Category: News

Draft Climate Bill Out

AP has the story. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has the draft. From the summary:

The legislation has four titles: (1) a ‘clean energy’ title that promotes renewable sources of energy and carbon capture and sequestration technologies, low-carbon transportation fuels, clean electric vehicles, and the smart grid and electricity transmission; (2) an ‘energy efficiency’ title that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry; (3) a ‘global warming’ title that places limits on the emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; and (4) a ‘transitioning’ title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.

One key issue that the discussion draft does not address is how to allocate the tradable emission allowances that restrict the amount of global warming pollution emitted by electric utilities, oil companies, and other sources. This issue will be addressed through discussions among Committee members.

A few quick observations, drawing on the committee summary (the full text is 648 pages and I don’t have the appetite): Continue reading “Draft Climate Bill Out”

Having a Blast in Bozeman

I don’t often get to read about my adopted hometown in the national papers; it’s usually pretty obscure. When FAA analysts look for a small-time airport to poke fun at, we’re first on the list. However, today the NYT has covered the gas explosion that destroyed half a block of downtown, including some wonderful historic brick buildings. The blast was so powerful that we heard it from our house, 6 miles away with an intervening ridge. Sadly there’s no recovery for one person, but I hope the rest of downtown bounces back quickly.

FutureGen killing a mistake?

Via ClimateArk,

US government slammed over coal project

Basic accounting error led government department to miscalculate ongoing project costs

The document, which examines the restructuring of the FutureGen project in January 2008, found that a basic accounting error led the department to miscalculate ongoing project costs. This led it to drastically alter the nature of the project, delaying its operation by three years.

FutureGen, which was meant to begin operation in 2012, combined integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

The initiative was designed to be an experimental one for emerging clean coal research, but construction prices had been escalating as material and labour costs increased. The DoE decided to withdraw support for the industry alliance that was partially funding the programme in January last year.

“Contrary to best practices, DoE did not base its decision to restructure FutureGen on a comprehensive analysis of factors, such as the associated costs, benefits, and risks,” says the report.

“DoE made its decision based, in large part, on its conclusion that construction and material costs for the original programme would continue escalating substantially in the definite future and that lifecycle costs were likely to double.”

However, the DoE’s own Energy Information Administration has pointed out that significant cost escalation for building power plants does not continue in the long run.

The department also made a fundamental mistake in assessing ongoing project costs. It said that costs had doubled from original estimates, using that as the key justification for withdrawing funds from the alliance.

But when it compared its original 2004 estimate of the project’s cost with the alliance’s 2006 estimate to reach that conclusion, it did not take into account that the first estimate was in constant 2004 dollars, whereas the latter was in inflated dollars. Had it acknowledged this difference, the project cost would only have increased by 39 per cent ($370m), according to the GAO.

…

Another good reason to make sure your units balance. I find this explanation of the cancellation barely credible. There must be more to this than meets the eye.

OMG Did I say that out loud?

Steve Chu says the t word in an NYT interview:

He said that while President Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders had endorsed a so-called cap-and-trade system to control global warming pollutants, there were alternatives that could emerge, including a tax on carbon emissions or a modified version of cap-and-trade.

Glad the option isn’t totally dead.

I'm Shovel Ready

Lots of carping on the ‘net about the likely slow pace of stimulus spending. Nevermind the pace, I want to know what’s in it. You actually have to dig quite a bit to get the details of the package (especially with the CBO web site down today). Fortunately, I always keep my shovel handy. Here’s what I see:

9702bc96-e756-11dd-adce-000255111976 Blog_this_caption(Click through to the live version to see the labels)

A few observations:

  • There’s $90 billion in unstated spending.
  • Infrastructure grabs the headlines, but education and health actually get the lion’s share.
  • The “green” portion of the stimulus looks rather small in context. It also seems out of balance – more $ for energy supply than energy efficiency. I’m not convinced that energy supply subsidies are very green.
  • The distribution of half the tax credits is unstated. How do you know the magnitude without knowing the components? Could it be that business tax credits constitute the majority? If so, that would be highly regressive.

Where’s the consulting sector in all this?

Some Links I Won't Have Time to Blog About

Paul Krugman’s letter to Obama

Reasoning-from-conclusions-to-assumptions? (a perspective on modeling)

Sell-off drops EUAs to $11.60/TonCO2

Via Nature, a google search doesn’t really produce 7 grams of carbon, and you can’t build carbon infrastructure to get to a low-carbon future.

Four new CCSP reports from the last days of the Bush administration:
Final Report of Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.1 (Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region)
Final Report of Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.2 (Thresholds of Climate Change in Ecosystems)
Final Report of Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.3 (Aerosol properties and their impacts on climate)
Final Report of Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.2 (Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes)
Plus last month’s USGS report on abrupt climate change, buried over the holidays.