Debate on energy, climate bill to begin next week
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Congressional hearings will begin next Tuesday on an energy and climate bill that backers say will spur innovation in clean energy technologies and use the marketplace to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions.
One of the bill's sponsors, Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Edward Markey, hosted a forum on clean energy policy and climate change at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday where he announced the planned hearings.
Two influential figures in the Obama administration--Carol Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate change, and John Holdren, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy--also delivered speeches at the event, arguing for a sustained commitment to green technologies for economic and environmental reasons.
On the whole, speakers drew a picture of U.S. energy policy in the midst of profound change, driven by concerns over the economy, national security, and the environment. At the same time, they noted the daunting technical and political barriers to a transition to a low-carbon energy industry.
"The energy challenge we face is actually a more difficult challenge than putting a man on the moon was," said Holdren. "We have to do things that pervade our whole economy, not just of this country but around the world, in order to get it done to the degree that is required."
In his talk, Holdren summarized the latest climate science, saying that climate change is happening faster than predicted in previous scenarios done by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He said significant harm from climate change is already happening, such as effects on agriculture from changes in monsoons, more flooding from extreme precipitation, and pest population explosions that are affecting the timber industry in the U.S.
"Tipping points" that lead to rapid climate change, such as rapid ice-sheet disintegration in the poles and the release of gases trapped in permafrost, could "occur sooner rather than later," he said.
John Holdren, the director of the president's Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaking about energy and climate policy at MIT Monday.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)The most important technologies needed to mitigate climate change are efficiency, carbon capture and sequestration, advanced vehicles running on better batteries and fuel cells, and much cheaper solar cells.
He also said that the U.S. should develop approaches to nuclear energy that minimize risk from nuclear wastes. Work on nuclear fusion should also continue as well, he said
The options for policy--many of which have a positive economic impact--include removing barriers to the "low-hanging fruit" of efficiency technologies, such as improving consumer education and removing incentives for less efficient products, he said.
Subsidies for high-emitting energy sources should be removed and there should be continued government funding for research and development, he said. Other effective options to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere include slowing the rate of deforestation and modifying agriculture practices.
Large-scale geoengineering projects designed to cool the Earth could "conceivably" be done, he said, repeating an assertion he first made last week.
Energy investments
The stimulus package passed earlier this year had $59 billion in direct spending and tax incentives around energy efficient and clean energy, including plans to install 40 million smart electrical meters, loan guarantees for large wind and solar farms, and the installation of new transmission lines to carry renewable energy.
The Obama administration has also boosted spending on research and development, a move that MIT president Susan Hockfield said "represents the best strategy for long-term economic recovery and growth."
Two weeks ago, Markey and Energy and Commerce Committee co-chairman Rep. Henry Waxman presented a draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The proposed legislation seeks to send "a clear signal that the U.S. will be the leader, not the laggard, on clean energy technologies," said Markey.
Speakers at a symposium on clean energy policy at MIT. From left: Cambridge Energy Research Associates Chairman Daniel Yergin, Director of the MIT Energy Initiative Ernest Moniz, Assistant to the President on Energy and Climate Carol Browner, MIT President Susan Hockfield, and Rep. Edward Markey.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)He said three members of the Obama administration--Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood are scheduled to testify at hearings on the bill next week. The goal is to have the House vote on the bill before its August recess, and to have a bill signed into law this year before the next round of international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Officials from fast-growing countries India and China have told him and other members of Congress that they expect the U.S. to lead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions because the U.S. is a large polluter. The U.S. is responsible for 25 percent of global oil consumption but has only three percent of the population. "We can't preach temperance from the barstool," he said.
Policy challenges
Passage of a bill, however, that includes both energy provisions and climate regulations, is expected to be difficult. Residents of states that rely heavily on inexpensive but polluting coal for electricity have balked at the potential increase in electricity costs from putting a price on carbon emissions.
The bill intends to raise tens of billions of dollars by auctioning off polluting permits which can be traded in a cap-and-trade system. The money will be use to invest in energy technologies. There are also provisions to provide relief to people who see higher energy bills, and there are short-term exemptions for heavy-polluting industries, Markey said.
In her talk, Browner put current climate and energy policy initiatives in the context of previous environmental crises, including acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer.
In previous cases, there were people who said that regulations to address these problems would be too expensive or that the technology wasn't available. But in each instance, industry was able to find technical solutions, she said.
