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Joe Romm

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Joseph Romm, 2007

Joseph J. Romm (born June 27, 1960) is an American author, blogger, physicist[1] and energy expert[2] who concentrates on methods of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming and increasing energy security through energy efficiency, green energy technologies and green transportation technologies.[3] In December 2008, Romm was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In March 2009, Rolling Stone magazine named Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America".[4] In September 2009, Time magazine named him one of its "Heroes of the Environment 2009", calling him "The Web's most influential climate-change blogger".[5]

Romm is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he writes and maintains their climate blog, ClimateProgress.org. Time magazine named Romm's blog one of the "Top 15 Green Websites".[6] Romm is also the executive director and founder of the non-profit Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, which helps businesses and U.S. States adopt high-leverage strategies for saving energy and cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions[7] and is a principal of the Capital E Group, an energy technology consultant. Romm also writes regularly for several energy and news websites.

In the 1990s, Romm served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Romm has published several books on global warming and energy technology. Technology Review wrote that his December 2006 book, Hell and High Water, "provides an accurate summary of what is known about global warming and climate change, a sensible agenda for technology and policy, and a primer on how political disinformation has undermined climate science."[8]

Biography

Early life and career

Romm was born and grew up in Middletown, New York, the youngest of three sons of Al Romm, a newspaper editor at the Times Herald-Record,[9] and Ethel Grodzins Romm, an author and a retired project manager and CEO of a technology company.[10] Romm's brother David is the host of Shockwave Radio Theater, and his brother Daniel is a physician. Romm graduated from Middletown High School in 1978. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1982 and a Ph.D. in 1987, both in physics.[11] He pursued part of his graduate work at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.[12] In 1987, Romm was awarded an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellowship for the U.S. House of Representatives, providing science and security policy advice on the staff of Representative Charles E. Bennett.[13]

From 1988 to 1990, Romm worked as Special Assistant for International Security at the Rockefeller Foundation. From 1991 to 1993, he was a researcher at the Rocky Mountain Institute. He co-authored the 1994 Rocky Mountain Institute Report, Greening the Building and the Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design.[14] For the Global Environment and Technology Foundation, he performed the first environmental analysis of a system integrating cogenerating fuel cells, fly wheels, and power electronics aimed at achieving very high-availability power.[15] In 1990 and 1991, Romm taught a course entitled "Rethinking National Security" at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.[16]

In 1992, Romm published The Once and Future Superpower, a book describing his views on how to spend the peace dividend to restore America's economic, energy and environmental security.[17] In 1993, he wrote Defining National Security: The Nonmilitary Aspects, for the Council on Foreign Relations, describing how America's security depends on non-military factors such as how it obtains energy.[18] In 1994, Romm published Lean and Clean Management, a book that discussed management techniques that can reduce the impact of manufacturing and other industries on the environment while increasing productivity and profits.[19][20] He co-authored, with Charles Curtis, "MidEast Oil Forever," the cover story of the April 1996 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, which predicted higher oil prices within a decade and discussed alternative energy strategies. In 1999, Romm published Cool Companies: How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the first book to benchmark corporate best practices for using advanced energy technologies, including fuel cells, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[21][22]

Service at the U.S. Department of Energy

Romm served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, in charge of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy during 1997 and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from August 1995 though June 1998, and Special Assistant for Policy and Planning from 1993 to July 1995. This office, the largest research and development program in the world, with a budget at the time of $1 billion and 550 employees, assists businesses in the industrial, utility, transportation and buildings sectors to develop and use advanced clean energy technologies to cut costs, increase reliability, and reduce pollution.[7][13]

As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Romm was in charge of all policy and technology analysis and programmatic development for the Office, which was then developing PEM fuel cells, microturbines, advanced cogeneration, superconductivity, building controls, photovoltaics and other renewables, biofuels, and hydrogen production and storage. Among other projects, he initiated, supervised, and publicized a comprehensive technical analysis in 1997 by five national laboratories of how energy technologies can best reduce greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively, entitled Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions.[23]

Recent years

Since leaving the Department of Energy, Romm has written widely on global warming and energy technologies that can reduce global warming. His 2004 book, The Hype about Hydrogen, argues that putting off the implementation of current green technologies in favor of waiting for technological breakthroughs in hydrogen cars is a dangerous distraction that will delay urgently-needed government action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The book was named one of the best science and technology books of 2004 by Library Journal.[3] In 2004, he also wrote the National Commission on Energy Policy's report, "The Car and Fuel of the Future",[24] which was rated the #1 Hottest Article on Energy Policy by ScienceDirect.[25] He was also the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation project, Future Directions for Hydrogen Energy Research and Education (2004).[26]

