36 item(s) were returned.
Professor of Physics
City College of the City University of New York
Despite aggressive requests from the Obama Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the House in the most recent appropriations debate made significant efforts to reduce funding for climate-related science. The Senate prevailed in the subsequent negotiations, and nearly all Office of Science programs received modest funding increases. Although it lost its appropriations battle, the House’s efforts to trim the Office of Science’s funding demonstrate its strong skepticism about climate science. Further reflecting its attitudes, the House defunded enforcement of standards for more efficient light bulbs, publicly challenged the validity of climate science, relentlessly pushed the Keystone XL … [more]
View InsightBetween the Solyndra scandal, the disaster at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the deliberation over the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama’s aggressive new CAFE Standards, protests over lighting standards, EPA’s MACT rules, and more, 2011 proved to be a controversial year for energy and energy policy, even without major energy legislation.
View InsightSenator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has released the 2011 Wastebook, his annual “guide to some of the most wasteful and low priority government spending”. Among the report’s targets is DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), a program that improves the energy efficiency of low-income family homes. Among the criticisms of the program highlighted by Senator Coburn: The DOE Inspector General found in a 2010 survey that the program suffered from poor workmanship, inflated contractor and material costs, and substandard home inspections to a level that “put the entire program at risk.” WAP-funded job training programs are sometimes unable to place trainees in… [more]
View InsightThe spending bill being negotiated by the House and Senate is expected to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Notable among the bill’s energy-related measures is its defunding of the DOE program responsible for the energy-efficient light bulb standards due to take effect in 2012. The spending bill would not overturn these standards, but would effectively block DOE’s ability to enforce them. The standards are expected to phase out the 100 watt incandescent bulb in 2012, and phase out 40-, 60- and 75-watt incandescents by 2014. [New York Times] The standards were passed on a… [more]
View InsightAs part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the Obama Administration announced a Presidential Memorandum on December 2, 2011 directing “nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next 2 years.” The Administration’s announcement states that these “investments will save billions in energy costs, promote energy independence, and, according to independent estimates, create tens of thousands of jobs in the hard-hit construction sector.” $2 billion comes from private and non-Federal commitments, from companies such as 3M, GE and Alcoa, and state and local governments such as the State of Minnesota, the District of Columbia,… [more]
View InsightProgram Manager
CLASP
The high-profile and controversial collapse of Solyndra and Beacon Power has led critics to question the integrity and merit of DOE’s loan guarantee program. Energy Secretary Steven Chu was asked to respond to these criticisms before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on 11/17/11. Rep. Stearns (R-FL), chairman of the subcommittee, said “it is readily apparent that senior officials in the administration put politics before the stewardship of taxpayer dollars” [NYT]. Dr. Chu denied this, arguing that a tough global market was to blame, that struggling loan recipients “got caught in a very, very bad tsunami.” He defended the value… [more]
View InsightTranscript: “Economics of America’s Oil Dependence” Opening Remarks: WILLIAM SQUADRON, President, OurEnergyPolicy.org REPRESENTATIVE PETER WELCH (D VT), Co Chair, Congressional Peak Oil Caucus REPRESENTATIVE ROSCOE BARTLETT (R MD), Co Chair Congressional Peak Oil Caucus Panel Speakers: THE HONORABLE J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, Retired U.S. Senator from Louisiana; Chairman, Johnston & Associates ROGER BEZDEK, President, Management Information Services, Inc.; Co Author, The Impending World Energy Mess EYAL ARONOFF, Co Founder, Quest Software; Member, Set America Free Coalition Moderator: YOSSIE HOLLANDER, Founder and Chairman, OurEnergyPolicy.org
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Transcript: “Energy Innovation and American Competitiveness” Sponsored by OurEnergyPolicy.org and the Congressional Research & Development Caucus 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, 2011 B340 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. Opening Remarks: WILLIAM SQUADRON, President, Our Energy Policy Foundation Panel Speakers: NATHAN S. LEWIS, Director, U.S. DOE Innovation Hub; Professor of Chemistry, CalTech MARK MURO, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution DAVID KREUTZER, Research Fellow in Energy Economics and Climate Change, The Heritage Foundation Moderator: YOSSIE HOLLANDER, Founder and Chairman, Our Energy Policy Foundation
View InsightNote: Synopsis adapted by OurEnergyPolicy.org from APS press materials and report’s executive summary. Synopsis intended solely for purposes of generating discussion. Integrating Renewable Electricity on the Grid By the American Physical Society Panel on Public Affairs The United States has ample renewable energy resources. Land-based wind, the most readily available for development, totals more than 8000 GW of potential capacity. The capacity of concentrating solar power is nearly 7000 GW in seven southwestern states. To date, 30 states plus the District of Columbia have established Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) to require a minimum share of electrical generation produced by renewable… [more]
View InsightNote: Synopsis drawn from report’s executive summary. Synopsis intended solely for purposes of generating discussion. The Future of Natural Gas: An Interdisciplinary MIT Study By the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative Natural gas has moved to the center of the current debate on energy, security and climate. This study examines the role of natural gas in a carbon-constrained world, with a time horizon out to mid-century. The overarching conclusions are that: Abundant global natural gas resources imply greatly expanded natural gas use, with especially large growth in electricity generation. Natural gas will assume an increasing share of the U.S.… [more]
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