Introducing energy reporter Stephen Lacey

I am delighted to announce that ClimateProgress has a new journalist/blogger/podcaster-extraordinaire, Stephen Lacey.  He is joining us after 5 years at renewableenergyworld.com.  He will be reporting and pod-casting on a range of issues, but focusing especially on the reality of clean energy today — how it is ready to scale up — while kicking the tires on what works and what doesn’t here and around the world.

I asked CP readers weeks ago, “What would you like to know about clean energy?” and “What investigative reporting would you like to see?“  We are going to deliver as much of what you asked for as possible in the coming year.

Join me in welcoming Lacey, whose introductory post follows:

Throughout my years covering clean energy, I’ve found that people involved in the field generally fall into two camps. The first camp – typically made up of investors, engineers and developers in the business of renewable energy – argues that clean energy can scale to high penetrations with current technologies. The second camp – made up of a diverse group of doubters, spin artists, cautious supporters and high-minded futurists – believes that we can only bring renewables to scale with dramatic breakthroughs in technology.

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Denmark tops list of clean technology producers; China is No. 2; US at 17 is rapidly expanding

Denmark earns the biggest share of its national revenue from producing windmills and other clean technologies, the United States is rapidly expanding its clean-tech sector, but no country can match China’s pace of growth, according to a new report obtained by The Associated Press.

China’s production of green technologies has grown by a remarkable 77 per cent a year, according to the report, which was commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and which will be unveiled on Monday at an industry conference in Amsterdam.

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The average family would save $513 in just three months

On May 5^th, Environment America and the Sierra Club released a joint report, Summer Gas Prices: Beating the Heat with Clean Cars, that evaluates the impact of higher federal fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.  CAP’s Valeri Vasquez and Junayd Mahmood have the story

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Public support for alternative energy transcends political barriers

A new Pew Poll “Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology” finds strong support for the environment and clean energy.  The PDF is here and the summary with charts is here.

Pew buried the lede.  The most interesting finding to me is that 71% of Americans believe “This country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment.”  And 59% believe that “strongly.”

CAP polling expert Ruy Teixeira has some background on the poll, along with a chart with the results of the energy question:

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We can keep thousands of kids from getting sick — but not if the big coal companies and utilities have their way.  CAP’s Susan Lyon has the how and why.

Act now: submit a public comment to the EPA to clean up our air. You can also comment in Spanish here.

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UK Government:  “It is a primary concern to the Government that the evidence base for policies is robust. Where this evidence base is questioned, it is right that allegations are properly assessed and scrutinised. After two independent reviews, and two reviews by the Science and Technology Committee, we find no evidence to question the scientific basis of human influence on the climate….

“Evidence from multiple disciplines and sources strongly indicates that climate change, driven by human activities, poses real risks for our future. This evidence is comprehensively captured in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and in more recent analyses including from the US National Research Council of the National Academies. It is also clear from an almost continuous body of publications in the academic literature that the evidence for human induced climate change continues to grow….”

You won’t find much U.S. media coverage of the official UK “Government Response” to “The Reviews into the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit’s E-mails” by the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons.

I think that is because:

1. It re-re-re-re-vindicates climate scientists, and since the media glossed over the first three vindications, why start now?
2. It didn’t involve a wedding.

There is a pretty good BBC story, “Climate e-mail reviews ‘leave science sound’.”  Here’s more from the Government Response.  First, their bottom line:

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A few years ago, I sat on the Defense Science Board Task Force on DoD Energy Strategy, which took testimony and wrote a report, More Fight “” Less Fuel, on how energy efficiency and renewables makes sense “” and can save lives “” for the military. The findings are here.

Now CAP’s Kristen Bartoloni has the story of how the Marines are starting to embrace clean energy for that very reason:

The Department of Defense is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States, much of it going into fuel convoys in the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. But the military is taking steps to build a clean energy future. 

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Switching to renewable energy isn’t just a way for American consumers to go green — it’s saving the lives of American combat troops. The Department of Defense is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States, much of it going into fuel convoys in the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. But the military is taking steps to build a clean energy future.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a company of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan has outfitted their battle gear with solar panels, “replacing hundreds of pounds of spare batteries in their packs with roll-up solar panels the size of placemats to power their battle gear.” The India Company was chosen as the pilot company specifically because it was set to deploy in Sangin, one of the deadliest areas of Afghanistan. Solar power allowed the troops to move “faster and farther than before,” while cutting down on dangerous supply convoys:

Use of the solar gear means helicopters don’t have to ferry extra batteries to the Marines, and trucks don’t have to convoy more fuel for generators. Col. Charette said the gear “has surpassed our expectations.” Keeping extra batteries out of packs means the Marines can move faster and farther than before. Fuel use is down at the company’s patrol bases, because the solar equipment replaces generators, the military says.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has adopted an aggressive renewable energy standard for the Navy – aiming for half of its energy to come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020, while the Marine Corps wants to cut its fuel use in half by 2025.

Facing pressure from Republican primary voters, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty attempted to apologize during Thursday night’s GOP debate for his past support of cap and trade, the climate change legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

While mainstream news outlets accepted Pawlenty’s apology and wondered if primary voters would do the same, it largely went ignored that Pawlenty never actually apologized for supporting climate legislation.  ThinkProgress has the story.

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By Kiley Kroh

Last week, one year and two weeks after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig took the lives of 11 people and perpetuated the worst environmental disaster in US history, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives began voting on a trio of bills designed to repeat the catastrophe:

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Join me in congratulating the 2011 Climate Change Communicators of the Year: Naomi Oreskes and the Alliance for Climate Education.

These are named every year by George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication.

The awards are well deserved.  Here is a must-see video from Oreskes, who has been a champion at detailing the history of the climate science deniers and the insidious role they play today:  “Must see Naomi Oreskes talk on Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscure the Truth about Climate Change.”  Her full nominating letter is here.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the great work of the Alliance for Climate Education, here is the letter nominating them:

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