Is Biopower Carbon Neutral?

Congressional Research Service / by Kelsi Bracmort http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41603.pdf [From Summary] Congress has been increasingly interested in biopower—electricity generated from biomass. Biopower, a baseload power source, has the potential to strengthen rural economies, enhance energy security, and improve the environment, proponents say. Biopower could be produced from a large range of biomass feedstocks nationwide (e.g., urban, [...]

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Refined Product Reserves: Authorization and Drawdown Policy

Congressional Research Service / by Anthony Andrews and Robert Pirog http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41687.pdf [From Summary] Congress authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163) to help prevent a repetition of the economic dislocation caused by the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo…. Historically, the use of the SPR has been tied [...]

Uranium Mining in Texas: Why is it Done That Way?

Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University / by Ronald L. Sass http://tinyurl.com/4jl6tve [From Introduction] The mining of uranium is carried out in widely separated parts of the world, including, surprisingly, the Gulf coastal plains of Texas…. The most common method employed along the Texas Gulf Coast is called in-situ leaching (ISL)…. ISL methods are [...]

Avoiding Water Wars: Water Scarcity and Central Asia’s Growing Importance for Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate http://tinyurl.com/46c5sar [From Executive Summary] Water scarcity is often overlooked, underfunded, and undervalued within foreign policy. Yet a government’s ability to provide and manage access to water is critical for ensuring political, economic, and social stability. In Central and South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the impacts of water [...]

Oil and Gas Lease Utilization – Onshore and Offshore: Report to the President

US.. Department of the Interior http://tinyurl.com/4ekscdy [Executive Summary] On March 11, 2011, President Obama asked the Department of the Interior (Department) to determine the acreage of public lands (onshore and offshore) that have been leased to oil and gas companies and remain undeveloped, noting that companies should be encouraged to produce energy from leases that [...]

Problem Formulation for Human Health Risk Assessments of Pathogens in Land-Applied Biosolids (Final Report)

National Center for Environmental Assessment, US EPA http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=231964 Millions of tons of treated sewage sludges or “biosolids” are applied annually to farms, forests, rangelands, mine lands and other types of land in the United States. Biosolids are defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “the primarily organic solid product yielded by municipal wastewater [...]

The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience

American Enterprise Institute / by Kenneth P. Green http://www.aei.org/outlook/101026 With $2.3 billion in Recovery Act tax credits allocated for green manufacturers, President Barack Obama and other Democratic politicians have high hopes for green technology. But their expectations clash with both economic theory and practical experience in Europe. Green programs in Spain destroyed 2.2 jobs for [...]

Rescuing the Clean Air Act from Obsolescence

American Enterprise Institute / by David Schoenbrod and Melissa Witte (AEI Outlook Series) http://www.aei.org/outlook/101029 Key points in this Outlook: • The Clean Air Act created a strict regulatory track for dealing with the most important pollutants, but the EPA has decided not to apply it to greenhouse gases. • In defending its decision, the EPA [...]

Your New Electric Car Emits 75 gCO2/km (at the Power Station)

Ecometrica / by Gary Davis http://d3u3pjcknor73l.cloudfront.net/assets/media/pdf/electric_car_emits_75_gCO2_per_km.pdf [From Press Release]  With no tailpipe emissions, electric cars are being hailed as the future of motoring. However, some argue that generating the electricity required to power them will offset those emission savings. Now, Ecometrica have finally put some statistics alongside the speculation… While electric vehicles themselves are “zero [...]

Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a Competitive and Resource Efficient Transport System

European Commission http://ec.europa.eu/transport/strategies/2011_white_paper_en.htm The European Commission adopted a roadmap of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. At the same time, the proposals will dramatically reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil and cut carbon [...]