When I was 9 years old, my parents loaded me and my siblings into the family station wagon headed west from Massachusetts. We spent the whole summer visiting the beautiful parks around the country and visiting far-flung extended family. I remember hiking the Grand Canyon and crossing the Mohave Desert sitting on black vinyl seats without air conditioning. Ouch.
After college, I kept traveling. As an engineering officer on a Navy cruiser, I got hands-on experience with large propulsion plants and energy systems. On bridge watches, I was awed by vastness, power and tranquil beauty of the ocean. After the navy, I joined a software company for a while but grew restless for a focus on environmental stewardship and I returned to school to study environmental policy-making.
Since joining NRDC in 2004, I’ve been focused on the environmental impact of our mobility. I am working on ways to promote cleaner and more efficient car and truck technologies so that as we and future generations travel to visit the earth’s beautiful places in the future, they are still there to see.
Posted January 17, 2012 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Greetings from the Motor City! Obama Administration officials are in Detroit to gather public input on the EPA and Department of Transportation proposal to raise new automobile efficiency standards to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg by 2025, nearly double that...continued→
Posted November 16, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
The Obama Administration formally proposed new car and light truck fuel economy and carbon pollution standards today. This blog will give you a ‘first read’ on what they mean for consumers, the environment and our energy security. Overall, the standards...continued→
Posted October 18, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Once again the oil industry is saying ‘no’ to change. They want Americans to stay addicted to their product. Moving to cleaner, alternative fuels is a threat to their bottom line, and they won’t stand for it. Their latest attack...continued→
Posted August 19, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Yesterday, it became official: 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states officially published an economic analysis of a Clean Fuels Standard (CFS) for the region, following a leak of the report earlier in the week. The CFS would promote investment in transportation...continued→
Posted August 17, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
The state of Maine recently released an economic analysis of a regional clean fuels standard for 11 states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The verdict: The region can cut air pollution, slash our dangerous dependence on oil, bring in billions...continued→
Posted August 9, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Green Enterprise, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
UPDATE, Aug 10: NRDC, UAW and NWF, identified a mistake in the supplier report issued yesterday. The jobs in North Carolina were overestimated. The actual number is 5,928. The corrected figure brings to 151,168 the total number of U.S. workers at...continued→
Posted August 8, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Tomorrow, President Obama will announce new fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards for heavy-duty trucks. This is a historic step forward because these are first-ever standards of this type and they start the of process of what are expected to be...continued→
Posted July 28, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
UPDATE, July 29, 2011: I snapped the picture below this morning as President Obama described new clean, efficient vehicle standards. NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner and I had the great pleasure of attending today’s exciting and important event. Very cool!...continued→
Posted June 15, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
The Center for Automotive Research released a new version of a previously discredited analysis claiming that the cost to meet improved fuel economy and pollution standards for cars and light trucks in 2025 will be about double those estimated by...continued→
Posted June 7, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
This week, the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency took one of the final steps toward adopting the first-ever standards to improve fuel-efficiency and cut carbon pollution from highway trucks by seeking final approval from the White House Office...continued→
Posted May 26, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy
Last Tuesday the federal government announced that the General Services Administration (GSA) will launch a pilot program to incorporate plug-in electric vehicles into the Federal fleet. The GSA manages over 600,000 federal government vehicles, coast to coast, and is the...continued→
Posted May 24, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
This week, federal agencies are expected to release a revamped window label for new cars and light trucks starting with model year 2012. With drivers looking for relief from high gasoline prices, it’s important that the improved label gets out...continued→
Posted May 11, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
During his most recent weekly address, President Obama stated that the U.S. can “out-innovate and out-compete” the rest of the world by investing in and adopting clean energy. The President can realize this vision and grow good jobs in the U.S. automotive...continued→
Posted April 19, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
This morning, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu kicked-off the Innovation Motorcade from the Department of Energy Headquarters in Washington. This was not a typical motorcade for the Capitol City. Instead of long black limos with government plates, this was a...continued→
Posted April 1, 2011 by Luke Tonachel in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
In a speech in Georgetown earlier this week, President Obama restated his goal to cut oil imports by a third by 2025, and laid out a plan to get there: by increasing vehicle carbon pollution and fuel economy standards and...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
