CleanTechnica

Mix steel, oil, and chemical companies together with the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and you have a chunk of the financial backing behind the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which has just filed a petition challenging the U.S. EPA’ recent determination on greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

In challenging the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses, the Southeastern Legal Foundation joins the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a number of companies including  Massey Energy (which includes mountaintop removal in its coal mining operations).  Though these actions are taken against a government agency, they are also yet another indication that an epic battle of titanic proportions is brewing in the private sector, pitching old school fossil fuel industries against climate-conscious companies including Nike, Starbucks, Apple, and Exelon (the nation’s largest utility) – each of which has protested the Chamber’s position on global warming.

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Australian solar physicist John Cook of Skeptical Science has created a nifty little iPhone app that includes numerous climate skeptic arguments as well as the science-based counterarguments to those (since we are all tired of the misinformed myths about climate science but normally can’t cite scientific articles and data off the top of our head).

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As California moves to implement cap and trade to reduce harmful greenhouse gases, the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy and the Environment has published a new study designed to help lawmakers in California fine-tune the legislation.

As with the studies by the German Marshall Fund with its Ten Insights from Europe on the EU Emissions Trading System – the UC Environmental Law Center studies those who have gone before us.

They want to fine-tune legislative ideas that can help us reduce greenhouse gases by holding polluters accountable, and by using the proceeds to implement clean and safe renewable energy that builds a prosperous economy in California.

One interesting finding is that the EU cap and trade system grew China’s clean energy. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it is a surprise to me, and probably to a lot of people. But news from the US Climate Task Force and Fortune 500 is that US voters prefer a straight carbon tax over cap-and-trade once they are educated a little bit on the two options. This is what a recent survey shows. The survey finds that American voters actually prefer a carbon tax by a ratio of more than 2:1!

According to the survey, 58% of people supported the carbon tax, 27% supported cap-and-trade, and 15% were not sure or wanted neither.

Why might this be the case?

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Reporter Roxana Tiron of The Hill picked this up over the weekend: the U.S. Department of Defense (aka the Pentagon) will include an analysis of climate change in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), a comprehensive strategic analysis which is set for release today. The branches of the U.S. armed forces have been busy acting on climate change for years, most notably the U.S. Army (and within that, the Army Corps of Engineers), the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force.  Tiron reports that today’s QDR will mark the first time that the Pentagon itself recognizes climate change as a factor in global instability and U.S. national security.  The QDR was delivered to Congress last Friday and a draft is posted on InsideDefense.com, a subscriber website. Read the rest of this entry »

Using coal for electricity produces CO2, and climate policy aims to prevent greenhouse gases from hurting our habitat. But it also produces SOx and NOx and particulate matter that have immediate health dangers.

A University of Wisconsin study was able to put an economic value on just the immediate health benefits of enacting climate policy.  Implications of incorporating air-quality co-benefits into climate change policymaking found coal is really costing us about $40 per each ton of CO2.

In climate policy discourse, the cost/benefit analysis of the health benefits has not till now been a consideration, but there are air quality co-benefits of climate policy. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s right, the US government is “the single largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy.” In 2008 alone, it spent $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel.

This 28% reduction target Obama is ordering is equivalent to $8-11 billion in avoided energy costs. Additionally, it is far beyond the 17% reduction Obama has pledged to the international community for the US as whole, making the US government a leader by example on this issue.

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Hollywood, as a whole, is one of the most powerful entities (can I call it that?) in the world. Some of its biggest stars are getting involved in the politics of climate and clean energy now.

A great new video on the web featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Felicity Huffman, Forest Whitaker, Ed Norton, Justin Long, and others nails the key points of climate and energy legislation with the most popular language.

One of the stars even decides to drop his pants because of the heat (climate change).

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Probably the biggest news piece this week was Obama’s State of the Union address. David Roberts of grist seemed to hate it. Whereas often like-minded and equally critical Joe Romm of Climate Progress actually seemed to love it.

Dan Harding of CalFinder had mixed reactions, first “feeling passion stir deep within [him] and tingles of inspiration buzz beneath [his] skin,” then thinking that “[Obama's] speeches have grown more and more centrist.”

Immediately after reading those first two reviews (David and Joe’s), the idea for this article came to my mind. Who’s more powerful than the President of the United States of America?

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Certain politicians may be having a hard time wrapping their heads around the reality of climate change, but that hasn’t stopped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The USACE is rolling right along with sustainability programs that range from an award-winning oyster habitat restoration project to the installation of 1,200 solar powered street lights in Fallujah and a solar parking lot in New Jersey.

The Commanding General of the USACE, Lt. Gen. Robert Van Atwerp, pulled it all together just a couple of weeks ago with a blog post about the USACE and climate change, and he didn’t mince words on the USACE’s attitude about the whole issue: “It’s a very real concern that could have very real consequences all over the world, and we’re on it.”  That can-do spirit has lead to some interesting new partnerships for the USACE with civilian organizations like The Conservation Fund.  Maybe it’s time for the climate change deniers to come out of their shells and join the party — you know, support the U.S. Army, right?  Hello?

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