| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Mechanism Bull U.N. clean-energy program criticized for not funding clean energy |
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11 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:32 PM on 11 Jul 2008 The United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, issues carbon credits to industrialized nations that pay for renewable-energy projects in developing countries. Last we checked, coal and natural gas weren't renewable -- but the CDM is currently paying out millions of dollars a year to 13 natural-gas-burning plants in China and India, and in Sept. ... |
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| Topics: carbon offsets, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, fossil fuels, natural gas, news, renewable energy, United Nations (all these topics) |
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A Coal New World Landmark ruling halts Georgia coal plant on basis of CO2 emissions |
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30 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:38 PM on 30 Jun 2008 A Georgia coal plant cannot go forward until it receives an air-pollution permit limiting its carbon-dioxide emissions, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore ruled Monday. The ruling marks the first time a judge has used the Supreme Court's classification of CO2 as a pollutant to regulate emissions from an industrial source. Moore's decision overturns a p ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, climate, coal, energy, Georgia, greenhouse-gas emissions, litigation, news, progress (all these topics) |
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Mountain Madness New coal plant approved in Virginia, may fuel mountaintop-removal mining |
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26 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:53 AM on 26 Jun 2008 An embattled $1.8 billion coal plant slated for Wise County, Va., was granted pollution permits Wednesday by a state regulatory board, allowing construction to proceed. The company that will be building the 585-megawatt plant, Dominion Resources, promised local officials it would only source coal from within Virginia; that move is expected to fuel increased mountaintop-remo ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, coal, energy, news, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Climate change ideas for On Day One Day two of the UN Dispatch-Grist collaboration |
Ideas for On Day One |
24 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Our weeklong collaboration with UN Dispatch rolls on today with a discussion prompted by On Day One user taylorshelton who suggests government subsidies for non-renewable energy should be eliminated. Eliminate all subsidies for traditional fuels (coal, oil and nuclear) and invest all energy-related funds into renewable energy resources like solar, wind and cellulosic ethanol with the goal of completely eliminating dependence on fossil fue ... |
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| Topics: Big Oil, climate, coal, energy, politics, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Calamity Kaine Virginia Gov, possible veep, afraid of Big Coal |
Glenn Hurowitz |
17 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine set a new standard for politician mealy-mouthedness with a letter to his Virginia Air Board (tip of the hat to Raising Kaine for digging this one up). Although he asserts that his letter isn't about any particular decision, everyone outside the governor's office knows that the letter is about one thing: The proposed massive coal-fired power plant being planned for Wise County, Virginia. His bureaucratic opacity (PDF) is sure to be taught in gov ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, politics, presidential race 08, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Country songs dedicated to your favorite climate personalities
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Gar Lipow |
07 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Dedicated to the coal and nuclear industries: Lorrie Morgan's What Part of No Don't You Understand? Dedicated to Scott McClellan: Randy Travis' Pray for the Fish: Dedicated to all the carbon traders: Tanya Tucker's Lizzie and the Rain Maker: |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, music, nuclear power (all these topics) |
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Fear of the day
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David Roberts |
03 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| What if the anticipation of carbon legislation has driven more investment away from coal than actual carbon legislation will? |
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| Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation (all these topics) |
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Nice way of life. Shame if something happened to it.
