Report: U.S. sees the biggest decline in miles driven in history
According to the Federal Highway Administration, for the 12 months between November 2007 and October 2008, the U.S. saw the biggest sustained decline in miles driven in our history. Drivers on U.S. roads drove 100.6 billion fewer miles during that period than the previous year.
The drop can be attributed to two factors: high gas prices for the first half of that year and a slowing economy in the second half. According to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, “The fact that the trend persists even as gas prices are dropping confirms that America’s travel habits are fundamentally changing.” READ MORE
Obama’s Energy Pick Steven Chu: ‘Coal is My Worst Nightmare’
WSJ’s Environmental Capital has a great run-down of Steven Chu, President-elect Obama’s choice to head the Department of Energy. Basically, Chu is a proponent of energy efficiency and conservation as the first step in correcting America’s energy situation. He has also researched next-generation cellulosic biofuels and supports an interstate electricity transmission system that would solve one of the biggest hurdles to wide-spread adoption of renewable energy like wind and solar power.
Here are the highlights:
Chu’s marquee work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the Helios Project. That’s an effort to tackle what Dr. Chu sees as the biggest energy challenge facing the U.S.: transportation.
Helios has focused largely on biofuels-but not the bog-standard kind made from corn and sugar. The Energy Biosciences Institute, a joint effort funded by BP, is looking to make second-generation biofuels more viable. Among the approaches? Researching new ways to break down stubborn cellulosic feedstocks to improve the economics of next-generation biofuels, and finding new kinds of yeast to boost fermentation and make biofuels more plentiful while reducing their environmental impact.
Some more news from Poznan
According to Sen. Kerry, Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions, now running 17 percent above 1990 levels, back to those levels by 2020. Bush had rejected the Kyoto Protocol and his laxer policies would have allowed emissions to keep rising until 2025.
Kerry said it was “absolutely essential” that China, which has overtaken the United States as the world’s top carbon dioxide emitter, gets more involved in combating global warming to win U.S. endorsement of any new treaty.
Among other nations, Mexico said it planned to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions next year for the first time.
California to implement strictest emissions standards in U.S.
On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board in a unanimous vote, passed the largest greenhouse emissions plan in the United States. The plan will result in a 15% decrease in emissions over the next 12 years, with the goal to lower them to 1990 levels.
California, which is the world’s eight largest economy and accounts for 1.5% of global emissions, will be implementing widespread regulation of sectors including transportation, building efficiency, landfills, and electricity generation. Among other requirements, one-third of all electricity will be required to be generated from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and geothermal. READ MORE
Intel to manufacture advanced batteries for electric vehicles?
We firmly believe that Detroit and America cannot go green without advancements in battery technology. Any electric vehicle network must be built upon advanced battery technologies, and as we’ve noted before, if the current state of laptop and cell phone batteries are any indication, we’ve still got a long way to go.
However, not only do we need advancements in battery technology, we also need to build a domestic battery industry. It is not a great strategy to trade one foreign dependency (oil) for another (batteries). Right now, “virtually all advanced nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-ion) production is done overseas, mainly in China, Japan and Korea.” READ MORE
Russia may not join global climate agreement
Russia, the third biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world after China and the US, indicated on Friday that “If the conditions for the international agreement are not favorable for [Russia] we may not join such an agreement.” This sentiment was conveyed by Alexander Pankin, the deputy head of the Russian delegation at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, which ran from Dec. 1-12.
The Poznan Conference began negotiating a final replacement to the Kyoto Treaty to hopefully be signed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. But Russia warned that if the new pact did not set commitments for countries based upon their economic and social standing, Russia would not sign.
Russia, which finally ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2004 after many years of internal debate, plans to cut emissions to 30% below 1990 and then reduce them further but has not given a percentage for possible cuts by 2020.
NASA: Reducing smog and soot can have immediate impact on climate change
A study indicating that cutting smog and soot has an immediate effect on climate change was released this week by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Sciences. The study comes at an interesting time, since the California Air Resources Board is voting today to dramatically regulate the soot emissions from heavy diesel trucks in the state.
According to the NASA study, cutting soot emissions will not only improve human health, but it will make an immediate impact on reducing climate change. READ MORE
EPA’s Most Wanted Environmental Fugitives List
The EPA has posted a most wanted environmental fugitives list. The following description from the EPA explains who makes the list and what to do if you find one of these guys:
Defendants charged with environmental crimes or violations of the U.S. Federal Criminal Code sometimes flee the court’s jurisdiction and/or the USA rather than face prosecution or to serve a sentence. When these circumstances occur, the defendants become fugitives from justice.
The following wanted posters identify fugitives sought by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. Each one provides a brief case summary and instructions on how to report information related to their identity and/or current location. You may also report the information to your local police or if you are outside the United States, to the nearest U.S. Embassy.
