March 20, 2009 -

The airwaves have recently been filled with advertisements heralding a plethora of clean energy technologies. GE promoted its smart grid technologies in a Wizard of Oz-themed Super Bowl ad. Vestas, the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world, has branded itself No. 1 in Modern Energy. Various groups have designed commercials touting the potential of "clean coal," including a GE ad featuring models-turned-miners (tagline: "Harnessing the power of coal is looking more beautiful every day."). And environmental groups have struck back against the branding of coal as "clean" with satirical advertisements (tagline: "Clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word ‘clean!’". In this maelstrom of marketing, who can say which clean energy technology is best?

March 16, 2009 - This is a joint posting with Robin Kraft, and originally appeared on the Center for Global Development's Global Development: Views from the Center blog

Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether greenhouse gases (GHGs) pose a threat to peoples’ health or welfare – the first step toward regulation -- the EPA this week issued a draft rule on a national GHG registry:

December 17, 2008 - Browsing power plant emissions just got easier, thanks to a new version of CARMA that you can explore using Google Earth. According to Google's site, "Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings and even explore galaxies in the Sky." This bird's-eye view is great for comparing emissions from different countries and gives you a unique perspective of how the power sector looks worldwide. Plus, it's much cooler than tables of data!

Go to carma.org/blog/earth/ to learn more, or check out the screenshots below to get a taste of CARMA's latest incarnation.

September 3, 2008 -

CARMA 2.0 has arrived! And our analysis of the latest data shows that the world still has a long way to go on curbing emissions growth.

Last week’s Washington Post feature on CARMA focuses on massive growth in Chinese emissions. Although pollution wasn’t big news once the Olympics started, this year China’s power sector will emit more CO2 than the US power sector for the first time. Furthermore, rapid construction of coal-fired plants is wiping out any improvements in emissions intensity. But China will (sort of) head in the right direction, on carbon intensity, as it doubles electricity production over the next decade: the share of fossil-fuel generation will decrease from 83% to 73%.

What about the rest of the world?

September 3, 2008 -

Recent weeks have seen the carbon footprint of the National Thermal Power Corporation - India's largest power company - come under some scrutiny. A Times of India article in late July first noted NTPC's global prominence in terms of CO2 emissions, drawing upon a now-outdated version of CGD's CARMA database of global power sector emissions. Last week, a rebuttal from NTPC and the Indian Ministry of Power claimed that CARMA relied upon "inaccurate generation figures" and argued that the company was one of the world's most efficient power producers. This weekend, an article syndicated in many Indian newspapers publicized the emissions figures from the just-released CARMA 2.0 database, including the Indian power sector's #3 global ranking and NTPC's annual emissions of 186 million U.S. tons of CO2. In the same article, the company responded by saying, "We are among the most efficient producers of power using fossil fuels. NTPC is the second best in the world, emitting only 800 grams of CO2 per kwh of electricity generation." Here I explain the supposed discrepancies, try to set the record straight regarding NTPC's present carbon emissions, and take a look at the company's claims regarding efficiency.