EPA’s new, stricter rule requiring refiners to remove the last bit of sulfur from gasoline very likely will impact consumers and put additional drag on the economy while providing, at best, negligible benefit. The agency’s Tier 3 rule is a prime example of an unreasonable regulatory reach – one that studies have shown will increase… Keep reading →
When you’re talking about trends, it’s usually the major cities in the U.S. that create them. From there, the smaller towns around the major city adopt the trend and it continues to spread onward. The green movement has done just that, with cities being the first to implement recycling programs and finding sustainable solutions to… Keep reading →
Buildings account for 40% of our nation’s electricity use. In 2012, power plants spewed about 2 gigatons of global warming pollution into our air, which was about one-third of total U.S. emissions. That’s why EDF and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) teamed up to launch the Demand Response Partnership Program (DRPP) aimed at increasing the participation from commercial buildings… Keep reading →
Scientists had been attempting to explain why climate change appeared to slow after 1998 and a new study suggests major volcanic eruptions could have played an important role in the trend. “Powerful volcanic eruptions send small sulphur droplets, or aerosols, high into the atmosphere where they act as a mirror to reflect the sun’s rays… Keep reading →
As the Sochi Winter Olympics comes to a close, we look at a different type of medal count. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does paint a pretty clear picture about the biggest players in the market. Going for gold? Unlike curling or the bobsled, we aren’t saying it’s always good to… Keep reading →
Shale gas revolution will result in cleaner electricity generation mix Coal is slowly retreating as natural gas and renewables gain market share in the electric power generation. That is old news. What is new is the accelerating speed in a sector not known for moving fast. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Energy Outlook projections,… Keep reading →
No congressional approval required President Obama can’t get much done working with Congress, but he’s on a roll when it comes to fuel standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Obama issued the first-ever heavy-duty fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards in August 2011, and will now draft a new set of standards to build on… Keep reading →
As the dust settles from the weeklong for the Chinese New Year, complete with fireworks, here are some of the top environmental issues to watch in the Year of the Horse. Provincial leadership Local governments combating rising rates of pollution and a dissatisfied populace are not waiting for Beijing to take action. Provinces are limiting… Keep reading →
People who agree that climate change is a dire problem often disagree about how to solve it. In recent months, once-private disagreements have ballooned into a public spat between pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear climate activists. Depending on whom you ask, nuclear power is either “essential” or “ill-suited” to efforts aimed at staving off climate disaster. Nuclear… Keep reading →
DOE will provide $1B financial assistance for the FutureGen 2.0 Project, the world’s first commercial-scale, oxy-combustion electric generation project with CCS technology. On January 15, 2014, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced its decision to provide approximately $1B in cost-shared funding to FutureGen Industrial Alliance for its $1.68B FutureGen 2.0 Project, a private-public partnership established… Keep reading →
