Category: Commentary

Source: James Conca, Forbes, March 23, 2020 There is little doubt that the world has entered a global economic recession as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every recession lowers energy use, and this one may be a whopper. The 2008 financial crisis, and the Great Recession that followed, had a pronounced negative impact on the oil and gas sector, sending the […]

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Source: Tri-Cities Public Relations, March 25, 2020 While attending one of my company board meetings a few years back in Pasco, Wash., I introduced myself to a No-Nukes Northwest representative from Portland, Ore. She said she was at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Penn., 41 years ago following the partial nuclear reactor meltdown that released […]

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By Jimmy Jia, Managing Partner, The Jia Group and CleanTech Alliance Board Member, LinkedIn, March 5, 2020. A major opportunity has appeared to capitalize on a seemingly contradictory, but fantastic convergence – the need to invest in climate actions and a general underfunding of energy efficiency measures in companies. Why fantastic? Let me explain. For […]

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Source: James Conca, Forbes, Feb 27, 2020 On January 15, the Washington State Senate voted 26-23 to pass SB 5811, that essentially mandates that automakers dedicate a certain portion of their vehicle sales in the state to fully electric vehicles (EVs) by 2022, and that all new vehicles sold in the state must be electric by 2030. At the same time, our House passed HB1110, […]

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Washington has enormously benefited from Boeing over the years. We should appreciate that — even in hard times.

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Source: Jim Conca, Forbes, Feb 18, 2020 The new DOE 2021 Federal budget request came out last week at $35.4 billion, down from 2020’s $38.5 billion. There were some nice surprises, but also some same old stupid ideas. Good surprises included increased funding for advanced reactors, reprocessing of spent fuel (but then why did we […]

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Source: Tri-City Herald Editorial Board, Feb 16, 2020 If state lawmakers truly care about helping our beloved orcas thrive, then they will find a way to support a study that would boost hatchery fish production in Puget Sound. Sen. Ann Rivers, R- La Center, told the Tri-City Herald that “where there’s a will, there’s a […]

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Source: Joe Fitzgibbon, Seattle Times, Feb 11 2020 The last six years have been the hottest ever recorded. It’s only getting hotter. We’ve heard the roar of climate change from afar, but now it’s in our backyards. Each summer, wildfires rip across the Pacific Northwest with smoke thick enough that for several days in 2018, […]

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Source: Emmett FitzGerald, 99% Invisible, Radiotopia, Feb 4, 2020 If you heard that there was a piece of technology that could do away with traffic jams, make cities more equitable, and help us solve climate change, you might think about driverless cars, or hyperloops or any of the other new transportation technologies that get lots […]

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Source: Forbes, James Conca, Feb 4, 2020 While many states have announced they want to be net-zero carbon by 2040 or so, Washington State is likely to achieve it. Of course, it helps that we already have the lowest carbon footprint of any state in the Union. With 86% hydro, nuclear and wind as our electricity […]

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