Romm's 2006 book Hell and High Water claims that humans have a window of opportunity of only about a decade to head off the most catastrophic effects of global warming. It calls upon Americans to demand government action to encourage and require the use of current emission-cutting technologies.[27] Romm has testified numerous times before congressional committees on energy and global warming issues, including his views on government action to curb global warming.[28] On September 5, 2007, Romm testified before the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives on the subject of "Fuels for the Future", specifically the use of liquid fuel from coal, which Romm believes would accelerate global warming.[29]

Romm is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress[30] where he maintains their climate blog.[31] In April 2008, Time magazine named Romm's blog one of the "Top 15 Green Websites", writing that it "counters bad science and inane rhetoric with original analysis delivered sharply.... Romm occupies the intersection of climate science, economics and policy. Resist temptation to lump him in with knee-jerk enviros. On his blog and in his most recent book, Hell and High Water, you can find some of the most cogent, memorable, and deployable arguments for immediate and overwhelming action to confront global warming."[6] In March 2009, Thomas L. Friedman, in his column in The New York Times, wrote that Romm is "a physicist and climate expert who writes the indispensable blog climateprogress.org."[32] Romm also writes for a number of other top internet energy and news sites, including The Huffington Post,[33] Cleantechcollective,[34] Grist,[35][36] Slate[37] and Salon.com.[38]

Romm is the executive director and founder of the non-profit Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, an organization based in the Washington DC area that helps businesses and U.S. States adopt high-leverage strategies for saving energy and cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, he is a principal of the Capital E Group,[15] which consults on technology assessment and sustainable design services for clean energy technologies.[7] Romm is also on the Advisory Board of Securing America's Future Energy.[3]

Romm lectures on energy technology and global warming[39] and is often cited, quoted or interviewed by journalists to explain the impact of public policy and energy technologies and applications on global warming and energy security. For example, on April 26, 2009, Romm was featured on 60 Minutes discussing so-called clean coal.[40][41] Romm was interviewed on Fox News in 2007[42][43] about the new IPCC Fourth Assessment Report on climate change, and on his views of global warming politics and solutions. Romm is also interviewed in the 2006 documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car?, directed by Chris Paine and narrated by Martin Sheen. In the film, Romm gives a presentation intended to show that the government's "hydrogen car initiative" is a bad policy choice and a distraction that is delaying the exploitation of more promising technologies, such as electric and hybrid cars that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase America's energy security.

Romm's views

The New York Times "Dot Earth" column reviewed Romm's views on global warming solutions on November 24, 2008, including his belief that, to combat global warming, humans cannot wait for new technologies and scientific breakthroughs; that instead we must "deploy existing and near-term low-carbon technologies as fast as is humanly possible".[44][45] The New York Times also quoted Romm as stating: "A necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a crisis to be [seen as grave] is that it must be labeled as such by very serious people who are perceived as essentially nonpartisan opinion leaders.... We will need a WWII-style approach". The article noted Romm's belief that "credible people" and the press should publicly support the notion that government action is needed to help solve the global warming crisis. In particular, the press should explain how current stories, such as hurricanes, droughts and insect infestations are related to global warming.[44] According to U.S. News & World Report, Romm believes that global warming "is advancing more swiftly than most people think and than the mainstream media usually report. He has called for significantly ramping up government spending on clean energy technology, halting the construction of new coal plants, rapidly increasing the use of energy-efficient technologies, and imposing a cap-and-trade system to sharply limit carbon dioxide emissions".[46]

In 2006, in a radio interview, Romm stated, "Global warming is going to transform this country and our transportation and the way we live our lives. If we don't act pretty soon, in an intelligent fashion, then change will be forced upon us by the radically changed climate... global warming is the issue of the century".[47] In March 2009, Romm summarized and updated his views in an "introduction" to his blog[48] and in another post, setting forth a summary of "global warming impacts".[49]

