nrdc posts, articles, and infographics

Sierra Club admits taking money to promote natural gas over coal

February 7, 2012 by Rod Adams
with 397 views

On February 2, 2012, the Sierra Club allowed a Time magazine blog to break a poorly kept “secret” whose existence had threatened to get out of hand. In a post titled Exclusive: How the Sierra Club Took Millions From the Natural Gas Industry—and Why They Stopped Bryan Walsh described how one of the oldest, largest, and best endowed... [read more]

Playing Games with US Energy Security

January 19, 2012 by Geoffrey Styles
with 386 views

Well, that didn't take long. The administration issued its decision denying the Keystone XL Pipeline application today, rather than using the remaining 34 days in the Congressionally mandated timeline to attempt to find a better solution. This is a prime example of what frustrates so many Americans of all political affiliations about how... [read more]

All I Want For Christmas Is …For Obama To Enact A Federal Climate Policy

December 23, 2011 by David Doniger
with 256 views

Smithsonian Magazine has posted some unusual portraits of jolly Saint Nick and asked readers to vote for the Scariest Santa. Here’s my choice: ... [read more]

Take a Stand on Keystone XL, Mr. President

November 14, 2011 by Robert Rapier
with 144 views

When I worked in Scotland, one of my managers was a wise Englishman named Graham Walker. As with many people whose paths I have crossed in my life, some nuggets of wisdom were transferred from Graham into my long-term memory. One of the things that stuck with me was Graham’s push for decisiveness. He would tell me “Just make a decision and move on. We have a business to run here.” Graham would say that most of the time the decisions would prove to be correct, and when they weren’t we would live with them or correct them down the road. (And of course if a person frequently makes incorrect decisions, then they can be replaced with someone who makes better decisions). But his point was that you can’t live in fear of making the wrong decision, because then nothing gets done. [read more]

DOD Energy Investments Create Long Term Certainty Cleantech Markets Crave

October 4, 2011 by Peter Lehner
with 283 views

Peter Lehner, Executive Director, New York City It should come as no surprise that fossil fuel companies are trying to discredit their biggest competitors: the clean energy industry. Together with their allies in Congress, they are trying to use the failure of one solar company to paint the entire renewable sector as a dangerous risk.... [read more]

Secretary Chu Advised on "Prudent Development" of Oil and Gas

September 23, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 326 views

A news item concerning last week's release of the National Petroleum Council's "Prudent Development" report referred to a recommendation supporting a national tax on carbon. That caught my attention. Given the NPC's makeup, a consensus on such a controversial issue would be surprising. The actual text of the report proved somewhat less dramatic on the climate policy front, but no less worthwhile for its comprehensive assessment of the abundance of North American hydrocarbon resources, as well as the development approach "necessary for public trust, protection of health, safety and the environment, and access to resources." The report doesn't just focus on macro concerns about climate change and other environmental issues, but also on timely details such as the methane emissions, water and land-use impacts involved in shale gas production and other resource development. [read more]

Green Jobs Aren't Going Anywhere

September 9, 2011 by Cai Steger
with 504 views

In the last few weeks, it seems like every other day there’s been a different negative story about jobs in the new clean economy. I responded to an especially bad one in the Times, but I’ve seen several more since. [read more]

When Changing A Lightbulb Isn’t Enough…

September 1, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 380 views

What have you done lately about climate change? In the last two weeks, about 700 Americans – with more to come – have been arrested in front of the White House, calling on President Obama to block the construction of the $7 billion, 1700-mile Keystone pipeline project that will bring Canadian tar sands oil to largest... [read more]

Thoughts On The Green Scissors Report

August 26, 2011 by Cai Steger
with 294 views

The most recent Green Scissors report is out, recommending hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies that could be cut to reduce the budget deficit and improve our environment. Green Scissors provides a host of useful proposals to save tens of billions of dollars annually by eliminating unnecessary, environmentally harmful... [read more]

BP Spins Success From Reports About Its Failure

July 1, 2011 by Rocky Kistner
with 230 views

When my colleagues released NRDC's annual Testing the Waters report documenting pollution problems across the nation’s coastlines, the last thing they expected was this jaw-dropping Orwellian tweet to pop up on their computer screens: @BP_America Official BP.@NRDC Annual #Beach Water Report released today... [read more]

Vampire Hunting In HD

June 30, 2011 by Lou Grinzo
with 189 views

After the flurry of articles the other day about the NRDC’s study on set-top boxes (cable boxes and DVRs), I decided to dust off my trusty Kill A Watt and take some measurements. The headline from the NRDC report that got the most play was the fact that a typical set-top box setup consumes 446 kWh/year, slightly more than an Energy Star... [read more]

That's All, Folks! - Cable TV, Accessories An Energy Nightmare

June 16, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 400 views

So we already knew that watching too much TV dulls the mind and costs a bundle (my cable bill’s $170 a month, including Internet and phone).Now we know, thanks to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, that your super-snazzy set-top box and DVR combo that means you will never have to miss another episode of Two Men... [read more]

Progress in Cancun and How America Can Meet Our Climate Commitments

December 15, 2010 by Frances Beinecke
with 367 views

In Cancun, nearly 200 countries reached an agreement on how to confront climate change both as individual nations and as a global community. This achievement brings greater definition to the Copenhagen accord and provides a practical framework for all countries to forge ahead with climate solutions. This is real, historic progress (read... [read more]

Civil Society Shows the Way Towards Long-Term Sino-American Cooperation on Climate

December 10, 2010 by nrdc switchboard
with 665 views

With two days left in the climate negotiations in Cancun, a group of Chinese and American NGOs showed last night what can be done when we roll up our sleeves and work toward common solutions. With representation across all fields and age ranges, we produced what we hope to be a model for how our two countries can achieve better mutual... [read more]

Turning Old Industrial Plants into Clean Energy Economic Zones in Shanghai, China

October 19, 2010 by nrdc switchboard
with 744 views

A group of us from the NRDC teams in Beijing, San Francisco, and DC just visited Shanghai, China to discuss opportunities to collaborate on helping turn an old iron and steel alloy plant into a new “clean energy development zone”. The site is one of 12 old industrial sites that China is planning to turn into clean energy... [read more]