carbon, carbon, and more carbon
January 7, 2008
One of the joys of this job is reviewing our Google Analytics profile, and seeing the paths that folks are taking through the CEP website. Google analytics is more than slightly big brother-ish, but speaking as an educator – it really, really helps me do my job. People learn in such different ways, and my job is to serve all those different needs. (Eek.)
The google result I find most interesting: By far the most popular word in the CEP Glossary is carbon dioxide. (Not greenhouse gases, mind you. Which I also find interesting.) Some of you may know our Glossary – it’s just a list and definitions of common terms used in climate and energy conversations, linked to text all throughout the site. Users tend to hopscotch all over the Glossary, too, since all the listings are cross-referenced. Because the Ice Storm of 2007 knocked me off kilter for a while, I still have a few terms to fill in, but there’s probably more than 200 completed.
Running a close second behind carbon dioxide is carbon regulation. Fairly evenly scattered through there are carbon liability and carbon credits.
You are probably noting a trend. So did I. Thus I finally got off my rear and finished the definitions for cap and trade, carbon tax, and carbon sequestration. My coworkers laughed at me when I whined that it wasn’t easy to reduce those ideas down to 100 words or less :) so (a) I quit whining (shame will do that to you), and (b) lengthened those entries just slightly.
Of course I have an ulterior motive for posting these. I have found that there is no better way to find those embarrassing broken links than to draw attention to recently posted web content… so – sigh – if you find any bad links, please just let me know.
— Maril Hazlett
Want to know more about the Climate and Energy Project (CEP)? Check out our main website at www.climateandenergy.org.
nice quote
January 7, 2008
I am adding this quote to the CEP website, but thought I would post it here as well. From an email to CEP Executive Director Nancy Jackson, by K-State Professor of Agricultural Economics, Barry Flinchbaugh (and we have permission to quote):
I found the poll quite interesting. To reach 25X25 which Congress
and the President have now declared our goal in the energy bill every source
of renewables must be pursued. In Kansas that is obviously wind and
cellulose. We have an abundant supply of both. Science and capital
investment will make it work.
Folks might be interested in taking a closer look at the 25×25 initiative. (Also, he is referring to the recent CEP poll.)
— Maril Hazlett
coal notes
January 7, 2008
Wish I could think of good headlines or puns having to do with coal. It might be because it’s a Monday – but, I can’t.
So. For the following news snippets, please feel free to make up your own.
First, more Kansas state legislators chime in with their opinions on energy issues for the upcoming session. For many representatives at this point, the proposed Holcomb coal power plants appear to be the defining and polarizing topic (LJWorld).
Also, Sunflower Electric responds (Hays Daily News/ Harris News Service) to the independent poll released by the Climate and Energy Project – yes, that’s us! – which found that by a 2 to 1 margin, Kansans approve KDHE’s denial of the air quality permits for those plants. (Summary: Sunflower didn’t much like it.) Sunflower is also considering proposing new coal plants in Missouri, just 60 miles east of the KS/MO state line (Hays Daily News/ Harris News Service). Pretty close to my husband’s grandma, I think.
And the Hutch News weighs in with an editorial on Holcomb, the legislature, the CEP poll - really, the whole ball of string. Quotable:
The reaction of Sunflower Electric and some western Kansas legislators to state denial of an air permit for Sunflower’s two new proposed coal-fired power plant units is disappointing. And it will not prove constructive for a state that should strive to be innovative with energy, environmentally conscious as well as economically growth-oriented.
And by the by, we have decided to start bylining our entries on the CEP blog, since there are now two of us writing (Nancy is planning to post every Friday, her travel schedule allowing). Unless you see her name, the post is probably by me… sorry, I seem to forget my byline a good deal.
Not this time, though.
— Maril Hazlett
