Jim Pierobon is Founder and principal writer of The Energy Fix. He is a policy, marketing and social media strategist who has reported on, testified and consulted about smarter grids, cyber-security as it affects the power grid, fossil fuel shortages, price spikes, energy efficiency and the rise and fall -- and the rise again of nuclear and renewable energy sources.With Obama’s win, cleaner energy has another chance, but these questions loom
Just because President Obama won four more years, doesn’t mean the next four will be any easier. Sure, it’s now his legacy he is beginning to focus on. But there are tall hurdles even the election results will do to change. Renewable energy developers and suppliers have a few rays of sunshine and a more [...]
Capturing carbon and selling it: Marc Gunther’s e-book is both inspiring and a reality-check
Author Marc Gunther has a new e-book — Suck It Up — that does an excellent job of spotlighting and explaining technologies with the potential for capturing carbon dioxide in the air and selling it to end-users who need more of it. Because CO2 exists everywhere in the atmosphere, one trick to building a sustainable [...]
Google isn’t the energy magician some hoped it would be; RE > C how much longer?
RE < C ? Not without a carbon tax or cap and trade system. Google’s decision to stop trying to make clean electricity less expensive than power from traditional “dirty” coal-fired power plants was destined to come up short. Congress’ unwillingness in 2009 to create a carbon cap and trade system made sure of that. [...]
New Jersey Gov. Christie says he has a better way than RGGI to cut carbon emissions
That’s the conclusion one could reach after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced the Garden State is withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. If he’s right, he may be on to something because he asserted there are better ways to fight global warming, which he says is real and caused by humans. [...]
Innovation policy more impactful on climate than a price on carbon
That’s the interesting conclusion of a report out today from The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank that focuses on “conceiving and promoting the new ways of thinking about technology-driven productivity, competitiveness, and globalization that the 21st century demands.” While the report may contain a few grains of truth policymakers can [...]
Shale gas boom is THE energy story of 2010; what it means for renewables
While it poses numerous threats to groundwater, the production of Marcellus shale gas is changing just about every dimension of the U.S. energy outlook. In the recently released summary of its 2011 projections, The U.S. Energy Information Administration increased its estimate of U.S. natural gas supply pointing to a continuing low price per million cubic [...]