The economic and scientific reality, according to Obama’s Energy Department, is that abundant, low-cost fossil fuels will continue to dominate the US fuel mix for at least the next quarter century, and probably much, much longer into the future. Meanwhile, politics aside – the economic and scientific reality according to the Energy Department is that renewable sources of energy will continue to play a minor role in America’s energy mix. In other words, the Energy Department’s not expecting a lot of progress for renewable energies as a fuel source for America, even after almost 100 years of efforts from politicians like Obama and billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars. --Mark J. Perry, AEIdeas, 9 July 2013
The world was moving faster towards reducing its reliance on carbon intensive energy consumption in the 1970s and 1980s than in the past several decades. In fact, over the past 20 years there has been little if any progress in expanding the share of carbon-free energy in the global mix. This stagnation provides further evidence that the policies that have been employed to accelerate rates of decarbonization of the global economy have been largely ineffective. --Roger Pielke Jr., The Breakthrough Institute, 9 July 2013
The latest models of Mercedes cars cannot be sold in France as they still use an air conditioning refrigerant the EU says emits excessive greenhouse gases and should be replaced, the German auto company said. “Only new cars are subject to the measure,” a company spokesman told AFP, adding that customers confronted with the ban are to be offered alternate models. --The Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2013
The Tata steel company told a government minister that it was losing business because of the high cost of energy prices in the UK. The company claims its energy bill is almost twice its European competitors and an offer of financial support announced by the Treasury last week is not enough. --BBC News, 8 July 2013
The US Congress plans to cut climate change initiatives by $3.8 billion whilst boosting funds for space exploration. The new NASA budget for 2014-15 will see $4 billion set aside for space exploration while only $1.2 billion for climate change research, down from $5 billion in 2012. Congress has been largely hostile to any new climate change initiatives during Barack Obama’s term in office, leading the President to explore other ways of cutting the country’s carbon footprint. --Nilima Choudhury, RTCC News, 10 July 2013
Fortunately, the U.S. did not sign the idiotic United Nation's Kyoto Protocol that Democrats attempted to force on the U.S. And, thank goodness for common sense, most Americans did not swallow the incredibly lame global warming fear-mongering that is a staple of left-wing, liberal politics - instead, the U.S. relied on innovation and competition, which led to the natural gas/shale fracking revolution and massive CO2 emission reductions. --C3 Headline, 8 July 2013
