Latest Articles

German small solar cheaper than big U.S. solar

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. The U.S. has a hodge-podge of utility, state, and federal tax-based incentives. The Germans have a comprehensive feed-in tariff, providing CLEAN contracts (in the U.S. parlance) to anyone who wants to go solar (or wind, or […]

How DIY and the ‘IKEA effect’ make us green

The "IKEA effect" says that we value things we have built ourselves (even if those things are frankly a little crappy). I'd propose an extension -- call it the "DIY effect," which says we tend to hold onto, repair, and upgrade things we build ourselves, breaking us out of the consumerist cycle of trashing what's old so we can capitalize on the (often-illusory) advantages of the latest and greatest.

Navy Secretary says getting off fossil fuels is just like ditching sail power

Ray Mabus, Secretary of the U.S. Navy, has a refreshing historical perspective on the Navy's efforts to end its dependence on our increasingly expensive and environmentally destructive supplies of oil. From a speech he recently gave at the National Clean Energy Summit 4.0:

In the 1850s, we went from sail to coal. In the early 19th century, we went from coal to oil, and in the 1950s, we pioneered nuclear.

Report: We have plenty of water, we’re just dumb with it

We have enough clean water worldwide, we're just not using it well, a new study says. The report, produced by the Challenge Program on Water and Food, looked at 10 river basins, from the Ganges to the Nile to the Andes, and found that, "There is clearly sufficient water to sustain food, energy, industrial and environmental needs during the 21st century."

Critical List: Energy Dept. picks more winners; natural gas boom comes to Ohio

The Department of Energy, always picking winners, you know? The first Quadrennial Technology Review, to be released today, favors technologies that could come into commercial use in 10 years — i.e. consumer goods you can spend money for. This could mean DOE favors EVs over new clean energy technologies.

This company, Renmatix, will probably make it under the wire, though. It says it has the right technology to make commercially viable biofuels from biomass and just opened a plant to forward development of the technique.

The natural gas boom comes to Ohio.

Although Beijing usually gets a bad rap on pollution, Central and South Asia are not great places to live if you like inhaling clean air, either.

Food Studies: reinventing the cheese wheel

Is there a science to how cheese tastes, and if so, can it be used to help artisanal food-producers?

Bombs away: Yarn bombers get out-heisted in Boulder

Clever yarn bombers give Boulder's bike-share program some fuzzy PR-love by wrapping their drab kiosks in colorful hand-knit cozies. But the prank's on them when anonymous thread thieves nick the knitting one day before they're set to come off.

'The Quest' questioned

A read of Daniel Yergin's new book, The Quest, reveals holes in his arguments, mostly centered around his discussion of peak oil.

The myth of the free market

The oil, gas, and nuclear industries have enjoyed huge federal subsidies for a century, all of which have far outpaced investment in renewable energy.

I am the population problem

Population growth tends to get blamed on other people. But actually the population problem is all about me: white, middle-class, American me.