Two groups of specialists on climate, energy, and technology policy have weighed in with hefty to-do lists for President-elect Barack Obama. One, "A Climate Plan for the New Administration," has been posted online under the nom de plume "Justinian." The authors say they will reveal themselves in a few weeks. Their 12 recommendations range from the technical — a big push to boost the efficiency of vehicles, buildings and appliances — to administrative — rearranging White House offices to elevate energy, science, and global warming.
Word of another prescription for what might be a prospering planet without a human-jogged climate comes from James E. Hansen of NASA, in a fresh pdf, "Tell Barack Obama the Truth – The Whole Truth," posted on his Columbia University Web site. The document is in part familiar, reprising Dr. Hansen's prescription for American action to cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal burning as a way to lead the emerging greenhouse giants, particularly China, toward this goal.
What's more notable this time is his inclusion of a link to presentations given Nov. 3 at a Washington workshop on non-polluting energy options by a dozen other specialists in a range of technologies and arenas, from energy efficiency to nuclear and solar power and the electrical grid. [UPDATE 11/23, 9:30 p.m. -- Joe Romm gives a valuable, and critical, deconstruction of Dr. Hansen's energy gameplan on climateprogress.org. I've queried Joe on a few points and will report back here.]
A list of the participants in the climate workshop is online along with their presentations. They included Doug Hall, the technology director of the Glass for Photovoltaic Program of Corning Inc.; Mark Levine, an expert on China's energy trends and policies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Rob Gramlich of the American Wind Energy Association and George Davis from the nuclear power plants division of Westinghouse.
Dr. Hansen said the group is preparing a joint paper that is intended to be an electrical energy roadmap for the Obama administration, and the world. The plan includes a strong push for aggressive research and development on capturing and storing carbon dioxide in amounts the atmosphere would notice, and also on next-generation nuclear power technologies (the details are in Dr. Hansen's paper above). Dr. Hansen said such research cannot be legitimately opposed by environmentalists. As he put it:
"Coal is the dirtiest fuel. Coal burning has released and spread around the world more than 100 times more radioactive material than all the nuclear power plants in the world. Mercury released in coal burning contaminates the world ocean as well as our rivers, lakes and soil. Air pollution from coal burning kills more than 100,000 people per year. If such consequences were occurring from nuclear power, nuclear plants would all be closed."
Here are some other views on the president-elect and climate and energy policy. I'll be trying to digest the presentations over the weekend. If you beat me to it, please weigh in here.
