January 10, 2011

California voters made a statement when they turned back an attempt to delay a landmark global warming law. State regulators have since added the exclamation point.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted a cap-and-trade program for CO2 emissions, whose supporters say will grow the state's clean energy economy. Opponents have said the rules would hamstring the California economy, or worse. At a time of such high unemployment and when businesses need to expand, the move to clamp down on them is unwise, those critics add.

January 06, 2011

As the Motor City in Detroit undergoes real changes, Energy Central decided to check into Southern California to see how the electric vehicle is unfolding there.

Today we'll touch base with San Diego Gas & Electric's Chris Chen, market development manager at the utility. His role is very different from that of Arun Banskota, president of NRG EV Services, which is behind the eVgo charging station brand, and that of Jeff LeBrun, a senior analyst at DTE Energy, who is stitching together the diverse array of stakeholders in Detroit.

1/4/2011
Cincinnati.com
by Mike Boyer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - New U.S. energy-efficiency standards started to take hold Tuesday, when home furnishings store Ikea announced it is stopping the sale of traditional, incandescent light bulbs.

The retailer, which operates a local store in West Chester Township, said it's the first major retailer to stop selling the traditional bulbs, which trace their roots to Thomas Edison in the 1870s.

New standards, required by the Energy Independence and Security Act and signed into law in 2007 by former President George W. Bush, eventually will make it more costly and complex to buy light bulbs for the home or office.

January 05, 2011

Coal's future is directly correlated to the development of new technologies that scrub it of all harmful emissions as well as those that would capture and bury carbon emissions. That's what a broad task force has concluded.

The findings, spearheaded by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, say that carbon capture and sequestration is possible within a decade. That, in turn, will help coal maintain relevance. The tools to allow for such advancement, however, will remain elusive unless federal lawmakers act to price carbon emissions and commit to 5 demonstration projects in the coming years.

December 29, 2010

A federal effort to spur offshore wind power now aims to guide developers through the process in about two years.

That's lightning speed for a process that in its play-it-by-ear initial run took almost a decade.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, in a recent speech, unveiled his `Smart from the Start' wind energy initiative for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of new projects, spurring the rapid and responsible development.