Author Archives: John

Update to ‘IPCC systematically low-balling climate estimates?’

Posted on May 1, 2013

Four months ago I wrote a post about how several speakers at the AGU 2012 Fall Meeting suggested that the IPCC may be systematically underestimating several key climate change-related parameters (total anthropogenic GHG emissions, Arctic ice melt rates, sea level … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, science, sociology | Leave a comment

Quality control in Excel spreadsheets- a serious and universal issue!

Posted on April 18, 2013

Via Paul Krugman’s blog, I’ve been following a fascinating online discussion about the importance of spreadsheet error-checking and independent replication of modeling results in the economic research sector: Holy Coding Error, Batman Researchers Finally Replicated Reinhart-Rogoff, and there are Serious … Continue reading →

Posted in policy, science | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

CSU’s Dr. Diana Wall wins the Tyler Prize!

Posted on March 27, 2013

A big congratulations to our own Dr. Diana Wall, University Distinguished Professor and Director of the Colorado State University School of Global Environmental Sustainability, on winning the 2013 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement! http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/bc-asr031113.php If you want to learn more … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Renewable energy companies sustain collateral damage in Washington budget battles

Posted on March 25, 2013

Thanks to Sam for passing along the following article highlighting how Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget document makes an explicit, unsubstantiated attack against two solar energy companies – both of which are alive and well – as examples of wasteful … Continue reading →

Posted in electric, energy, policy | Tagged | 1 Comment

More on automotive fuel efficiency

Posted on March 20, 2013

EPA just released a big report on vehicle fuel mileage, summed up in this WonkBlog entry http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/16/cars-in-the-u-s-are-more-fuel-efficient-than-ever-heres-why/ A few comments: A) I’m struck by how response fleet mileage seems to crude oil prices in their figure in point #1.  In … Continue reading →

Posted in biofuels, energy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ignore Keystone XL, focus on clean coal?

Posted on March 18, 2013

An update to the previous entry on challenges to scientists doing advocacy: Nocera’s latest editorial (A Real Carbon Solution) is about a coal gasification project in Texas that he bills as a fossil-fuel-industry-friendly contribution to combating climate change (as opposed … Continue reading →

Posted in energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

More on scientific neutrality vs. advocacy

Posted on March 11, 2013

The latest salvo in the debate over the relative importance of scientific neutrality versus public advocacy from climate scientists comes from Joe Nocera at the New York Times: A Scientist’s Misguided Crusade The op-ed columnist takes James Hansen, director of … Continue reading →

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For renewables but against biomass? Sounds fishy to me…

Posted on March 6, 2013

Public energy policy discussions tend to be highly polarized between widely divergent worldviews; those that believe climate change is real and that we need aggressive state support in the grand challenge of remaking the world energy economy, versus those that … Continue reading →

Posted in electric, energy | Leave a comment

UPDATE on ‘Energy access as a life-or-death issue’

Posted on March 4, 2013

In the comment section following my recent post on Energy access as a life-or-death issue, Paul comments on the plot showing a clear positive correlation between energy use and life expectancy, making the point that correlation does not imply causation.  … Continue reading →

Posted in energy, sustainable development | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Energy access as a life-or-death issue

Posted on February 15, 2013

We’ve devoted a fair amount of space on this blog to issues of energy access in developing countries, including examining whether Clean Development Mechanism projects are being preferentially established in the countries with the lowest energy access (apparently not), and … Continue reading →

Posted in energy, sustainable development | 3 Comments