NewsTrust - Energy - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

The New Arms Race

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Nov. 20 (Opinion) - America will not win the arms race of the 21st century with rockets, but with robust investment in and support of U.S.-based green technology. While Congress dawdles, China is clobbering us.

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Citizens left out in cold

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Indianapolis Star - Nov. 18 (Editorial) - State Rep. David Wolkins isn't shy about what he likes: golf, basketball and football. As ranking Republican member and former chairman of the Indiana House Environmental Affairs Committee, he's in a position to indulge his interests thanks to the very companies he's supposed to help regulate.

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The Republican Party Has Failed–And That’s Not Good For Anyone

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Chris Edelson - Nov. 07 (Opinion) - The Republican party's failure has me thinking of a Seinfeld episode, the one where Kramer is upset about a Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant featuring a bright neon sign that lights up his apartment at night. Jerry has an old college friend who winds up working as an assistant manager at the restaurant, and when Kramer hangs a banner from his restaurant protesting the chicken establishment, Jerry's friend remarks "that's not going to be good for business." Jerry responds "that's nread more

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Obama's Big Power Play

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard - Nov. 06 (Interview) - President Barack Obama likes to point out that when President Dwight Eisenhower built the federal highway system in the 1950s, he created a network that fueled postwar America?s economic rise. Now Obama?s administration wants to do the same for the green economy with the smart grid?a system of interlocking technologies that could transform the way we use electricity. By receiving real-time data on their energy use, consumers could save big on their power bills by running appliances when electricity is cheapest, rather than during peak demand periods when it?s most expensive. Power distributors could use the system to transport excess energy from one region to another, instead of simply allowing it to go to waste as they do ...

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With tax break, a big carbon footprint

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Globe - By Edward L. Glaeser - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - ENVIRONMENTALISTS who are worried about global warming should pay attention to the congressional debate about extending the home buyers tax credit. Federal tax policies toward housing have long encouraged Americans to emit more carbon. President Obama could do the country, and the planet, a service by either refusing to sign the extension of the $8,000 credit or by insisting that it be accompanied by offsetting reductions in the home mortgage interest deduction.

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Kipling Haunts Obama's Afghan War

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Ray McGovern - Nov. 01 (Editorial) - The White Man's Burden, a phrase immortalized by English poet Rudyard Kipling as an excuse for European-American imperialism, was front and center Thursday morning (October 29) at a RAND-sponsored discussion of Afghanistan in the Russell Senate Office Building.???? The agenda was top-heavy with RAND speakers, and the thinking was decidedly "inside the box" - so much so, that I found myself repeating a verse from Kipling, who recognized the dangers of imperialism, to remind me of the real world: It is not wise for the Christian white To hustle the Asian brown; For the Christian riles And the Asian smiles And weareth the Christian down. At the end of the fight Lies a tombstone white With the name of the late deceased; And the epitaph drear, A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East. With a few notable exceptions, the RAND event offered conventional wisdom to a fare-thee-well.

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China leaving US behind in green energy

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Joan Fitzgerald - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - Though aspects of it may violate the WTO, China has a coherent industrial policy to capture global leadership, while US initiatives are fragmented. China recognized that the real economic development potential in renewable energy is in manufacturing, which comprises 70 -75 percent of the jobs in solar, and now has more than 100 solar companies that account for one-third of global solar component production.

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Clean-energy transition promises brighter economic prospects

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Dean Allen, Maud Daudon - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - WITH the introduction of the Clean Energy Jobs bill in September, the U.S. Senate began work on repowering America's economy with a comprehensive climate and energy policy. As Washington business leaders involved in building our local clean-energy economy, we're delighted to see the other Washington moving ahead to restore American leadership in the most dynamic sector of the new economy.

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Real-world problems turn climate-change debate pragmatic

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - As the health-care debate was transformed by the urgency of insurance reform, climate-change legislation is shaped by the business and financial consequences of global warming.

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Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

American Spectator - By Peter Ferrara - Oct. 07 - Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

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Green Inc.: Apple Resigns From Chamber Over Climate

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Kate Galbraith - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - Apple became the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing climate issues.

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Errors of omission

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - Bumblebees cannot fly—or so physical models are said to have shown. That the insects routinely become airborne demonstrates the shortcomings of some theoretical accounts of the world. But one of the strengths of the scientific method is that, when presented with evidence that discredits their theories, scientists are forced to concede that their models are wrong and endeavour to learn from the failure. In science, observation always trumps theory, no matter how elegant the theory might be. The same is true of theoretical models of climate change. Over the past decade there have been large variations in the projected increase in global temperatures and sea levels over the coming years. ...

