Latest Articles

Which are cheaper — tradeable credits or feed-in tariffs?

Cross-posted from Climate Progress. A few years ago, a heated debate started within the U.S. solar industry about which was more cost-effective: solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) or feed-in tariffs (FITs). Now that we’ve had more experience with both policies, the question is again being asked. Researchers at the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) […]

The raw milk martyr

Schmidt in January 2010, after winning his court case.For nearly a month now, Canadian rancher Michael Schmidt has been engaged in a hunger strike. For over 17 years, Schmidt has been crusading for the right to distribute raw milk to a few hundred Ontario consumers who own shares in his herd of cows. He says […]

Which green home solutions pay for themselves?

Trick question: They basically all pay for themselves in the long run! But a new infographic from One Block Off the Grid helps you choose home energy improvement projects based on up-front cost and how long they'll take to start paying you back. The quickest payback is a smart thermostat, with a payback time of […]

Here’s a template for your Occupy Wall Street sign

The Occupy Design group on Flickr has a lot of arresting images, including this one about oil company profits and subsidies. If you're not angry already, clicking through this set will probably help with that — and then you can print out one of these designs, paste it on a sign, and go get tear […]

David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan on why New Yorkers fight over bike lanes

David Byrne.For a city widely seen as a haven for progressive thought, New York has put up surprisingly stiff resistance to helping cyclists get where they’re going in one piece. A year ago, before Wall Street greed had a monopoly on the New York protest scene, East Village residents gathered to voice concern over all […]

New ‘fish-friendly’ turbine means way more hydro power

Every year, the U.S. forgoes 8,500 megawatts of electricity because operating our hydro power facilities at full capacity would turn an unacceptable number of migratory fish into Li'l Lisa Slurry. (That's the equivalent of almost nine nuclear reactors' worth of lost baseload power.) So scientists and utilities are understandably pumped about the Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine, […]

Climate scientists to reformed skeptic: ‘Duh’

Climate Scientist Eric Steig's reaction to the announcement that former climate skeptic Richard Muller recently confirmed that the earth is in fact warming is perhaps best captured by this classic XKCD comic. As Steig put it at RealClimate: As far as the basic science goes, the results could not have been less surprising if the […]

Rick Perry’s energy plan: RUIN EVERYTHING

Rick Perry's not even gonna pretend he's interested in alternative energy — not even to wave his hands at ethanol for an ad that's running in Iowa. That's just not who he is, man! He's keeping it real. Ice cream. No, Perry's plan, as described by Perry, goes pretty much like this: Remove environmental regulations […]

Is the environmental crisis caused by the 7 billion or the 1%?

The United Nations says that the world’s population will reach 7 billion people this month. The approach of that milestone has produced a wave of articles and opinion pieces blaming the world’s environmental crises on overpopulation. In New York’s Times Square, a huge and expensive video declares that “human overpopulation is driving species extinct.” In […]

All of the internet uses less than 2 percent of the world’s energy

Humanity spends a lot of time on the internet. Too much, probably. And every little Google search, Facebook message, and tweet uses some energy. All that Hulu uses a lot more. It's been clear that energy going to internet use is growing, but how does it compare to total energy use? If we really want […]