You Can Only Manage What You Measure
A few weeks ago, USEPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that 10,000 facilities would soon have to measure and register their carbon emissions.
Carbon Poker
I had a dream about watching one of those high stakes poker games that you see on TV these days. There were bit players who you knew, from the few colored chips in front of them, would soon fold — but the two “whales” at the table were Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. They each had so many chips on the table that you could barely see their cowboy shirts, but the purpose in their deadly stares could not be obscured, even by the dark black Ray Bans that shaded their eyes.
What’s Happening On The Fifth Floor?
Millions of people come and go from New York’s iconic Empire State Building every year.
The 102 floors bristle with keyboard-clicking, ballpoint-wielding, paper-shredding cubicle dwellers, none of which would appear out of place in an episode of “The Office”. But something very different is happening on the fifth floor – – a magical workplace that may soon transform the entire skyline of a big city near you.
The Myth of Battery Cars
As the world beats a path to Copenhagen for the December 2009 UN meeting to craft a new deal on climate change solutions, one of the biggest challenges remains our addiction to oil. About 40% of global greenhouse gases come from oil, when you include exploration, development, refining, transportation, and combusting it.
Cash for Clunker Buildings
As the US, Germany, and other nations pay people to scrap their polluting cars, what other clunkers are in the marketplace that might respond to an incentive? How about buildings? Consumers, businesses, and governments spend billions to fight air pollution.
Cash for the Real Clunkers
The feds launched the “cash for clunkers” program recently that pays you to scrap your old polluting car if you buy a fuel-efficient one. This is a great idea that can be applied elsewhere to clean the environment and stimulate economic growth. But just how far could this idea go?
Obama – the Secret Weapon Against Climate Change
Ten days after being elected, then President-elect Obama put a stake in the ground on climate change – – he announced at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles that the US would adopt the world-leading policies of California for the United States. Reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) 80% by 2050 and, to make a substantial down-payment, cut them to 1990 levels by 2020. Of course the EU has agreed to deeper cuts in the near term (but they got started sooner), but no nation had committed to such a dramatic cut as California – – and now the U.S.