SET Energy

The recession is not preventing progress at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (ACUPCC) and their effort to get our country’s campuses climate neutral. The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment just passed 600 partner institutions. New signatory institutions include Colgate University of upstate New York and Caldwell Community College in my native state of North Carolina. Of course, signing the commitment is only step one of a decades-long process to achieve climate neutrality. More difficult steps remain for many signatories — from (more…)

Today I read a new study by Australian scientists has found the Southern Ocean is acidifying faster than previously thought. Their research leads them to believe an acidification tipping point could be reached by 2030 ~450 ppm instead of the earlier estimate of 2060 ~550 ppm. We have had a deluge of similarly startling findings these past few years such as the acceleration of melting in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, and western Antarctica. (more…)

Today, SET is publicly launching its first campaign. Entitled PACE (Princeton Alumni for Climate Excellence), the effort aims to help mobilize latent alumni support for Princeton University to be a leader in greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

Princeton is a source of top-notch climate scholarship, with leading professors such as (more…)

Every time I touch base with my allies in the sustainability for higher education movement, I am inspired by the great strides being made in every state of this nation. While our federal government has dragged its feet when it comes to setting greenhouse gas emissions targets, both public and private campuses are rising to the occasion. My buddies at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) are leading the charge with projects like the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. This Commitment has mobilized (more…)

Today was another volatile day in the energy markets. Oil initially rose as the dollar fell to a record low versus the euro of $1.6038, but then oil dropped back below $140 as more bad news about the US economy showed our demand may fall further. Brazilian production was reported to have returned toward normal levels, but Libya reported a 100,000 barrel per day reduction in its oil supply for almost a month due to maintenance needs. This amounts to twice as much as (more…)

The future of commuter education may be unfolding today. We are lucky plateau/peak oil didn’t hit before our communications systems advanced to today’s amazing level. With video skype, telecasting conferences, cell phones and libraries of information available at our fingertips, we no longer have to travel every day to get a good education. The high value of on-campus education, where students live in dorms and feed off of each other’s interests, will remain. But commuter education looks to be defined more as telecommuter education.

The New York Times reports that (more…)

I am currently on a week of vacation to celebrate family and friends, and will not have an active daily recap until Monday, July 7th. But I wanted to touch base from North Carolina on some of the recent movement in energy.

The main headlines this week are so far related to oil. The price is exploring further record territory by (more…)