Leaked Oct. 25 White House Memo on Wind Energy Loan Guarantees

White House / by Carol Browner, Ron Klain, and Larry Summers Wind Energy Loan-WH Memo [Industrial Wind Action Group] This explosive memo authored by White House advisers Carol Browner, Ron Klain, and Larry Summers explains how “double-dipping” by wind developers is resulting in the total government subsidy for loan guarantee recipients exceeding 60% against small [...]

A Portfolio of Power-Trains for Europe: A Fact-Based Analysis: The Role of Battery Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrids, and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

McKinsey & Company, with the assistance of a number of corporations, government agencies and NGOs http://www.zeroemissionvehicles.eu/uploads/Power_trains_for_Europe.pdf [From publication website] In September 2009, both the European Union and G8 leaders agreed that CO2 emissions must be cut by 80% by 2050 for global warming to stay below the safe level of 2°C. But 80% decarbonisation overall [...]

Natural Gas and Renewables: A Secure Low Carbon Future Energy Plan for the United States

Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors http://www.dbcca.com/dbcca/EN/_media/NaturalGasAndRenewables.pdf [From Publication website] With a Republican controlled House of Representatives, we can now expect a significant change in approach to US energy policy for at least the next two years. There is likely to be, for instance, more resistance to renewable energy incentives in a constrained budget environment. Attention [...]

Climate Change and India: a 4×4 Assessment: a Sectoral and Regional Analysis for 2030s

Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/fin-rpt-incca.pdf [From Press Release] A major new report released today provides an assessment of impact of climate change in 2030s on four key sectors of the Indian economy, namely Agriculture, Water, Natural Ecosystems & Biodiversity and Health in four climate sensitive regions of India, namely the Himalayan region, the [...]

Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2010

UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific http://www.unescap.org/idd/pubs/Asia-Pacific-Disaster-Report-2010.pdf [Press Release] The UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) has issued a report titled Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2010 – Protecting Development Gains. The report notes that the Asia and the Pacific is a region vulnerable to natural hazards of almost every kind [...]

Interim Report on Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Blowout and Ways to Prevent Such Events

National Academies Press / Committee for the Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future http://download.nap.edu/cart/deliver.cgi?record_id=13047 [free PDF with registration] [Description] The National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council have released the interim report of the Committee on the [...]

Federal Requirements Under the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Geologic Sequestration (GS) Wells

US EPA http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/upload/pre-FR_class6_2010-11-22.pdf [Summary] This action finalizes minimum Federal requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) for underground injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) for the purpose of geologic sequestration (GS). GS is one of a portfolio of options that could be deployed to reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere and help to mitigate climate [...]

Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases: Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

US EPA http://tinyurl.com/2ae7fd6 EPA is promulgating a regulation to require greenhouse gas monitoring and reporting from facilities that conduct geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide and all other facilities that conduct injection of carbon dioxide. This rule does not require control of greenhouse gases, rather it requires only monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gases.

Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure

Congressional Budget Office http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/119xx/doc11940/11-17-Infrastructure.pdf [From Summary] In fiscal year 2007—the most recent year for which data on combined spending by the federal government and by state and local governments are available—total public spending for transportation and water infrastructure was $356 billion, or 2.4 percent of the nation’s economic output as measured by its gross domestic [...]

Residential Insurance on the U.S. Gulf Coast in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: A Framework for Evaluating Potential Reforms

RAND Corporation / James W. Macdonald, Lloyd Dixon, and Laura Zakaras http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP284.pdf The hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 brought devastating losses of life and property; they also threw the residential insurance market in the Gulf States into turmoil. Insurance premiums skyrocketed, a number of private insurers retreated from coastal regions, government insurance programs stepped [...]