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Energy Policy
Greener economy ‘not science fiction anymore’
A new book from Penn sociologist Daniel Aldana Cohen and colleagues describes four key facets of the Green New Deal and why they could become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
Four factors to consider in the race to solve the climate crisis, including how to scale up a tool called negative emissions and why the oceans can only help so much.
The many lives of charcoal
Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.
Battling longer, more intense fire seasons
In a Q&A, doctoral student Clare Super describes her research into wildland firefighting, the impact on firefighters, U.S. policy around wildfires, and parallels to what’s happening in Australia.
Penn sends largest ever delegation to UN climate conference
At COP 25, representatives from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Perry World House, Penn IUR, and elsewhere discuss global climate challenges.
The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation
Beyond improving living conditions, greening these spaces would reduce emissions and create 250,000 jobs annually, according to research from Penn and Data for Progress.
A focus on environmental inequities
A Penn symposium will confront issues of inequitable access to a clean and safe environment and the unequal burden borne by vulnerable communities, particularly low-income and underrepresented minority populations, when it comes to environmental threats.
Leading the way in the field of energy policy
During two decades at Penn, Mark Alan Hughes has made the University a leader in the field of energy policy—and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Weighing the environmental impacts of a byproduct of biofuel combustion: plant skeletons
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Reto Gieré and Ruggero Vigliaturo and colleagues found that phytoliths—small, silica-containing deposits present in many plant species—are emitted during biofuel combustion.
‘Climate Risk Solutions,’ a 30-part report on climate change proposals
Wharton’s Steven Kimbrough and Carolyn Kousky and Penn Law's Cary Coglianese discuss the solutions offered by a new report by a number of Penn experts on climate change, “Climate Risk Solutions.”
In the News
Scientists struggle to explain ‘really weird’ spike in world temperatures
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that tendencies to exaggerate climate science in favor of “doomist” narratives helps no one except the fossil fuel industry.
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Could Florida electric bills go up because of a fuel made from manure?
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that federal and California state subsidies have led to a gold rush of companies trying to get into the business of renewable natural gas around the country.
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Pa. environmental, religious and other groups criticize Shapiro plan for ignoring climate change
A study by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design found that Pennsylvania would benefit overall from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
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Why don’t we just ban fossil fuels?
Joseph Romm of the School of Arts & Sciences says that stronger action against fossil fuels is essential to save the planet.
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We don’t have time for climate misinformation
In a co-written Op-Ed, Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that meaningful decarbonization in the U.S. is in jeopardy of being blocked or slowed if a significant portion of the electorate does not accept the basic scientific facts and implications of climate change.
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Across America, clean energy plants are being banned faster than they’re being built
Thomas Daniels of the Weitzman School of Design says that generating energy from wind and solar requires land just like coal, oil, and natural gas, though the necessary acreage is larger.
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