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Trump attacks Ford Motor for not backing fuel economy rollback

Trump attacks Ford Motor for not backing fuel econ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up a series of attacks on automakers on Wednesday for not backing his administration’s plan to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency rules, singling out Ford Motor Co (F.N) in particular for backing a deal with California for stricter fuel economy standards. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters as he meets with Romania’s...
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The Energy Transition in 4 Charts

The Energy Transition in 4 Charts

There is little debate that the energy transition is underway. However, the speed at which it is happening is very much in flux. Wood Mackenzie recently compiled some of its latest power and renewables forecasts into a presentation (available here) that shows its most recent outlooks across sectors. Here are a few of the highlights. Carbon emissions WoodMac’s analysts modeled a few different emissions scenarios in...
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This mayor puts the “Conserve” back in Conservative

This mayor puts the “Conserve” back in Conservativ...

Indianan Jim Brainard has been making the post-partisan case for building sustainable, resilient cities for more than 20 years. I met Jim Brainard recently on a sunny summer afternoon in Bryant Park, a grassy oasis roughly the size of one square block nestled among the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The stately New York Public Library—one of the city’s most famous cultural institutions—defines the park’s perimeter on one...
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Rethinking the Good City: Vallejo’s Bold Vision

Rethinking the Good City: Vallejo’s Bold Vision

What Americans Want in Cities What makes a good city? I’ve been thinking a lot about this. What makes for a city people are happy living in, and want to stay in? One answer comes from the Gallup polling organization, with support from the Knight Foundation. A few years ago, Gallup published a thorough study called “Soul of the Community,” involving all 26 cities where Knight-Ridder newspapers are the primary print news...
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Clean Energy Produces Billions in Health Benefits, Study Finds

Clean Energy Produces Billions in Health Benefits,...

States that invest heavily in renewable energy will generate billions of dollars in health benefits in the next decade instead of spending billions to take care of people getting sick from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, according to a new study from MIT and reported on by The Verge. In fact, 10 states across the Midwest could see massive savings. Ohio stands to gain $4.7 billion in health benefits by 2030 if...
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Economic and environmental cost of Trump’s auto rollback could be staggering, new research shows

Economic and environmental cost of Trump’s auto ro...

The administration’s war with California could cost the U.S. economy $400 billion by mid-century Rolling back California’s robust vehicle emissions requirements will cost the U.S. economy $400 billion through 2050, an analysis from the environmental policy group Energy Innovation found. President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo Obama-era rules will also increase U.S. gasoline consumption by up to 7.6 billion barrels,...
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Energy Experts, Environmental Advocates Urge Pumping Brakes On Ethanol

Energy Experts, Environmental Advocates Urge Pumpi...

Nebraska ranks second in the nation for ethanol production. But Nebraskans disagree on whether ethanol is an environmentally-friendly option at the gas pump.   Andy Hinton points to his car at a gas station outside Omaha, showing the modifications he’s made to his Subaru. (Picture at bottom of page.) “The fuel injectors, it’s connected to this clip right here,” he says, pointing down at his car. “It...
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Greenhouse Gases Reach Unprecedented Level

Greenhouse Gases Reach Unprecedented Level

A bleak new federal report found that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to levels the world has not seen in at least 800,000 years, highlighting the irreversible and mounting deleterious effects of human activity on the planet, as ABC News reported. Global carbon dioxide concentrations reached a record of 407.4 parts per million during 2018, the study found. That is 2.4 ppm greater than 2017 and “the highest in the...
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Sing for the climate Do it Now!

Sing for the climate Do it Now!

We need to wake up We need to wise up We need to open our eyes And do it now now now We need to build a better future And we need to start right now We’re on a planet That has a problem We’ve got to solve it, get involved And do it now now now We need to build a better future And we need to start right now Make it greener Make it cleaner Make it last, make it fast and do it now now now We need to build a better future And we...
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Greta Thunberg speech at the National Assembly in Paris 2019-07-23

Greta Thunberg speech at the National Assembly in ...

I have some good news and some bad news regarding the climate emergency. I will start with the good news. The world, as a small number of people have been saying lately, will not end in 11 years. The bad news however is that around the year 2030, if we continue with business as usual, we will likely be in a position where we may pass a number of tipping points. And then we might no longer be able to undo the irreversible...
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A solar-powered system can turn salt water into fresh drinking water for 25,000 people per day. It could help address the world’s looming water crisis.

A solar-powered system can turn salt water into fr...

People have been trying to turn seawater into drinking water for thousands of years, but the process is not usually energy-efficient or affordable. At a newly constructed facility in Kenya, however, a nonprofit called GivePower is tackling that challenge using solar power. The desalination system, which started operating in the coastal area of Kiunga in July 2018, can create 19,800 gallons (75,000 liters) of fresh drinking...
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The Arctic is burning and Greenland is melting, thanks to record heat

The Arctic is burning and Greenland is melting, th...

Blazes are pumping record amounts of CO2 into the air, which could make the problem worse The Arctic is on fire. Record-breaking temperatures and strong winds are fueling an unprecedented number of wildfires across the region this summer. In Siberia alone, hundreds of wildfires captured by satellite images July 28 spanned about 3 million hectares of land. Across Alaska, as many as 400 wildfires were burning as of mid-July....
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$10 billion for climate resiliency included in new transport bill

$10 billion for climate resiliency included in new...

A massive new transportation bill with bipartisan backing contains major climate change components in a historic first that could have implications for decarbonizing national infrastructure. Dubbed “America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act,” the highway bill from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) approved Tuesday would put billions towards combatting greenhouse gas emissions and promoting resiliency....
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Trump is trying to kill electric cars but will kill jobs and the climate instead

Trump is trying to kill electric cars but will kil...

The global electric car boom can’t be stopped, but Trump policies would insure U.S. workers miss out on it. Two new analyses from Bloomberg this week make clear just how bad President Donald Trump’s policies are for the domestic electric car market and U.S. workers. In the first report, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) explains that Trump’s plan to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards for...
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Are We Heading Toward Extinction?

Are We Heading Toward Extinction?

The following has been excerpted from the long-form essay Facing Extinction. For much of my life, I thought our species would soon go extinct. I assumed we might last another hundred years if we were lucky. Now I suspect we are facing extinction in the near future. Can I speculate as to exactly when that might happen? Of course not. My sense of this is based only on probability. It might be similar to hearing about a...
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