14 item(s) were returned.
There are over 90,000 cargo ships powered by oil-based fuels that, according to one study, account for 3-4% of worldwide emissions (including SOx, NOx, PM and CO2). In 2012, the International Maritime Organization sparked a series of regulations aimed at reducing sulfur emissions and in January, 2015, a new U.S. rule went into effect that requires ships operating in coastal waters to make further reductions. With an abundance of U.S. natural gas, one potentially cost-effective compliance option is to transition to marine shipping fueled by LNG, however, challenges remain. Supporters of LNG as a fuel source say it will reduce… [more]
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Editor
Bloomberg's First Word Energy
After years of discussion and delay, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to finalize ozone standards in the coming weeks. It’s a rule long in the making: EPA’s decision during the Bush administration to set the standard at 75 parts per billion was challenged in court by health and environmental organizations as insufficient. At the beginning of the Obama administration, the EPA said it would reconsider the standard, but that initiative was tossed out by President Obama in the lead up to 2012 election. The move summed up the discord between the president and environmentalists in his first term.… [more]
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Lead Senior Economist
Environmental Defense Fund
What determines the cost of a ton of coal? Is OPEC an oligopoly? Should we subsidize low-carbon energy or tax fossil fuels? Do Prius owners drive more? These are among the questions I cover in my Economics of Energy class. I’ve taught this class at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs for the past five years. I hope to receive your feedback on how to improve this course. The course has two goals: to provide a set of tools to approach these and many other fundamental questions in energy economics, and to do so in plain English. Last… [more]
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In November, 2013, EPA announced a highly contentious proposal that lowered the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard targets below their 2013 levels. These targets apply to the amount of renewable fuels that are blended into the nation’s gasoline supply. A year later, EPA abandoned the proposal after significant push back from the renewable fuel industry, agreeing to reconsider the 2014 targets. EPA has yet to reissue the proposal. The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) filed a lawsuit over the delay, contending that they are left guessing how much ethanol they were required to use last… [more]
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Advisor
Fuel Freedom Foundation
Americans have many choices that are denied to citizens of other less-fortunate nations. But we forget how many decisions are made for us, sometimes out of necessity, such as paying taxes; sometimes out of greed, such as the monopolistic actions of oil companies in denying many Americans the ability to purchase alcohol-based fuels at their corner gas station. Through various rules imposed on gas stations, oil companies limit many of us from using existing, safe, alternative fuels, like E85, and make available only more expensive, environmentally harmful gasoline. For example, gas stations owned or franchised by an oil company have… [more]
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A report, “Fuel Choice for American Prosperity,” recently published by the United States Energy Security Council (USESC), a group within the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), identifies challenges facing the United States’ pursuit of energy security. Despite oil imports expected to fall to their lowest level since 1987 (EIA), the total amount of money the U.S. spends on oil imports has increased. If energy security is defined as “reliable supply at an affordable price,” as the report’s authors define, the U.S. has improved the former, but failed to impact global oil prices, which have risen more than… [more]
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Advisor
Fuel Freedom Foundation
Last week, the Tesla Model S, an electric-powered car, received the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s highest mark in its history of ranking cars. Consumers Reports granted the Tesla Model S ninety-nine out of 100 points in their overall measure of vehicles and Motor Trend magazine named the Model S the 2013 Car of the Year. While Tesla’s increasing appeal may lead the way toward increasing market penetration for electric vehicles (EVs) in the future, real competition, at the present time and for some time to come, will depend upon opening up the present-restrictive gasoline market to alternative fuels, like… [more]
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According to a recently released Harvard Law School report, the website FracFocus.org “fails as a regulatory compliance tool” for energy companies developing oil and gas wells using hydraulic fracturing. FracFocus, an online national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, was established to provide the public with access to reported chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing within their area. Currently 11 of the 18 states that require disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals allow companies to use FracFocus as their reporting method. FracFocus was also proposed by the Bureau of Land… [more]
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Last week Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, published a blueprint for energy policy, titled “Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future.” The blueprint offers ideas to “align federal policy with… our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure.” Among the main ideas in Sen. Murkowski’s blueprint are: Establishing a national goal to become independent of OPEC imports by 2020 by increasing domestic oil, biofuel and synthetic fuel production. Approving the Keystone XL pipeline. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and… [more]
View Insight“Our National Energy Policy: Post-Election Prospects and Challenges” December 14th, 2012 National Press Club, Washington, DC See below for an abridged version of the transcript and a full video recording of the event. You can view or download the full transcript here. Opening Remarks: WILLIAM SQUADRON, President, OurEnergyPolicy.org Speakers: JAMES CONNAUGHTON, Executive Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor with Exelon Corporation and Former Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality GENERAL JAMES L. JONES, USMC (retired), Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Advisor to the American Energy Innovation Council with the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Former… [more]
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