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Watch at your own risk

As I mentioned a while back, last month I appeared on The Climate Code, a weekly half-hour show on the Weather Channel. It covers issues related to climate change and is hosted by Heidi Cullen, whom we interviewed here. The episode in question counted down the top ten climate stories of the year, with guests […]

Tidal power in the East River

Check out this short video on two tidal power turbines recently installed in the East River off Manhattan.

These are test units. It is unknown as of yet how their operations will be affected by cement-booted former snitches.

We need to get started

You have probably noticed that I tend to focus a lot on today's technology rather the big breakthrough around the corner.

Part of this is for obvious reasons: I want to show we can get off fossil fuel even with conservative assumptions. Also, while we know what is possible, and even have good guesses as to what can be cheaper, we can't know the timing.

But there is another reason.

Some are really, really big

This post meshes pretty well with Dave's here. I spotted a yellow Hummer parked next to a yellow Cherokee (the original SUV) the other day. The contrast was startling. Status seeking has a natural tendency to escalate. You know the end of a fad is near when it finally spawns a ridiculous monstrosity like the Hummer. Insects have their own version of this phenomenon.

Really

Sorry no bloggy — I’ve been out all day having my picture taken for GQ, except not for GQ. It’s for a story in the March edition of Outside. Watch for it on a newsstand near you! Here’s a funny story brought to my attention by reader TS: apparently last month the American Recreation Coalition […]

Great article in the NYT

Periodic Grist contributor Gregory Dicum has an article in today's New York Times that does a great job of telling the story behind solar's explosive momentum. With state incentive programs closing the cost gap, homeowners make the investment for a variety of motivations. The article manages to work in quotes citing reasons that range from foreign policy ...

More from Lester Brown on ethanol and food costs

Worried that no one's going to post on ethanol today? Let me ease your troubled mind ...

The world may soon be facing the highest food prices in history, according to Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. The group released a missive today that says increased corn demand caused by the ethanol boom will dramatically raise food costs in the near future:

Palm oil biodiesel losing steam

From the Times Online:

Is required green development smart public policy?

Here's a potentially good idea about which I'm rather ambivalent: rules requiring in-city developers to include robust landscaping features such as green roofs and vegetation-covered walls. It's easy on the eyes, but it may not be smart public policy.

To begin with, it's unclear how much burden Seattle's cutting-edge new rules would impose; and it's unclear how much benefit they'd achieve. But if most developers are skeptical -- and they are, at least according to this article -- then policymakers should listen very carefully.

Burdening developers with additional layers of regulatory complexity, especially here in regulation-heavy Seattle, may not be such a hot idea. Those regulations tend to reduce the viability of further in-city development or raise the cost. Either is bad.

No, I haven't been reading Milton Friedman over the holidays. It's just that when it comes to urban development, I'm not sure that we need a lot of elaborate new policies and procedures. In some case, we simply need less red tape.

Here's why ...

It’s all about energy, again

The Financial Times reports that Bush will make energy a central theme of his State of the Union speech. The Bushies are consciously hyping it: Al Hubbard, chairman of the National Economic Council, who is co-ordinating White House energy policy, has also raised expectations. In a speech at De Pauw University he predicted "headlines above […]