An Informed Democracy Will Act Responsibly
The Senate will unveil the language behind pending climate and energy legislation.
To listen to early analysis of this bill, visit the links below:
There was in interesting article today about energy companies (and others) pledging to allow their memberships to lapse in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce due to differences in opinion on what climate change legislation should look like.
This is a refreshing development in this author’s view, as any truly meaningful policy discussions need to equally weight all affected party’s views. While eventually consensus among all parties needs to be sought, breaking the hold that special interest groups often enjoy when influencing legislation should help more voices, and therefore options, be heard.
While increasing development densities can yield some reductions in carbon emissions, are there other ways of lessening carbon output?
A new study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin, and issued as supplemental research by the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that by decreasing the weight of vehicles nationwide, much greater gains can be made in decreasing carbon emissions. If all US vehicles were decreased in weight by 0.1 percent, this would make a 10 times greater reduction in carbon emissions than an 0.1 percent change in housing density.
To read the study, which outlines options for emissions control of greenhouse gases, click here.
As Congress returns to session from August recess, so to does the focus on energy and climate legislation.
Looming largest is the Senate decision on the House bill capping emissions, passed before recess began. Various utility groups, which support the decision, are planning to begin lobbying corporate America this week, by demonstrating the necessity of promoting clean energy.
Follow the energy policy discussion in D.C. here with Energy Literacy Advocates.
For more on this story, click here.
Energy Literacy Advocates (ELA) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public education organization working to improve the energy literacy of all sectors of our democracy.