Energy & Environment: All Articles and Books

Population Bombing

Ron Tang — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:46:00 -0400

In the 20th century, a global network of colluding activists, institutions, and governments sought to engineer solutions to various real and perceived social problems by, as Matthew Connelly puts it in his new book, planning "other people's families." In its most egregious expression, this movement led to the forced sterilization of millions of people around the world, including many thousands in the U.S., on the grounds that they were -- genetically or otherwise -- unfit. California alone had sterilized 7,500 people by 1931, and the practice continued in other states up until the 1970s.

This movement also, through philanthropies and government-directed… more

What High Oil Prices Can Do For a Country

Ron Tang — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:43:00 -0400

From the outside, Effat College doesn't seem like a bellwether of change. The all-girls school in Jeddah, a port city on the coast of the Red Sea, is rimmed by unscalable high walls and an empty parking lot, resembling the scene of a freshly departed circus in Middle America. In many ways, the college's exterior illustrates conventional misperceptions -- closed, drab, and unwelcoming -- of modern Saudi Arabia. Perhaps the only thing less inviting is the bold, red lettering at the top of the form handed to visitors as they enter the kingdom, which reads: "WARNING: Death to Drug Traffickers."

But… more

Waste Not

Ron Tang — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:24:00 -0400

Forty years ago, the steel mills and factories south of Chicago were known for their sooty smokestacks, plumes of steam, and throngs of workers. Clean-air laws have since gotten rid of the smoke, and labor-productivity initiatives have eliminated most of the workers. What remains is the steam, billowing up into the sky day after day, just as it did a generation ago.

The U.S. economy wastes 55 percent of the energy it consumes, and while American companies have ruthlessly wrung out other forms of inefficiency, that figure hasn’t changed much in recent decades. The amount lost by electric utilities alone could… more

Core Arguments

Ron Tang — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:24:00 -0400

A generation after Three Mile Island's near-disaster in 1979, nuclear power remains politically radioactive. Though energy consumption has increased dramatically -- Americans upped their per capita household electrical use by a third between 1980 and 2001 -- no new nuclear plants have been built since 1996. We've let the Mighty Atom sit in the penalty box rather than settle whether we're Pro-Nuke or No-Nuke once and for all.

In her provocative yet flawed and often frustrating book, "Power to Save the World," Gwyneth Cravens does us all the service of taking a fresh look at nuclear power and asking whether the… more

5 Myths about Earth-Friendly Energy

Ron Tang — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Last year, Americans spent more greenbacks on oil than any other nation -- about $517 billion, according to the Energy Information Administration. But we've failed to lead in developing green energy, and that's going to cost us even more.

Historically, we've treated renewable energy and energy efficiency as virtuous, feel-good projects rather than shrewd investments in the industries of the future. It shows: We now trail China and Germany in renewable-power production and lag behind Japan and most of Europe in energy productivity. Worse, we may be missing out on the green gold rush of the century: The market for green… more

More Oil Money, Less Democracy?

adminn — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:29:00 -0500

This article was published in El Comercio, a leading Ecuadorian daily paper, under the headline of ‘Democracia y crudo no se llevan bien...’ The text as published in Spanish is available on the ElComercio.com; the English version is posted below in its entirety.

Long before he became Vice President of the United States, back when he was just the CEO of a company called Halliburton, Dick Cheney was asked about oil and democracy. He famously quipped: “The problem is that the good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas reserves where there are democratic governments.”

Blaming the… more

For '08: A New Perspective on Worry

adminn — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:53:00 -0500

My New Year's resolutions:

I resolve to worry more about Pakistan's 75-weapon nuclear stockpile than about global warming. I am more worried about being incinerated by a loose nuke than I am about the water table rising a few feet.

Yet, I also resolve to worry more about global warming than about democracy in Pakistan. Democracy is wonderful, but only for people who want it, and who are willing to play by its rules. Democracy without self-discipline is a formula for, well, Pakistan.

I further resolve to focus more on who gets into America from scary countries -- such as Pakistan. And I… more

Black is the New Green

Ron Tang — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The intersection of ongoing structural shifts in international energy markets with strategic trends in global financial markets poses the most profound challenge to American hegemony since the end of the Cold War. In 2006, Pierre Noël and I wrote in these pages about an "axis of oil" -- a loose and shifting coalition of energy-exporting and -importing states, anchored by Russia and China, that is emerging as a counterweight to the United States (so far, most notably in Central Asia and, increasingly, in Iran).1 The ability of such a coalition to resist American hegemony is now compounded by the vulnerability… more

Policy Considerations of a Carbon Tax

adminn — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:46:00 -0500

Regardless of one’s view on the issue of climate change and how high priority it should be on national and international agendas, the topic, as well as ideas for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is getting much attention by legislators, governors, mayors and others. One idea that has been suggested for changing manufacturer’s behavior to reduce GHG emissions is a carbon tax (for more information on carbon taxes and examples of current proposals, see Warming Up to a Carbon Tax).

Energy Taxes -- Not a New Idea

Taxes on… more

Warming Up to a Carbon Tax

Ron Tang — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Reports made by the United Nations and other groups over the past year have concluded that global warming is a certainty (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and others). Greenhouse gases (GHG) trap heat in the atmosphere that slowly warms the earth. The primary greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) generated from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas.

The U.S. is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases (November 2007 report (PDF) from the Climate Change Science Program). Increased world attention to climate… more

Gingrich's Solutions Beat Gore's Doom Rhetoric

Articles — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:21:00 -0400

Al Gore and Newt Gingrich are very different figures, but they are both going through a similar process: They are becoming elder statesmen.

