President-elect Trump’s objective on energy and climate is clear: Undo Obama’s legacy of environmental regulations and massively expand fossil fuel production.
Stacks at the Nucor Steel plant – one of the types of manufacturing sites that would be affected by a carbon tax – in front of the Space Needle in Seattle.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Will government policy to promote clean energy be disastrous or a boon? A close look at the 2009 stimulus, which plowed $90 billion into energy, can tell us a lot.
Soybeans and corn are two of the most widely planted crops in the United States and the main feedstocks used to make biofuels.
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A new study challenges the longstanding view that biofuels are carbon-neutral, and asserts that in the U.S. to date, they have done more harm to the climate than gasoline.
Yes, climate change came up during the debate but there was little substantive discussion of energy or environment.
Rick Wilking/Reuters
Trump is following in Ronald Reagan’s footsteps by pushing against regulations, but in the 1980s, it only awakened the public to environmental concerns.
Gas is cheap and Americans are back on in their cars and trucks.
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Presidential candidates need to talk more about energy and address a tough question: what does the government do well on energy policy and what it should stay out of?
Ethanol made from corn goes into our gas tanks. Now refiners who pay for the subsidy are complaining of rising costs.
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How bad are things for U.S. coal? Very bad, but that’s very good for environment. Now the question is whether other countries will cut back on coal as well.
Will nuclear subsidies stifle competition?
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A former state regulator and member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission argues that subsidizing reactors to keep them running is unnecessary and will be bad for consumers and the environment.
The FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego, New York will receive state subsidies to continue operating through 2029.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory commission/Flickr
A nuclear engineer makes the case that nuclear power plants are important resources and should receive economic rewards for providing steady supplies of carbon-free electricity.
No nukes: a 1979 rally against the construction of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which is slated to shut down by 2025.
Jessica Collett/Shaping San Francisco Digital Archive
The anti-nuclear movement in the U.S. is at a critical juncture as worries over climate change grow.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California is closing and the state has committed to replacing it with greenhouse-free sources of electricity.
Doc Searls
Women are underrepresented in the energy sector at a time of rapid change and demand for new talent. Hiring more women could make energy companies more innovative and speed the shift to clean fuels.
Unchecked greenhouse gas emissions would lead to a number of economic effects, including potentially more damaging storms like Hurricane Sandy.
Eric Thayer/Reuters
Making expanded fossil fuel production the core of U.S. energy policy, as proposed by Donald Trump, and backing out of climate agreements would cost the U.S. economy billions and transform the planet.
Drilling on a farm in North Dakota, site of a huge economic upswing from the oil and gas industry.
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The boom in oil and gas development has brought new revenues to many communities in the U.S., but rural areas in particular have struggled to handle the rapid downturn in prices.
It’s not just power-hungry pot farms: the connection between drugs and oil and gas industry runs deep.
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It’s not just energy-hungry pot farms: the ties between energy and drugs run deep. Can we develop a national drug policy drawing on the lessons of the domestic oil and gas boom?
The U.S. oil industry is in the doldrums, but there’s not much the next (or current) president can do about it.
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The U.S. energy system is gradually transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Will the next president speed up America’s shift to renewable energy or step on the brakes?