America's LargestCurrently browsing:Environmental Policy
US and China to Collaborate on Green Energy Research and Develoment
This morning, the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China, announced plans for a joint Clean Energy Research Center, according to the AP. Operations are set to begin by the end of 2009.
The US Department of Energy says the Center “would facilitate joint research and development on clean energy by teams [...]
Climate Change Coalition Waffles on Support for Emissions Bill
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that climate change legislation now working its way through Congress in the form of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is encountering increased resistance from industry as changes are made to the bill. Some of the objections are coming from prominent members of The U.S. Climate [...]
Read More »Under Pending Climate Bill, Handful of States Could be Biggest Winners
As the debate over the pending climate and energy bill heats up, one criticism of the legislation that has been levied extensively by Republicans and politicians from Southern and Western states is that the bill will transfer wealth from rural areas to more urban areas, or from the heartland to the coasts. For example, Michele [...]
Read More »Heating Oil Users Would Pay Heavily Under Cap-and-Trade Law; Biofuels Could be the Solution
The Hartford Courant reported today that Connecticut, where more than half of all households use heating oil to keep warm, could bear the brunt of a broad climate change bill just approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Waxman Markey bill, otherwise known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, was approved by the [...]
Pending Energy Bill Does Little to Reduce US Foreign Oil Dependence
The Obama administration has announced, broadly speaking, two main goals for their energy policy:
• Fighting climate change
• Reducing our dependence on often-unfriendly states for oil
There are other worthy goals also behind the Administration’s policy, such as creating new jobs in the green energy sector, but the two main thrusts are fighting global warming and improving [...]
Study: Health Costs Outweigh Economic Benefits of Coal in Appalachia
In asking the true price of energy, are we actually asking the price of human life? That’s what West Virginia University researcher Michael Hendryx believes, the Charleston Gazette reported on June 20th. Hendryx has published studies claiming that coal costs Appalachia five times more in early deaths than it gains from jobs, taxes, and all [...]
Read More »Cap-and-Trade Bill Passes House by Thin Margin
A sharply divided House of Representatives narrowly passed the controversial Waxman-Markey climate change bill Friday. An early vote on the bill had been pushed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who had first vowed to get it passed before the Fourth of July recess, then moved the vote to Friday.
The bill passed by the [...]
Green Jobs Update: Where Are they and What do They Pay?
A significant portion of the Obama stimulus package has been earmarked for clean energy development. Along with the obvious goals of reducing fossil fuel dependence and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, it’s hoped that millions of new jobs will be created in green industries. How much money will go where and how much good can [...]
Read More »Federal Funds Heading to Iowa to Support Big Alternative Energy Plans
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced this week that Iowa will receive $16 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy development, the Chicago Tribune reported. It’s part of the Administration’s dual push for alternative energy and economic stimulus, and Iowa merely happens to be one of the first states to receive funds—many others will as well. [...]
Read More »Carbon Credits Trading Could be Vulnerable to Speculators
The phrase “cap-and-trade” has entered our daily lexicon. How it works is simple: companies that emit carbon dioxide will have a permit limiting how many greenhouse gasses said company can emit. But since some companies and industries are more capable of efficiently limiting greenhouse gasses, this would create a surplus of permits. Companies with extra [...]
Read More »Pelosi Gambles on Emissions Bill, Schedules House Vote for Tomorrow
The website politico.com reported yesterday on a daring move by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that could turn into the biggest victory or the biggest defeat of her six-month run as what the article called Obama’s “legislative ramrod.”
Pelosi had first said she would pass the controversial Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill before the start of the [...]
Gov’t Study: New Energy Bill Will Raise Energy Costs Just $175 Per Year
The New York Times Greenwire reported on Monday that climate legislation pending in the House is predicted to cost an average of about $175 per household per year by 2020, according to a just-released study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The price tag would be somewhat larger for wealthier Americans, while the poorest could [...]
Read More »Clean Coal Gets Big Boost from Obama Admin’s Financial Commitment
In terms of greenhouse emissions, coal is one of the dirtiest sources of energy around. However, coal can be a clean source of energy, though technically, “clean coal” should probably be called “cleaned up after itself” coal, since the main source of its cleanliness is that its primary pollutant is safely buried away before it [...]
Read More »Waxman Promotes Cap and Trade and Carbon Capture in Interview
We recently outlined, here on The Heat Zone, the provisions of the Waxman- Markey climate and energy bill, which aims to substantially reduce national greenhouse gas emissions. The so called cap and trade part of the bill would work by setting a permissible emissions level, or cap, for a given business and then issuing credits. [...]
Read More »Obama Admin. Betting on Carbon Capture and Storage; Technology Still Unproven
About half of the electricity produced in the US comes from coal-fired power plants – around 500 of them – that together churn out 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, or about 36 percent of the country’s total CO2 emissions, according to the Department of Energy. If there were a way to somehow [...]
Read More »Unintended Consequence of an Energy Policy: Black Liquor, the Paper Industry’s Profitable Cocktail
The alternative fuel mixture credit was intended to spur development of new, cleaner, and greener energy sources by providing a tax credit for alternative fuels, including ones incorporating traditional fossil fuels into their mix. It was not intended to subsidize an activity the paper and forest products industry were doing anyway—but that’s become one of [...]
Read More »Drilling Debate Heats Up in Congress as New Rules are Considered
Republicans in Congress have tended to support the expansion of offshore drilling in American waters, while Democrats have traditionally opposed it. As reported recently on The Heat Zone, Congress allowed an 18-year old general moratorium on offshore drilling to expire last year, and coastal reserves in the Gulf of Mexico were re-opened as well.
There are [...]
More Green Energy Blowin’ in the Winds of the Midwest
When you think of game-changing technology—especially green technology—you usually think of the Pacific Northwest, particularly the Seattle area. But when it comes to green-energy technology, you should be thinking of the American heartland, especially Iowa.
Green energy technology—biofuels? No. The hot “new” energy source in the heartland is one of mankind’s first sources of mechanical energy, [...]
Maine Weatherization Bill Passes House Without Heating Oil Surchage
By the year 2030, every house in Maine and at least 50 percent of businesses will be fully weatherized.
So say the backers of an energy bill that the Maine House of Representatives passed last Friday. This bill will spend $79 million of federal stimulus money over the next two years on various energy conservation programs. [...]
Inhofe Leads GOP Opposition to Clean Air Legislation, Predicts Emissions Bill’s Failure in Senate
It seems pretty straight forward. You make it worthwhile for industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and you get cleaner air, a better environment and slow down global warming. But getting opposing political factions to agree on how to do that, or even whether to do anything at all, is where things bog down.
Although the [...]
