Popular Science: The likely next secretary of energy is a physics professor researching new energy at MIT, and the next chief of the Environmental Protection Agency has spent years developing regulations to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Both were formally nominated today to fill some of the many empty posts in President Obama's cabinet as his second term rolls along. And both come from backgrounds that suggest Obama really does want to do something, at least regulation-wise, about climate change.
Obama's Department of Energy pick, Ernest Moniz, researches how coal, natural gas, nuclear power and solar energy will fare in a future faced with tough requirements for carbon dioxide emissions. At a speech in Chile in February, Moniz said electricity demands will triple in the coming years, which will cause a "catastrophic increase in the temperature" of Earth unless new innovations start to replace old energy sources. He's been at MIT since 1973 and currently directs the MIT Energy Initiative and the Laboratory for Energy and Environment.
Gina McCarthy is an anthropologist and currently the EPA undersecretary for air and radiation. She's been on the front lines at EPA since Obama took office, shepherding so many new environmental regulations that she won the nickname of "green quarterback."
