ModeShift - Part 51

On Climate and Energy, Pressing For Inevitability

by Keith SchneiderJuly 2, 2010July 2, 20100

Following a 90-minute White House meeting Tuesday on climate and energy legislation with a bipartisan group of senators and President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged to issue this assessment: “The President led a spirited, productive discussion this morning about how to move forward on clean energy legislation. Our caucus is energized on this issue and our resolve to act on energy legislation this summer remains strong.” In holding the meeting, the president and …

In Era of Turmoil, Top of the World is Melting

by Keith SchneiderJune 30, 2010June 30, 20100

Photo Â© Aaron Jaffe / Circle of Blue By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue In January, when the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledged that it was wrong in predicting that the glaciers of the Himalayas could be gone by 2035, skeptics of global warming used the error to assert that much of climate science was a fraud. Next month, though, the Asia Society Museum opens a month long exhibition in New York …

Here’s What Happened to All Those Closed Dealerships

by Keith SchneiderJune 30, 20102

The New York Times today published my latest piece in the Business section. Subject: What happened to all of those new car and truck dealerships that closed in the last several years. The crux of the piece, which focused on a closed dealership in Whitehall, Michigan is this: Since early 2009 some 2,300 auto dealerships have closed around the country, as new car sales plunged more than 40 percent and the government, after taking ownership …

The New D.C. Drive to a Climate and Energy Bill

by Keith SchneiderJune 25, 20100

Well, now the Senate is getting into the act, at last. Bolstered by new opinion polls and driven by a monstrous blowout that is closing Gulf Coast beaches at the height of the travel season, Democratic leaders stirred into action this week to develop and pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation. They’re following, of course, the president’s lead. On Wednesday President Obama concluded an all hands cabinet meeting at the White House by publicly declaring …

Obama Vows To Go Where No Man Has Gone Before: Passing and Signing Climate and Energy Legislation

by Keith SchneiderJune 23, 2010June 24, 20100

Given the emotional reserve of a man whose aides once referred to as “no drama Obama,” the president is getting pretty fired up about energy.Â On Wednesday President Obama concluded an all hands cabinet meeting at the White House by publicly declaring again his resolve to develop a “new energy strategy that the American people desperately want.” “It is time for us to move to a clean energy future,” the president said, adding that “the …

Energy Independence Is America’s Most Elusive Technological Pursuit

by Keith SchneiderJune 18, 2010June 21, 20100

In calling for a new “national mission” to achieve energy independence during his Oval Office address earlier this week, President Obama was clearly seeking inspiration from his predecessors, a number of whom actually achieved the big technological goals they’d pursued. At various inflection points in the nation’s history, presidents managed to cross the country with a unified rail line, developed the powerful bombs in the Manhattan Project that ended World War Two, and sent men …

What Obama Did Not Say: BP Gulf Disaster Is Biggest Cut In A Bleeding Earth

by Keith SchneiderJune 16, 2010June 16, 20100

Day 59. The morning after President Barack Obama called for a “national mission” in pursuit of a clean energy economy the BP blowout gushes oil into the Gulf at the new estimated rate of 60,000 barrels a day. And though the president said “we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy -â€“ because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater,” the language lacked …

Flip: Keep Track of Gulf Disaster on SkyTruth

by Keith SchneiderJune 15, 20100

SkyTruth is an eight-year-old non-profit that uses satellite and aerial imagery to study landscapes. I’ve been keeping track of the Gulf Disaster with this organization’s state of the art remote sensing capabilities, all of it online and extremely useful. I’ve used SkyTruth’s work before in tracking big spills, and other disasters. Check it out. — Keith Schneider

Massachusetts Biomass Study Finds Caution and Some Optimism in Wood as Renewable Fuel

by Keith SchneiderJune 11, 2010September 9, 20101

After six months of evaluation, a Massachusetts research center said yesterday that the greenhouse gas-reducing benefits of replacing coal and natural gas with wood biomass for electrical generation are lower than previously thought. But the study by the Manomet Center for Conservation Science also found that specific wood biomass technologies, particularly state-of-the art wood biomass plants that generate combined heat and power, produce less than half of the CO2 emissions generated by a coal-fired power …

Most Important Climate and Energy Vote of Year Tests Senate Direction

by Keith SchneiderJune 8, 2010June 12, 20100

Late last year when Senator Lisa Murkowski announced she would vigorously oppose any effort to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions, environmental leaders in Washington understood the significance of the Alaska Republican’s challenge. A loyal ally of fossil fuel developers, Senator Murkowski attracts more campaign financing from the oil and utility industries than all but two other Senate lawmakers, according to federal election records. The months-long skirnishing between Senator Murkowski and environmental …