Overwhelming evidence points to carbon pollution from dirty energy
like coal and gas as the main cause of today's climate change.
They compete with major market players
like coal and gas, and with proven, low - cost solar and wind technologies.
This stability in methane levels had led scientists to believe that emissions of the gas from natural sources like livestock and wetlands, as well as from human activities
like coal and gas production, were balanced by the rate of destruction of methane in the atmosphere.
Not exact matches
The whole thing started in 2015, when Stanford professor Mark Jacobson
and some colleagues published a paper arguing that, by mid-century, the United States could be powered entirely by clean energy sources —
and by clean, he meant the really clean stuff (wind, solar, hydropower), not the only - somewhat - cleaner - than -
coal stuff
like natural
gas, nuclear energy,
and biofuels.
Foley said that
coal will still likely be the majority power source in 25 years in developing economies
like China
and India, as they have large domestic
coal supplies
and less domestic competition from natural
gas.
Instead of a world dominated by renewable sources of power
like wind
and solar — as people concerned about the dangers of climate change would hope — PE execs see
gas, oil
and even
coal as a substantial component of electricity
and fuel sources in 2039, according to recent interviews conducted by CNBC.com on the future of energy as part of CNBC's 25th anniversary.
With high oil prices persistently poised to derail the global economy, with large economies
like Germany
and Japan swearing off nuclear in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, with
coal hampered by looming emissions caps, unexpectedly abundant
gas seems poised to fill the energy void.
I would
like to share with you the work of our senior economist Marc Lee, who heads up our Climate Justice Project, as well as the work of one of our research associates, veteran earth scientist David Hughes (who spent 32 years working for the Geological Survey of Canada, where he focused on unconventional
gas,
coal and oil research).
Much of this energy still comes from the burning of fossil fuels
like oil,
coal and natural
gas, which release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere
and contribute to extreme weather patterns that imperil everyone on earth — especially our food producers.
Another group of rural voters are those who rely on extractive industries
like coal mining, oil
and gas drilling,
and the
like for their livelihood.
The government manages several natural resources
like Gas,
Coal, Iron, Gold, Oil, Sea, Water, Mass Transport Services (subway), Trains, Sea transport, Electricity,
and has a company in the telecommunications sector.
Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello said the U.S. needs to take immediate action to get off of dirty fossil fuel energy sources
like natural
gas and coal and switch to 100 percent renewable energy sources
like solar
and wind.
At that price,
coal, natural
gas, nuclear
and renewable electricity sources
like wind become roughly cost - competitive, Moniz says.
Such a carbon tax could help keep
coal, oil
and natural
gas safely in the ground in favor of alternatives
like electric cars
and cleaner power plants.
Finding a plug for «leakage» Harstad's theory builds upon the concept of «carbon leakage,» which holds that countries opting out of climate agreements will produce more greenhouse
gases as their neighbors take steps to ratchet down greenhouse
gas emissions
and regulate the sources of such emissions,
like coal - burning industrial plants or motor vehicle fleets.
Renewable Risk Our current, fragile grid evolved to work with steady energy sources
like natural
gas and coal.
The findings show the nation can cut carbon pollution from power plants in a cost - effective way, by replacing
coal - fired generation with cleaner options
like wind, solar,
and natural
gas.
Plantation forestry is the key rather than the usual approach of cutting emissions by reducing the rate of using carbon fuels
like coal, oil
and gas.
Burning fossil fuels
like coal, natural
gas and oil to heat
and cool our buildings
and run our vehicles takes a heavy toll on the environment, contributing significantly to both local problems
like elevated particulate levels
and global ones
like a warming climate.
Citizen opposition to new
coal - fired power plants in places
like Nevada
and Montana has focused as much on water concerns as greenhouse
gas emissions.
Many current energy debates have focused on the massive carbon footprint of fossil fuels
like oil,
coal and natural
gas.
Trump's energy plan reads
like a wish list from the fossil fuel industry: it envisions unfettered oil,
gas and coal development as a path to national prosperity
and energy independence.
«I think we'll see EPA take a closer look at its interim targets, to make sure it's not encouraging quick fixes,
like switching from
coal to natural
gas, at the expense of longer - term planning
and investment in zero - carbon generation,» said Perciasepe.
He also says governments in Africa
and Latin America are getting in the way of off - grid solutions to their people's energy difficulties through corruption, policies that discourage entrepreneurism
like tariffs on solar lamps,
and a general prejudice in favor of the large
coal -
and gas - fired power plants they see as drivers of developed - country wealth.