Do not attempt to apprehend any of these individuals.
Classic.
Hat tip: Baltimore Renewable Energy Examiner
UN Secretary General: We need a ‘Green New Deal’
As the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland winds down, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that in spite of the global economic crisis, “there can be no backsliding on [the world's] commitments to a future of low-carbon emissions.”
“Yes, the economic crisis is serious. Yet when it comes to climate change, the stakes are far higher. The climate crisis affects our potential prosperity and peoples’ lives, both now and far into the future,” Ban stated.
Echoing the plan FDR used to address the Great Depression, Ban suggested that the world needs a “Green New Deal,” where “a big part of that spending should be… an investment in a green future.” Ban asked that both the EU and President-elect Obama provide leadership in these efforts.
Automaker bailout dies in Senate
Unfortunately for Detroit, they’re not in the coal mining business– otherwise, they may have received the necessary support from Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who basically doomed the bailout proposal by speaking out strongly against it on Thursday.
As we’ve indicated before, our position is that comprehensive bailouts should really be reserved to threats of systemic collapse, which may not be the case here.
As it now appears, the bailout bill, passed by the House on Wednesday, will die in the Senate. McConnell indicated that he did support a Republican proposal for a bailout, offered by Sen. Corker of Tennessee. That alternative plan would give company bondholders 30 cents on the dollar to reduce the automakers’ debt burden, would bring workers’ wages in-line with foreign competition, and force the UAW to eliminate payments to workers after their jobs have been eliminated.
Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that any compromise between the two competing proposals will be possible this year. GM has indicated that it may not make it to 2009 without a bailout, and Chrysler retained bankruptcy council earlier this month.
First-in-nation proposal in CA to drastically curb diesel emissions
California is proposing a first-in-the-nation regulation that would require nearly all heavy trucks that operate in the state to install a filter on their exhaust pipes to reduce diesel soot emissions by 85%. The proposal comes before the California Air Resources Board on Friday.
If passed, it would take effect in 2010, with 2014 as the deadline for almost all retrofits. The filters would cost truck operators around $15,000 to $20,000 per truck. The second and potentially more burdensome phase of the proposal would require older trucks to upgrade their engines to reduce emissions.
Diesel soot is a particularly harmful pollutant. Medical research indicates that it is among the most harmful types of air pollution, as it can lodge deep in human lungs, can penetrate the walls of blood vessels, and contains more than 40 cancer causing chemicals. READ MORE
Key energy and environmental positions in Obama’s cabinet impress environmentalists
The key energy and environmental positions in President-elect Obama’s cabinet have been identified and are bringing praise from environmentalists.
For Energy secretary, Obama chose physicist Steven Chu. Chu won a Nobel Prize for the “development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light,” and is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Under Chu’s leadership, the lab has focused on alternative energy research and efforts to boost energy efficiency in buildings.
For head of the EPA, Obama picked former New Jersey environmental protection commissioner Lisa Jackson. Jackson previously worked for the EPA for 16 years before she joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which she has run since 2006. She also supported efforts to create a cap-and-trade system among Northeastern states. READ MORE
Will Schumer be the Dingell of the farm industry?
Eighteen percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide come from livestock. Direct emissions from methane released from cow belching, farting, and manure, as well as indirect, from the cutting of forests and growing of feed to support livestock, are a massive problem for the environment. Recently, there have been rumors that the EPA might be considering a proposal to impose a fee on some of these emissions.
Although the EPA denies that it is proposing such a regulation, the farm lobby and its supporters in Congress are already gearing up for a fight. READ MORE
Survey: Oil will lose position as world’s cheapest energy source
A Deloitte Consulting survey released on Wednesday found that 3 out of 4 energy executives believe that oil and natural gas will lose the top ranking as the world’s cheapest energy sources within 25 years.
Additionally, just over 50% of those surveyed believe that the US could run out of reasonably priced oil within that time period, and that the world would run out of reasonably priced oil within 50 years.
And giving credence to the Pickens Plan, the majority also felt that natural gas was the most promising alternative to petroleum for transportation needs. Only 30% felt electric plug-ins were the most promising alternative.
Gary Adams, vice chairman of oil and gas at Deloitte, noted, “Clearly, the oil and gas professionals involved in our survey are starting to think about the nation’s transition to renewable energy and other alternative fuels.”
Most of the executives surveyed work for energy companies with annual revenues greater than $100 million.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz: At $1.50 gas, the American public wants SUVs
This is a FoxNews interview with climate change denier and GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. Lutz and Fox host and apparent GM apologist, Gretchen Carlson, both seem to attribute GM’s crisis to external events rather than internal failures: READ MORE
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