For many years, the Pentagon has issued reports about climate change, highlighting the future possible threats our nation may face from increased temperatures, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and rising sea levels. This week marked a notable change in the Pentagon’s Read more…
We’ve had discussions recently on the amount of subsidies that the fossil fuel industries receive from the federal government here in the U.S. To be sure, there is a great deal of hanky-panky played with these numbers. Let me go Read more…
While many government officials nervously await the outcome of the November elections and speculate as to its implications for the cleantech sector, one federal department is likely to be relatively unaffected regardless of the outcome: Defense. According to panelists at Read more…
Protecting the electric system from cyber threats and ensuring its resilience are vital to our national security and economic well-being. This is exactly why cybersecurity is one of four key themes in the White House’s Policy Framework fo…
Bill Moore, editor of EVWorld.com has written a splendid article on the failure of certain of the early electric vehicle companies, in which he points out: Breaking into the automotive business can be relatively easy; making a success of it Read more…
Yesterday, President Obama announced that our Departments will jointly invest $510 million over the next three years to develop the domestic capacity for advanced biofuels. The funds will be leveraged with at least a one-to-one private industry match to construct Read more…
Having served in the military, I’m intimately aware of the role that energy plays in our ability to defend and uphold our national security. This became apparent to me in many ways during my time in the field, to the Read more…
Yesterday morning’s keynote address at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum was delivered by Pennsylvania’s ex-governor Ed Rendell, who spoke on the possibilities that renewable energy may gain traction through politics. I suppose anything’s possible, so I tried to track with Read more…
In October 2009, as Secretary of the Navy, I established five ambitious goals to reduce fossil fuel consumption in the Navy and Marine Corps and increase the use of alternative energy to at least 50% of our energy requirements no later Read more…
A new report released today by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) provides specific and practical recommendations on how the Nation can transform its current carbon-based economy into a safer, more sustainable…
On Oct. 13 the Department of Defense (DoD) hosted an Energy Security Forum as part of National Energy Awareness Month. We spent the day with leaders from the military services and the White House for a discussion on how the Read more…
October 13th is the 235th Anniversary of the founding of the United States Navy. So it was incredibly appropriate that today I had the opportunity to speak at two events focused on our military’s energy policy, because how the Navy Read more…
I was keeping a tally sheet at last week’s Renewable Energy Finance Forum, so I could let readers know the issue that was brought up most often and granted the most overall prominence. The clear winner: China is eating our Read more…
Will a sexy $140k electric sports car get us off foreign oil? No, definitely not. However, what Tesla is really building is an electric drive train and electric vehicle platform that they can use to build electric sedans and SUV’s at a much more affordable price point.