Climate Deal’s First Big Hurdle: The Draw of Cheap Oil
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/energy-environment/climate-deals-first-big-hurdle-the-draw-of-cheap-oil.html
Source: By Clifford Krauss and Diane Cardwell, The New York Times
For Investigation: 10.3
Excerpt: Barely a month after world leaders signed a sweeping agreement to reduce carbon emissions, the global commitment to renewable energy sources faces its first big test as the price of oil collapses. Buoyed by low gas prices, Americans are largely eschewing electric cars in favor of lower-mileage trucks and sport utility vehicles. Yet the Obama administration has shown no signs of backing off its requirement that automakers nearly double the fuel economy of their vehicles by 2025. In China, government officials are also taking steps to ensure that the recent plunge in oil prices to under $30 a barrel does not undermine its programs to improve energy efficiency. ...A few days ago, the Energy Department projected that total renewable power consumed in the United States this year will increase by 9.5 percent,.... Utility-scale solar power generation alone is expected to increase by 45 percent by 2017, .... In China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, the government implemented a new rule that no matter how low world crude oil prices may fall, the price of gasoline and diesel will continue to be set as though the world price of oil were still $40 a barrel... to prevent gasoline and diesel from becoming so cheap that China’s citizens would start consuming it indiscriminately.....
Source: By Clifford Krauss and Diane Cardwell, The New York Times
For Investigation: 10.3
Excerpt: Barely a month after world leaders signed a sweeping agreement to reduce carbon emissions, the global commitment to renewable energy sources faces its first big test as the price of oil collapses. Buoyed by low gas prices, Americans are largely eschewing electric cars in favor of lower-mileage trucks and sport utility vehicles. Yet the Obama administration has shown no signs of backing off its requirement that automakers nearly double the fuel economy of their vehicles by 2025. In China, government officials are also taking steps to ensure that the recent plunge in oil prices to under $30 a barrel does not undermine its programs to improve energy efficiency. ...A few days ago, the Energy Department projected that total renewable power consumed in the United States this year will increase by 9.5 percent,.... Utility-scale solar power generation alone is expected to increase by 45 percent by 2017, .... In China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, the government implemented a new rule that no matter how low world crude oil prices may fall, the price of gasoline and diesel will continue to be set as though the world price of oil were still $40 a barrel... to prevent gasoline and diesel from becoming so cheap that China’s citizens would start consuming it indiscriminately.....