In a letter to the Department of Energy, Secretary Perry describes having attended the G7 Energy Ministerial, and his reaction to discussion of “the need for an energy transition utilizing greater efficiency and fuel diversity.” That transition is necessary because the prevailing electric energy paradigm is based in fossil…
As we move towards fully autonomous cars, many entrepreneurial types are chomping at the bit anxiously hoping to offer robotaxi services. The plans are wrapped in this “car sharing” ideology that we won’t have to own cars, that instead we’ll pay a monthly fee for access to cars. That could…
The role of government is to nurture the common good. Really. The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution describes the role of government to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Therefore, isn’t it within…
What’s the scope of a local planning commission authority? When that commission is considering construction project approval at an oil refinery to enable five oil trains (each a mile long) arrive per week at that refinery, does the local planning commission have the authority to consider issues outside on-site safety and…
Today the Obama Administration took a welcome step concerning coal consumption. The news arrived to me saying they’d frozen new Coal leases on federal lands. While that’s true, what’s actually happened is potentially better, depending on who the next President is. Namely, the Interior Department has launched a review of…
The Obama Administration has (finally) rejected the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, in a hollow victory for environmentalists who’ve staged this as a key battle in preventing climate catastrophe. While this is an important victory, other news from today’s news feed demonstrates that the oil companies plan to simply take the…
An issue raised our investigation of the Dieselgate scandal is whether independent researchers are allowed to investigate the inner workings of our cars. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was originally enacted to protect the music industry from wholesale copying of digital media, but its application was broadened to protect software…
A draft bill (embedded below) being prepared in the US House Energy and Commerce Committee would increase the penalties for “hacking” cars, and gift automakers with an easy “out” on emissions control regulations. The bill focuses on reforms at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and while it contains a…
Today, Volkswagen announced the “Dieselgate” scandal – VW’s cheating on emissions ratings – affects at least 11 million Volkswagen cars sold world-wide, and that the company is setting aside 6.5 billion euros, or about $7.3 billion — to cover the cost of fixing the cars to comply with pollution standards and…
Back in 2009-10 the VW Group released a series of TDI Diesel vehicles with excellent emissions results. Those emissions were so good that at that time I wrote a piece saying VW’s TDI vehicles are not your grandfathers dirty diesel, and even raised the question whether VW would need hybrid vehicles…
Remember a few years ago the “debate” over whether CO2 is pollution? With its announcement today of the “Clean Power Plan” the Obama Administration makes it clear that debate is over, and that action is required now rather than later. The plan calls for strict rules over CO2 emissions, and…
Let’s face it, the $7,500 federal tax credit for the Tesla Model S is hard to defend. Only the wealthy can afford a $100,000 car, and the wealthy hardly need the tax credit. This factoid opens the door to criticism against the whole project of electric vehicle adoption. I…
Does Tesla Motors owe its existence to government subsidies? More than once the company was on the edge of bankruptcy, and kept afloat by infusions of capital, and of course their products (Model S) are sold in part because of government subsidies for electric cars. Recently a big news outlet…
Input document for the “Clean Energy Ministerial” prepared by the IEA. Key Findings Market viability of some clean energy technologies is progressing, but the overall rate of deployment falls short of achieving the ETP 2°C Scenario (2DS). The cost gap between electricity generated from renewables and that from fossil fuels…
In the 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama boasted that we’d have 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. As I noted in my last post, it’s 2015 and we’re nowhere near that goal. What happened? I think Obama over-reached … but there is this little…
