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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is 15-20 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… U.S. Senator Arlen Specter announces plans to switch to the Democratic party. The Major Economies Forum met in Washington to discuss climate change. The Obama Administration officially announced that it would restore the Endangered Species Act to full strength. The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to conduct the first ever survey of organic farming. The Energy Information Administration found that the proposed Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) will have a negligible effect on energy costs. California approved the world’s first low carbon fuel standard. And a report ranking cities with the most and least air pollution. Plus, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the week. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com.
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By Bart King There’s no denying the economic crisis has dominated President Obama’s first 100 days in office. The young administration has been forced to define its domestic and international agendas in terms of economic recovery, and thus far it has provided the vision needed to find opportunity at the center of this challenge. History will judge the effectiveness of the $787 billion stimulus package and the course set by an enormous budget that proposes to overhaul health care, education and energy. The legislative battles that will be fought over these issues will demonstrate whether or not Obama can skillfully employ the Presidential bully pulpit, a task for which he certainly has the charisma and the attention of the public. However, he has already proven himself to be a decisive chief of the executive branch, the area in which his experience and ability were questioned during the election campaign. The environment has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of this authority, as the administration has set a feverish pace in righting the wrongs of its predecessors. Environmentalists have been thrilled—giddy even—to have a President who views nature as a limited resource to be protected rather than plundered. The Bush administration […]
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President Obama Touts Clean Energy on Earth Day DOE: $300M in ARRA for Clean Cities Program Interior Department Sets Offshore Renewable Energy Project Rules DOE Launches Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy DOE to Invest $777M in 46 New Energy Frontier Research Centers California Adopts Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Two Major Greenhouse Gases Continued to Rise in 2008 President Obama Touts Clean Energy on Earth Day On Earth Day, President Obama marked the occasion by delivering an in-depth speech on clean energy jobs and technologies and the response to climate change. The speech focused primarily on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the president noted the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on the growth of those technologies in the U.S. Obama announced the publication of a rule for leasing areas on the Outer Continental Shelf for offshore wind power facilities (see the separate article below). He delivered the speech at Trinity Structural Towers, a company that manufactures steel towers for wind turbines. The company’s manufacturing plant in Newton, Iowa, revitalized a former Maytag plant and created new "green jobs" in Newton, serving as a symbol of what the president called "a new era of energy exploration in America." "Now, the […]
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Climate change, cap and trade, and carbon taxes seem to be "dirty words" to be avoided, but there’s one term everyone seems to like – Smart Grid. Among the multinationals jumping on the smart grid bandwagon are IBM, GE, AT&T, Intel and Google, which are developing in-house technologies as well as investing in leading development stage companies. Check out GE Energy’s online ad, which promotes its Smart Grid wind turbine technology. Activate your computer’s webcam and face it toward the solar panel or wind turbine icon, and the smart grid opens on your screen. Blow into your computer’s microphone to make the turbines spin faster. GE may be getting a little ahead of what the smart grid can do at this early stage, but clearly there’s a lot of excitement about it. Jeffrey Immelt, GE CEO calls the smart grid one of the company’s most important growth initiatives. The development of the Smart Grid is being compared in importance to the transcontinental railroad, the interstate highway system and the Internet, and is expected to spawn companies that rival Microsoft and Google. What the Smart Grid Will Do When we talk about a smart grid, we’re basically talking about modernizing the […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is 15-20 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… President Obama announces proposed high-speed rail corridors. U.S. and Mexico agree to collaboration for fighting global warming and producing alternative energy. EPA commits $600 million to Superfund cleanup. EPA proposes first mercury rules for cement producers. EPA overturn Bush administration rule of toxic chemical reporting. FERC chairmain tells reporters no new nuclear or coal-fired power plants may be needed. Bart reads his Earth Day column. Plus, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the week. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com.
