Latest Articles

Energy from U.S. forests: mostly unsustainable according to peer reviewed study in Nature

A  peer reviewed paper in the November 2011 issue of Nature/Climate, shows that, at least in the U.S., biofuel production from forestry results in higher carbon emissions than not producing biofuel in most cases. Even just increasing fire management, removing biomass that acts as tinder, will result in a net reduction in forest sequestration in […]

Power for the people: Energy for the 99 percent

Image: Power Up AmericaCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. The Occupy Wall Street protests are focusing Americans’ attention on the fact that power is increasingly consolidated into the hands of very few individuals and corporations. This is especially true in the energy sector. Two weeks ago, the country’s five largest oil companies — BP, […]

A mini-Keystone XL in Utah

Photo: RL MillerThe Keystone XL pipeline symbolizes our national debate: a governmental policy to be made that will set policy, for good or bad, for years to come: claimed energy security (access to friendly North American oil) and jobs vs environmental ruin and carbon bomb continuing our addiction to cheap-ish fossil fuels. Keystone XL is a huge […]

Solar comes out of the shadows

Mainstream energy companies may finally be seeing the light when it comes to solar power.How do we know when solar becomes a mainstream energy source? One tip-off: when mainstream energy companies get serious about solar. For example, take NRG, a Fortune 250 wholesale energy generator with about 26 gigawatts of capacity in its portfolio. Most […]

Ethanol is making crap food more expensive than ever

If you're a fan of Uno's pizza, O'Charley's, White Castle, or, god forbid, P.F. Chang's, you have only our government's stubborn love of ethanol subsidies to blame for the increasing cost of your favorite meals, report the gumshoes at Nation's Restaurant News. If you’re not a fan, though, don’t go celebrating with a delicious home-cooked […]

Dalai Lama supports nuclear power, disses wind and solar

In a news conference in Tokyo, the Dalai Lama told his increasingly anti-nuclear hosts that nuclear power is an important solution for underdeveloped countries still grappling with basic energy poverty. His talking points were almost identical to those of stateside nuclear advocates, including discussions of the risks of nuclear accidents compared to other everyday risks. […]

Climate change solves missing persons case

Texas woman Brenda Kay Oliver has been missing since July 12, 2008, when she disappeared without a trace. Now her beige 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo has been discovered in a drought-lowered lake in Martins Mill, Texas. Investigators don’t believe foul play was a factor in her death. But you don't need a smoking gun to […]

Solar companies fight to the death

Are we done mourning the death of Solyndra yet? Because, according to solar executives, it's just going to be the first victim in a Highlander-style fight among solar companies to prove who is best. One Chinese exec predicts that two-thirds of solar companies could disappear by 2015. Part of the story here is that certain […]

Study: Climate-related events cost the health-care system $14 billion

A new study, spearheaded by the Natural Resources Defense Council and published in the current issue of Health Affairs, puts a price tag on climate-related health effects — and it is steep. All told, the study says, climate change-related events have burdened the U.S. health-care system with $14 billion in costs, and accounted for 1,689 premature […]

Demographics loom large in state failure

After a half-century of forming new states from former colonies and from the breakup of the Soviet Union, the international community is today faced with the opposite situation: the disintegration of states. Failing states are now a prominent feature of the international political landscape. The most systematic ongoing effort to analyze countries’ vulnerability to failure […]