Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1167

How to spot a green hotel

For many people summer means traveling. And many of these weekenders and vacationers will end up in hotels whether they're hitting the road or flying abroad. Hotels are often needlessly wasteful, and they add significantly to the already hefty toll traveling takes on the environment. But if guests do their research and ask a few questions before deciding where to post up for the night, they'll find a wide selection of hotels that cater to customers who want environmentally sustainable ...

National Post shocker: "Global-warming deniers are a liability to the conservative cause"

… too many of us treat science as subjective — something we customize to reduce cognitive dissonance between what we think and how we live.

In the case of global warming, this dissonance is especially traumatic for many conservatives, because they have based their whole worldview on the idea that unfettered capitalism — and the asphalt-paved, gas-guzzling consumer culture it has spawned — is synonymous with both personal fulfillment and human advancement. The global-warming...

If global warming were caused by aliens….

A humorous cartoon:

In my DOE days, getting media coverage for clean energy innovations was so hard, we used to joke that maybe we should start a rumor that it was all based on alien technology a la the X-Files….

BP ran magazine article extolling relations with Libya while secretly lobbying for terrorist's release

BP received a new round of scrutiny Thursday when it admitted that officials had lobbied the British government in 2007 to "conclude a prisoner-transfer agreement that the Libyan government wanted to secure the release of the only person ever convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland, which killed 270 people, 189 of them Americans." BP was "worried that a stalemate on that front would undercut an oil exploration deal with Libya."

The new details demonstrate that B...

The stone soup clean energy and climate bill

CAP's Daniel J. Weiss, Susan Lyon, and Tina Ramos cook up a better bill from the most effective proposals.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced on July 13 he plans to bring clean energy legislation to the Senate floor the week of July 26.  The Politico reports, "Reid confirmed the bill will have four parts: an oil spill response; a clean-energy and job-creation title based on work done in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; a...

The stone soup clean energy and climate bill - Building a better bill from the most effective proposals

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced on July 13 he plans to bring clean energy legislation to the Senate floor the week of July 26.  The Politico reports, "Reid confirmed the bill will have four parts: an oil spill response; a clean-energy and job-creation title based on work done in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; a tax package from the Senate Finance Committee; and a section that deals with greenhouse gas emissions from the electric utility...

Energy and Global Warming News for July 16: Renewables see 'resilient growth' in 2009; New York City revs up for plug-ins; Natural gas company's disclosure decision could change fracking debate

Renewables see 'resilient growth' in 2009

The building of new renewable energy sources continued to outstrip new fossil fuel power plants in Europe and the US during 2009, a report has shown.

The UN-backed study said renewables accounted for 60% of new electricity generation capacity in Europe.

And in the US, green electricity accounted for more than half of the generation capacity built last year.

The authors added that renewables were set to outpace conventional energy sources across the globe...

Big oil showdown in California: Proposition 23 puts clean energy in danger

This November, California voters are in danger of undoing one of the most progressive pieces of environmental legislation ever enacted.

The Big-Oil-funded Proposition 23 seeks to repeal California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a landmark bipartisan achievement that is already creating jobs and reducing pollution in California. Repeal would devastate California's burgeoning clean tech sector and make it harder to get federal legislation. Each week we'll post on the fight to stop...

Cartoon of the Day

They always hate government — until they need it:

By Matt Wuerker, Politico

From the Cartoonist Group.

CNN video on "Climate Deniers" ice sculpture at Capitol

You may recall Inhofe's Grandchildren Build Igloo To Mock Killer Snow Storm: 'Al Gore's New Home'.  This, in spite of the fact that, as MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan noted: "These 'snowpocalypses' that have been going through DC and other extreme weather events are precisely what climate scientists have been predicting, fearing and anticipating because of global warming."

Since both NASA and NOAA report we are in fact experiencing record-smashing global heat this year, much as the climate...