A Penny Saved Is…

Terry Tamminen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:36:04 -0500

California is at it again. State regulators just set energy efficiency standards for new TVs, mostly the big flat panel models that gulp kilowatts. As a result, consumers will save about $8 billion in the next decade in the form of lower electricity bills and carbon pollution will drop equal to removing 100,000 cars from the road. As my dad used to say, “a penny saved is a penny earned” - - so why doesn’t the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) want you to get your share of that saved carbon or those 800,000,000,000 pennies?

Would You Like Carbon Insurance With That Latte?

Terry Tamminen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:53:42 -0500

You might not hear that exact question any time soon, but don’t be surprised if companies start shifting carbon risk from their balance sheets to someone else’s, using the time-honored marketplace tool of insurance. And when that happens, expect the price of products to reflect the new reality.

Why Does Oklahoma Want To Drown New York?

Terry Tamminen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:35:00 -0500

As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began hearings on carbon regulation, debate ran along traditional battle lines, but with a new script. Democrats Barbara Boxer (CA) and John Kerry (MA) moved away from discussing the environmental impacts of climate change - - and the reason, therefore, to take action to reduce carbon emissions - - and focused instead on the economic benefits of a domestic clean energy economy. Meanwhile, Republicans James Inhofe (OK) and Lamar Alexander (TN) complained that energy bills would rise and Americans would lose jobs.

Paterson’s Bold Carbon Gamble

Terry Tamminen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:03:59 -0400

California’s state budget gap was about $40 billion this year. New York’s some $50 billion. Every state in the Union is struggling with drastically lower revenues and higher costs for services of every kind, washing state capitals with red ink. At the polls next year, governors who are facing elections - - including Governor David Paterson of New York - - may find themselves politically drowned by such gargantuan deficits.

Performance Anxiety

Terry Tamminen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:41:18 -0400

It’s not just the ads showing a baby-boomer couple sitting in matching bathtubs on a beach at sunset where you can find performance anxiety these days. Try looking in the hardware aisle and at the gas station.

You Can Only Manage What You Measure

Terry Tamminen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:07:09 -0400

A few weeks ago, USEPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that 10,000 facilities would soon have to measure and register their carbon emissions. Last week, she told a packed house at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit2 in Los Angeles that her agency will introduce rules requiring significant new sources of carbon emissions, like a new or remodeled fossil-fueled power plant, to pay for the right to pollute.

Carbon Poker

Terry Tamminen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:18:21 -0400

I had a dream about watching one of those high stakes poker games that you see on TV these days. There were bit players who you knew, from the few colored chips in front of them, would soon fold - - but the two “whales” at the table were Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. They each had so many chips on the table that you could barely see their cowboy shirts, but the purpose in their deadly stares could not be obscured, even by the dark black Ray Bans that shaded their eyes.

What’s Happening On The Fifth Floor?

Terry Tamminen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:56:59 -0400

Millions of people come and go from New York’s iconic Empire State Building every year. The 102 floors bristle with keyboard-clicking, ballpoint-wielding, paper-shredding cubicle dwellers, none of which would appear out of place in an episode of “The Office”. But something very different is happening on the fifth floor - - a magical workplace that may soon transform the entire skyline of a big city near you.

China’s Rear View Mirror

Terry Tamminen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:37:12 -0400

Even as China overtakes the US in the dubious category of “world’s leading greenhouse gas producer” it is also taking the lead in developing the technologies and policies to solve the problem well ahead of the US - - and sell those solutions to us at massive profits which could have been ours.

Cracking the Carbon Code™: Low Carbon Summer Treats?

Terry Tamminen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:19:35 -0400

As the last days of a hot summer fade faster than our tan lines, word comes that industrial giant Unilever, owner of several major ice cream brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, is trying to lower the carbon footprint of the desert that makes us fat and happy. Yes, reformulated ice cream may not reduce your waistline, but may soon reduce your carbon footprint.