Recognition and personal life

In December 2008, Romm was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for "distinguished service toward a sustainable energy future and for persuasive discourse on why citizens, corporations, and governments should adopt sustainable technologies".[50][51] In March 2009, Rolling Stone magazine named Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America". Rolling Stone quoted David Roberts, a blogger at Grist to explain why Romm was chosen: "Joe combines two qualities you don't often find together. A deep knowledge of technology, policy and science along with genuine moral passion."[4]

In April 2009, U.S. News & World Report featured Romm as one of five "key players" in its article "Driving Public Policy in Washington", calling Romm an "oft-cited expert on climate change issues, and a go-to witness at congressional hearings".[46] In September, 2009, Time magazine named Romm one of its "Heroes of the Environment 2009". It wrote, "He combines ... intellect with a strong sense of moral outrage. He also possesses a Jon Stewart-like quality for pointing out the absurdity of his opponents."[5]

Romm lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and daughter.

Publications

In addition to his books and other publications discussed above, Romm has written or co-written numerous articles and lectured widely on distributed energy, clean technologies, business and environment issues and global warming. His articles have been published in U. S. News and World Report,[52] Technology Review,[53] Issues in Science and Technology,[54] Forbes,[55] Foreign Affairs,[56] The New York Times,[57] the L.A. Times, The Washington Post, Science,[58] Scientific American,[59] Physics Today,[60] Physics World,[61] The Economist,[62] and Businessweek,[63] among other publications.

Romm and Prof. Andrew A. Frank co-authored "Hybrid Vehicles Gain Traction", published in the April 2006 issue of Scientific American, in which they argue that hybrid cars that can be plugged into the electric grid, that Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be introduced in the next few years and will become standard in the automobile industry in the coming decades.[59] In March 2007, Romm and Peter Fox-Penner published an article entitled "Plugging into the Grid, How Plug-In Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Can Help Break America's Oil Addiction and Slow Global Warming" in the Progressive Policy Institute's Policy Report newsletter.[64] Romm contributed a chapter to the 2007 book Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths.[65] In June 2008, Nature.com published an article by Romm entitled "Cleaning up on Carbon."[66]

Books by Romm

  • Romm, Joseph (2006). Hell and High Water: Global Warming—the Solution and the Politics—and What We Should Do. New York: William Morrow. (ISBN 0-06117-212-X).
  • Romm, Joseph (2004). The Hype about Hydrogen, Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate. New York: Island Press. (ISBN 1-55963-703-X). An updated edition was published in 2005 (ISBN 1-55963-704-8). The book has also been translated into German as Der Wasserstoff-boom.
  • Romm, Joseph (1999). Cool Companies: How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. New York: Island Press. (ISBN 1-55963-709-9).
  • Romm, Joseph (1994). Lean and Clean Management: How to Boost Profits and Productivity by Reducing Pollution. New York: Kodansha Amer Inc. (ISBN 1-56836-037-1).
  • Romm, Joseph (1993). Defining National Security: The Nonmilitary Aspects. Washington: Council on Foreign Relations. (ISBN 0-87609-135-4).
  • Romm, Joseph (1992). The Once and Future Superpower: How to Restore America's Economic, Energy, and Environmental Security. New York: William Morrow & Co. (ISBN 0-688-11868-2).

Selected journal articles and reports

  • Report: "The Self-Limiting Future of Nuclear Power" AmericanProgressAction.org, 2008
  • "The Car and Fuel of the Future," Energy Policy, 2005
  • "Future Directions for Hydrogen Energy Research and Education" (Principal Investigator), Report to the National Science Foundation, November 2004[26]
  • "The internet and the new energy economy", Resources, Conservation and Recycling, p. 36 (2002) pp. 197-210
  • "Combined Heat and Power for Saving Energy and Carbon in Buildings" (with Kaarsberg, Koomey, Rosenfeld, and Teagen), Proceedings of 1998 ACEEE Summer Study, Pacific Grove, CA, 1999
  • "Engineering-Economic Studies of Energy Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Opportunities and Challenges" (with Brown, Levine, Rosenfeld, and Koomey), Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 1998
  • "A Roadmap for U.S. Carbon Reductions" (with Levine, Brown, and Petersen), Science, January 30, 1998[67]
  • "Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions: Potential Impacts of Energy Technologies by 2010 and Beyond", Interlaboratory Working Group, (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, September 1997)[23]
  • "Greening the Building and the Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design" (with Browning), Rocky Mountain Institute, November 1994 (peer-reviewed by U.S. Green Building Council)
  • "Greening the Building and the Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design" (with Browning), Proceedings of 1994 ACEEE Summer Study, Pacific Grove, CA