$ 8 billion) over first ten years for deficit reductionObeys PAYGO; Starting in 2026, 25 % of auction revenues for deficit reductionFuels
and TransportationIncrease biofuels to 60 million gallons by 2030, low - carbon fuel standard of 10 % by 2010, 1 million plug» in hybrid cars by 2025, raise fuel economy standards, smart growth funding, end oil subsidies, promote natural gas drilling, enhanced oil recoverySmart growth funding, plug - in hybrids, raise fuel economy standards $ 7 billion a year for smart growth funding, plug - in hybrids, natural gas vehicles, raise fuel economy standards; offshore drilling with revenue sharing and oil spill veto, natural gas fracking disclosureCost ContainmentInternational offsetsOffset pool, banking and borrowing flexibility, soft price collar using permit reserve auction at $ 28 per ton going to 60 % above three - year - average market price» Hard» price collar between $ 12 and $ 25 per ton, floor increases at 3 % + CPI, ceiling at 5 % + CPI, plus permit reserve auction, offsets like W - MClean Air Act And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and TransportationIncrease biofuels to 60 million gallons by 2030, low - carbon fuel standard of 10 % by 2010, 1 million plug» in hybrid cars by 2025, raise fuel economy standards, smart growth funding, end oil subsidies, promote natural
gas drilling, enhanced oil recoverySmart growth funding, plug - in hybrids, raise fuel economy standards $ 7 billion a year for smart growth funding, plug - in hybrids, natural
gas vehicles, raise fuel economy standards; offshore drilling with revenue sharing
and oil spill veto, natural gas fracking disclosureCost ContainmentInternational offsetsOffset pool, banking and borrowing flexibility, soft price collar using permit reserve auction at $ 28 per ton going to 60 % above three - year - average market price» Hard» price collar between $ 12 and $ 25 per ton, floor increases at 3 % + CPI, ceiling at 5 % + CPI, plus permit reserve auction, offsets like W - MClean Air Act And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and oil spill veto, natural
gas fracking disclosureCost ContainmentInternational offsetsOffset pool, banking
and borrowing flexibility, soft price collar using permit reserve auction at $ 28 per ton going to 60 % above three - year - average market price» Hard» price collar between $ 12 and $ 25 per ton, floor increases at 3 % + CPI, ceiling at 5 % + CPI, plus permit reserve auction, offsets like W - MClean Air Act And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and borrowing flexibility, soft price collar using permit reserve auction at $ 28 per ton going to 60 % above three - year - average market price» Hard» price collar between $ 12
and $ 25 per ton, floor increases at 3 % + CPI, ceiling at 5 % + CPI, plus permit reserve auction, offsets like W - MClean Air Act And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and $ 25 per ton, floor increases at 3 % + CPI, ceiling at 5 % + CPI, plus permit reserve auction, offsets
like W - MClean Air Act
And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
And StatesNot discussedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap
and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and trade suspended until 2017, EPA to set stationary source performance standards in 2016, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedOnly polluters above 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, regional cap
and trade pre-empted, establishes coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/
and trade pre-empted, establishes
coal - fired plant performance standards, some Clean Air Act provisions excludedInternational CompetitivenessTax incentives for domestic auto industryFree allowances for trade - exposed industries, 2020 carbon tariff on importsCarbon tariff on importsReferences: Barack Obama, 2007; Barack Obama, 8/3/08; Pew Center, 6/26/09; leaked drafts of American Power Act, 5/11/10.
December 8, 2017 India's steel industry,
like America's, is dominated by electric - based processes November 20, 2017 Link between growth in economic activity
and electricity use is changing around the world November 16, 2017 Growth in global energy - related carbon dioxide emissions expected to slow November 8, 2017 EIA forecasts growth in world nuclear electricity capacity, led by non-OECD countries October 25, 2017 China leads the growth in projected global natural
gas consumption October 10, 2017 Buildings energy consumption in India is expected to increase faster than in other regions October 4, 2017 Global
gas - to - liquids growth is dominated by two projects in South Africa
and Uzbekistan September 27, 2017 Chinese
coal - fired electricity generation expected to flatten as mix shifts to renewables September 19, 2017 Beyond China
and India, energy consumption in non-OECD Asia continues to grow September 14, 2017 EIA projects 28 % increase in world energy use by 2040
The numbers aren't perfect — they don't fully reflect the recent surge in unconventional energy sources
like shale
gas,
and they don't accurately reflect
coal reserves, which are subject to less stringent reporting requirements than oil
and gas.
