Last Friday, Secretary Locke kicked off a Clean Energy Economy Forum on clean energy manufacturing at the White House.

Last Friday, I joined Obama administration colleagues and business leaders from across the country to participate in a forum on clean energy innovation at the White House. I told the group that the development of clean energy and energy (more…)

With the recent presidential push for climate change legislation, it is now more important than ever to understand the underlying fundamentals of a key aspect common across all climate bills – the issue of carbon offsets. The most recent bill, the American Power Act (APA), proposed by Senator John Kerry and Senator Joe Lieberman, specifically provides for up to 2 billion offsets/annum spread across international and domestic projects. That’s a significant volume, considering that it translates into almost 40% of the total cap and trade expected until 2020.  It will be one of the largest and most intensely scrutinized markets of all time apart from being one of the key mechanisms by which emission reductions are actually achieved. The sheer variety of project types, locations and, standards frequently make carbon trading appear to be as complex as astrophysics for most of us on the ground.

Fortunately though, the last few years of carbon trading and project development in voluntary markets and as part of the Kyoto Protocol have clarified the essential characteristics of good projects.  These common principles define good and reliable emission reduction projects from not-so-desirable ones. Faced with a multitude of carbon offset standards (administered by as many independent certification bodies that certify carbon offsets according to a list of predefined criteria), it is important to keep one’s eyes on the prize – real, verifiable emission reductions.  In other words, a carbon offset must represent a verified actual ton of CO2 reduced uniquely, without adverse effect on the socio-economic environment, and in addition to any emissions that may have been reduced as a matter of course.

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In a bold new risk publication out today from Lloyd’s of London, entitled Sustainable Energy Security: Strategic Risks and Opportunities for Business, the insurance heavyweight states in no uncertain terms that businesses that fail to prepare for short and long term energy crises face potentially catastrophic risks:

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In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 71 percent of Americans say President Obama and Congress should make developing clean sources of energy a high priority, an 11 percent increase since January, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by Yale University and George Mason University, also revealed that 77 percent of Americans support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate will vote on a resolution by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would block (more…)

As good stewards of the planet we live on, it is often a good idea to measure our impact on the Earth and adjust accordingly. One of the best ways to do this is to calculate our carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is a rough measurement of greenhouse gases (GHG) that an individual, organization, event, or product produces. In this case we are looking at an individual assessment of GHG.

Luckily there are many online tools that will calculate your carbon footprint for free. (more…)

Jonathan Hiskes recent Grist post is an excellent exploration of a schism in the environmental community over the long awaited American Power Act i.e. the Kerry/Lieberman and one time Graham bill. Earlier in May, I took a day off from my day job, put on my private citizen hat and joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, DC for a day of lobbying in support of the bill. (more…)

If the world’s major nations fail to enact significant changes in energy and climate policies, global carbon dioxide emissions will increase 43 percent by 2035, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). In its annual long-term energy outlook, the EIA projected that global emissions from burning fossil fuels would grow from 29 billion tons in 2007 to 42 billion tons in 2035. The EIA said that most of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions will come from developing economies such as China, India, and Brazil, whose energy consumption is expected to nearly double in the next 25 years. The agency, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, presents a skeptical outlook for clean energy technologies, except for hydroelectric power and wind. (more…)

After watching the video below from an old professor from college, I found myself with the sudden urge to blog on the topic of money,cash flow, and sustainability.

The video demonstrates how people feel about cash and the different types of cash. Needless to say, an interesting topic for everyone because we all have it and usually want more of it. But how does cash relate to sustainability and the decisions that are affecting our planet, our lives and our species.

My hypothesis: Feelings of cash correlate directly with assumptions of sustainability investments. (more…)

Environmentalist David Orr says the easy part of helping the United States live within its ecological limits may be passing laws, such as one that puts a price on carbon. The hard part, he maintains in an interview with Yale Environment 360, is changing a culture of consumption that causes extensive environmental damage — and unhappiness.

Long before buzzwords like “carbon footprint” entered the general lexicon, David W. Orr was working on ways to help humanity lighten its impact on the natural world. A professor of environmental studies at Oberlin College and the author of six books, including Ecological Literacy, Orr has focused on how to best educate students about using the Earth’s resources prudently. He also has been a leading proponent of sustainable design on the country’s college campuses, and was the driving force behind building Oberlin’s $7 million Environmental Studies Center, considered a model of green architecture in the U.S. (more…)

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, appointed Costa Rican expert on climate change, Christiana Figueres, as the new U.N. climate chief on May 17th. She will replace Yvo de Boer as executive secretary of the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) on July 1st.

De Boer, of the Netherlands, announced his resignation last February after the Copenhagen climate summit where 120 world leaders failed to come to a binding agreement on global warming.

Figueres, 53, is the first person in this U.N. position to come from a developing country. She has been a member of Costa Rica’s negotiating team on climate change since 1995. She represented the Caribbean and Latin American on the Executive Board of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism in 2007, and from 2008 to 2009, Figueres served as vice president of the Bureau of the Convention.

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