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The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication just released their latest national survey results on “Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes,” and a couple of the results jumped out at us.

First, the study found that “only 13 percent [of Americans] trust oil, gas and coal companies (e.g., ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy) as sources of information about global warming.” In stark contrast, 74% of Americans trust climate scientists, 47% trust President Obama, and 43% trust the mainstream news media. Overall, the fossil fuel companies came in dead last, behind car companies and consumer goods companies, in terms of who Americans trust regarding information on global warming.

Second, the level of distrust for the fossil fuel companies, at least on this subject, is intense. In fact, despite an aggressive, well-funded campaign by companies like ExxonMobil to sow doubt about climate science, the new Yale survey finds that an astounding 87 percent of Americans distrust the fossil fuel companies for information on global warming, and that a near-majority (48%) of Americans strongly distrust the fossil fuel companies.

The bottom line: despite many millions of dollars spent by the fossil fuel companies to spread disinformation, including funding of science denial groups like the Heartland Institute, on climate science, the American people simply do not trust them for information on this subject. Perhaps the fossil fuel companies might have better spent their money on promoting wind, solar, and other clean energy sources instead?

Here are five recommended reads for today (5/15/12)

1. Energy Boom reports, “Twenty of the world’s leading off-grid clean energy entrepreneurs sent a letter [yesterday] to World Bank Group president Robert Zoellick requesting $500 million in financial commitments to help them deliver on the world’s energy access goals.”
2. According to CleanTechnica: “Yet another recent poll showed that Americans really support clean energy, across political affiliations… 76% of Americans (58% of Republicans, 83% of Independents, and 88% of Democrats) want to see ”a reduction in our reliance on nuclear power, natural gas and coal, and instead, launch a national initiative to boost renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
3. The New York Times reports, “A pioneering proposal to build a wind power transmission line on the ocean floor from southern Virginia to northern New Jersey cleared a hurdle on Monday when the Interior Department opened the way for the project’s sponsors to start work on an environmental impact statement.”
4. Eric Wesoff of Greentechsolar explains the “anatomy of the SolarWorld US-China Solar Trade Case.”
5. The Boston Globe reports: “Retail giant Walmart said it plans to install solar panels on top of about half of its roughly 50 Massachusetts stores as early as August as part of an expansion of solar power in the state… once the projects are done, they will be capable of generating a total of about 10.5 megawatts worth of energy, enough to power up to 2,600 homes.”

Here are five recommended reads for today (5/14/12)

1. Stephen Lacey of ClimateProgress reports: “Power generation from coal is falling quickly. According to new figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal made up 36 percent of U.S. electricity in the first quarter of 2012 — down from 44.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011.”
2. According to Greentechmedia: “Based on projections from the EIA’s May 2012 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn ‘an estimated $1,154 billion of net oil export revenues in 2012 and $1,117 billion in 2013. Last year, OPEC earned $1,026 billion in net oil export revenues, a 33 percent increase from 2010.’”
3. Bloomberg reports, “Saudi Arabia is seeking investors for a $109 billion plan to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity by 2032… The world’s largest crude oil exporter aims to have 41,000 megawatts of solar capacity within two decades.”
4. According to InsideClimateNews, “Long Island, N.Y., becomes one of the first places in the U.S. to adopt the newly made-over CLEAN model to promote solar energy… The initiative uses the same feed-in tariff model that many credit for solar power booms in Germany, France and Spain—only with a different name.”
5. The New York Times reports: “Analyzing a survey they conducted in 2011, researchers at Harvard and Yale found that the average United States citizen was willing to pay $162 a year more to support a national policy requiring 80 percent “clean” energy by 2035. Nationwide, that would represent a 13 percent increase in electric bills.”

Here are five recommended reads for today (5/11/12)

1. Brendan Demelle of DeSmogBlog reports: “ForestEthics Advocacy released a game-changing research brief today documenting the massive foreign control of Alberta’s tar sands oil industry. Publicly traded oil companies with active tar sands operations have a very high level of foreign ownership – 71 per cent.”
2. According to the Huffington Post, “Progressive lawmakers Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) teamed up on Thursday to introduce legislation designed to stop subsidies to the oil, coal and natural gas industries, preserving an estimated $110 billion over the next ten years.”
3. InsideClimateNews reports, “Long involvement in Canada’s tar sands has been central to Koch Industries’ evolution and positions the billionaire brothers for a new oil boom.”
4. According to CleanTechnica: “In a sign that wave and tidal stream renewable energy technology may be poised to come of age, Vattenfall, Europe’s sixth-largest power utility, Spanish multinational renewable energy developer, Abengoa and UK-based international engineering firm Babcock have joined to form Nautimus, a Scottish company that will provide engineering, procurement, integration and construction (EPC) services for utilities’ wave power and tidal stream projects.”
5. ClimateProgress reports: “Today, behind closed doors in Charlotte, North Carolina, legislators from 15 states will meet with the oil and gas industry to discuss so-called “model legislation” as part of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The result could be laws that handicap renewable energy targets — while creating loopholes for fossil fuels, written directly by the oil and gas industry itself.”

A new poll, by Small Business Majority, provides strong evidence that support for clean energy in this country is both broad and deep. The bottom line findings from small business owners in six states (Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia) are as follows:

• “The vast majority, 71% of respondents, say government investments in clean energy play an importantrole in creating jobs and boosting the economy.”
• 82% “support EPA rules to reduce mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gas emissions from new and existing power plants,” while 73% “favor proposed rules to reduce smog and soot pollution crossing state lines and contributing to pollution in other states”
• “The majority of small business owners (58%) agree the failure of Solyndra—which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government—doesn’t mean the federal government should stop investing in renewable energy technologies.”
• “Contrary to ideological rhetoric blaming government regulations as the primary impediment to small business growth…[o]nly 16%
  
  of small businesses say government regulation is one of their two biggest problems.”

Also worth noting, a breakout of Virginia indicates that 65% of small business owners there “favor ending government subsidies to oil and gas companies,” while overwhelming majorities (79%-91%) support specific government incentives – clean energy tax credits, mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standards, clean energy research, etc. – to help move us towards a clean energy economy.

The bottom line? According to Small Business Majority, small business owners across America “want bottom-line oriented clean energy policies that increase opportunities and reduce operating costs, such as those associated with fuel and electricity.” In large part, that’s because they understand that we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing in terms of energy if we want to compete in the 21^st- century world economy. The only question is, when will Congress get the message?