Other stories below: Obama’s first 2012 ad focuses on energy; Secretary Clinton won’t testify on Keystone XL
Survey: Young drivers prefer electric cars
Lusting for a Lamborghini or Bentley? Not if you grew up listening to the Backstreet Boys and winning trophies for, umm, everything. A new survey finds that most Gen Y consumers (a k a “Millennials”) have a high affinity for green, eco-friendly vehicles versus any other type of car.
Researchers at Deloitte found 59% of Gen Y respondents preferred alternative power. Hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles won over 57% of respondents, and pure battery electric vehicles got 2% of the vote; by contrast, vehicles with a traditional gas-only power train were preferred by only 37%.
Contrary to stereotypes, this young generation seems to know a good value when it sees one: Fuel efficiency is the biggest appeal. In fact, close to half (49%) of Gen Y customers are willing to pay an extra $300 for each mile per gallon of improvement they can get out of a hybrid, according to Deloitte.
Obama’s first 2012 ad focuses on energy
The Republican party may not have settled yet on who will challenge the president in November, but President Obama’s re-election team has already launched its first ad.
Called “unprecedented,” the Obama for America ad focuses on energy policy and takes the president’s critics head on.
“Secretive billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact-checkers say are not tethered to the facts,” says a narrator in the ad over an image referencing the Solyndra controversy.
The Obama team’s ad notes that an independent watchdog group praised Mr. Obama’s record on ethics as “unprecedented.” It also highlights the growth of the clean energy sector under Mr. Obama’s watch, bringing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil below 50 percent for the first time in 13 years.
Pa. Town With Tainted Wells Getting New EPA Water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will deliver fresh water to four homes in a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential water wells were tainted by a gas driller. The agency also said it will begin testing the water supplies of dozens more homes as it ramps up its investigation more than three years after homeowners say the water supply was ruined.
Capping a tumultuous two weeks in which EPA first promised the residents a tanker of water — and then quickly backed away, saying more study was needed — federal environmental regulators said they have concluded that contaminant levels in four of the homes pose a health hazard and require emergency action. Some of the water samples, the agency said, were found to be polluted with cancer-causing arsenic and synthetic chemicals typically found in drilling fluids.
Secretary Clinton won’t testify on Keystone pipeline rejection
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not testify next week at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on President Obama’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
Instead, Kerri-Ann Jones, assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environment and scientific affairs, will testify at the hearing, according to the committee.
Jones headed up the State Department’s review of the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Corbett administration slashes research funding
The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has cut funding for a wildlife research program by nearly 70 percent, eliminating state money for projects meant to examine the impact of natural gas drilling and climate change, according to a report.
Richard Allan, the secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, eliminated 13 of the 21 projects that staff in the agency’s Wildlife Resource Conservation Program had recommended for funding, StateImpact Pennsylvania reported Wednesday.
Air Force reducing energy consumption in the air, on bases
The Air Force uses more energy than any other agency in the federal government, and it’s not likely to give up the top spot any time soon. It flies some 900 flights every day around the globe, not counting its wartime missions, and it’s responsible for running installations all over the world.
Nonetheless, the service has made big strides in cutting its energy consumption. Since 2006, the Air Force cut its consumption of jet fuel by 2 percent during a period when it was tasked with carrying more not less cargo. On its bases, it’s reduced the amount of electricity it consumes by 15 percent, compared with 2003 figures.
While some of the energy savings are the result of up-front investments in energy-saving technologies, many are simply the result of rethinking the way the Air Force manages its operations, said Kevin Geiss, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for energy.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Climate Awareness Impacts Detroit Auto Show
Climate Crocks: John DeCicco, Professor of Practice at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and Research Professor at the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute at University of Michigan, is a nationally known expert on green cars. He visited the North American Auto Show in Detroit in January 2012 and evaluated various alternative fuel vehicles, recommending the “greenest” choices for consumers. http://climateforce.net/2012/01/19/climate-awareness-impacts-detroit-auto-show/
Noam Chomsky How Climate Change Became a ‘Liberal Hoax’ http://climateforce.net/2012/01/20/noam-chomsky-how-climate-change-became-a-liberal-hoax/#more-1240
Electrical surge protectors designed for the entire fuse box are good especially for systems that have long electric runs and for ones that have electric motors. Long runs mean more elec. to make it to an end use and elec. motors do a surge when starting to get the momentum of the turn going.
Many uses from many points may even make for a surge from the utility co.
