Nov 21, 09
How Carbon Markets Work in Europe
by Eric de Place In spite of what you may have heard, Europe's carbon market is working beautifully. The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been operational since 2005 and we're now getting a good look at how it functions. It turns out, it's a remarkable success story, both environmentally and economically. Let's briefly review the major pieces of evidence. 1. European Environment Agency. A November 2009 report finds that the continent is well on its way to meeting its...
Waste Not, Watt Not: Energy Efficiency Cuts Pollution While Lowering Energy Bills--That's Why It's a Core Strategy of the Climate and Clean Energy Bill
The House climate and clean energy bill has made energy efficiency a centerpiece (see “The triumph of energy efficiency: Waxman-Markey could save $3,900 per household and create 650,000 jobs by 2030“). It would generate some $500 billion through 2025 in efficiency investments alone (see “The only way to win the clean energy race is to pass the clean energy bill“). This new CAP analysis, which includes a state-by-state data on energy savings, cost savings, job...
Chris Csikszentmihayli and a Complex Vision of Citizen Media
Chris Csikszentmihayli opens the morning’s session at MIT’s Knight News Challenge conference with an overview of his view of the world - “It’s my view from MIT - MIT wouldn’t endorse it, they’ve been quite specific about that,” he quips, a reference to the university’s unfortunate decision not to grant him tenure. Chris is now focusing on managing the Center for Future Civic Media, and outlines one of the most exciting projects, ExtrAct. The project calls attention to the...
AUTO. SUEÑO Y MATERIA - Cars And Landscapes
Panos Kokkinias, Gas Station, 2003 AUTO. SUEÑO Y MATERIA [AUTO. DREAM AND MATERIAL], the new exhibition at Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial analyzes contemporary car culture through the lens of some 100 artworks. Lovely interior architecture by longo + roldán arquitectos What an interesting moment to organize an exhibition on cars. Reading online newspaper over the past few months, i had the feeling that an era is closing. Buying a new car is suddenly not as desirable...
But is it Affordable?
by Roger Valdez Smart growth and affordable housing advocates struggle to find answers. Last summer, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) prepared a report to the Vancouver City Council on the city’s EcoDensity Initiative pointing out the initiative’s weakness on affordability. The backers of EcoDensity, a City initiative to make environmental sustainability a primary goal in all city planning decisions, argue that increasing supply by adding density will result in a...
Postopolis Day 4
I got a pleasant and at the same time painful wave of nostalgia last night when i read Bryan's overview of Postopolis on his blog Subtopia. It has been such an amazing adventure for us all. Day 4 of Postopolis was quite a day. It kicked off with a presentation by Michael Downing, Deputy Chief at LAPD and i missed it, i arrived just after it ended, that was not my intention, sorry Deputy Chief. Let's move on to bits and pieces i grabbed that day: One talk i very much enjoyed was the one...
Obama Tells Business Roundtable: “If You’re Giving Away Carbon Permits For Free … It Doesn’t Work” And “The Science Is Overwhelming”
Obama spoke to the CEO's from the world's biggest companies yesterday and, "offered his most extensive remarks on global warming policy since taking office yesterday," as E&E Daily (subs req’d) reports. At the Business Roundtable meeting, Obama reaffirmed that, "I said during the campaign we were looking at a hundred percent auction," and warned inaction was not an option because we face a return to $150 a barrel oil and serious climate impacts: The science is overwhelming. This is a...
Petz Scholtus' Barcelona Eco-Pad
Last December, Erica and I had the pleasure of spending a few weeks in Barcelona, tacking a low-season vacation onto a lecture at the Centre De Cultura Contemporanea De Barcelona. It was one of the best trips of my life. The city itself is amazing, of course, and now one of my favorite places in the world. We ate great food, saw great art and architecture, hung out with fascinating people and explored cool projects, like the Bicing bike sharing system. But one reason why the trip was so...
Media Literacy: Is the New York Times Coverage of Global Warming Fatally Flawed?
Two dreadful, tunnel-vision articles in the New York Times suggest the “paper of record” must rethink how it covers the most important issue of our time. Yes, the NYT has the biggest climate team, but their reporting by stovepipe (rather than by team), renders that staff largely useless. Indeed, it may be less than useless, as these articles make clear. Let’s start with today’s front-page story “Severe Drought Adds to Hardships in California” on the...
Getting the Architecture Right: The Economic Implications of Cap and Trade Policy
This isn't just about carbon ... it turns out that cap and trade could be the largest economic redistribution program the US has ever seen. I attended a symposium a few weeks ago at Evergreen State College about preparing our communities for climate regulation. The keynote was a thought-provoking talk about the economic implications of cap and trade system design by Peter Dorman, an economist and professor at Evergreen. This post is based largely on his talk. In the United States, after...
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