Today, photosynthesis is considered «the most important chemical reaction on earth», providing food for humans
and animals, releasing oxygen for them to breathe —
and millions of years later, this process provides fossil fuel in the form of oil,
coal and natural
gas, as Michel
likes to point out.
ALEC is leading the nationally - coordinated attack on state renewable portfolio standards as part of an ambitious dirty energy agenda for the members of its anti-environmental task force,
like Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy
and other major oil,
gas and coal interests.
Natural
gas is a fossil fuel —
like oil
and coal —
and it does produce carbon dioxide as a result of the combustion process.
But there can be too much of a good thing: In the last 200 years, humans have added a lot of extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels
like coal, oil
and gas to produce energy.
Industrial activities
like burning oil,
coal and natural
gas and destroying rainforests have pumped greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere at levels unprecedented in human history, according to the United Nations - led Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Includes stocks of companies involved in exploring
and producing energy products
like oil, natural
gas,
and coal.
It owns
and operates pipelines
and terminals that transport natural
gas, gasoline, crude oil, carbon dioxide
and other products
and stores petroleum products, chemicals
and handle bulk materials
like ethanol,
coal, petroleum coke
and steel.
Experts say that if we bought $ 50 to $ 200 billion worth of solar panels over the next 10 — 20 years, the price of solar could come to down to the price of natural
gas and even
coal, not just in the U.S. but even in developing countries
like China, where
coal is especially cheap.
This would include costs
like storing
and monitoring nuclear waste indefinitely, CO2 emitted to the atmosphere by fossil fuels, nitrous oxides
and sulfur oxides from
coal degrading the environment through acid rain, maintaining a large military to protect our oil supply lines from the middle east, pollutants entering water supplies from solar panel manufacture, pollutants generated by drilling for
gas, etc., etc..
You would
like to embroil us in the wrong question, by comparing
gas to
coal and you suggest that I am advocating using
coal instead of
gas.
One grand, overarching myth not discussed by Plumer is that the kind of solar technology produced by companies
like Solyndra can play a substantial role in blunting the buildup of greenhouse
gases driven largely by burning
coal and oil.
What has happened, of course, is that we humans broke into a wonderful (it seemed so at the time) energy storage bank, the buried
coal, oil,
and gas,
and started spending fossil energy
like there was no tomorrow.
The value of doing this is clear: «Experts say that if we bought $ 50 to $ 200 billion worth of solar panels over the next 10 — 20 years, the price of solar could come to down to the price of natural
gas and even
coal, not just in the U.S. but even in developing countries
like China, where
coal is especially cheap.»
Meanwhile we will spend lots of money on things of limited use while not doing things
like substituting
gas for
coal,
and nuclear, than can have a big effect now.
Over 50 percent of electricity in the U.S. comes from lower carbon sources of energy
like hydro, nuclear, natural
gas, wind
and solar
and just 45 percent comes from dirty
coal.
They seem
like nothing other than an overpriced way of giving people the privacy of their car
and the ability to avoid sharing transit with other people who might make us nervous at great public expense
and simply converting the fuel from
gas to
coal via electricity.
Storing energy is a crucial but expensive component of plans to turn intermittent sources of energy,
like wind
and sun, into reliable replacements for
coal and natural
gas.
So would ordinary
coal relative to natural
gas and (
like it or not) nuclear power.
Compare this to other subsidized sources
like natural
gas and coal, which receive 64 cents / MWh, Hydro: 82 cents, Nuclear: $ 3.14,
and Geothermal: $ 12.85 / MWh.
Everywhere you look, companies
and power generators
like the Tennessee Valley Authority are announcing plans to shutter
coal - fired plants
and replace them with wind, solar,
and plants that use cleaner - burning natural
gas.
The last 10 years have seen
coal being replaced by cheaper
and cleaner energy sources,
like renewables
and natural
gas.
A «pre-pay» carbon policy might work something
like this: before a company extracts a ton of carbon from the ground (be it in the form of oil, natural
gas,
coal, trees, soil, etc.), it would have to «pre-pay» for a credit demonstrating that the organization (or a third - party) had already removed
and sequestered an equivalent ton of carbon from the atmosphere.
Carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels
like coal, oil,
and natural
gas is driving climate disruption
and warming our planet.