And how does one become an elder statesman, anyway? It’s an easy, two-step process: First, have something important to say and be tireless in saying it. Second, stop running for president, because then people will let their guard down; they will listen to the substance of your message, not worry about tracking your upward political mobility.

Oh, and a third thing: Optimism sells better than pessimism. So while the former Democratic vice president is getting most of the glory,… more

Sustaining an Infrastructure for Success

Articles — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:34:00 -0400

In the wake of infrastructure related tragedies that struck Minnesota and New Orleans, political leaders have demonstrated once again that they do not understand the benefits of public investment. Mistakenly seeing only the financial burden of public investment and ignoring the future returns, they have failed to allocate enough public funds to adequately repair America’s roads, bridges, railways and electric grids. As a consequence, America is stopped short of reaching its full economic potential.

The costs of our crumbling infrastructure include wasted fuel, traffic delays and clogged ports. Congestion on America’s roads results in losses between $70 to 78 billion every… more

Can't Stand the Heat

Articles — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:51:00 -0400

It’s all the suburbs’ fault. You know, everything -- traffic congestion, overweight kids, social alienation. Oh, and lest we forget, global warming and rising energy costs, too.

That latest knock against the burbs has caught on widely. With their multiplying McMansions and exploding Explorers, the burbs are the reason we’re paying so much for gas and heating oil and spewing all those emissions that are heating up the atmosphere --or so a host of urban proponents tells us. It’s time to ditch the burbs and go back to the city. New York, Boston, Chicago -- these densely packed metropolises are "models… more

Start-Up U

Articles — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:59:00 -0400

Venture capitalists are not known to haunt Sproul Plaza, with its drummers and dreamers, but last spring Silicon Valley’s financiers showed up in force. On March 21 they filed across the flagstones and into the Student Union auditorium to hear such scintillating discussions as “Carbon Regulation and the Impact on Innovation,” and “Energy Storage: Hydrogen, Batteries, and Beyond.” The draw was not the topics, but rather the 400 people sitting in the folding chairs. They encompassed the entire energy universe of California -- researchers in architecture, chemistry, biology, engineering, and economics from Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; influential state… more

Know New Taxes

Articles — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:20:00 -0400

When it comes to taxes, the United States is not very creative. We have the traditional income, sales and property taxes, as well as sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol. In comparison, Ireland has a tax on plastic bags and Denmark has a tax on disposable tableware. The United Kingdom has a landfill tax. China has a tax on disposable wooden chopsticks and Sweden has a carbon tax.

Are these countries just desperate for revenue? No. There are good reasons for environmental taxes and a few are used in the United States. Our federal tax on ozone-depleting chemicals has been around… more

Taxes and Sustainability

Ron Tang — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:00:00 -0400

For several decades, we have periodically seen concern expressed about our environment and energy usage. The supply and cost of oil, the “hole” in the ozone layer, and various forms of pollution have at times also caught the attention of legislators and government officials who shape our laws. The U.S. Department of the Interior was created in 1949, and the first federal clean air act was enacted in 1955. In 1970, President Nixon formed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the first celebration of Earth Day was April 22, 1970. States have also enacted various laws over the years in efforts to reduce pollution.

In considering ways… more

Legislators Fiddle While Earth Warms

Articles — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:21:00 -0400

Crazy weather patterns have appeared recently in the form of humidity in usually foggy San Francisco, California-like weather in Washington, D.C., torrential downpours and massive flooding in Britain and torrid temperatures in the Mediterranean. These and other episodes such as Hurricane Katrina add more evidence to the scientific studies that say we are at the outset of an era of blowback, environmentally speaking. Human activities have pumped massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and the bill has come due.

Governments around the world are trying to figure the way forward, with the European Union leading the way. Recently,… more

How to Hit the Trifecta

Articles — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:40:00 -0400

Rising insecurity in the oil producing regions of the world along with rising carbon levels in the atmosphere are pushing Congress to update our nation’s energy policies. But far from providing a bold solution to our converging environmental, energy and security dilemmas, the bill that has come out of the Senate to gradually increase fuel efficiency standards relies on timid half-measures. Congress should instead consider a more effective and long-overdue step towards energy independence and environmental protection -- implementing a broad-based energy tax.

Clearly, U.S. energy policies need reforming. Oil-producing nations hold too much sway over our pocketbooks and our… more

Wild is the Wind

Articles — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:29:00 -0400

The better science gets at describing climate change with computer models and probabilities, the harder it is for the rest of us to understand. Recently I’ve resorted to an admittedly lazy mixture of superstition and branding: every big hurricane, every freak April snowstorm, every early-blooming tulip is mentally tagged: "Brought to you by global warming." But of course, this is more "mediarology" than meteorology, to borrow a term from one of the scientists Chris Mooney interviews in his new book, Storm Warning: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming.

After Hurricane Katrina thrashed his mother’s New Orleans house, Mooney began… more

Oil & Water, Hazard & Cure

Articles — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:11:00 -0400

Almost every American can tell you about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This spill is a national yardstick for environmental catastrophe and rightly so: oil covered so much of the Alaskan coast that, had it taken place further south, it would have covered every inch of beach between Oregon and Mexico. Although Exxon claims it spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound’s pristine waters, the true number is much larger.

But as big a disaster as the Valdez was, it is dwarfed by the world’s largest spills and the accumulation of the thousands of smaller oil… more