Belfer Center, Kennedy School, Harvard University / by Warwick McKibbin, Adele Morris, Peter Wilcoxen http://tinyurl.com/3a5zav7 [Summary] The political accord struck by world leaders at the United Nations negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 allows participating countries to express their greenhouse gas commitments in a variety of ways. For example, developed countries promised different percent emissions … Continue reading »
Posted on June 22, 2010 …
Gulf Oil Spill Moratorium Decision : Hornbeck v. Salazar CA 10-1663
U.S. District Court. Eastern District of Louisiana http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/GENERAL/Notices/10-1663_doc67.pdf Following are selected excerpts of Judge Feldman’s opinion: If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy handed, … Continue reading »
Superfund : EPA’s Estimated Costs to Remediate Existing Sites Exceed Current Funding Levels, and More Sites Are Expected to Be Added to the National Priorities List
US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/pdfs/GAO-10-380?source=ra At the end of fiscal year 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Priorities List (NPL) included 1,111 of the most seriously contaminated nonfederal hazardous waste sites. Of these sites, EPA had identified 75 with unacceptable human exposure, 164 with unknown exposure, and 872 with controlled exposure that may need … Continue reading »
Toward a Sunny Future? Global Integration in the Solar PV Industry
Peterson Institute for International Economics / by Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, and Thilo Hanemann and Lutz Weischer http://www.piie.com/publications/interstitial.cfm?ResearchID=1575 [Abstract] Policymakers seem to face a trade-off when designing national trade and investment policies related to clean energy sectors. They have pledged to address climate change and accelerate the large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies, which would benefit … Continue reading »
Oil Spills : Cost of Major Spills May Impact Viability of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
Government Accountability Office / Testimony of Susan A. Fleming before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security http://www.gao.gov/pdfs/GAO-10-795T?source=ra [From summary] …The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) set up a system that places the liability—up to specified limits—on the responsible … Continue reading »
Oil and Gas Management : Key Elements to Consider for Providing Assurance of Effective Independent Oversight
US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/pdfs/GAO-10-852T?source=ra [From summary] …Interior’s oil and gas oversight has long been the subject of audits and investigations by GAO, Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), and others. In response to the recent oil spill, the Secretary of the Interior has proposed reorganizing the Marine Minerals Service which oversees offshore oil and … Continue reading »
The Telepresence Revolution
VerdanTix for the Carbon Disclosure Project and sponsored by AT&T https://www.cdproject.net/CDPResults/Telepresence-Revolution-2010.pdf [From Press Release] According to a new study of large companies using telepresence technology, U.S. and U.K. businesses that substitute some business travel with telepresence can cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in total – the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing … Continue reading »
Paying for Mitigation : a Multiple Country Study
University of Gothenburg. School of Business, Economics and Law / by Fredrik Carlsson, Mitesh Kataria, Alan Krupnick, Elina Lampi, Åsa Löfgren, Ping Qin, Susie Chung, and Thomas Sterner http://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/22355 [Abstract] Unique survey data from a contingent valuation study conducted in three different countries (China, Sweden, and the United States) were used to investigate the ordinary … Continue reading »
GreenAnswers.com
GreenAnswers http://greenanswers.com/ask-or-answer-a-green-question In case you’re not familiar with GreenAnswers, we are a user-generated question and answer site dedicated to environmental issues. We founded GreenAnswers with the goal of promoting environmental education through open debate and discussion. We are completely free and user-driven, which means the content on the site is created and moderated by members … Continue reading »
How Much of the World’s Electricity Supply is Generated from Wind and Who are the Leading Generators?
US DOE. EIA http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/wind_power.cfm?src=whatsnew?src=email Worldwide wind power generation exceeded 200 billion kilowatthours in 2008, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 18 million average households in the United States. Wind generation increased by about 25% from 2007 to 2008, and has more than tripled since 2003. This growth is mostly due to … Continue reading »