"For many years, we had a debate that somehow we had to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. History has shown that we don't have to chose and the two are intrinsically linked," Browner said.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
Wait a minute, did we trap that gas? Those darn Mastadons, they ruined our enviornment with their long hair and flatulents. Wait minute again, another find. The environmentalist wackos have long hair and excrete volumes of flatulents because of their vegan diets. We must get rid of these violaters again just as our cavemen brothers did thousands of years ago.
The title of this article is, "Debate on energy, climate bill to begin next week." I ask you, where is the DEBATE?
We are in a natural warming period and scientists have proven this with flucuating ice ages and periods of warming. I do admit we need alternative fuels but taxes is not wise at all, reward people even more for helping the environment not penalize people that are stuck with polluting because they on a tight budget.
The other 1%? Mostly from increased WATER VAPOR in that atmosphere, which there is JACKALL we can do to stop that.
I also agree that we do need alternative fuels and to stop polluting with gasoline powered cars that get only 20 miles to the gallon or less, but I'm getting tired of being feared with the 'Doomsday scenarios' of the idiots out there to do that. Need I remind everyone of 'global cooling' in the 1970's, before I was even BORN!
What about building a high volatge DC national power grid. Look at all the advantages a HVDC grid can provide to power supplies and consider all the benefits of the contruction actiuvity as well. A national grid will provide more stable distribution grids, better spread of baseload power consumption, major security benefits. The construction will provide jobs and the need for materials, which is more jobs.
If Obama does carbon taxes will social security pay for that as well? Because nobody even the working class will be able to even afford much anymore, budgets are all tight and if CO2 taxes happen he will KILL THE POOR, OBAMA WILL KILL THE POOR, and the disabled like adolf hitler.
Because Obama will choke people to death financially instead of concentration camps, this will be the way to destroy the homeless, create more fury, violence and crime, and it will lead to more food riots (I heard about food riots already happening in the U.S) this would require more money to be used in medicade (Which I'm on), it would create a large budget deficit, more money would be needed for food stamps because of the farm factories and it would hurt farmers because they use tracters, it would hurt everything.
Tax credits would be the mark of the beast the bible warned about (6 electrons, 6 protons and 6 neutrons). Don't let Obama create carbon currency or carbon taxes or it would be the end of the world.
This scribd document details a working blueprint that tells us how to have clean energy that takes no resources other then it takes to build it.
Please CNET mods don't censor this because we something that will save humanity and cut costs because cutting family costs is the only way to restore the economy.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11452998/Blueprints-for-the-Magnetism-Powered-Generator-R2D3
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9940103/Energy-Independent-Fuel-Stations-for-Cars-and-Energy-Independent-Electricity-for-Homes-and-Businesses
Please don't list this as spam, the people have a right to know we can have alternative fuels without carbon taxes, if he wants to start it up give people less taxes by reducing carbon emissions, not raise taxes, that would KILL us.
Unlimited Energy Resources from these Inventions-Please read the attachments
In order to save our World called the Planet Earth from further Global Warming and resultant adverse climatic changes causing all the unprecedented incremental Natural Disasters globally, we must go after the Best Technologies already available long ago despite the suppression of which by selfish vested interests of Fossil Oils' Companies.
Nikola Tesla the Greatest Inventor of the last century had invented the Technologies to run cars & power stations without fuel one Century ago and these technologies might still be classified top secret, immediately after his death. It is time to resurrect Nikola Tesla's life-works to produce electrical power without fuel and sharing them as it was intended by the Greatest Inventor himself.
Stanley Meyer had invented the Technology to turn Water into unlimited amount of fuel for making Unlimited Power Supply and to run cars and all internal combustion engines with HHO "on demand basis only" and so no storage of the HHO gases is required as it is safer & cheaper to store water instead, but unfortunately he was murdered. He had about more than 40 patents in this Technology. No one Car/Technology Company has pursued this technology further by buying up his technology and put them to good use to save our this planet Earth from Global Warming causing adverse climatic changes and disasters and hardship owing to unlimited and unrestrained use of Fossil Oils and Fuels, thus releasing & emitting enormous quantities of green house gases into the atmosphere. I think some company like Google should buy this Patented Technologies from Stanley Meyer's family and make this open source technology for the world to improve on and make good use of this Technology to save our world call Planet Earth.