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David Roberts |
31 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| According to ACCCE, if we don't use coal, we'll have to wave goodbye to the American way of life: |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, lying liars, messaging (all these topics) |
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'We're the Saudi Arabia of coal' Obama & Clinton shill for coal in Montana |
Kate Sheppard |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Flathead Beacon in Montana pinned down interviews with both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ahead of the state's Tuesday primary. The paper asked questions on domestic oil and gas drilling, the preservation of public lands, and coal. The whole thing is interesting, but the candidates' responses on coal were the most notable: Q: But what role should fossil fuels play, specifically in Montana, where we've got vast coal reserves? Do you think, in the short term or ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, climate, coal, energy, Hillary Clinton, Montana, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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The cowardly lion McCain to skip another crucial climate vote |
David Roberts |
29 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Unbelievable. Sen. John McCain -- who just weeks ago said of the Climate Security Act, "I hope it will pass, and I hope the entire Congress will join in supporting it and the President of the United States would sign it" -- now says he won't show up to vote on it. He won't vote against it, mind you. Won't go on record. Won't take a stand. He just won't show. 'I have not been there for a number of votes. The same thing happened in the campaign of ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, jackassery, legislation, nuclear power, politics, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Deloitte survey of consumers and utility regulators
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David Roberts |
20 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| On Monday, consultant firm Deloitte released two new surveys, one of consumers and one of utility regulators. There's some fairly interesting stuff in there. First off, some 87 percent of utility regulators expect the cost of producing electricity to rise next year. Why? Here's what they attribute it to: Fuel prices (35 percent). Environmental compliance (23 percent). Capital costs (21 percent). Inflation (11 percent). Asked to rate options by thei ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, energy at home, greenhouse-gas emissions, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Is Big Coal like Big Tobacco? Suing energy companies for global warming damages |
David Roberts |
19 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I don't have strong opinions on suing energy companies over global warming, but the notion does seem somewhat suspect. For starters, they don't really have enough money to materially compensate the affected class of people -- namely, everyone in the world. Legal liability taken with any seriousness at all would quickly bankrupt them. I'm all for imposing new costs on companies that have been socializing risk and privatizing profit for years now, but this kind of cost i ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, litigation (all these topics) |
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Electric shock Big increases coming in electric costs |
Sean Casten |
14 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| From the 'Things Grist readers already knew' file comes this report from ClimateWire ($ub. req'd) that price shocks are looming for power plant operators, even before the costs of carbon are factored in. A few excerpts below the fold:[F]rom the utility industry's point of view, the coming price on a ton of carbon dioxide pollution couldn't have come at a worse time. ... 'There's one really basic, I think really important fact, which is that we don't really have full t ... |
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| Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy (all these topics) |
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More Kentucky coal pandering Obama airs new coal-themed TV ad; Clinton talks up coal too |
Kate Sheppard |
12 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Obama campaign is running TV ads in Kentucky touting the candidate's commitment to the coal industry, along the same lines as a flyer the campaign is sending out in the state: 'He came to southern Illinois and seen the devastation and the loss of the jobs in this coal industry,' says miner Randy Henry in the ads, which are appearing in the Lexington and Bowling Green television markets. 'Washington, D.C., is not listening to us. Barack understands it.' Th ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, climate, coal, energy, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Coal moratorium now! Preventing dirty coal plants is the most urgent climate policy |
Joseph Romm |
07 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A livable climate can (probably) survive the burning of almost all of the world's conventional oil and gas -- but not if we also burn even half the coal (see here [PDF] and figure below). So the top priority for any climate policy must be to stop the building of traditional coal plants -- which is why that has become the top priority of NASA's James Hansen (see here). The next priority is to replace existing coal plants with carbon-free power, which could include c ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, carbon trading, climate, climate science, coal, energy (all these topics) |
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Carbon policy dilemma, 1 You can't achieve the three goals of climate policy at once |
David Roberts |
28 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I've been thinking about carbon policy lately (shocker, I know), prompted by recent interactions with Monica Prasad, Peter Barnes, and our own Sean Casten. The more I think about it, the more one of the central tensions becomes clear to me. Here are three goals for good climate legislation: Simplicity: The bill should not be hundreds of pages long, packed with addenda, loopholes, provisos, and over-specifications. Complexity boxes out ordinary citizens and insure ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, legislation, messaging, politics (all these topics) |
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Climate Be Damned E.U. plows ahead with coal |
