A FLAT CAFE RISES: The Resurgence of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Regulations

Abstract

Although the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards began as very modest, insufficient regulations to improve fuel economy without any additional regulation of CO2 emissions from privately owned vehicles, political and economic events through the course of its enactment converged to catapult the CAFÉ regulations toward new milestones in reducing carbon pollution.

As a result of the 2009 Obama administration’s mandates for a new national fuel economy standard that redrafted the calculations for carbon pollution per vehicle on a “footprint” calculus, and a strong shift in public approval of lower costs in transportation expenses in a high unemployment economy, CAFÉ standards paved the way for innovative market solutions to meet aggressive new CO2 reduction goals for the next 13 years.

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Memo: Creation of the Energy Management Committee [EMC] on U.S. Energy Policy and Programs

The U.S. endeavors to include all energy sources in it's policy approach to a competitive marketplace for fuels and power. This academic memorandum addressed to President Barack Obama is intended to drive sustainable action on key issues of energy policy.

Recommended Action

Mr. President, per your request, after careful consideration of effective means to develop and implement a forward-looking energy policy in the United States, I recommend creating a new Energy Management Committee [EMC] to coordinate a multi-agency taskforce that will oversee the policy, management, technology, and public relations of energy resources.

Download the complete memorandum here

Ethics of Fracking the Monterey Shale

Abstract

The current gas energy boom in the United States has sparked intense debates about how this abundant energy resource should be extracted. In northeastern states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, shale gas has revitalized depressed communities with new jobs and land lease fees paid to farmers who own the land where oil and gas companies want to drill for gas. But other states like Texas and Wyoming have oil deposits in rock formations similar to the gas deposits of the northeast, so the oil and gas industry is keen to extract multiple sources of fossil fuels.

But with the rush to drill, environmentalists and community organizations are at arms to stop the onslaught of drilling sites for fear that their fresh water sources, their air quality, and the ecological habitats where the drill sites are placed are all in risk of irreversible damage because of waste products produced by drilling for oil and gas using a method commonly referred to as “fracking”, short for High-volume Hydraulic Fracturing.

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NY Energy Week 2013: Event Launch

This week, New York Energy Week [NYEW] will launch its inaugural conference in various locations throughout Manhattan. I partnered with the events committee as Media Ambassador and generated these logistics tools to help attendees navigate multi-day, multi-location events.  

From the NYEW website: "New York Energy Week was founded by Energy Solutions Forum, an energy policy research and data company based in the NYC ACRE incubator, an anchor of New York’s energy startup community.

New York Energy Week is an integral part of ESF’s founding mission to support investment and collaboration among the diverse sectors of the energy industry.

As the curator of the ESF Calendar, the go-­to resource for energy business events, ESF founded the series in support of a broader vision for industry advancement by fostering cross-sector collaboration for long-term partnerships and investment. "

For more about the events, visit the @NYEnergyWeek website here. 

Cogeneration - Combined Heat and Power Plant - Explained

Cogeneration plants recover the "waste heat" that is otherwise discarded from conventional power generation to produce thermal energy.

This energy is used to provide cooling or heating for industrial facilities, district energy systems, and commercial buildings. Through "waste heat recovery," cogeneration power plants achieve typical effective electric efficiencies of 70% to 90% — a dramatic improvement over the average 33% efficiency of conventional fossil-fueled power plants.