Green Wombat

I wrote this story for Reuters, where it first appeared on November 24, 2010.

Electricity generation in the United States fell 4.1 percent in 2009, the biggest drop in 60 years, according to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The survey offers a snapshot of the impact the recession had on energy markets and shifts in the power supply as coal costs rose and natural gas prices plummeted. Industrial demand for electricity, for instance, dropped by 9.1 percent in 2009 to the lowest level in 22 years.

Expectations that Congress would pass legislation to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions may have also encouraged a move away from carbon-intensive electricity production, the report stated.

Electricity produced from coal-fired power plants fell by 11.6 percent in 2009 from the previous year while generation from natural gas increased by 4.3 percent, according to the report.

“In 2009, annual average natural gas wellhead prices reached their lowest level in seven years,” the report said. “Increased supply due to the availability of shale gas, coupled with mild winter temperatures and higher production, and storage levels, and significant expansions of pipelines capacity also worked to put downward pressure on natural gas prices.”

As Southeastern states switched to natural gas, coal’s share of the nation’s electricity production fell to its lowest level since 1978.

You can read the rest of the story here.

I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared on Novembrt 24, 2010.

As it becomes ever more clear that Congress has retreated from climate change legislation faster than a Greenland glacier, cities and states are starting to focus on adapting to the inevitable.

A report released this week by the California Adaptation Advisory Panel laid out the myriad threats climate change poses to the Golden State — as well as strategies to anticipate and prepare for rising sea levels, along with more wildfires, heat waves, and water shortages.

“Failure to anticipate and plan for climate variability and the prospect of extreme weather and related events in land development patterns and in natural resource management could have serious impacts far beyond what has already been experienced,” the report states.

In short, California needs to deploy monitoring technology along its 1,100-mile coastline and overhaul its approach to land use decision-making.

Eight cities and counties across the United States, meanwhile, have joined what is being called the nation’s first climate adaptation effort. The participants are Boston, Cambridge, Mass.,  Flagstaff, Ariz., Tucson, Ariz., Grand Rapids, Mich., Lee County, Fla., Miami-Dade County, Fla., and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

Created by the ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, a Washington nonprofit, the Climate Resilient Communities program gives the cities and counties planning and database tools to prepare for rising temperatures and sea levels.

“Local governments have a responsibility to protect people, property, and natural resources, and these leading communities wisely recognize that climate change is happening now, and that they must begin planning for impacts that will only become more severe in the coming decades,” Martin Chávez, ICLEI USA’s executive director and a former mayor of Albuquerque, said in a statement.

The idea is to create a standardized municipal planning process to prepare for climate change.

Cities can use the organization’s Adaptation Database and Planning Tool, or ADAPT, to conduct a survey of their vulnerability to climate change and develop and implement a climate preparedness plan.

Just as responsibility for combating global warming has fallen to cities and states in the wake of Congress’ failure to act, so has the duty to get ready for an uncertain future.

I wrote this story for Reuters, where it first appeared on November 23, 2010.

A coalition of environmentalists, national security advocates and budget hawks on Tuesday called for an “oil security fee” and deployment of new transportation technology  to lessen dependence on imported oil and to promote “mobility choice.”

“Oil’s virtual monopoly over transportation fuel coupled with limited economical and convenient alternatives for moving people and goods have made oil a strategic commodity and the lifeblood of the domestic and global economies,” stated a report released by the coalition, called Mobility Choice. “Choice involves both having a range of fuels to power the passenger fleet and having alternative options to driving to accomplish our daily rounds.”

The group called for an “oil security fee” on gasoline and diesel to reflect the true cost of securing oil supplies as well as policies to promote more efficient mass transportation, telecommuting and mixed use residential development.

“We’re not paying the security price of oil at the pump,” Anne Korin, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington, D.C. non-profit, said during a press conference Tuesday.  “It’s important to internalize that cost with an oil security fee either at the pump or upstream.”

While the odds of Congress passing legislation to impose such a fee may be slim, the group’s advocacy of technological solutions to slash fuel use and promote mass transit may receive a more favorable hearing.

“Information technology has changed the worlds of commerce and leisure, allowing us to contact colleagues and loved ones around the globe nearly instantly,” the report stated. “Yet much of America’s transportation infrastructure is still basically stuck in the 1950s.”

The nation’s 300,000 traffic signals are a case in point.

You can read the rest of the story here.