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23 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:24 AM on 23 Apr 2008 Even as it makes plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, the European Union is gearing up to put some 50 coal plants on line in the next five years. Europeans' distaste for nuclear energy and the relative cheap cost of coal -- even when carbon permits are factored in -- have made the black rock attractive for meeting rising demand. E.U. electric companies say they're seeking out "clean" coal, an oxymoron that ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, dumbassery , energy, European Union, news (all these topics) |
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Can the coal industry be saved in spite of itself? Should it be? New analysis explores whether Congress can do a better job with CCS than Bush administration |
Joseph Romm |
20 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| One of biggest debates about climate solutions is whether coal generation with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is going to be practical and affordable on the timescale needed to avoid catastrophic outcomes. And, of course, there are many who don't think coal should be saved at all. I am not in the second camp, but I doubt coal with CCS is likely to exceed one wedge (I'll discuss this more next week). And we probably need 14 wedges to stay below 450 ppm. I have ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, Congress, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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V -- but not for victory Who might like the president's bogus climate principles |
Frank O'Donnell |
16 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| One person undoubtedly taking note of the president's 'principles' on climate change is Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio. He is reportedly working on his own weak, coal industry-friendly climate amendment to the Lieberman-Warner bill. Voinovich reportedly will try to couple such an amendment with related provisions to weaken the Clean Air Act. Sound familiar?Yes, that's because the Bush administration has made its own efforts to weaken the Clean Air ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, legislation, politics, shenanigans (all these topics) |
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Dear Mr. Gibbons A letter from a climate scientist to Nevada's governor |
Guest author |
15 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a open letter to Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons from noted climate scientist James Hansen. ----- Dear Governor Gibbons, I am honored to be the recipient of the Desert Research Institute's annual Nevada Medal this year and to attend the awards ceremonies hosted by you and the First Lady. I hope that I may communicate with you as a fellow parent and grandparent about a matter that will have great effects upon the lives of our loved ones. I refer to ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, coal, energy, James Hansen, Nevada, politics, state politics (all these topics) |
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Cheap clean coal now dirty, expensive
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David Roberts |
13 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The WSJ energy blog points out that skyrocketing demand for coal in the developing world is rapidly driving up the commodity price. (And WSJ proper points out that rising prices for coal mean rising prices for steel.) Meanwhile, Reuters says 'clean coal' is 'elusive' and the head of one of Australia's biggest energy companies -- AGL -- says that coal's days are numbered: ... Michael Fraser said it is unlikely any new coal generators will be built without significa ... |
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| Topics: Australia, business, carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy (all these topics) |
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Is the World Bank coal-fused? Coal still has no place in clean development |
Joseph Romm |
08 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| You knew it had to happen: the World Bank now has the same climate sensibility as ... the Kansas House. Scientist Jim Hansen, on the other hand, has requested a meeting with Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, arguing for a moratorium on coal plants until carbon capture and storage technology is available. Even Wall Street looks on coal skeptically. Last Friday, the Kansas House failed to override Sebelius' veto of two new plants by only one vote. And the World Bank is con ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, India, insanity, politics, World Bank (all these topics) |
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Mr. Rogers responds Duke Energy CEO responds to climate scientist Jim Hansen |
Guest author |
02 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a response from Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, to an open letter from climate scientist Jim Hansen. ----- Dear Dr. Hansen: I am happy to meet with you as you suggest in your letter dated March 25, and will work with my staff to find a time that is mutually convenient to discuss climate change. I am in New York City on a regular basis and also open to scheduling a special trip to meet with you. I look forward to spending some time together t ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, James Hansen, nuclear power, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Darth Vader and Mr. Rogers James Hansen writes to Duke Energy on coal |
Guest author |
01 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest post by noted NASA climate scientist James Hansen. ----- The captains of industry, perhaps more than anyone else, have the ability to solve the global warming problem, so they deserve attention. But different strategies are needed for a Mr. Rogers or a Darth Vader. Some may argue that Mr. Rogers, $28M/year chairman of Duke Energy, is just another executive focused on short-term profits, with any concern for his children and grandchildren directed t ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, James Hansen, nuclear power, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Why FutureGen had to die The blind alley of more coal |
John McGrath |
25 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Thomas Homer-Dixon, whose book I adore, has written an op-ed in The Globe and Mail arguing in favor of large government investments in carbon capture and sequestration technology. His advocacy of CCS has long confused me -- my reading of his book suggested (to me, anyway) that large-scale CCS was precisely the kind of technology we should avoid like the plague. To recap: Homer-Dixon builds on the work of Joseph Tainter, who argues that societies respond to pressures ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics) |
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