Notes

  1. ^ Begley, Sharon. "Climate Pessimists Were Right", The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2007
  2. ^ Garber, Kent. "Joe Romm, Influential Liberal Climate Change Expert and Blogger", U.S. News & World Report, March 31, 2009
  3. ^ a b c Romm's profile at The Foundation for Nuclear Studies
  4. ^ a b "The 100 People Who Are Changing America", Rolling Stone magazine, March 18, 2009
  5. ^ a b Walsh, Bryan. "Heroes of the Environment 2009 – Joe Romm", Time magazine, September 2009
  6. ^ a b Time.com feature on "Top 15 Green Websites"
  7. ^ a b c Romm profile at Cleanhouston.org
  8. ^ Technology Review article of March 12, 2007
  9. ^ Al Romm was managing editor of the Times Herald-Record newspaper from the 1950s into the 1980s. See obituary.
  10. ^ See E. G. Romm's books in print and Article on tech company where she was President.
  11. ^ Abstract of Romm's Ph.D. dissertation
  12. ^ Romm's testimony before the U. S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming, p. 6, July 18, 2007
  13. ^ a b Arbogast, Rebekah V. "Joseph Romm visits campus, discusses climate change", The Etownian], September 17 2009
  14. ^ Link to Rocky Mountain Inst. report
  15. ^ a b Capital E Group website
  16. ^ School of International and Public Affairs Faculty Directory, 1989–1990 and 1990–1991
  17. ^ Romm, Joseph (1992). The Once and Future Superpower: How to Restore America's Economic, Energy, and Environmental Security. New York: William Morrow & Co. (ISBN 0-688-11868-2)
  18. ^ Romm, Joseph (1993). Defining National Security: The Nonmilitary Aspects. Washington: Council on Foreign Relations. (ISBN 0-87609-135-4)
  19. ^ Review of Lean and Clean Management
  20. ^ Wernick, Iddo K. "Book Review, Lean and Clean Management, Romm, J.", International Journal of Environment and Pollution 5(2/3):314-6 1995
  21. ^ Information about Romm's book, Cool Companies
  22. ^ Reviews of Cool Companies can be found here and here.
  23. ^ a b Report generated by The Five Lab Study
  24. ^ The Car and Fuel of the Future, 2004, reprinted in Energy Policy, vol. 34, issue 17 (November, 2006) pp. 2609–14, accessed 11 March 2009
  25. ^ "Top 25 Hottest Articles", ScienceDirect.com, January - March 2007, accessed 11 June 2009
  26. ^ a b Award Abstract, NSF.gov, January 29, 2004
  27. ^ See Publisher webpage, and Review of the book.
  28. ^ See, for example, his September 21, 2000 testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, his March 3, 2004 testimony before the House Science Committee and his testimony before the U. S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming, July 18, 2007.
  29. ^ Romm's September 2007 testimony before Congress
  30. ^ Romm bio at www.americanprogress.org
  31. ^ Romm's climate blog at ClimateProgress.org
  32. ^ Friedman, Thomas L. "The Inflection Is Near?", The New York Times, March 7, 2009
  33. ^ Romm, Joseph. "Can Obama Stop the Nuclear Bomb in the Senate Stimulus Plan?" The Huffington Post, February 2, 2009; "Obama Delivers", The Huffington Post, 2008
  34. ^ Romm article in Cleantechcollective
  35. ^ Romm, Joseph. "An open letter to James Hansen", Gristmill, November 24, 2008; "First five steps to a greener home...." Grist, March 16, 2009
  36. ^ Romm, Joseph. "Stop the madness!: Congress reverses Chu's decision, flushes $100 million down the toilet pursuing hydrogen cars", Grist, July 23, 2009
  37. ^ Romm, Joseph. October 2007 article by Romm in Slate
  38. ^ Romm's recent Salon.com articles include "Anti-science conservatives must be stopped", June 30, 2008; "Let's dump Earth Day", April 22, 2008; "The technology that will save humanity", April 14, 2008; "The cold truth about climate change", February 27, 2008; and"The car of the future is here", January 22, 2008
  39. ^ See, e.g., "Energy Symposium: The Rosenfeld Effect" April 28, 2006 and "Climate Expert to Discuss Global Warming Solutions", Yale University, September 18, 2006.
