In the continued absence of comprehensive national climate change policy, we need to evaluate the potential of existing regulatory authority to get reductions in global warming pollution. A recent analysis called
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States Using Existing Authorities and State Action completed by the
World Resources Institute (WRI) reports on three scenarios for federal agency and state government action to reduce emissions. WRI labeled these scenarios "Lackluster" "Middle of the Road" and "Go-Getter" scenarios, respectively. For each scenario, WRI evaluated the opportunities to reduce emissions and the real-world limits on those prospective actions.
WRI calculated the potential for greenhouse gas emissions reductions with aggressive action at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and at the federal departments of Energy and Transportation using existing authorities. The study found that these actions could put the U.S. on a trajectory to meet the Obama Administration's 2020 target of achieving U.S. emissions reduction of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with a mission to understand and predict changes in the earth's environment, has released its comprehensive appraisal of Earth's climate, 2009 State of the Climate. The report examines comprehensive data from multiple sources, based on observations spanning the globe from the poles to the equator, and confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record.
Posted by: Josh Kalla in report, electric cars on
Jun 28, 2010
The National Research Council is a part of the National Academies and receives its funding primarily from the federal government. The National Research Council's mission is to provide elected officials, policy makers, and the public with expert, scientifically-sound advice. In 2009, the Council released a report entitled Transitions to Alternative Transportation Technologies-Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Our review of the report finds that much of the analysis and resulting conclusions from the National Research Council's report on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are incomplete or based on out-of-date information.
When you leave the house in the morning, you probably make sure the lights are off and the faucet's not running. You don't want to waste energy, right? Unfortunately, many of your home electronics are using energy all day, every day, even when you're not using them, just because they're plugged in.
The
National Research Council recently released three new reports that provide strong evidence for an immediate need for action to reduce emissions and begin adapting to impacts. The reports are part of a Congressionally-requested suite of five studies known as
America's Climate Choices and are considered the organization's most comprehensive study of climate change to date. Two other reports will be released later this year.
"Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for - and in many cases is already affecting - a broad range of human and natural systems," says Advancing the Science of Climate Change, one of the new reports.
An analysis recently released by McKinsey and Company called "The U.S. Low Carbon Economics Tool" provides in-depth macroeconomic modeling of different scenarios of possible energy and climate policies. With the recent release of the American Power Act, an analysis of this type is invaluable for better understanding the implications of different policy measures as well as the economic impact of inaction. With this tool we can better understand the changes to jobs, gross domestic product (GDP), energy prices, taxes, energy demand, and industry cost structure in relation to different policies.
According to a new report Options for Near-Term Phaseout of CO2 Emissions from Coal Use in the United States, reducing the energy demand of buildings is one of the key opportunities for mitigating climate change now.
A new report from the National Resources Defense Council highlights the absolute cost of our dependence on oil. In Minnesota, the average driver in 2008 spent $2,354 a year, or 5.5 percent, of their income on gasoline, which was 25th in the country. Drivers in Mississippi spent the highest percentage of their income - 9.14 percent - while those in Connecticut spent the lowest at 3.24 percent. While gasoline topped more than $4 a gallon in July of 2008, these data are based on the average cost of gasoline in 2008, which was $2.77 a gallon (or 10 cents a gallon less than the U.S. average right now).
Earlier this month, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released the findings of a report they commissioned on the job impacts of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES). The "Jobs Impact of a National Renewable Electricity Standard" study, conducted by independent, third-party researchers at Navigant Consulting, Inc., found that a 25 percent by 2025 national RES would result in 274,000 more renewable energy jobs over business as usual.
In a just-released study, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that "if Congress passed climate and energy legislation that strengthened the energy efficiency and renewable energy standards in [the ACES bill] the House of Representatives approved last June, consumer electric and natural gas costs would be $113 billion lower by 2030, and emitters would pay 4 percent less in compliance costs." Read the entire analysis here.
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