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Is ethanol skeptic Pimentel right after all?

In 2004, the USDA came out with a study (PDF) claiming that corn-derived ethanol delivers 67 percent more energy than it consumes in production. For many observers, including green-minded ethanol critics, the study delivered a resounding “case closed” to the decades-long debate about corn ethanol’s “energy balance.” Critiques began to focus more on the mounting […]

Schwarzenegger wants more

DR: There’s always an emphasis on personal transportation. How do you kick start public transportation and more dense settlements? Did you guys make steps toward that in California? TT: We did. While Prop 87 was going down in flames a week ago, the $60 billion bond package for California infrastructure was passing, with several billion […]

Golden Globe partiers go green

Tonight, you watched a herd of mildly to wildly intoxicated beautiful people congratulating themselves on their artistry, but take heart. At least a small group of them continued the self-celebration responsibly at the "Greenest Party on Earth," sponsored by the Environmental Media Association and E! Television.

Could I have missed this?

I know I'm late on this, but the Wall Street Journal had a report on the 11th about Exxon backing off their position on climate change and perhaps engaging with emissions regulation:

In one of the strongest signs yet that U.S. industry anticipates government curbs on global-warming emissions, Exxon Mobil Corp., long a leading opponent of such rules, is starting to talk about how it would like them to be structured.

One research org says so

I've posted before about Stirling Energy Systems, which sells solar electricity from concentrating mirrors and heat engines for around 11 cents per kWh.

But at least one technical advocacy group -- Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) -- suggests that mass production could bring prices down to 5 cents per kWh or less (PDF), even without technical breakthroughs.

Some clarifications and such

Several issues and questions have come up around the URGE2 concept, most of which I anticipated but was too lazy to write about on my first post. Forthwith, a few notes, caveats, and explanations. First, remember this is conceived as a communication device, not a complete or ideal description of green policy utopia. It has […]

It ain’t pretty

According to this video (below the fold), the Chevy Volt -- GM's much ballyhooed plug-in hybrid concept car -- sounds like a jet engine taking off as it tops out at somewhere between 6 to 7 mph.

Conspiracy theorists, start your engines.

The first step in international action

DR: If you were emperor for a day — or just president of the U.S. — what would your international approach be? TT: No. 1 is to lead by example. When Tony Blair came can sat down with Arnold and I before the summit, he took us aside and said, "Look, what you are doing […]

More on ‘Hell and High Water’

Joe Romm, author of Hell and High Water, wrote me about the review I posted earlier. I referred to the book as "depressing," but the tone is frank, not truly gloomy. Romm has none of Lovelock's penchant for drama.

Nonetheless, depression really was my reaction, because I'm familiar with Romm's work. He is known as a level-headed, optimistic analyst. His book is no exception -- he documents the problem and the (quite mainstream) solutions he endorses throughly and meticulously. So what is the problem?

Buried treasures herein

Too many tabs open! Got to … jettison … some links … In a short piece for the NYT Week in Review, Andy Revkin covers the basics of climate change using (as far as I know) a new metaphor: the evidence for global warming is like a pointillist painting, clear in its broad outlines but […]