  40. ^ "60 Minutes: Powered by Coal", 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 26, 2009 (Romm is interviewed at 8:50 into the video). "Is China the Real Problem?" 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 26, 2009. See also "The Dilemma Over Coal Generated Power", pp. 3–4, 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 23, 2009
  41. ^ Other examples of Romm media interviews or commentary include the following: "A final campaign focus: Coal and CO2", The New York Times, November 3, 2008; "Much ado about biomass co-firing with coal", Charleston Gazette April 2009; this 2007 Associated Press article dated May 24, 2007; this March 2006 interview on Earth and Sky Radio Series; and this radio interview dated December 16, 2005 on Global Public Media.
  42. ^ Romm's January 31, 2007 Fox News segment is accessible here. See also Romm radio interview accessible here.
  43. ^ YouTube clip of Romm on Fox News, March 12, 2007
  44. ^ a b Revkin, Andrew C. "Joe Romm on Hansen’s Mistakes, Cap’s Limits", Dot Earth, The New York Times, November 24, 2008
  45. ^ Romm, Joseph. "The breakthrough technology illusion", Grist, April 6, 2009
  46. ^ a b Garber, Kent. "Driving Public Policy in Washington", U.S. News & World Report, p. 39, vol. 146, no. 3, April 2009 (online at "Top Energy Player: Joe Romm, Influential Liberal Climate Change Expert and Blogger")
  47. ^ Quote from interview
  48. ^ Romm, Joseph. "An Introduction to Climate Progress", ClimateProgress.org, March 2009
  49. ^ Romm, Joseph. "An introduction to global warming impacts: Hell and High Water", ClimateProgress.org, March 2009
  50. ^ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows", Science, December 19, 2008, Vol. 322, no. 5909, pp. 1806-10, DOI:10.1126/science.322.5909.1806
  51. ^ AAAS "New Fellows"
  52. ^ Romm, Joseph. "Two Takes: The U.S. Needs to End Its Energy Dependence", Opinion, U.S. News and World Report, July 10, 2008
  53. ^ Articles in Technology Review: "Stimulating Green Energy", May/June 2009; "The Last Car You Would Ever Buy—Literally", June 18, 2008; "Greenhouse Gas" (review of Michael Crichton's State of Fear) May 2005; "Painting the Town White and Green" (with Rosenfeld, Akbari, and Lloyd), February/March 1997; and "The Benefits of Lean and Clean", February/March 1995
  54. ^ "The Hype about Hydrogen", Issues in Science and Technology, Spring 2004
  55. ^ Forbes articles: "Japan's Flying Geese", November 23, 1992 and "The Gospel According to Sun Tzu", December 9, 1991
  56. ^ Romm, Joseph and Amory Lovins. "Fueling a Competitive Economy", Foreign Affairs, Winter 1992
  57. ^ "Fix Now, Save Later", The New York Times, January 11, 1993
  58. ^ Romm, Joseph, Mark Levine, Marilyn Brown, and Eric Petersen. "A Road Map for U.S. Carbon Reductions", Science magazine, January 30, 1998
  59. ^ a b Romm, Joseph. "Hybrid Vehicles Gain Traction", Scientific American, 2007; and "The Verification of Compliance with Arms-Control Agreements” (with Hafemeister and Tsipis), Scientific American, March 1985, pp. 39-45
  60. ^ "Technologies to Reduce U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 2010" (with Rosenfeld and Kaarsberg) Physics Today, November 2000
  61. ^ "Publicize or Perish", October 1, 2009
  62. ^ "The Economist" Debate Series: Global Energy Crisis", August 19, 2008
  63. ^ Romm, Joseph. Article on Hurricane Katrina and global warming, Businessweek online, September 2005
  64. ^ "Plugging into the Grid", March 2007
  65. ^ Energy and American Society – Thirteen Myths", (ed.) Benjamin K. Sovacool and Marilyn A. Brown (2007 ISBN 1-4020-5563-3
  66. ^ Romm, Joseph. "Cleaning up on carbon", June 19, 2008
  67. ^ "A Roadmap for U.S. Carbon Reductions"; "Cool Communities: Strategies for Heat Island Mitigation and Smog Reduction" (with Rosenfeld, Akbari, and Pomerantz), Energy and Buildings 28 (1998) pp. 51–62

References

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