To give context to the recent EPA proposed rule on existing power plant emissions, this week I compiled historical data and the most recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections on carbon emissions for the US utility sector. The results are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: US utility sector carbon
Read moreOne of the most common Internet memes about climate is the idea that the earth hasn’t warmed since 1998. This erroneous claim is based on cherry picking data and ignoring the increase in the heat content of the oceans, which is where most of the historical warming has been
Read moreLeslie Field, a consulting professor in electrical engineering at Stanford University who teaches a class titled “Engineering and climate change”, wrote a nice review of Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs in the first issue of the new journal Energy Research & Social Science She’s used
Read moreKnovel just published my latest white paper, titled Climate Change as an Adaptive Challenge (it’s a free download, but you’ll need to type in some info about yourself before downloading). The blog post below summarizes the argument. The white paper itself contains the latest data demonstrating the case
Read moreIn this earlier post I discussed why graphene is such an exciting new material for electronics, and now Bloomberg and Mac Rumors have articles about it. Here’s the intro to the Bloomberg article. The main battleground between Samsung Electronics Co. andApple Inc. in the global smartphone market is moving
Read moreSource: State Department EIS on the Keystone Pipeline A friend of mine from college who is a practicing lawyer recently took a continuing legal education class at a local college. For his class project he chose to analyze the Keystone XL pipeline. He consented to me posting most of his
Read moreRick Piltz at Climate Science Watch has compiled a list of resources related to the recently released US National Climate Assessment. This landmark document summarizes the climate impacts the US has felt so far and those expected in the future if we don’t change our direction. I hope and
Read moreStanford is the first major University of which I’m aware to divest from coal, but I’m convinced they won’t be the last. Coal is the low hanging fruit and the natural first target for those seeking to reduce emissions and increase pressure on the fossil fuel industry.
Read moreThis excellent New Yorker article explores the failure of business journalists to serve as objective observers in recent years. It echoes some of the discussion I laid out in my recent piece “Separating Fact from Fiction: A Challenge for the Media.” Here are a few key intro paragraphs: In January
Read moreMeridith Fowlie, writing for the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, lays out the economic case for better data collection and policy changes to internalize the externalities of rail transport. Here are a few key intro paragraphs: Railways and the problem of social cost Almost a
Read moreLakoff assumes that people who believe irrational things can actually be convinced, and I’m not sure framing or facts will ultimately matter that much. Many people who can’t accept climate change are surrounded by others who can’t accept it, so that changing their views would involve rejecting
Read moreThe NY Times has an article today describing recent developments in graphene, which is a carbon based material with amazing properties. Carbon is of course the basis for life on earth and when emitted into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide it warms the earth (as do other greenhouse gases like
Read moreFor those interested in a real world account of using Tesla’s supercharging network to drive long distances, check out my friend Chris Calwell’s blog posts here, here, and here. The superchargers worked well, and as they become more common, it will get even easier. I suspect strongly (though
Read moreAs I wrote in Cold Cash, Cool Climate, one of the most important ways to achieve breakthrough innovation is through integrated whole systems design. That means not settling for incremental change, but redesigning devices as whole systems to help them accomplish tasks as well as any human or machine could
Read moreI had the honor of speaking at a Clean Tech Open event in San Francisco two days ago, which was a terrific event focused on Climate and Clean Tech. There were more than 60 eager and interested folks in attendance, and there were lots of great questions from the audience.
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