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.Support for cleaner energy surcharges, carbon expectations, firms controlling their energy costs–Deloitte study
More companies are setting formal energy cost-cutting goals and in the process making energy management a strategic discipline. That is one dimension of Deloitte’s second annual survey designed to help executives make energy-related investment and business decisions. Conducted for Deloitte’s Center for Energy Solutions by the Harrison Group market research firm, the survey also found [...]
FAST FIX: Track current global greenhouse gas emissions here
Deutsche Bank’s DB Climate Change Advisors estimates the metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. You can find the current tally online here but also in New York City at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, outside Madison Square Garden and Penn Station (photo from late 2011).
Even without the Keystone XL Pipeline, 350 ppm of carbon dioxide is no longer achievable
Here’s one slice of irony from today’s protest against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline surrounding the White House: actually reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from about 389 parts per million (ppm) currently to the widely-held threshold of 350 ppm is no longer possible. The combined impacts, to name a few, [...]
Tracking REAL MPGs is getting easier and more accurate
With the release of the new fuel economy labels by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy, inquiring motorists are learning about the online tools to track and interpret the actual miles per gallon of the vehicles they drive. Registering for a “Garage” account here sets drivers up to record for each fuel [...]
Upton vs. Wall Street and EPA’s greenhouse gas emissions standards plan
Fred Upton, the incoming Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, essentially declared war on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s just-announced plan for setting limits on harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants and oil refiners. “We will not allow the administration to regulate what they have been [...]
China’s coal imports – up, up and away
Head’s up about this excellent coverage by The New York Times’ Elizabeth Rosenthal and follow-up earlier today about ever-increasing coal purchases by China and coal’s rising price on the global market. It is impossible to ignore the significance of what’s going on here. While China is lauded for boosting renewables, its insatiable appetite for ALL forms of [...]
Prop 23′s resounding defeat in California is a credible omen for clean energy
In what was THE most important issue or candidate on any ballot anywhere in the U.S. this Election Day affecting America’s energy future, the failure of Proposition 23 in California and how it went down is proof energy consumers see the value of energy efficiency and cleaner energy sources — even if it means they’ll [...]
What passage of California Proposition 23 could mean
Perhaps THE outcome with the most impact on Election Day Nov. 2 for renewable energy advocates and critics alike will be whether California voters elect to pull back on their Global Warming Act of 2006, aka AB 32. Proposition 23 would suspend the law just as California is about to make measurable progress reducing its [...]