Can the international trade system be a catalyst for reforming fossil fuel subsidies (FFSs) to help relieve the burden on the public purse, reduce local and global air pollution, improve energy security and tackle climate change? … [Read more...]
How Sea Ice Can Still Be Thick in Places in a Warming Arctic
A June 12 Winnipeg Free Press story titled “U of M climate change study postponed due to climate change” describes a climate study delayed by unusual sea ice conditions around Newfoundland that necessitated the reassignment of an icebreaker vessel. (Similar stories were run by CBC News, The Guardian, and others.) … [Read more...]
Global Warming: Drawdown, or Not?
A recent book and associated website discusses the steps necessary to address and even reverse the current warming of the climate system. The project, known as Drawdown, maps, measures, models, and describes the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming. For each solution, the Drawdown team describe its history, the carbon impact it provides, the relative cost and savings, the path to adoption, and how it works. … [Read more...]
China-California Pacts Show How States And Nations Can Win On Climate Under Trump
The Paris Agreement is an overwhelming global consensus to fight climate change—with only Syria and Nicaragua failing to sign on—but Donald Trump’s announcement he intends to withdraw America from the accord threatens climate action. … [Read more...]
When Trump’s Agencies Undermine Small Businesses Supporting Responsible Energy
Every physician would tell you that regular check-ups are important for your health, to catch problems before they become big issues, and to let you know that everything is in working order. Regular check-ups are also important for the oil and natural gas industry, whose leading actors benefit from periodic site inspections for natural gas leaks, which let product go to waste and pollute the air our families breathe. … [Read more...]
PURPA Reign: Michigan Could Grow Solar Market with New Avoided Cost Methodology
Recently, the Michigan Public Service Commission (“MPSC”) approved a final order to the approach the Consumers Energy Company (“Consumers Energy”) determines the avoided cost under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”). Consumers Energy is a public utility providing power to 6.7 million of the Michigan’s 11 million residents. … [Read more...]
When Politicians Cherry-Pick Data and Disregard Facts, What Should Academics Do?
When politicians distort science, academics and scientists tend to watch in shock from the sidelines rather than speak out. But in an age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” we need to step into the breach and inject scientific literacy into the political discourse. Nowhere is this obligation more vivid than the debate over climate change. … [Read more...]
How Effective are U.S. and G7 Energy Security and Carbon Emissions Policies?
Following the announcement to withdraw the U.S. from the ‘Paris Climate Agreement’, major European and Asian countries have been very critical of President Trump’s decision. While such a U.S. action is clearly legal and allowed under the Paris accord, it appears possibly inconsistent with other G7 Countries’ agreements such as the ‘Rome G7 Energy Initiative for Energy Security’. … [Read more...]
A Chance to Change Some Dubious Climate Accounting
The UK should change the way it accounts for emissions under its legally binding carbon budgets, whether or not it remains part of the EUETS. An apparently technical question about the UK’s accounting for its carbon budgets raises broader questions about alignment of targets and policy instruments. … [Read more...]
Interview with Bio-Energy Expert André Faaij: “So Much Nonsense Has Been Told, High Time for the Real Story”
“An enormous amount of nonsense” has been told about bio-energy, says André Faaij, scientific director of Energy Academy Europe and professor Energy Systems Analysis at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. According to Faaij, it is high time for the real – scientifically validated – story. … [Read more...]
Two Fundamental EPA Climate Programs Survive EPA Cuts, But Budget Still Required to Track and Mitigate U.S. Emissions
The federal administration’s proposed budget cuts to the EPA are devastating. Nearly all climate-related programs are proposed to be cut or greatly reduced, including the popular ENERGY STAR program. Yet two critical climate EPA programs have maintained partial funding in the current proposal – the Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) and Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). … [Read more...]
Renewable Energy Presents No Threat to Grid, Despite Trump Aides Claim
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan famously removed solar panels from the White House roof, capping a misguided energy policy that severely slashed investment in renewable energy. Thirty-one years later, President Trump has committed a more consequential mistake by rejecting the Paris climate accord. … [Read more...]
Spent Fuel Pools Protect The Public. Don’t Believe Skeptics
A two-page Policy Forum opinion piece titled Nuclear safety regulation in the post-Fukushima era: Flawed analyses underlie lax U.S. regulation of spent fuel by Edwin Lyman, Michael Schoeppner and Frank von Hippel appeared in the May 26, 2017 issue of Science Magazine, an outlet that has a public reputation as a reliable source of technical information. … [Read more...]
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