Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1210

BP and its apologists

TP's daily Progress Report has a good update on the BP oil disaster, the company's malfeasance, and its friends in Congress:

Last month, BP CEO Tony Hayward lamented the continuing Gulf oil spill crisis was preventing a return to his privileged life of skiing and sailing. "There's no one who wants this over more than I do," said Hayward. "I would like my life back." While Hayward, who is still in charge of BP operations, apologized for his remarks, the perception that the oil giant's...

Debunking the myth of the internet as energy hog, again: How information technology is good for climate

For some reason, the power used by computers is a source of endless fascination to the public.  Most folks think that the power used by computers is a lot more than it actually is, and that it's growing at incredible rates.  Neither one of these beliefs is true, but they reflect a stubborn sense that the economic importance of IT somehow must translate into a large amount of electricity use.  That incorrect belief masks an important truth:  Information technology has beneficial...

Energy and Global Warming News for June 21st: New 146 MW wind farm; $100 million for solar financing; Quantum dots could double solar efficiency

[image error]New 146 Megawatt Wind Farm in Missouri Reveals the Future Beyond Fossil Fuels

Atchison County, Missouri has just dedicated the new Farmers City Wind Power Project, consisting of 73 turbines that produce 146 megawatts of clean power, enough for 33,000 homes.  In stark contrast to the destruction caused by fossil fuel harvesting, the massive renewable energy project will coexist with farmland, which will continue to yield corn and soybeans.

Between the poverty and health impacts of mountaintop...

Landrieu on BP Disaster: Oil's "time has come and is moving past us, and the transition to clean renewable energy is one our country has to begin immediately."

In all the criticism of Obama's too-weak energy speech last week, not enough attention was paid to a statement that oil-state Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) made.  Here is the final paragraph :

"Finally, the President called on America to begin a transition to cleaner, renewable energy. As people all across our nation watch the oil pouring into the Gulf, they are asking 'isn't there a better way?' The answer is yes, there is a better way, and we must begin to lay that foundation now. Oil...

Public opinion snapshot: BP needs to pay up, clean up

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, appeared before a House committee last week and mostly refused to answer questions. He did, however, receive an apology from Joe Barton of Texas, who characterized the new $20 billion compensation fund for those hurt by the oil disaster as "a shakedown" of BP and "a tragedy."

But that's not the way the public feels about this new fund. They approve of it by an overwhelming 82-18 margin in a new CNN poll, as CAP's public opinion expert Ruy Teixeira explains in t...

How to power the energy innovation lifecycle

A new CAP report by Sean Pool presents the "network lifecycle" approach to clean energy innovation. The paper shows how the innovation lifecycle of clean energy technology can be divided into five phases, each involving a different an evolving network of participants with its own challenges and policy needs.

Freeing our economy from its dangerous addiction to fossil fuels and averting the calamitous risks of climate change will require a major technological transformation in the way we...

Kristol: "It's not healthy for the country … for the President to bully" the reckless oil giant

Last week, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward or what he called a "shakedown" from the White House. Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace wondered if Barton may have a point.  TP has the story in this repost.

Responding to Wallace, the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol appeared to throw out the obligatory attack on BP, calling the oil giant "Beyond Pathetic," but he nevertheless agreed with Wallace that the White House is being to hard on the company — and ...

Sunday Times retracts and apologizes for shameful and bogus Amazon story smearing IPCC - Exclusive comments from Prof. Simon Lewis whose official complaint led to this too-rare victory of science over disinformation

"I welcome the Sunday Times' apology for failing to accurately report my views and retract the Amazon story. As several experts told them – their story was baseless.  What I find shocking about this whole episode is that an article read out [loud:] and agreed with me was then switched at the last minute to one that fit with the Times' editorial line that the IPCC contained a number of serious mistakes, but actually ignored the scientific facts."

That is tropical forest researcher Simon Lewis...

An ounce of prevention is worth 100 million gallons of cure

From the beginning of this disaster, our response was doomed to be inadequate (see 20-year Coast Guard veteran: "With a spill of this magnitude and complexity, there is no such thing as an effective response"). Guest blogger Shirley Siluk Gregory, who lives on Florida's Gulf coast, shares her thoughts on lessons learned.

While there's not much most of us can do to stop BP's Gulf oil gusher or clean the crude from the water, marshes and coasts, there are actions we can take to help...

Daddy, could we have our planet back now? - A Father's Day essay on the world we're leaving our children

[image error]Salon just published my Father's Day essay.  It's a sequel of sorts to "Is the global economy a Ponzi scheme?"

As parents, we constantly admonish our children to share with others. The joke is that as adults, we hardly like to share anything at all. Who likes to lend out their car? Or their tools or books? We're so worried they won't come back in the same condition — or won't be returned at all.

But the truth is that the people we like to share the least with are our own children. "We do not...