Renewable Energy Prospecting in Baja

I’ve always believed that the renewable energy future will be greatly contingent upon the geography of any given location.   The wind power rush in Baja California is only the latest example.   What I wonder is why do these rushes come in waves?  I also I wonder who’s going to build the transmission lines?

http://www.ecoseed.org/en/general-green-news/features/in-depth/5833

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Copenhagen didn’t produce a fix, but Denmark is getting it right!

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonpartisan research center, and the Embassy of Denmark recently held a briefing on how Denmark is working to become a low-carbon economy. Here are some highlights:

Although it still generates the majority of its electricity from coal, “since 1990, Denmark has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent. Over the same time frame, Danish energy consumption has stayed constant and Denmark’s gross domestic product has grown by more than 40 percent. Denmark is the most energy efficient country in the E.U.; due to carbon pricing, through energy taxes, carbon taxes, the ‘cap and trade’ system, strict building codes and energy labeling programs. Renewable resources currently supply almost 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity. Wind power is the largest source of renewable electricity, followed by biomass. … Today, Copenhagen puts only 3 percent of its waste into landfills and incinerates 39 percent to generate electricity for thousands of households.”

Read more of Thomas Friedman’s post Copenhagen article here.

I share this because he is absolutely right.  The government shouldn’t worry as much about all the short term job losses  we might might experience in moving to a more carbon conscious economy.   Rather, they should be focusing on building long term economies for the future.   The United States needs to bite the bullet.   Unfortunately, the 2, 4, or 6 year terms that dominate American politics are not well suited for facilitating long term change in established, profitable and powerful industries.

Established business may complain, but entrepreneurs will be emboldened!   If you want change, change the economics and business will grow into the need!

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Don’t buy into the Copenhagen critics…it’s just the beginning!

As the Copenhagen Summit begins, the cable news pundits, bloggers, and nearly every politician seems to want to add their 2 cents about the problems with the range of proposed solutions on the table. While the specifics of the matter can be overwhelming I believe that this is actually a historic step forward. The goals that we set at Copenhagen will for the first time engage the United States in actively restricting carbon emissions. China and India are both starting to buy in, and despite any well timed email scandal, a global consensus is finally beginning to drive a will to act! This is the tipping point! As Malcolm Gladwell explains in his book, the tipping point is not necessarily when the change explodes, but rather when the change begins it’s acceleration. If Copenhagen can effectively foster the beginning of a worldwide market for carbon mitigation and renewable energy it will have done it’s job. The industries that will grow out of of the change will form their own interest groups and lobbying efforts. By the time of the next “Kyoto/Copenhagen” event, I wonder if we might be worried that these business interests have grown too strong? I believe that President Obama will utilize Copenhagen, in association with the EPA and the climate bill passed by the House of Representatives, to crowbar the Senate into passing some kind of legislation. With these changes in place, the impetus business interests to utilize the mechanisms provided by the government and establish market for their technologies and services. As these companies become more profitable, they will invest in lobbying efforts that will continue to tighten emission standards and create a positive feedback loop as the planet moves towards a less impactful way of life. Click Here to Visit the Conference’s Official Website

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Barbra Boxer boycotted…

Barbara Boxer is out in front on climate change in the Senate. As a result, she spent much of Tuesday sitting by herself.

From the beginning, it was a bizarre day for Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee and the climate-change debate in general. Making good on their boycott threats from last week, none of the seven committee Republicans were in their seats at the start of Tuesday’s hearing.

This attempt to stall the committee from beginning to mark up the Kerry-Boxer climate bill was based on the EPW rule that at least two members of the minority have to be present before opening a markup. But that’s just a nicety, and Boxer isn’t known for being all that nice. “Sen. Boxer has been as patient as I’ve ever seen her. I’ve been with her since 1982,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Boxer doesn’t need to be patient, necessarily. She doesn’t really need any Republicans to simply pass the bill out of the committee, which has 12 Democratic senators to the 7 from the GOP.

Democrats weren’t surprised that one side of the committee dais was empty. They already had their one-liners ready to go:

Good Job Senator Boxer! Thank you for showing some leadership on one of the most important issues of our day!

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More on the Importance of Copenhaggen…

This article from Justin Moresco on Cleantechnica puts into even greater focus the issues with the US Senate and an international shift in Climate Policies.

“Al Gore, speaking on Wednesday at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York, said success hinges on the U.S. Senate’s progress on legislation that would limit the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. “The road to Copenhagen goes through the U.S. Senate,” Gore said.

The United States must play a crucial role in the Copenhagen negotiations but in order for that to happen, President Obama must go there with a credible bargaining position, the former U.S. Vice President said. To do that, the U.S. Senate must pass climate legislation, even if the House and Senate haven’t worked out differences between their proposed bills by the time of the international meeting. The House passed climate legislation in the summer that would put in place a nationwide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gasses, but the Senate is still debating its version of the bill. ”

Read the rest of the article here.

With President Obama using his political capital to work on the health care debate, someone in the US Senate MUST take on a leadership role to get something through before Copenhagen in December!  Who could it be?  Would it ever happen?

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