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Cap-and-Trade, Baby, Cap-and-Trade
October 8, 2008 5 min. read

It’s not as catchy as “Drill, Baby, Drill” but it’s actually where we’re going in the developed world. There have been a number of important developments recently entirely worthy of note. (See observations I’ve made previously in this area under Carbon Markets.) Energy and Commerce – The US House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee […]

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The Economic Crisis – and Opportunity
October 6, 2008 4 min. read

All the positive things I’ve described here at the blog regarding business practices, technological breakthroughs, and political developments are very much in train. They signal, in my mind, real hope for the future. I don’t, however, want to live with rose-colored glasses obscuring my vision. We’re heading into a tempest now. The world economic crisis […]

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Tax Credits!
October 3, 2008 2 min. read

Unless you’ve been away on a several-month long vacation in another solar system, you know all about the incredible turmoil we’ve been experiencing in the world stock and money markets and in the “real economy.” Now that the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,” with the “Troubled Asset Relief Program” at its core, has been […]

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Tax Credits? (Take Three)
October 1, 2008 3 min. read

I will never tell you that I can predict what Congress is going to do.  Based on everything I've been reading for several weeks from every economist in sight who's been asked, I thought the vast majority of the members of the House of Representatives would've figured it out.  And sometimes you just do the […]

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Tax Credits? (Take Two)
September 29, 2008 3 min. read

I've mentioned the question of the renewable energy tax credits any number of times at this blog, most recently on September 21 and 24 below.  Well, the House, not surprisingly, did not embrace the Senate's bill from September 23.  For one thing, the Senate bill, somewhat out of left field and only to placate Republican […]

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Energy and Climate Change at the World Leadership Forum
September 26, 2008 5 min. read

I sat in on some of the exciting sessions of the FPA's annual World Leadership Forum (WLF) this week.  If you're interested in the recent developments in the financial industry and the bigger picture of the "geoeconomy," there were two panels of experts discussing some of the ins and outs of those issues which you […]

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Tax Credits?
September 24, 2008 1 min. read

Well, the Senate, after Republicans blocked a vote eight times previously, passed a tax package yesterday that includes the extension of the various credits for renewables.  See this from Reuters and this from Bloomberg.  The vote was a breathtaking 92-3.  The draft legislation does pare away billions in oil and gas industry tax breaks in […]

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Tax Credits
September 21, 2008 2 min. read

Congress might be a little preoccupied this week with saving the world from the consequences of the overleveraged, unregulated excesses of the financial industry, nevertheless, they may actually make time to find a way to create a package of tax credits that will bolster the renewables industry, keeping its incredible recent momentum going.  Senate to […]

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Some Updates and Other Important Notes
September 20, 2008 4 min. read

Permafrost , I wrote about the problem of thawing permafrost here recently.  One group of researchers in Canada, at least, believes that permafrost is more "stubborn" than previously thought and will melt more slowly than predicted.  See this story from AFP.  The qualification in this is that the uppermost layers of permafrost may degrade as […]

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More Groundbreaking Work on Efficiency
September 17, 2008 3 min. read

There are two important reports just out on energy efficiency.  One is from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the other is from American Physical Society.  There is also a major building energy conservation program getting underway in the UK.  (I have written about the critical subject of energy efficiency here, here and here since […]

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Offshore Wind in the Northeast
September 15, 2008 3 min. read

In my review of a really great read, Cape Wind, I mentioned Bluewater Wind's proposal for Delaware waters.  There was an informative story in yesterday's "NY Times" magazine on this project:  Wind-Power Politics.  It's got some great inside politics on how the Bluewater project forged ahead, was sideswiped by some key state legislators working with […]

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Gov. Palin and the Republicans
September 12, 2008 2 min. read

I am not going to say a lot here about how Governor Palin and the Republicans are treating the climate change issue at this point.  I looked at McCain and Obama back in June.  It is very interesting to note, though, that Palin's entry in the race has generated a huge amount of ink,  and […]

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