Tag Archives: GHG

Colorado goes cellulosic!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by

Via Paul, and article in Biofuels Digest highlighting how our local corn ethanol plant (Front Range Energy in Windsor, CO) will soon be transitioning to cellulose-derived sugars for a fraction of its feedstock: http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2013/01/16/sugar-rush-sweetwater-front-range-ink-100m-cellulosic-biofuels-deal/ This is a very exciting development!  … Continue reading →

Posted in biofuels, energy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

IPCC systematically low-balling climate estimates?

Posted on December 6, 2012 by

I’ve had the great opportunity to spend the week at the American Geophysical Union annual conference in San Francisco.  It’s apparently the largest annual scientific conference in the world (with ~20,000 registered attendees this year!), covering a vast array of … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, science | Tagged , | 1 Comment

US to become top producer of oil & gas and self-sufficient in energy

Posted on November 12, 2012 by

Says a new report from the IEA.. What does this mean for alternative and renewable energy and climate change? Renewables become the world’s second-largest source of power generation by 2015 and close in on coal as the primary source by 2035. … Continue reading →

Posted in biofuels, climate change, energy, policy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

California moves forward with carbon trading

Posted on November 9, 2012 by

California is ready to launch carbon trading platform next week: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/67080 UPDATE: all the 23.1 million permits sold out… each for $10.09/ton.  There were 3 times as many bids as permits available.  300 companies participated, and the plan is to … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, policy | Tagged , | 1 Comment

No wonder electric cars aren’t selling!

Posted on October 22, 2012 by

While this probably isn’t the reason electric cars have not lived up to the hype and might only sell about 50,000 in 2012 (less than 1% of total sales), maybe it is a reason we shouldn’t encourage them (yet). I … Continue reading →

Posted in biofuels, electric | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Perverting the CDM

Posted on August 15, 2012 by

There’s a great recent New York Times piece on the massive perverse incentives created by the Clean Development Mechanism: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48578898/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times#.UCgKX1TmRsQ A bit of background: for most of the history of refrigeration, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and  hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) were used as the … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, policy, sustainable development | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Glimmer of hope for US climate policy?

Posted on August 1, 2012 by

Times are tough right now for those of us who hope to see meaningful climate policy adopted in the United States.  New research suggests that the growing partisan divide in acceptance of the general scientific consensus on climate change is … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, policy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Are estimates of bioenergy emissions broken?

Posted on June 13, 2012 by

Tim Searchinger has a history of questioning assumptions and justifications put forward by proponents of biofuels.  His points are usually valid, or at least adds to the conversation.  In his latest article with Keith Smith in Global Change Biology, he … Continue reading →

Posted in biofuels, science | Tagged , | 1 Comment

gas industry and climate change activists make good bedfellows?

Posted on May 31, 2012 by

I’m back from a busy past couple months and have a couple things I wanted to post. First up is a post from the Breakthrough Journal – a group that I regularly read for their fascinating and often controversial commentary … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, energy, policy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The end of Nuclear?

Posted on March 9, 2012 by

The Economist paints a stark picture of the future of nuclear power in this article: http://www.economist.com/node/21549098 The capital costs are HUGE and I suspect they may be correct in their assessment unless we have major shift in government policy to … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, energy, policy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment