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Thanks to Jamais Cascio …

… for making my Prius dreams come true:

Pretty houses

Droool. (PS: That home was assembled in eight hours.)

It will have lasers

WorldCarFans has caused a bit of a blog uproar by posting what it claims is a spec-ed out sketch of the 2008 Prius (larger version here). According to Jalopnik, the new Prius will, depending on who you believe … … have a turbo, a diesel engine, a plug-in feature, a rooftop solar panel, a methane […]

Venture capitalist predicts

While I’m turning over the microphone to Vinod Khosla, he also sent along his thoughts on the prospects for alternative fuels and clean tech in 2007. Lots of interesting and contestable stuff therein. It’s below the fold; have at it. Ethanol Cellulosic plants are real — at least six in construction Tariffs on their way […]

Venture capitalist says cellulosic rules

After I ran the section of the interview with Terry Tamminen on ethanol, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla (whom we interviewed here) contacted me and asked to respond. Naturally, I said yes. His response is below the fold. —– Terry Tamminen: Right now, obviously, corn ethanol is not a very good bargain — depending on where […]

Expressing energy in terms of oil is misleading

Pardon my smugness -- it comes from being raised in a land that uses the metric system. So this idea that's been making the rounds -- expressing energy content in "cubic miles of oil" -- don't impress me much. Why not cubic cubits?

Fortunately, someone's done the heavy lifting of criticizing this idea a bit more thoroughly:

Will Dingell obstruct on climate change?

Apparently, John Dingell is not sitting idly by as Nancy Pelosi sticks a thumb in his eye on global warming.

An editorial in the NYT mentions that he has sent out a "quiet little letter to the members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ... he said he would put climate change at the top of the committee agenda this year and, for good measure, would invite Al Gore ... to testify first."

The editorial paints Dingell as less of an "obstruction" than others have:

What’s up with that?

In the midst of its unremarkable editorial urging Al Gore to testify to John Dingell if Dingell asks — bold, NYT, bold! — comes this point, which I’ve been wondering about: In recent years, serious discussion of climate change has been largely confined to the Senate. This probably demonstrates some sort of spectacular political naivete […]

Yes Man shakes it at Sundance, talks about next film

Is that … ? Oh Yes, Men. Caught a glimpse of one of the guys famed for convincing the WTO to use recycled human waste to solve global hunger, and other satirical hijinks, as he shook his groove thing at Saturday night’s documentary party. Later, in a conversation powered by the renewable fuel source Stella […]

They’re crumbling

What a pleasant surprise to see Jacques Leslie, a journalist and real expert on dams, with a long op-ed on the hallowed pages of the New York Times. Leslie, author of Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People and the Environment, highlights the threat posed by poorly maintained and increasingly failing dams around the country:

Unlike, say, waterways and sanitation plants, a majority of dams -- 56 percent of those inventoried -- are privately owned, which is one reason dams are among the country's most dangerous structures. Many private owners can't afford to repair aging dams; some owners go so far as to resist paying by tying up official repair demands in court or campaigning to weaken state dam safety laws.

Kinda makes you want to find out what is upstream.