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PG&E partnering on 'Smart Grid'

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By Chuck Reed,Chris Johns - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - many utilities are competing for these funds [the $4.5 billion in funding set aside for ...grid projects in the american recoery and reinvestment act] but only a few have a winning combination of strong technology, community partners and a project that pushes the frontiers of current practice.

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For opportunities in the new green economy, we should look to Norway

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

minnpost.com - By Lois Quam - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - Over the past several days the University of Minnesota and the Royal Norwegian Embassy have hosted Transatlantic Science Week. These annual meetings were initiated by the Norwegian government beginning in 2001 to strengthen cooperation in research, innovation and higher education between Norway, the United States and Canada.

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Freedom From Foreign Oil

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

American Spectator - By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. - Oct. 01 - Freedom From Foreign Oil

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Are Electric Co-ops All So Different?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Writing Corner - By Beth Wellington - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative argues it is different than commercial utilities because it adheres to the "Seven Cooperative Principles," the last of which is Concern for Community—While focusing on members needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policy. But sustainable development evidently includes forging ahead in its efforts to build yet another coal fired plant in Virginia at a time when utilities in other states are abandoning such efforts. The proposed Cyprus Creek Power Station, currently slated to cost $6 billion, will add additional mercury, nitrogen and other emissions harmful to the Tidewater region's waterways and air.

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Obama on Climate: Is He Even Trying?

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - For those of us who care desperately about the climate, President Obama’s speech on Tuesday—the first to the world body by this most admired of world leaders—was a dud, a towering disappointment. Coming at the beginning of what the UN has dubbed “climate week,” the speech marked the beginning of a three-month push towards the global climate conference at Copenhagen. Obama used it mostly to downplay expectations. And it’s those downplayed expectations that may prove to be tragically self-fulfilling.

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James Lovelock: Schemes to 'Reverse' Global Warming Could Lead to Disaster

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By James Lovelock - Sep. 22 (Opinion) - Better, perhaps, to let the earth look after itself than try to regulate its system through mirrors, clouds and artificial trees. ...

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Save the Slums

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Stewart Brand - Sep. 22 (Interview) - People are trying desperately to get out of poverty, so there's a lot of creativity; they collaborate in ways that we've completely forgotten how to do in regular cities. And there's a transition: People come in from the countryside, enter the rickshaw economy, and work for almost nothing. But after a while, they move uptown, into the formal economy. The United Nations did extensive field research and flipped from seeing squatter cities as the world's great problem to realizing these slums are actually the world's great solution to poverty.

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No Leader on Climate Change as Nations Prepare to Meet

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By NEIL MacFARQUHAR - Sep. 19 - As nations gather next week for a major summit meeting on climate change, none want to take the lead in fighting for significant international targets.

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Some Bad Climate News and Some Good

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Sep. 16 (Editorial) - Though a bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions has been put on the back burner, all is not lost. The E. P. A. is rolling out emissions rules for the automotive industry.

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How much energy does the U.S. waste?

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - Sep. 11 (Opinion) - Add those all up and we’ve got 100 quads of primary energy and 60 quads of waste energy. For all the reasons noted above, the waste energy is probably much higher, but even at this level, it is a massive opportunity. Recovering just half of this total would reduce every issue associated with fossil fuel use by one third with no detriment to our standard of living. Getting this waste out of the system ought to be a priority of our national energy and environmental policy.

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Finally, investors are choosing green industry

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Jose Mercury News - Sep. 07 (Editorial) - Every report, study and prediction about Silicon Valley's economy in this downturn has mapped the path to recovery in green: clean tech, renewable energy and good middle-income jobs, like installing solar panels, that can't be outsourced.

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Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, Helen Scharber - Sep. 01 (Review) - As the nation continues to debate its energy future, a new report released today shows that the U.S. can create two million jobs by investing in a rapid green economic recovery program, which will strengthen the economy, increase energy independence, and fight global warming.

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Washington state must lead on solutions to climate change

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Phil Rockefeller - Aug. 27 (Opinion) - Washington state must take leadership in finding solutions to climate change, writes state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County. The repercussions for the economy, the environment and state infrastructure require action sooner rather than later.

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