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Frances Beinecke's Blog

Issues: Moving Beyond Oil

Not All Lobbyists Are Created Equal: The Current Energy Bills

September 23, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
alloftheabove, cleanenergy, energybill, globalwarming, globalwarmingpollution, greencollarjobs, greenjobs, oilshale, tarsands

I am an environmental advocate. That means sometimes I travel to Washington to lobby Congress on behalf of the issues NRDC cares about. Big Oil companies dispatches lobbyists to the Hill as well. Last week we covered the same ground:...

The "Drill More, Innovate Less" Crowd Gets in the Way of Clean Solutions

September 16, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleanenergy, efficientbuildings, energybill, energyefficiency, gasprices, heatingbills, offshoredrilling, oilcrisis, oilshale, pelosi, weatherizing

Once again, Congress is in the midst of debating energy legislation. Unfortunately, the conversation is taking the same old wrong turns, even in the face of looming concerns for homeowners anticipating cold winters. Many Americans had to put their travel...

You Get What You Pay For: The Decline of US Energy Innovation

September 11, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleantech, GE, hockfield, lowcarbonenergy, renewableenergy, renewabletaxcredit, windpower, windturbines

Today's Washington Post has a great op-ed written by Susan Hockfield about the urgent need for federal investment in energy research and development. Hockfield asserts that the best way out of our energy and economic crises is by shifting to...

"All of the Above" Is Really the Worst of the Old Energy Ideas

September 9, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
alloftheabove, appalachiancoalmining, energycrisis, gasprices, liquidcoal, mountaintopremoval, oilshale, tarsands

Throughout the fall, you will hear Republican leaders use the phrase “All of the Above” to describe their energy policy. The idea is that our energy crisis is so significant that we need to take all the options on the...

Good News on California's Smart Growth Bill

August 26, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
californiasmartgrowth, gasprices, globalwarming, globalwarmingsolution, newurbanism, SB375, smartgrowth

When you are battling a forbidding foe like global warming, it is always a relief to share good news. Here is one exciting development: yesterday the California Assembly passed the nation’s first bill to link climate policy with transportation funding...

California Shows How Smart Suburbs Can Be Clean Energy Solutions

August 25, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleanenergy, gasprices, globalwarming, globalwarmingsolution, sacramentoblueprint, SB375, smartgrowth, suburbansprawl

This week, the California Assembly is poised to pass a bill that will use suburban development to reduce driving time for residents and cut global warming pollution. That’s right, while Congress spent the summer arguing over offshore drilling and other...

Is There a "Hints from Heloise" for Energy Saving Tips?

August 22, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
energycrisis, energyefficiency, gasprices, globalwarming, globalwarmingsolution, offshoredrilling, simplesteps

As our nation gets caught up in the frenzy surrounding the two political conventions, I can’t help but think about the role of the individual in all this political machinery. Both conventions will talk a lot about energy policy, for...

What I Will Be Looking for at the Political Conventions

August 21, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleanenergy, conventions, energyefficiency, gasprices, globalwarming, renewableenergy

I've written here before about the simple steps people can take to help reduce energy use and cut global warming pollution. To the list of things you can do—such as buying efficient air conditioners and pumping up your tires—I want...

Where Is America in the Global Renewables Market? MIA

August 15, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleantech, markettransformation, offshorewind, renewableenergy, renewabletaxcredit, solarpower, vestas, windpower

The final sentence in Tom Friedman’s piece from last Sunday’s New York Times has stuck with me this week. Friedman was traveling in Denmark, and he wrote about meeting Ditlev Engel, the president of Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine...

Fact or Fiction in the Energy Debate

August 14, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
arcticnationalwildliferefuge, energycrisis, energyefficiency, gasprices, offshoredrilling, oildrilling

In the past few days, the editorial pages of the New York Times have identified an alarming trend in the current energy debate. Increasingly, candidates and their surrogates are peddling delusions and fraudulent claims about how we can drive down...

Distraction, Misleading Energy Claims, and the Washington Post

August 13, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
arcticnationalwildliferefuge, energyefficiency, gasprices, offshoredrilling, oiladdiction, oildrilling, oilleases, oilspills, outercontinentalshelf, renewabletaxcredit, washingtonpost

The Washington Post just ran an editorial highlighting an ad the NRDC Action Fund printed in the paper. The ad, which featured a drawing of President Bush holding a bottle of elixir, said the claim that offshore drilling will drive...

Why I Am a Fan of Tire Gauges: The Overlooked Potential of Efficiency

August 8, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
arcticnationalwildliferefuge, energycrisis, energyefficiency, gasprices, globalwarming, markettransformation, offshoredrilling, oiladdiction, oildrilling, tiregauge

For the record, I have been a fan of the much-talked about tire gauge for years now. Long before it became a prop in this summer’s presidential campaign, I gave them away to friends and family. I even recommended them...

It's About the Economy, Not Drilling

August 7, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleantech, energycrisis, energyefficiency, gasprices, globalwarming, globalwarmingbill, globalwarmingsolution, greencollarjobs, markettransformation, offshoredrilling, oildrilling, renewableenergy, renewabletaxcredit

Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times that outrage is the proper response to last week’s Congressional debate on offshore drilling. I agree. It is outrageous that in the face of the combined energy and economic crises, our representatives...

Congress Has Been Having the Wrong Energy Conversation

August 5, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
energycrisis, gasprices, globalwarming, globalwarmingbill, globalwarmingsolution, offshoredrilling, paulkrugman, renewableenergy

Congress spent last week engaged in the wrong debate: "should we or should we not expand offshore drilling?" The right conversation to be having is: "Are we going to move America backward in time or forward to a clean energy...

Congress Is Letting Our Best Green Energy Incentive Die

August 1, 2008

Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleantech, energycrisis, globalwarming, globalwarmingsolution, greenenergy, renewableenergy, renewabletaxcredit, scatec, solarpower, windpower

Earlier this week, Congress blocked the most important green energy incentive America has:  the renewable energy tax credit. This incentive for wind, solar, biomass and other sustainable energy sources has been allowed to lapse three different times since 2000. Investors...