Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1166

ExxonMobil gave $1.5M to climate disinformation groups last year, breaking its pledge to stop funding denial machine

Last July I discussed another ExxonMobil deceit: They are still funding climate science deniers despite their public pledge to "discontinue contributions to several public policy research groups whose positions on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner."

Even though the UK's Guardian and other media outlets pointed out the ExxonMobil lie last year, they...

Video ad: General in Iraq under Petraeus on urgent need to pass climate and clean energy jobs bill - Warns of dangers, high costs of inaction

A national television ad released Monday July 19th by Vote Vets reminds us why clean energy reform is so crucial to our national security.  The ad, running in North Dakota, Arkansas, Virginia, and West Virginia, reminds us that our dangerous addiction to oil is a threat to our troops and national security:

Brigadier General Steven Anderson (Ret.), Chief of Logistics in Iraq under General David Petraeus, featured in the ad, warns us of the dangerous costs of our addiction:

Our troops are...

Remembering Stephen Schneider

Prof. Stephen Schneider, one of the truly important voices in climate science of our time, has died.  For over three decades, he had been researching and speaking out on the need to sharply and quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Schneider served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations…..

Schneider was the founder and editor of the journal Climatic Change and authored or...

Big oil showdown in California: Economists agree, don't block AB 32!

Here's another in our ongoing series on Big Oil's attempt to repeal California's clean energy law (for background, see "Proposition 23 puts clean energy in danger ." Today's blogger is CAPAF's Rebecca Lefton.

Yesterday more than 100 economists with expertise in California energy and climate issues signed an open letter warning against delaying the implementation of clean energy policies.  The 118 economists support the policies created under Assembly Bill 32, or AB 32 that will "stimulate...

Energy and Global Warming News for July 19: The incredible shrinking solar cell; Wind farms generating energy and jobs in Iowa; Simple efficiency measures could slash UK emissions up to a third

The incredible shrinking solar cell

The next generation of solar cells will be small. About the size of lint. But the anticipated impact: That's huge.

Some of these emerging electricity-generating cells could be embedded in windows without obscuring the view. Engineers envision incorporating slightly larger ones into resins that would be molded onto the tops of cars or maybe the roofs of buildings. One team of materials scientists is developing microcells that could be rubber-stamped by the...

GAO: No "Clean Coal" Technology Without Price on Carbon Pollution - Another blow to the "breakthroughs will save us" bunch

CAP's Daniel J. Weiss reports on the new GAO report on CCS.  For background, see "Is coal with carbon capture and storage a core climate solution?"

The Senate clean energy and global warming debate should begin the week of July 26th.   As it looms closer, Senators John Rockefeller (D-WV) and George Voinovich (R-OH) introduced comprehensive legislation to invest in "carbon capture and sequestration" technology (often called "clean coal") that would capture and permanently store 80 percent or m...

Clean energy jobs put America on a path to stability and growth

This is a CAP cross-post by Jorge Madrid and Alex Cárdenas.

The harsh realities of the BP oil disaster and ongoing unemployment from our national recession are driving an important conversation in Washington about our addiction to oil and the promise of a clean and green future. Simply put, this disaster must result in directing our nation toward policies that make the United States more competitive in the green economy, while at the same time providing opportunities for many...

More on the nutty move by The New Republic to install misinformer Manzi as 'in-house critic'

Jim Manzi was recently installed as an "In-House Critic" blogger at The New Republic.   His first post on the economics of climate change was widely criticized — see "In a bizarre self-inflicted wound, TNR hires right-wing misinformer to debunk its articles.

Among its flaws, the piece argued that the only economically justified action on climate change was government subsidies for new technologies.  It's a stance which cuts far against the mainstream economic view, as guest blogger...

BP launches effort to control scientific research of oil disaster

Foreign oil giant BP is on a spending spree, buying Gulf Coast scientists for its private contractor army.   TP's Brad Johnson has the story.

Scientists from Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and Texas A&M have "signed contracts with BP to work on their behalf in the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) process" that determines how much ecological damage the Gulf of Mexico region is suffering from BP's toxic black tide. The contract, the Mobile...

Recovery Act has created and saved 2.5-3.6 million jobs, many in clean energy

On Wednesday, July 14th, Vice President Joe Biden and Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) Chair Christina Romer released CEA's new fourth quarterly report on the economic and job creation impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  The report finds that the loan guarantees, grants, and clean energy investments made under the Recovery Act — matched by billions of dollars in private investment – are successfully creating jobs today and growing clean energy industries of...