires, or drying out after Hurricane Issac. And after endless calls from scientists and signs that the public is shifting on climate change in response to extreme weather, climate-minded Democrats are seeing an opportunity to lampoon House Republicans as climate skeptics in the runup to November’s general election. Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the legislators behind Congress’ first (and failed) big stab at carbon pricing legislation, yesterday released a study that lays out the case for why global warming is a predictor of more severe and frequent weather disasters. read more »EPA Rules Create $5 Of Good For Each $1 They Cost by Philip Bump, grist.org | September 26, 2012
The “war on coal” argument, like the argument from fossil fuel companies, is that the president’s policies on energy development hurt the economy, that the effort to reduce pollution from fossil fuels costs jobs. The argument is much more commonly made during debate on the House floor and at campaign rallies than it is by economists — for good reason. It doesn’t hold up. read more »Can Climate Change Swing The Election? by Andrew Leonard, salon.com | September 25, 2012
Summer is over, but temperatures are still rising, and at least some voters still seem to care. On Monday, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication released the results of a survey suggesting that undecided voters “say that the presidential candidates’ positions on global warming will be one of several important factors determining how they cast their votes on November 6.” Therefore: “candidates may wish to communicate and clarify their position on climate change as election day approaches.” The catch: Large majorities of undecided voters, according to the Yale Project, believe that global warming is happening and that humans are causing it. But the vast majority of voters who have already decided to cast their ballot for Mitt Romney think otherwise. So there you go, the strong, if unstated, implication of the Yale report: To make inroads with the remaining undecideds, Obama should ramp up his climate change rhetoric! It could seal the deal! read more »Yikes: Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Is Still Possible, But Just Barely by David Roberts, grist.org | September 18, 2012
The most extreme climate “alarmists” in U.S. politics are not nearly alarmed enough. The chances of avoiding catastrophic global temperature rise are not nil, exactly, but they are slim-to-nil, according to a new analysis prepared for the U.K. government. Remember, climate change is simple. We’re trying to avoid temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, because anything over that risks severe, irreversible, and overwhelmingly negative impacts. Currently we’re around 0.8 degrees above historical levels. If current trends continue, we could hit up to 6 degrees by 2100. That would likely exceed our ability to adapt, which is a polite way of saying it would lead to massive human die-off. That, in a nutshell, is (as I like to say) the brutal logic of climate change. How much can we feasibly limit temperature rise at this late date? A new research paper tries to answer that question. read more »Progressive Breakfast by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | September 14, 2012
On the menu this morning MORNING MESSAGE: So Who Is It That Cares About The Deficit Anyway? Fed's Economic Booster Shot The Middle-Class Struggle For Survival Chicago Teacher Strike Update Breakfast Sides read more »House Considers 'No More Competing With Oil Companies Act' by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | September 13, 2012
Republicans in the House have introduced a bill called the "No More Solyndras Act." It may as well be named the "No More Competing With Oil Companies Act" or the "Hand Our Economy To China Act." read more »A Worldwide Corporate Power Grab of Enormous Proportions by Laurel Sutherlin, understory.ran.org | September 12, 2012
As international trade negotiators gathered this week at a posh golf resort in rural Virginia to hammer out details of the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), they sought to project an image of inclusion and receptivity to public input. In reality, this high-stakes global corporate pact, now in its 14th round of discussions, is heavily guarded by paramilitary teams with machine guns and helicopters as it is developed behind closed doors under a dangerous and unprecedented veil of secrecy. What the hell is the TPP, you may ask? While it is among the largest and potentially most important ‘free trade’ agreements the world has ever seen, one can hardly be blamed for not being familiar with it yet. The corporate cabal behind it, including names like Cargill, Pfizer, Nike and WalMart, has done an exceptional job of maintaining an almost total lack of transparency as they literally design the future we will all inhabit. read more »Progressive Breakfast by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | September 12, 2012
MORNING MESSAGE: When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice" read more »TV Forecasters: Please Connect Climate and Extreme Weather by Steve Valk, thinkprogress.org | September 11, 2012
This summer, as the melting Arctic turned into an hourglass marking the time we have left to address climate change, it became obvious we have reached that “Pearl Harbor moment” on global warming. Actually, it’s been more of a “Pearl Harbor year” — unusually warm winter, destructive wildfires out West, corn-killing drought in the Midwest, record-breaking high temperatures, flooding from Hurricane Isaac. But even if we’re having a Pearl Harbor year with extreme weather, it will have little impact on national policy if most people don’t know where the bombs are coming from. In order for Congress to declare war on greenhouse gases, constituents will need to be keenly aware of the role climate change is playing in these disasters and demand that their legislators apply the brakes on global warming. So, who’s going to connect the dots for everyone? read more »
The Latest
Dumping Solar: Study Sheds Light on US-China Solar PV Trade Flows, cleantechnica.com | February 14, 2012
Mitsubishi Unveils Solar-Powered Vehicle Charging Station, cleantechnica.com | July 26, 2011
The reality of a standalone fueling station along the highway, not dependent on an energy supply chain reaching over the world into the bowels of a Saudi oilfield is almost here. more »Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium, telegraph.co.uk | June 22, 2011
US technological lead abandoned in the sixties because it didn't produce enough plutonium for nuclear bombs.
A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium. more »
Solar Powered Wheelchair Sets World Records, alternative-energy-news.info | January 26, 2011
In a sometimes cynical world there is something just so inspiring about the journey Haidar Taleb, a 47 year old man from UAE, m more »Huge Solar-Plant Project Approved, The Wall Street Journal | October 26, 2010
A proposal to build the world's biggest solar-thermal power plant in the Southern California desert got the go-ahead Monday from the Obama administration, which used the announcement to bolster its message that renewable energy creates jobs. more »
Climate Regulations Coming for Trucks, Buses, Politico | October 22, 2010
China Plans to Reduce Its Exports of Minerals , The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Time Right to Resume Deepwater Drilling, CNN | October 19, 2010
Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar lifted the moratorium on deepwater drilling almost two months before it was set to expire. It was the right decision at the right time, because developments over the last three months, including new rules and regulations, will make deepwater drilling far safer than it was before.
Governors Races: Losing The Western Climate Initiative, wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | October 19, 2010
The Western Climate Initiative — a regional cap-and-trade compact between California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana and four Canadian provinces — was established in 2007 and scheduled to go into effect in 2012. There are governors’ races in all the states except Montana and Washington. more »
In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy, The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Residents of this deeply conservative city do not put much stock in scientific predictions of climate change. “Don’t mention global warming,” warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. “And don’t mention Al Gore. more »
