Climate news this week: stimulus edition

In Washington, we’ve been on the edge of our seats!  After the House passed a stimulus package last week, the Senate has been working all week on their version, amidst much partisan tension and political pressure.  The stimulus, which may be over $900 billion, will hopefully include billions of dollars towards investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green jobs.  Here’s an update: 

In their talks last night, the group of Democratic and Republican senators failed to reach agreement on which programs to trim. Instead, as the chamber has debated the bill this week, its cost has grown by almost $40 billion, with the tab now at more than $920 billion. 

Reid said yesterday that he would allow the centrist, bipartisan group to continue working and that, if it reaches consensus, he would schedule a vote for today on final legislation. If that fails, he said he would call for a rare Sunday session for a key procedural vote that would require 60 votes for passage. 

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But the fate of Obama's stimulus plan, designed to stem the nation's recession by saving more than 3 million jobs, remained unclear today. 

"It's very difficult, because everyone has certain pet programs in this bill," said Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the leader of the Republican faction in the bipartisan group. "We're trying to focus it on spending that truly helps stimulate the economy. People have different views on whether or not a program meets that test." 

Although the exact details of the stimulus package are still under debate, President Obama still moved towards our energy goals yesterday when he ordered the government to create higher energy efficiency standards for household appliances. 

"This will save consumers money, this will spur innovation, and this will conserve tremendous amounts of energy," Obama declared during a visit to the Energy Department, where he touted his economic jobs plan. 

Obama announced he had signed a presidential memorandum directing the Energy Department to get moving on energy standards for appliances, including a first batch he will order to be finalized by August. The fact that Obama is getting directly involved in speeding up household appliance standards underscores how much he wants to show quick, clear progress on energy — part of a broader campaign promise to deal with economic and energy concerns all at once. 

Laws on the books already require new efficiency standards for household and commercial appliances. But they have been backlogged in a tangle of missed deadlines, bureaucratic disputes and litigation. In essence, Obama's intent is to say that legal deadlines must be met, with priority being given to those standards that are likely to yield the best pocketbook savings for consumers. 

Obama's memorandum orders final rules to be in place by August that require energy-efficiency standards for a series of products: residential dishwashers, lamps, ranges and ovens, microwave ovens, commercial air conditioning equipment, commercial boilers and beverage vending machines. 

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way to China to discuss international cooperation on climate change (among other issues).   

Clinton's focus on climate change appears to be part of a broader administration effort to try to persuade China to join with the United States in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Asia Society and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change yesterday issued a joint report laying out a "road map" for U.S.-China cooperation on climate change -- a project that was co-chaired by Steven Chu, now energy secretary, and included contributions from Jeffrey A. Bader, now the top Asia staff member on the National Security Council. The report called for a leaders' summit on climate change and the establishment of a high-level council of top officials from both countries to guide policy. 

Some experts, however, warn that China may demand a freer hand on such contentious issues as Taiwan and Tibet in exchange for working with the United States on reducing emissions. 

Clinton signaled recently that she wanted to elevate the dialogue the administration holds with Chinese officials, with State helping taking the lead not only on diplomacy but also on economic matters. "We need a comprehensive dialogue with China," she told reporters. "The strategic dialogue that was begun in the Bush administration turned into an economic dialogue." 

In the past US has pointed to China, whose greenhouse gas emissions now surpass those of the US, as a stumbling block in negotiations for a new global climate regime, so hopefully these meetings will bring some progress! 

In other international news, Al Gore and other leaders and business executives meeting at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland at the end of last week urged President Obama not to let the current global financial crisis derail progress on climate change. 

Gore, U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer and executives were discussing the fate of a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen this December aiming for a global agreement on reducing emissions. Questions remain over the new U.S. government's position on the Copenhagen meeting, which is seen as crucial. 

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He and other panelists acknowledged that the financial crisis will be a key challenge. Governments could shy from forcing polluting industries to pay for their carbon emissions or using taxpayer money for expensive new clean energy investments—even if they prove more efficient in the long term. 

"Undeniably the financial crisis is making things more difficult," U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, told Associated Press Television News. "There is a shortage of finance, you see that many renewable energy projects are being put on the back burner." 

But he added, "If you look at the economic recovery packages of the European Union, the United States, Japan, China—they are all using this as an opportunity to change the direction of economic growth, and that I find encouraging." 

Last, but certainly not least, congratulations to the city of Corvallis, Oregon, a model city for renewable energy! 

A report by the Environmental Protection Agency says Corvallis buys more renewable energy than any other city in the nation. 

"There's a broad range of people who are making a commitment to renewables," said Mayor Charlie Tomlinson. "Many people making small contributions can make a big difference." 

Locally, consumers and businesses are given the option of spending a bit more each month to buy power produced by wind, solar and biomass, rather than by coal-fired generators. 

Corvallis purchases more than 100 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, about 13 percent of the city's total purchased electricity. 

According to the EPA, Corvallis' green power purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 13,000 passenger vehicles per year, enough electricity to power more than 9,000 average American homes annually. 

That concludes this week’s news roundup. Please post any other big stories in the comments section. And don’t forget to call your Senator if you haven’t already!