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By Bart King In the mid 1990s the Australian government removed feral cats from Macqaurie Island to protect native seabirds nesting at the World Heritage site. Sounds like a good idea, right? But the cats weren’t just killing birds. They were killing rabbits, too. The rabbits–like the cats–are an invasive species on the island. Over the next ten years their numbers exploded, devouring the fragile vegetation upon which the birds rely for cover. The Parks and Wildlife Service found itself with an estimated $16 million in damages, and the birds were no better off. This episode demonstrates the risks involved when we tinker with the earth’s ecosystems. Nonetheless, researchers and politicians are beginning to consider more seriously the idea of tinkering on a grand scale in an effort to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It’s called geoengineering. Proposals range from fertilizing the ocean with nutrients to stimulate the absorption of carbon dioxide, to blasting reflective sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere, to shading the earth from outer space with the equivalent of a big umbrella. If you think these theorized solutions sound more like the schemes of an evil mastermind than the rational work of science, you […]
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The most comprehensive, progressive Energy & Climate Bills we’ve ever seen in this country have begun the process of winding through the House and Senate. This could be the most difficult part of Obama’s plan to gain passage and will need strong advocacy from the green business community. In the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee released a discussion draft of "The American Clean Energy and Security Act." Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, are co-sponsors. Waxman says he hopes to pass the measure out of committee by Memorial Day. In the Senate, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee has held 13 hearings and 30 staff briefings on provisions that would be contained in a bill. They hope to complete a bill by the end of April. House Legislation The House legislation has four components: clean energy, including renewable energy and carbon capture and sequestration; energy efficiency; climate change cap-and-trade program; and provisions to protect citizens from price spikes while promoting green jobs. The bill’s highlights are: – Reduce GHG emissions 20% from 2005 levels by 2020. This is the first bill to embrace science-based GHG emissions reduction targets set […]
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EIA Projects Faster Clean Energy Growth with Recovery Act Funds EPA: Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat to Public Health Obama Administration Charts Course for High-Speed Rail DOE to Award $41.9M in Recovery Act Funds for Fuel Cells DOE to Award $10M for Plug-in School Buses DOE to Invest $4B in Smart Grid Technologies NREL: Utility Green Power Sales Increased 20% in 2008 EIA Projects Faster Clean Energy Growth with Recovery Act Funds Despite the challenges presented by the current global recession, the stimulus provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is expected to spur energy efficiency gains and greater long-term growth in renewable energy than previously expected, according to DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA released its Annual Energy Outlook in March, but that publication reflected the situation in November 2008, before the full effects of the recession were clear and before the passage of the ARRA. Last week, the EIA updated the publication to include an energy outlook without the stimulus of the ARRA and an outlook that accounts for the ARRA. The biggest near-term impact of the ARRA is a jump in renewable power generation (excluding hydropower), exceeding 300 billion kilowatt-hours by 2012, compared to falling […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is 15-20 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… The demand for the lightweight metal lithium is expected to skyrocket in the next few years. Bolivia holds 50% of the world’s known deposits, but they might not be selling. Space-based solar power may be a reality by 2016. Solaren says they can get it done and California utility PG&E is ready to pay. Another reason to hate spam e-mails. Plus, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the week. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com.
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By Bart King The first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, rallied 20 million Americans, who believed the environment wasn’t receiving the attention it deserved in national politics. It gave a single voice to numerous grass roots movements protesting oil spills, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides and loss of wilderness. The success of that event led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts. Better industrial practices have lessened the direct environmental threats to communities across the United States and abroad. But the overall condition of the planet has worsened since 1970, as its human population has nearly doubled to 6.8 billion people. Natural resources like fresh water and tropical forests are dwindling, and it’s becoming more difficult to hide our waste, much of which is plastic and will be around long after our children—and theirs—have lived through a fair share of Earth Days. But after nearly forty years, saving the Earth is finally at or near the forefront of American politics, pushed there by growing awareness of global climate change and a national energy policy that leans too heavily on imported oil and other limited fossil […]
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