While it is true that there are many hybrid vehicles currently for sale (such as the Ford Fusion Hybrid, Toyota Prius, and Yukon Hybrid), the development of these models began years ago. What about new concepts that need to be in development right now in order to make it to the market (typical new-vehicle development cycle lasts 3 to 5 years)? Continue Reading »

Last Monday, 22 June 2009, marked the 40th anniversary of a landmark environmental event: the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire.  The river was flammable as a result of all the industrial and municipal waste that was being routinely dumped into it. The event is now a symbol of the environmental bad old days, when “dilution was the solution to pollution” and there were few, if any, restrictions on releasing untreated chemical waste into the environment. Continue Reading »

Within the last few months there has been a lot of excitement over the prospect of high-speed rail in this country.  The mission has been set: transform the nation’s transportation system.  A commitment of 8 billion dollars has been made, along with a plan for an additional 5 billion dollars over the next 5 years.  It sounds like an amazing plan: 13 billion dollars towards high-speed rail lines.  It puts our investment in high-speed rail lines above that of any of the European countries.  It sounds good on paper and proposals should be rolling in shortly.  Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has been visiting European nations and meeting with Governors to start planning.  Things are moving forward and LaHood’s blog claims we’re getting closer, but how close will 13 billion really take us?  Let’s look at what the rest of the world is spending.

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Debates over health care are heating up. Framed in terms of reforming the payer system, President Obama is putting forth a government-sponsored health plan. Not everyone is pleaed with his proposal, but everyone says that the patient is their #1 concern! We spend over 15% of our economy on health care. In “The Last Conundrum,” Atul Gawande, a surgeon and staff writer for The New Yorker, writes about why we have the most expensive care in the world, and its cost to patients…. Continue Reading »

I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.S. Section) at the British Embassy last weekend. It was a lovely evening, and I was looking forward to hearing Bob Peoples, the new director of the Green Chemistry Institute, speak. The setting in Washington was perfect. This was a week after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Washington Post both had stories about the leaked minutes from a secret meeting of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, Inc. Rep. Waxman was looking for an explanation of the meeting and its minutes. The FDA was rethinking its stance on BPA. Congress is wrestling with how to rewrite toxics legislation. And all the world (including even Congress) is abuzz about energy, climate disruption, and sustainability. It seemed a great time to be talking about green chemistry. Unfortunately, it seems that while green chemistry might apply to everything “sustainable,” it doesn’t actually apply to anything happening, current, or in serious need of a “green” chemical approach.

Three issues really got to me . . . Continue Reading »

The Center has posted a number of blogs dealing with incentives and competing regulations aimed at raising fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions (29 April, 9 April, 19 March). A friend of the Center, Peter Spitz, passes along a strong argument that now is the time for a higher tax on gasoline.

Peter writes: ”The decision by the Obama administration to induce car manufacturers to produce more energy-efficient vehicles, coupled with the low price of gasoline that may prevail for some time as the world recovers from the deep recession, provides a unique opportunity for Congress to substantially increase the current federal tax on gasoline.

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