On a two prongs approach, also those Zero Fuel Technologies invented by Nikola Tesla should be declassified and resurrected by the present President Obama of USA to run cars and power-stations to save our Planet Earth from destruction and doom owing to unlimited and unrestrained use of Fossil Oils and Fuels for the whole of last Century. Our World the planet earth must be saved from the exploits of greed of the vested self interests of the fossil oil & fuels producers that pumped the unlimited amount of Greenhouse gases into our common atmosphere for the last century.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcy3JbGjQwo
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/tesla.htm
http://keelynet.com/energy/teslafe1.htm
http://www.panaceauniversity.org/
Therefore someone without vested interests must come forward to lead in this matter of creating the best alternative energy sources for the good of mankind to follow the footsteps of Nikola Tesla to share his inventions for the good of all mankind. Be it free energy by Coils tapping free energy from the Magnetics Poles of the Earth, Cold Fusion or Magnetic Engines or splitting of Water through electrolysis process on demand basis to produce Brown Gas or HHO to run the present day Vehicles' Internal Combustion Engines without modifications then why not to cut the pollutions from the use of fossil oils and fuels.
YOU NEED ANOTHER NIKOLA TESLA INCARNATION TO RE-INVENT ALTERNATIVE POWER GENERATION WHICH INDEED HE DID HAVE DONE THIS ONE CENTURY AGO TO ACHIEVE GOOGLE'S GOALS TO PRODUCE POWER/ENERGY FOSSIL FUEL FREE BUT THIS HAS BEEN SUPPRESSED BY OTHERS WITH SELFISH INTERESTS. TO RESURRECT THE GREATEST INVENTOR'S LIFE WORKS OF PRODUCING AND SHARING FREE ALTERNATIVE POWER /ENERGY YOU NEED TO GET THE DECLASSIFICATION FROM THE FUTURE AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN ORDER TO RETRIEVE HIS GREATEST LIFE WORKS WHICH HAD BEEN CLASSIFIED "TOP SECRET" IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS DEATH, THEREFORE, IT IS HIGH TIME SOME GOOD INITIATIVE IS TAKEN TO RESURRECT HIS GOOD WORKS AND PUT THEM TO GOOD USE TO SAVE THE FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM DISASTERS IN ADVERSED CLIMATIC CHANGES CAUSED AS THE RESULT OF GLOBAL WARMING WHICH IS CAUSED BY THE UNLIMITED USE OF FOSSIL OILS AND FUELS TO GENERATE POWER/ENERGY. SINCE IT IS PROBABLE THAT YOU CANNOT FIND A GREAT INVENTOR IN THIS CENTURY AS GREAT AS NIKOLA TESLA, BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE STAN MEYERS AND OTHERS AS GOOD AS STAN MEYERS WERE ALSO MURDERED TO SUPPRESS THE VERY TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO PRODUCE ALTERNATIVE POWERS/ ENERGY SOURCES. IT IS NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE PRESENT & FUTURE INVENTORS ON SUFFERING THE SAME FATE, THEREFORE GOOGLE MUST TAKE THE LEAD TO PROTECT AND WORK WITH THIS PRESENT & FUTURE GENERATION OF INVENTORS TO ACHIEVE THE BEST TECHNOLOGY POSSIBLE IN ALTERNATIVE POWER/ENERGY GENERATION/PRODUCTION.
K A Cheah
Independent Observer
- by tedpk April 14, 2009 1:22 AM PDT
- All of this is really about Taxing Carbon -- the rest is a "smokescreen" -- I find it very hard to believe that someone with the academic pedigree of Chu (DOE) who has a real Nobel Prize in Physics and not the political Nobel Peace prize of Algore is conned into believing that: 1) real significant warming is occurring, 2) human activity is responsible, 3) there is anything that we can do about it ... in reality there is no reliable indication, outside of the flawed ground based global temperatures, that there is any significant global warming occurring....the minimal warming which is indicated by satellite data (unfortunately only 30 years of data) can quite credibly be explained by natural variations in solar output and cloudiness....since the bulk of the minimal warming is probably natural-- there is no reason to disrupt the global economy.....I'm sure that Dr. Chu can do the same analysis and if there is a possibility that my analysis is correct -- then doing anything is likely to be wasteful at the minimum and dangerous if some of the geo-engineering ideas are followed....Let's spend the next solar cycle measuring to the best of our ability all of the relevant data and then in 20 or so years we will have the data to answer questions #1 and #2 and if we want to slowly transition to more electric-based economy -- in the mean time we can build nuclear plants -- like France
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- by Lerianis3 April 14, 2009 2:31 AM PDT
- You got it right when you said that we only have about 30 years of sattelite data to go by. The fact is that the enviroloonies are looking at that data and screaming "THE WORLD IS MELTING!" when the fact is that the Earth goes through NORMAL periods of heating and cooling, which is mainly dictated by...... the Sun. 99.9999999999% dictated by that, in fact.
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