A Glimpse from the Bright Side
I am at the RETECH conference in Las Vegas, which captures all of the challenges facing green technology in these heart-in-the-throat times -- and the opportunities as well.
Many of the large companies that enjoyed such significant profiles at gatherings like this in the recent past were absent. Instead, when I participated in a panel, the room was packed with hopeful green technology entrepreneurs. It reminded me of Tom Friedman's admonition that the US needs thousands of inventive minds working on green technology at thousands of workbenches to put the United States back on track. This moment clearly belongs to those who are willing to start out with less.
Continue Reading...How Will Obama Cut the Deficit? He's Thinking Carbon.
With the President’s stimulus enacted and more crisis-related spending on the horizon, everyone wants to know how the Obama administration can actually make good on the goal, articulated Monday, to cut the size of the budget deficit in half by the end of the President’s first term. When the 2010 budget is released today, it will make clear that the administration hopes a major source of revenue will be from a proposed carbon cap-and-trade system. But that may not be as easy as it looks.
Many observers focus on the costs of cap-and-trade to the economy. Less appreciated is the revenue that could be generated if the government chooses to auction off pollution permits in such a system. The Washington Times reported the administration expects $300 billion to come in by 2022 from cap-and-trade revenues. Obama wants to put this money to drawing down the deficit.
But Congress will need to go along with his plan and therein lies the wrinkle.
How the EPA Forced Congress' Hand
Last week, word surfaced that the EPA would act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. At first glance, this news might seem like evidence that the Obama Administration would prefer to rely on the Clean Air Act (CAA) to fight climate change as opposed to getting new legislation through Congress. In fact, the news likely means the opposite. Here's why.
Continue Reading...The United States Through a Carbon Lens
We wrote earlier this week about the prospect of a national GHG registry that could provide an up-close view of the nation’s carbon emitters. While we’re waiting, a team at Purdue has delivered a fascinating tool that provides a taste of that future. The Vulcan Project is a initiative funded by NASA and DOE that is taking emissions data from 2002 and presenting it in extraordinarily accessible ways.
Continue Reading...Coming Soon...National GHG Reporting
Ethanol's Fall and the Oil Price Floor
Earlier last week, I wrote about a recent study that demonstrated how cellulosic ethanol carries fewer public costs than corn ethanol primarily because it releases fewer fine particulate emissions. In part because of its attractive emissions profile, I suggested the future of cellulosic ethanol looked rosy.
Of course, that future depends on demand for ethanol of any kind. And that appears to be very much in question.
The New York Times wrote later this week about how collapsing demand for ethanol has set off a wave of plant closings and bankruptcies in the industry:
“Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group, estimated that of the country’s 150 ethanol companies and 180 plants, 10 or more companies have shut down 24 plants over the last three months.”
When oil was at $145 a barrel, ethanol demand far outpaced the amount needed to satisfy federal mandates for ethanol blending. But now, with oil trading under $40, demand has vanished. New production mandates set by Congress just one year ago seem unattainable as well.
Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has said Congress may have to "reconsider" the mandate because oil and gas prices have plummeted and ethanol no longer looks like a go-go fuel.
Continue Reading...Is Coal the Fuel of the Future?
Every one is looking for the silver bullet that will get the United States off of fossil fuels. My hunch is that we’ll pursue all of the alternatives like wind and solar, but we’ll spend a lot of resources making our dirtiest fuel, coal, less dirty. And while clean coal has its skeptics, others recognize it has a place in the mix.
I place myself in the latter camp. I’ve just penned my thoughts on why that’s the case in a guest commentary for Law360. Click here (subscription required) for the full article.
Full Power
Not since Jimmy Carter donned a sweater and put solar panels on the White House has energy efficiency become such a hot topic in Washington DC. That’s because anyone cares about the climate change debate consuming the capital understands that energy efficiency is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the economy.
With that in mind, look for more and more companies and governments to start talking about electricity productivity. That’s the amount of bang one gets for their power.
The Rocky Mountain Institute is out this week with a new report examining how effectively the 50 states are using the power they consume. RMI measures electric productivity by taking a state’s GDP and dividing it by the number of kilowatt-hours consumed.
Continue Reading...People Power
Ethanol has taken its lumps in recent months, after Congress blessed it with mandates in 2005 and 2007, but if you are looking for a low carbon, Middle East independent, sustainably produced bio-fuel, it is going to be hard to beat cellulosic ethanol. Now, there's a new reason to prefer ethanol made from switchgrass and other biomass: it inflicts less harm than comparable corn ethanol mixtures. It emits smaller amounts of fine particulate matter, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Minnesota.
Researchers compared the total environmental and health costs of producing corn-based and cellulosic fuels, primarily studying their impact on air pollution and air quality. They estimated the health costs represent about 71 cents per gallon of gasoline burned. Corn-ethanol fuel carries additional cost of between 72 cents to $1.45, depending on how it is made. Cellulosic ethanol by comparison clocks in between 19 cents to 32 cents, again depending on how it is made.
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