"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary..." OK, students of American History, think you know the rest of this historic American sentence? If you guessed, "... for one people to rid themselves of an energy system that may threaten their lives and liberties, it is only decent that they should declare the causes of separation from the dependence on Fossil Fuels," you're right. Here's the complete "Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels." The document was written by fifteen-year-old climate activist Alec Loorz, who has been organizing his peers to fight global warming since he saw Al Gore's …

With all eco-eyes focused on the action (or, more properly, inaction) on a climate bill, other critical components of a clean energy economy can be overlooked. That was the case on Monday as the dominant news story concerned speculation about whether Republican members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works would show up for Tuesday's climate bill markup session (they didn't). While that tragicomedy played out, a forum at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House went largely unnoticed. The "Clean Energy Economy Forum" was hosted by the Department of the Interior, which manages one-fifth …

Almost anything that happens in our nation’s capital can be explained by a quote from Alice in Wonderland. Usually, that’s a bad thing. In the case of the Solar Technology Roadmap Act which the U.S. House of Representatives passed last week, however, invoking Alice is all for the good. Lost in a land where nothing is what it seems, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way she ought to go. He answers, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” The bill’s author, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) calls it a Roadmap for a reason: HR 3585’s …

He's been called a lot of things, but ...If Bill Gates visited a homeless shelter with nine people, the Washington Post would predictably report on a gathering of tycoons with an average net worth of $123 million. Why do I say that? Read this from today's WaPo: Tony Kreindler, spokesman for the advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, sent an e-mail to reporters Tuesday morning cautioning that the bill likely would change markedly in the coming weeks as the Senate Finance and Agriculture Committee weighs in, along with several centrist legislators who want to modify it, such as Sen. Thomas R. …

The cermonial urban-turbine installation.indigo12west.comTwo weeks ago in Portland, Oregon, a new 23-story building added something you don't usually see in an urban setting: a series of four Skystream wind turbines, with a total capacity of 9.6kW. There are several reasons why wind turbines are a rarity atop highrises -- beyond the obvious one: our power infrastructure makes changing from traditional sources of electricity difficult, expensive, and seemingly unnecessary. (As long as you can convince yourself that the planet isn't really warming and that 15,000 Americans don't die prematurely each year from breathing in filthy air from coal-fired power plants, and …

Jacobson the power-ful.stanford.eduI was disappointed when I discovered that the list of experts at last week's Clean Energy Summit would not include Stanford University's Mark Jacobson. Of course, no individual is indispensable at such a summit. But as the day went by I felt his absence more and more keenly. That's because Jacobson is one of the few scientists looking at energy's Big Picture. How big? In an article published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science earlier this year, Jacobson reported the first quantitative, scientific study evaluating the top energy sources based on: Potential for delivering adequate power for …

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} WASHINGTON, July 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Michaels supports the use of junk science as a basis for public policy and court decisions, representing a threat to employers, employees, consumers and taxpayers," said Steve Milloy, publisher of JunkScience.com. ... Michaels runs something called the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy. Source: JunkScience.com [News release condemning President Obama's choice of epidemiologist David Michaels to head the Occupational Safety …

The outlook for all three categories of solar power in the United States is bright, according to a new study by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). The IREC reports that photovoltaic (PV) capacity grew by 63 percent in 2008 alone. The study's author,  Larry Sherwood, credits the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for a large share of the growth in PV installations. Several states doubled their PV capacity in 2008, with California leading the way with an increase of 95 percent over 2007. Compared to 2005, there are five times as many solar thermal devices (hot water heaters) installed …

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Fifteen thousand solar devotees from around the world are expected to meet in San Francisco this week in an event that organizers hope will "create strong global relationships." Actually, the sun worshippers will be fully-clothed (many in suits, no doubt). These movers and shakers, metaphorically speaking, will be attending the continent's largest business-to-business solar trade conference and exhibition, called Intersolar, from July 14-16 at the Moscone …

If it weren't for mixed messages, the US Senate wouldn't be sending any messages at all. Thursday, WaPo ran a  story about how the Senate, once hot to trot on passing a climate change bill, had decided to rein it in. Climate legislation got its first hearing before Senator Barbara Boxer's Environment committee on Tuesday. Afterwords, Grist's Kate Sheppard noted, Boxer's office was planning to vote on a bill in "early August." Two days later, Boxer announced that they'll have a bill "as soon as we get back" from the Senate's last-of-summer break. Translation: See you in September. A final …