| July 2006
Climate Change | Energy | Environment |
D1 - Climate Action Team Reports to the Governor and Legislature
California Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Action Team, 2006, various pagings
The California Climate Action Team is made up of representatives from various California state agencies to implement global warming emission reduction programs and report on the progress made toward meeting the statewide greenhouse gas targets that were established in the executive order. This website offers access to the report about climate change and global warming causes and projections in California and worldwide and California actions to address climate change. It also includes the draft report, public comments regarding the draft report, and related documents. Fulltext
D2 - Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage Progress under Two Voluntary Programs
U.S. Government Accounting Office, GAO-06-97, April 25, 2006, 51p”To reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, two voluntary programs encourage participants to set emissions reduction goals. The Climate Leaders Program, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), focuses on firms. The Climate VISION (Voluntary Innovative Sector Initiatives: Opportunities Now) Program, managed by the Department of Energy (DOE) along with other agencies, focuses on trade groups.” This report examines (1) participants' progress in completing program steps, the agencies' procedures for tracking progress, and their policies for dealing with participants that are not progressing as expected; (2) the types of emissions reduction goals established by participants; and (3) the agencies' estimates of the share of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that their programs account for and their estimates of the programs' impacts on U.S. emissions.” Fulltext
D3 - Race to The Top: The Expanding Role of U.S. State Renewable Portfolio Standards
Rabe, Barry
Pew Center on Global Climate Change, June 2006, 48p.
In the U.S., “states are taking a broad range of actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most widely-used policy tools is the creation of a renewable portfolio standard (RPS). These standards generally mandate that renewable energy provide an increasing share of state’s electricity. As of mid-2006, 22 states and the District of Columbia have implemented an RPS. In this Pew Center report, the author concentrates on this subset of the increasingly broad range of state climate policy initiatives. This work presents an overview of this policy tool, focusing on case studies of five states: Texas, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Colorado. These cases reveal a number of themes with implications for other states considering adoption of an RPS, as well the implementation of a federal renewable portfolio standard.” Barry Rabe is affiliated with the University of Michigan. Fulltext
D4 - Clean Energy Solutions
eJournal USA: Economic Perspectives, July 2006, v11, #2, 54p.
Projected dramatic increases in energy consumption in the coming decades, combined with a higher risk of climate change, require a massive global response based on technological innovation and the power of the marketplace. Experts and government officials describe the options before us, including renewable energy, novel vehicles, and low-carbon power generation, and discuss the best ways leading to a sustainable energy future. Fulltext
D5 - A Power Grid for the Hydrogen Economy
Grant, Paul M; Starr, Chauncey; Overbye, Thomas J.
Scientific American, July 2006, v 295, #1, pp 76ff
“This article explores the development of a SuperGrid that could supply both electricity and hydrogen. As the 2003 blackouts in North America and Europe vividly testify, the current power grid is struggling to meet growing demand for electricity and the coming shift from fossil-fueled power and cars to cleaner sources of energy. For several years, engineers have been designing a new infrastructure that would enable cities to tap power efficiently from large nuclear and renewable energy plants in distant and remote locations. SuperCables would transmit extraordinarily high electrical current nearly resistance-free through superconducting wires. The conduits would also carry ultracold hydrogen as a liquid or high-pressure gas to factories, vehicle fueling stations, and perhaps one day even to home furnaces and boilers.” Paul M. Grant worked for IBM for 40 year; he he participated in the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity at the San Jose Research Laboratory. Chauncey Starr managed the atomic energy division of Rockwell International, co-founded the American Nuclear Society, and was president of EPRI for more than a decade. Thomas J. Overbye, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Fulltext
D6 - Atomic Balm?
Gertner, Jon
New York Times Magazine, July 16, 2006, v155, #53642, pp36-51
This article profiles the Alvin W. Vogtle nuclear power plant, near the Savannah River in Georgia, one of 103 nuclear power plants still in operation in the U.S. While nuclear power has a highly negative reputation, the author examines the positive outcomes of nuclear energy and argues that for the first time in decades, increasing the role of the nuclear power in the United States may be starting to make political, environmental and even economic sense. John Gertner is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. Fulltext
D7 - Rescuing A Planet Under Stress
Brown, Lester R.
The Futurist, July-August 2006, v40, # 4, pp18-25
The Earth cannot sustain the levels of energy and resource consumption of the Western lifestyle if it is adopted by hundreds of millions of people in developing nations, writes Brown. The world must move toward a new economic model powered by renewable energy -- such as wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels -- and by a manufacturing strategy which designs and creates all products for ultimate recycling. Technology and knowledge of how to achieve this new economic model is well within the human grasp, if not already available, but making the transition before economic decline and environmental collapse begin is the difficult thing. Brown suggests movement to an honest market which gives weight to factors currently overlooked or ignored -- the indirect prices of production, the cost of environmental damage and consequences to future generations. Lester R. Brown is president of the Earth Policy Institute. Fulltext
D8 - Protecting the Best of the West
Van Asselt, Wendy; Layke, Christian
Issues in Science and Technology, Spring 2006, v22, #3, pp43-52 "Once considered the leftovers of Western settlement and land grabs, the 261 million acres of deserts, forests, river valleys, mountains, and canyons managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are now in hot demand. Pressure to open more of these lands for oil and gas drilling has never been greater. Traditional uses of BLM lands, including logging, livestock grazing, and mining, continue. Here, Vanasselt and Layke detail what BLM must do to ensure conservation and scientific learning in some of the nation's most special places." Wendy VanAsselt is director of the Wilderness Society's National Landscape Conservation System Campaign. Christian Layke is a senior associate at theWorld Resources Institute. Fulltext
D9 - Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia
Ottman, Jacquelyn A.; Stafford, Edwin R. et al.
Environment, June 2006, v48, #5, pp22-36
"Green marketing, the process of marketing environmentally preferable products, is defined and discussed. In order to be effective, products must meet certain criteria without sacrificing consumer appeal. Highlighting consumer preferred attributes such as efficiency and cost-effectiveness, health and safety, product performance, symbolism and status ('green chic'), and convenience can increase product popularity. Successful green product marketing adhered to three important principles: consumer value positioning, calibration of consumer knowledge, and credibility of product claims. Examples of past successful and unsuccessful marketing strategies are given." Jacquelyn A. Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc. in New York, Edwin R. Stafford is an associate professor of marketing at Utah State University, Logan. Fulltext
D10 - Navigating the Maze: Corporate Influence over Federal Environmental Rulemaking
Kamieniecki, Sheldon
Environment, June 2006, v48, #5, pp8-20
The author notes that because of the stalemate in Congress over environmental and natural resource policy in recent years, business interests and environmental groups have made increasing efforts to influence the rulemaking process at federal agencies as a way to change existing policy. Kamieniecki provides an overview of the rulemaking process at several federal agencies, and describes a study of the treatment of several important environmental laws during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. He notes that the study's results do not suggest that business or environmental groups had undue influence over the rulemaking process; better indicators would be the type of rules initially proposed, the ideological and partisan makeup of appointees in federal agencies, and pressure to alter scientific findings. Kamieniecki believes that a stronger effort must be made not to inject politics into scientific data, which would unduly influence public policy. Sheldon Kamieniecki is dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Fulltext
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