NASA Climate Chief: ‘Russia actually thinks that warming the Arctic is going to be good’
Speaking on the geopolitics of geoengineering the Earth’s climate, NASA Climate Chief Gavin Schmidt says, “Russia actually thinks that warming the Arctic is going to be good for it.”
NASA GISS DIRECTOR GAVIN SCHMIDT: “And, so you’re left with countries that have slightly looser environmental regulations. Say, Russia. Now Russia doesn’t want to do it because Russia actually thinks that warming the Arctic is going to be good for it. So, they’re not going to do it.”
University of Southampton
Global Challenges – Dr. Gavin Schmidt, NASA GISS
January 12, 2017…
Trump’s Sec. of State pick Rex Tillerson: America will pursue ‘most efficient, effective way’ to get electricity to world’s poor
Enviros wage war on Christmas lights
They worry that both the manufacturing processes of the lights and the electricity needed to power them will generate lots of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. They worry that the lights are manufactured in China and thus the amount of CO2 emissions generated during their construction is effectively unknowable.
The average house with Christmas lights uses a fair amount of electricity– equal to about 22.8 days of 
the average household’s electricity consumption. Green groups claim that an “extravagant light display” can generate 881 pounds of CO2 throughout the holiday season. This is roughly equal to the CO2 emissions of a single car driving 958 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency
Alaska Considers Blocking Obama’s Drilling Ban
…Reversing Obama’s 11th hour drilling ban
Reversing Obama’s 11th hour drilling ban
http://www.cfact.org/2016/12/22/reversing-obamas-11th-hour-drilling-ban/
President Trump should overturn this unwise drilling ban. When the inevitable legal challenges arise any unbiased court should uphold his order as he has congressional intent, precedent, and his own constitutional authority on his side.
— gReader Pro…
Obama Flips The Bird To Trump & The Economy W/ Wide-Ranging Arctic Drilling Ban
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Britain’s Green Energy Sector Shrinks After Government Subsidy Cuts
…California to Regulate Energy Use of Desktop Computers & Monitors To Fight ‘Global Warming’
By TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG
DECEMBER 15, 2016
Computers, long a symbol of the digital age, are now moving into a more earth-friendly future: California’s state energy agency voted unanimously Wednesday to approve new regulations for energy loop efficiency in desktop computers and monitors.
The rules, passed by the agency, the California Energy Commission, are the country’s first attempt to regulate the energy use of desktop computers and represent another step in the state’s efforts to drastically lower its greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change.
Computers use more energy than many other consumer electronics — the electricity used to power all of the computers in the country is the equivalent of the output of 30 large power plants emitting 65 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year, according to estimates from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The new standards, some parts of which go into effect Jan. 1, 2018, would ultimately reduce carbon dioxide emissions in California by an estimated 730,000 tons, less than 1 percent of total statewide emissions, and save consumers about $370 million on electric bills annually,based on the most recent emissions data. The energy commission projects that the standards will save about as much electricity as 350,000 households use in a year.
“This has been a long time in the making,” said Pierre Delforge, who works on energy efficiency in the technology sector for the Natural Resources Defense Council, adding, “It’s a milestone, especially in terms of the energy efficiency of computers and monitors.”…
Trump’s Picks Signal Push for American Energy Boom
President-Elect Donald Trump’s selection of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state indicates the next administration will be more focused on energy than perhaps any other in recent U.S. history.
The choice, despite hand-wringing from Democratic critics such as former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, sends a clear signal to Congress, policymakers, and the world: Energy will be key to America’s economic growth and revival.
“The Clean Power Plan was transparently designed to kill the future of [coal plants].”
The statement is further backed up by Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. And by the fact Trump is considering former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for secretary of energy. Few governors have to know energy policy more than a Texas governor.
It’s all a bold statement because under President Obama and other world leaders, it became trendy to diss energy producers and play up “green energy,” despite the fact solar and wind power may not be able to provide the numbers that consumers need.
Rick Perry is Trump’s pick to run Energy Department he wanted to abolish
President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Texas Gov. Rick Perry — who famously once forgot that he wanted to abolish the Energy Department — to be secretary of energy, two sources familiar with the transition process told NBC News on Monday night.
Perry, a rival of Trump’s during the Republican presidential nominating campaign, met with Trump for about 90 minutes earlier in the day at Trump Tower in New York.
Perry dropped out of the race and endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Texan. Before he left the race, he denounced Trump’s candidacy as “a cancer on conservatism” and criticized Trump, himself, as a “barking carnival act.”
By May, however, as it became clearer that Trump was likely to win the Republican nomination, Perry had retreated from his criticism, saying that “I will be open to any way I can help” and that “I believe that Donald Trump should be our guy.”
Perry also ran for president in 2012, which led to a gaffe during a debate in November 2011 in which he forgot that he’d named the Energy Department — the agency Trump now wants him to head — as one of three Cabinet departments he’d eliminate. The memory loss became known as Perry’s “oops” moment.
As governor, Perry championed the oil industry, questioning science that shows that greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change and deriding what he called “the secular carbon cult.”
At a presidential town hall in 2011, he said, “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects.”
Perry is also likely to be questioned during confirmation hearings about the Dakota Access Pipeline. He serves on the board of directors of Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the controversial project near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.…