Tag Archives: Coal

The Price of the Green Shift

I started this series of blogs about energy companies and their shift toward greener power sources with a citation from an earlier blog (July 17, 2013), quoting then-CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, who opined, “What good is it to save … Continue reading

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Utilities: Calculating our Carbon Footprints

I have used Table 1 in the last few blogs (starting on May 11th) to show the carbon intensities for the various sources of energy that we use in large buildings (greater than 25,000ft2) in NYC. From there, I’ve shown … Continue reading

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Electricity Generation: Carbon Intensity and Composition

Two years ago (June 18, 2019), I discussed higher-education carbon emissions. This included the lists that organizations such as the Sierra Club made to rank campuses across the country by their emissions. We split emissions into three categories: Scope 1 … Continue reading

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The American Jobs Plan & Power Generation by Source

Last week, when I discussed the new $2.3 trillion “American Jobs Plan,” I listed the costs of items that directly address climate change mitigation. The second most expensive item was the $174 billion program for electric vehicle incentive. A few … Continue reading

Posted in administration, Electric Cars, Sustainability, US | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Production Gap: Actual Emissions vs. Paris Promises

Figure 1 – Relative country contributions to total global carbon emissions and percentages of emissions over time, 2017 The new administration and the accompanying new leadership of many federal offices have strongly signaled a renewed and strengthened dedication to confront … Continue reading

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Energy Resilience: Winter in Texas

 I have written often about resilience and its importance in our energy transition. You can put the word into the search box and see a plethora of posts. Most of them focus on California and Australia, where climate change has … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Electricity, Energy, Extreme Weather, Sustainability, US, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Winners and Losers: COVID and Coal

President Biden signed 17 executive orders immediately after his inauguration on January 20th (January 26th blog). Many of them nullified President Trump’s policies which had deliberately ignored climate change and thwarted mitigation efforts. Foremost of these new policies was the … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

K-Shaped Global Disasters

In an earlier blog (August 4, 2020), I presented anthropogenic climate change, COVID-19, population, jobs, and equity as circles in a Venn Diagram. COVID-19 gives us an opportunity to quantify those relationships. In this case, jobs represent the economic impact … Continue reading

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Two Contradictory Versions of “Too Expensive”

I’m still in lockdown but I have the resources to communicate with the world. I have the opportunity to expose myself to different kinds of information while avoiding exposure to the pandemic. The piece below came from Forbes magazine, which, … Continue reading

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Extreme Weather & the Energy Transition

All over the world, people are getting tired of the lockdowns and frozen economies, and yet the virus is still on the rise in many places. As countries and states reopen, carbon emissions are resurging. Here is what that means … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Extreme Weather, Sustainability, Trump, US | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments