Effect of Trump solar-panel import tariffs on clean-power growth debated

Photovoltaic solar power field at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, TennesseeA majority of the photovoltaic solar panels used in the U.S. are imported from such countries as China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Now, environmentalists and energy analysts worry that the new 30-percent tariff on solar-panel imports announced last Monday by President Donald Trump may stymie the rapidly growing clean-energy...

Earth continues to warm fast; is climate change lost in political turmoil?

Mercedes-Benz SL-Class stalls in Maryland flash floodMother Nature doesn't pay attention to politics. As a pair of articles in The Washington Post last week highlighted, climate change proceeds apace regardless of the daily news cycle. In other words, unless the U.S. and the world ramp up the pace of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from all sources, the effects of a warming planet will continue...

Gas tax should rise 25 cents to fund road repair: US Chamber of Commerce

Gas pumpIt's an unusual thing, to say the least, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce publicly suggests a major tax increase. In general, the pro-business lobbying group advocates for tax cuts, reducing or eliminating regulations, and free-market policies that allow companies to operate however they choose. But there it was on Tuesday: The Chamber will...

CAFE proposal coming March 30: automakers hope national rules survive

Gas pumpIt's been hanging out there in limbo for more than six months: the answer to the question of what happens to gas-mileage rules under Trump. Given the daily political turmoil emanating from Washington, D.C., the fate of corporate average fuel economy rules may have gotten lost in the noise. But for automakers and consumers, the fate of current CAFE...

E10 gasoline now standard, but E15 push stalled, so here comes E30

Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanolThough the Environmental Protection Agency has already ruled on ethanol-blended gasoline mixtures for 2018, that hasn't stopped ethanol advocates from pushing for a higher 30-percent blend for non-flex-fuel vehicles. The latest call for ethanol comes from corn-state ethanol refiners, farmers, and an ethanol-producer trade association, all of whom...