[Video] Noam Chomsky – Peak Oil and a Changing Climate http://climateforce.net/2012/01/20/noam-chomsky-peak-oil-and-a-changing-climate/
Do not watch when depressed :)
Military Clean Energy Innovation http://climateforce.net/2012/01/19/the-solar-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/
Environmentalists has educated the young well, green is cool and needed, but failed to provide the young with a civics education. If only the young understood that legislatures pass the laws and legislative elections define who writes and passes the laws, because republican government does not mean dictators who are the law. By January 2009, environmentalists should have been warning the young that Republicans in Congress were trying to kill “cool” because they are opposed to a better world for the young because they want don’t want to pay for their pillage and plunder of the planet and the future.
Breaking: Natural Gas venting – a major Global Warming Contributor http://climateforce.net/2012/01/20/breaking-natural-gas-venting-a-major-global-warming-contributor/
“From a CO 2 emissions standpoint, [shale gas] is 60 percent cleaner than coal” – William Colton, VP of Exxon Mobil for corporate planning, NY Times, Oct. 10, 2010
“Shale Gas creates 40-60% more methane to the atmosphere from the natural gas industry, than conventional gas.” – Professor R. Howard
The perils and price of leaking gas are the subject of a paper that Phillips, Crosson, and Ackley presented at a conference last spring sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Their research suggests that 7 percent to 15 percent of manmade methane (the main component of natural gas) in the atmosphere comes from these urban emissions.
Fracking Would Emit Large Quantities of Greenhouse Gases
“Fugitive methane” released during shale gas drilling could accelerate climate change http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fracking-would-emit-methane
Seems to me that we are not just seeing an big jump in big extreme weather events but also a general increase in intense weather across the board.
http://www.accuweather.com/
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2017
North west gets hammered
A must read weather report… especially because of it’s anomalous nature.
2012 Dr. James Hansen On Climate Change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi12lZIdGjQ
IN his latest message James Hansen calls the manipulation from Special Interests, about Climate Change, a Crime Against Humanity.
What would be the best link to brief someoen on the Denial Machine – how special intrests mislead the public opinion, like the tabacco industry did?
Example
The Koch Brothers & Their Amazing Climate Change Denial Machine
http://climateforce.net/2011/07/07/the-koch-brothers-their-amazing-climate-change-denial-machine/
@JustinNOAA Justin Kenney
In Washington DC area, only 0.6″ of snow so far this winter; 30-year average is 15.6″ 1.usa.gov/yaW9pU
https://twitter.com/#!/JustinNOAA/status/160461742080659456
A great opportunity to talk with Inhofe about his igloo.
OT
Newt Gingrich’s Tax Plan Gives Newt Gingrich A $540,000 Tax Break http://t.co/1LWHoVeI
Drowning and Drought – Extreme Weather Impacts on Economy and Society http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGCqYR0P9W0
Insurance loses have risen 3 fold since the 80′s (U.S.)
Can’t help but smile seeing these young drivers’ preference for electric and green and all the new smart young families it seems with lots of incredible kids; that maybe they know some wonderful secret, that the future will be alright and they know they’ll be able to figure it out and make it happen.
U.S. announces climate change strategy
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) — The U.S. Interior Department has announced a strategy to help reduce climate change impacts on species, ecosystems and people and economies dependent on them.
Working with state, tribal and federal agency partners, the department has created a first draft national strategy to help policy makers and resource managers prepare for those impacts, a release from the Interior Department said.
The draft National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is available for public review and comment through March 5 at http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov, the release said.
“The impacts of climate change are already here and those who manage our landscapes are already dealing with them,” Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes said. “The reality is that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, loss of sea ice and changing precipitation patterns — trends scientists have definitively connected to climate change — are already affecting the species we care about, the services we value, and the places we call home.”
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/01/19/US-announces-climate-change-strategy/UPI-69061327029803/
Thawing tundra a new climate threat
(PhysOrg.com) — A significant source of greenhouse gases has started leaking into the Earth’s atmosphere from an unlikely place. Above the Arctic Circle, land frozen for tens of thousands of years has begun to thaw for the first time. Current estimates indicate that perennially frozen ground, called permafrost, holds more than twice the amount of carbon present in today’s atmosphere. As permafrost thaws, a huge amount of this stored carbon could be released as carbon dioxide or methane gas.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-tundra-climate-threat.html
Climate Change Threatens California Economy by Changing Ecosystems
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/20/4202624/climate-change-threatens-california.html