Comments on: The first green Secretary of Commerce http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/ The Latest on Climate Science, Solutions, and Politics Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:18:00 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Schultz http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23940 Schultz Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:56:52 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23940 Exactly. I recall Richardson getting a debate question during the Democratic Primary, something along the lines of "You were energy secretary and had a chance to put us on track to be energy independent, and you were not able to do so....why?" Richardson did not give a good explanation as to why he failed to change our energy policy when he had the opportunity to do just that. Exactly. I recall Richardson getting a debate question during the Democratic Primary, something along the lines of “You were energy secretary and had a chance to put us on track to be energy independent, and you were not able to do so….why?” Richardson did not give a good explanation as to why he failed to change our energy policy when he had the opportunity to do just that.

]]> By: David B. Benson http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23879 David B. Benson Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:14:12 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23879 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Richardson#U.S._Secretary_of_Energy was good for American Indians. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Bill_Richardson#U.S._Secretary_of_Energy

was good for American Indians.

]]> By: Schultz http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23845 Schultz Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:30:37 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23845 What did Richardson achieve when he was our Energy Secretary under President Clinton? Also, how green is the state of New Mexico? When I hear of big solar power deals they are always in Nevada, Southern California, or Arizona. I'm just asking because the title of this post was "The first Green Secretary of Commerce" and I would like to see more than just rhetoric to back that up. What did Richardson achieve when he was our Energy Secretary under President Clinton? Also, how green is the state of New Mexico? When I hear of big solar power deals they are always in Nevada, Southern California, or Arizona. I’m just asking because the title of this post was “The first Green Secretary of Commerce” and I would like to see more than just rhetoric to back that up.

]]> By: Brendan http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23835 Brendan Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:35:16 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23835 Something I saw on digg you would enjoy http://greenfyre.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/global-warming-is-over-once-every-decade-or-so/ Something I saw on digg you would enjoy

http://greenfyre.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 12/ 03/ global-warming-is-over-once-every-decade-or-so/

]]> By: red http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23832 red Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:45:19 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23832 "Aimed at providing science agencies and the military with climate and weather data, the satellites have saddled the agency with ballooning budget requirements and the need for massive restructuring." The NOAA satellite program that's shared between the military and NOAA is called NPOESS. It's the next generation series of big polar-orbiting operational weather/environment satellites. As with many such big, complicated satellite systems, it's billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. Environment monitoring sensors have been pulled off in order to try to get some kind of control over the system. In New Mexico, Richardson promoted Spaceport America, a new spaceport with commercial operations in mind. This fits with the "commerce" side of the Commerce house. The spaceport would typically involve suborbital launches or quite small orbital launches. In either case, the commercial, entrepreneurial mindset of the businesses, combined with the more manageable size and frequent repetition of their projects (deploy, deploy, deploy...), lends hope that, if their businesses take off, they'll be able to offer space services that can avoid or minimize the types of schedule and cost overruns that afflict many bigger, cost-plus aerospace government contracts. Will Richardson connect these dots in a way that's relevant to NOAA climate monitoring and science? Here's a small example of the types of opportunity that might become available: www.greentechmedia.com/articles/virgin-galactic-gives-climate-research-a-lift-1511.html Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico is a leader in "Operationally Responsive Space", a movement Obama endorsed in his space policy document towards typically smaller and less capable, but cheaper and quickly launched satellites. I'm not sure how involved or aware Richardson has been with this effort, but it's also relevant to NOAA's situation. The big missions will surely continue to have an important role in NOAA's climate efforts. Still, it would be nice if we could relieve the pressure on these big missions by offloading or complementing some of the responsibility as appropriate to smaller, more manageable orbital launchers, reusable suborbital rockets, and innovative smallsat platforms. Here's more. It doesn't go into the climate monitoring implications, but you can probably fill those in. www.spacepolitics.com/2008/11/21/commerce-richardson-and-space/ “Aimed at providing science agencies and the military with climate and weather data, the satellites have saddled the agency with ballooning budget requirements and the need for massive restructuring.”

The NOAA satellite program that’s shared between the military and NOAA is called NPOESS. It’s the next generation series of big polar-orbiting operational weather/environment satellites. As with many such big, complicated satellite systems, it’s billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. Environment monitoring sensors have been pulled off in order to try to get some kind of control over the system.

In New Mexico, Richardson promoted Spaceport America, a new spaceport with commercial operations in mind. This fits with the “commerce” side of the Commerce house. The spaceport would typically involve suborbital launches or quite small orbital launches. In either case, the commercial, entrepreneurial mindset of the businesses, combined with the more manageable size and frequent repetition of their projects (deploy, deploy, deploy…), lends hope that, if their businesses take off, they’ll be able to offer space services that can avoid or minimize the types of schedule and cost overruns that afflict many bigger, cost-plus aerospace government contracts.

Will Richardson connect these dots in a way that’s relevant to NOAA climate monitoring and science? Here’s a small example of the types of opportunity that might become available:

http://www.greentechmedia.com/ articles/ virgin-galactic-gives-climate-research-a-lift-1511.html

Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico is a leader in “Operationally Responsive Space”, a movement Obama endorsed in his space policy document towards typically smaller and less capable, but cheaper and quickly launched satellites. I’m not sure how involved or aware Richardson has been with this effort, but it’s also relevant to NOAA’s situation.

The big missions will surely continue to have an important role in NOAA’s climate efforts. Still, it would be nice if we could relieve the pressure on these big missions by offloading or complementing some of the responsibility as appropriate to smaller, more manageable orbital launchers, reusable suborbital rockets, and innovative smallsat platforms.

Here’s more. It doesn’t go into the climate monitoring implications, but you can probably fill those in.

http://www.spacepolitics.com/ 2008/ 11/ 21/ commerce-richardson-and-space/

]]> By: paulm http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23831 paulm Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:40:36 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23831 BMW launches electric version of British classic • 95mph model can travel 150 miles on full charge http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/03/bmw-electric-mini-e-launch I want one! BMW launches electric version of British classic
• 95mph model can travel 150 miles on full charge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ environment/ 2008/ dec/ 03/ bmw-electric-mini-e-launch

I want one!

]]> By: Richard Mercer http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23830 Richard Mercer Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:22:55 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/03/bill-richardson-first-green-secretary-of-commerce/#comment-23830 Someone needs to tell the mainstream media what good news this is. Even fairly liberal MSNBC talking heads were downplaying Richardson's nomination, saying it might be a disappointment for Richardson, since Secretary of Commerce wasn't such a big deal post. They were suggesting he might be miffed for not getting the Secretary of State position. This is even better, in my opinion. This is very encouraging, thanks for letting us know about it's significance. I wasn't even aware that NOAA was part of the Commerce dept. I look forward to new Dept. of Interior and EPA appointments as well. Someone needs to tell the mainstream media what good news this is. Even fairly liberal MSNBC talking heads were downplaying Richardson’s nomination, saying it might be a disappointment for Richardson, since Secretary of Commerce wasn’t such a big deal post. They were suggesting he might be miffed for not getting the Secretary of State position. This is even better, in my opinion.
This is very encouraging, thanks for letting us know about it’s significance. I wasn’t even aware that NOAA was part of the Commerce dept.
I look forward to new Dept. of Interior and EPA appointments as well.

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