The Los Angeles Times

By Ken Bensinger and Jim Tankersley

Published: January 27, 2009

 

President Obama moved on two fronts Monday to force automakers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, including a major step in permitting California and other states to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers and environmentalists said the president's actions paved the way to development of a national carbon standard for automobiles.

The New York Times

By Kate Galbraith

Published: January 27, 2009

 

Wind farms were built at a blistering pace last year, as wind power capacity grew by a record 50 percent in 2008, according to new figures from the American Wind Energy Association. Texas, already the top wind-producing state, extended its lead, while California fell from second to third in the rankings, passed by Iowa.

The Associated Press

By Ben Feller

Published: January 27, 2009

 

President Barack Obama opened an ambitious, double-barreled assault on global warming and U.S. energy woes Monday, moving quickly toward rules requiring cleaner-running cars that guzzle less gas — a must, he said, for "our security, our economy and our planet." He also vowed to succeed where a long line of predecessors had failed in slowing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The New York Times

By John M. Broder

Published: January 27, 2009

 

President Obama is moving quickly to act on the environmental promises that were a centerpiece of his campaign. But tackling global warming will be far more difficult — and more costly — than the new emissions standards for automobiles he ordered with the stroke of a pen on Monday. Already, the Congressional Democrats Mr. Obama will need to carry out his mandate are feuding with one another.

The New York Times

By Cornelia Dean

Published: January 27, 2009

 

Many people who worry about global warming hope that once emissions of heat-trapping gases decline, the problems they cause will quickly begin to abate. Now researchers are saying that such hope is ill-founded, at least with regard to carbon dioxide. Because of the way carbon dioxide persists in the atmosphere and in the oceans, and the way the atmosphere and the oceans interact, patterns that are established at peak levels will produce problems like “inexorable sea level rise” and Dust-Bowl-like droughts for at least a thousand years, the researchers are reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The New York Times

Published: January 27, 2009

 

In one dramatic stroke, President Obama has removed any doubts that he intends to break sharply from President George W. Bush’s policies on yet another vital issue — this time repudiating Mr. Bush’s passive approach to climate change. At a news conference on Monday, Mr. Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to consider immediately California’s application to set its own rules on greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks. Mr. Bush had rejected that application.

Knoxville News Sentinel

By Ed Marcum

Published: January 27, 2009

 

A Boulder, Colo.-based clean energy technology company that is building a presence in Roane County has received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant for a system it has developed to use solar power to provide both heat and electricity to homes and small buildings. Cool Energy Inc., was awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant to help develop its SolarFlow System.

The Christian Science Monitor

By Mark Trumbull and Daniel Wood

Published: January 26, 2009

 

President Obama’s first big push for US energy independence – centered on tougher fuel-efficiency standards – is likely to impose new costs on an already reeling auto industry, consumers, and probably taxpayers. But his moves on Monday, which come amid a growing consensus that America needs to radically revamp the way it uses energy, may have an upside, too. For one, they may help Detroit drive faster down an inevitable road toward efficiency. The resulting retooling of factories, too, may have some stimulative effect on a struggling economy.

Nashville Business Journal

Published: January 26, 2009

 

Tennessee could add 45,000 new “green” jobs with a $1.9 billion investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy production, a new report from the state’s labor department says. Labor Commissioner James Neeley says if the state invests that much money over two years to attract green businesses to Tennessee, many workers can transfer their skills to create the energy infrastructure of tomorrow.

CBS News and The Associated Press

Published: January 26, 2009

 

Saying the country "must have the courage and commitment to change," President Barack Obama took steps to redirect America's energy policy with a series of executive orders that continue the trend of reversing Bush administration policy. Mr. Obama pushed for stronger curbs on greenhouse gases, saying he wants to make it easier for states such as California to adopt tougher fuel-efficiency rules than the federal standard.

The New York Times

By Kate Galbraith
Published: January 26, 2009

 

Almost lost amid President Barack Obama’s stream of appointments was that of Jon Wellinghoff as Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The F.E.R.C.’s duties include regulating interstate transmission of electricity, watching over the nation’s wholesale electricity markets, and also licensing new hydropower projects.

The USA Today

By David Jackson

Published: January 26, 2009

 

President Obama reversed more Bush administration policies Monday, endorsing state efforts to restrict tailpipe emissions and ordering higher fuel-efficiency standards. These are "the first steps" toward "energy independence," Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House.

The New York Times

By Libby Tucker

Published: January 26, 2009

 

Wind energy technology has advanced so much in recent decades that a handful of larger, more efficient turbines can now do the same job as hundreds of smaller turbines, allowing utilities to squeeze more electricity out of the same area of land. That means that many owners of wind farms built during the California wind rush of the 1980s are starting to upgrade their equipment — and in the process, they are expected to send thousands of worn-out, old machines to the scrap heap over the next five to 10 years.

The Tennessean

By Christina E. Sanchez

Published: January 26, 2009

 

Customers of Nashville Electric Service who felt sticker shock when they received their December bills were not alone. Across the Nashville region, electricity users have been hit with painful and surprising balances on bills. Utilities received record numbers of customer service calls as representatives explained that slightly higher rates, colder-than-average weather and increased energy usage contributed to the spike.

The New York Times

By John M. Broder and Peter Baker

Published: January 26, 2009

 

President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday. The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.

The Wall Street Journal

By Stephen Power and Laura Meckler

Published: January 26, 2009

 

President Barack Obama plans to call on the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to consider allowing states including California to regulate automobile greenhouse-gas emissions, said people familiar with the administration's thinking. The move will signal a major policy break from his predecessor on an issue that has divided key Democratic Party constituencies.

The Wall Street Journal

By Leila Abboud

Published: January 26, 2009

 

In the race to get electric cars to market, the Norwegian start-up Think Global AS was one of the front-runners. It snagged big-name venture-capital backing and in 2008 manufactured about 350 of its latest model, a two-seater, plug-in city car. It planned to ramp up production to 10,000 units this year.

Bloomberg

By Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Published: January 26, 2009

 

President Barack Obama may find it harder to increase renewable energy than his predecessor during a financial crisis that has sidelined Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and other financiers of alternative power, investors said. New loans to harness the wind, sun and biodegradable waste will need extra government backing in a deepening recession, said Clayt Tabor, finance director at Midwest Wind Finance, a wind-farm developer in Minneapolis. Obama’s goal to double U.S. renewable- energy by 2012 may take years longer because even fully funded projects take at least three years to develop, he said.

The Boston Globe

By Robert A. Rio and Roger Borghesani

Published: January 25, 2009

 

Economists say we are facing a long recession. The Patrick administration offers a response: investing in the "Green Economy" - primarily energy efficiency, renewable energy, and grants to encourage "green" companies to grow here - as good for the environment and the economy. And they're right - if we do it correctly. However, in our exuberance to do the right thing, there is the potential to spend money needlessly and residents may not get all the benefits they should expect.

The Chattanoogan

By Louise Gorenflo

Published: January 25, 2009

 

The word is out that the TVA Board may consider taking away the funding for TVA's energy efficiency programs to pay for the Kingston Coal Ash Disaster. TVA's proclaimed mission for decades has been cheap power to energize Valley development. TVA's rule of thumb that environmental protection is unaffordable has consequences: