Latest Articles
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How Gmail saves energy
There are a lot of benefits to cloud computing. For instance, if you believe the commercials, it lets you replace your family’s heads with better heads! Also, it saves you storage space and means you can access your data with multiple devices. But this might be the best argument so far: Switching from local email […]
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The Political and Technical Advantages of Distributed Renewable Power
A serialized version of ILSR‘s new report, Democratizing the Electricity System, Part 3 of 5. Click for Part 1 or Part 2. The Political and Technical Advantages of Distributed Generation While technology has helped change the economics of electricity production (in favor of renewables and distributed generation), this new dynamic can as easily be controlled […]
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Do individual green actions matter? Maybe not, says New York Times
The Huffington Post's eco-etiquette column yesterday featured a question from “Kimberly,” who writes "I used to be enthusiastic about going green, but now I feel like what's the point? Like a stupid reusable water bottle is going to make a difference…" She got a comforting answer, but if she’d written to the New York Times, op-ed contributor Gernot Wagner might have told her she might as well pack it in.
HuffPo’s advice columnist Jennifer Grayson identified Kimberly’s problem — "You're having a F**k it moment right now" — and told her to step back, take a breather, and "remember that individual actions do make a difference."
But Wagner, an economist with the Environmental Defense Fund, has a different answer for people like Kimberly:
[S]adly, individual action does not work. It distracts us from the need for collective action, and it doesn’t add up to enough. Self-interest, not self-sacrifice, is what induces noticeable change. ...
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Rick Perry: Just because global warming is a 'fact' doesn't mean it's real
Oh, Rick Perry. He's like a feudal lord who was just defrosted from the 13th century, only better-coiffed and less handy with a lance. He's like his own personal Renaissance Festival. Science? Forsooth, milord, what dost thou mean?
In last night's debate, Perry offered the following extremely convincing (to other 13th-century refugees) argument against global warming:
- Not all scientists believe in it, I am pretty sure.
- I can't name any scientist who doesn't, but then, I can't name any scientists at all.
- Even if they do say it's a fact, that doesn't mean it's true.
- Because Galileo.
- Hey, Galileo! He's a scientist who probably didn't believe in global warming!
- QED.
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Could ammonia be the zero-carbon fuel we've been waiting for?
Ammonia would make a pretty handy, potentially carbon-free liquid transportation fuel, say engineers, and it could be produced right at gas stations using electricity from the grid, water, and air.
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Meter-long king crabs invade Antarctic waters, eat everything
On the seafloors of Antarctic basins, the water has warmed by just 0.27 degrees C — but that’s enough to allow giant king crabs to take over the ecosystem and eat everything they find. These suckers are more than three feet across, and they're gobbling up sea urchins, sea lilies, sea cucumbers, and starfish. They're also messing with the make-up of the sea floor. Check out the (terrifyinggggg) video above: The crab looks like an invasive vehicle in a Star Wars movie that's launching a sneak attack on an unsuspecting, peaceful civilization.
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Critical List: Obama admin backs more solar projects; Kiribati president wants a new island
The Obama administration provided a loan guarantee to a SolarCity project that would put solar panels on 160,000 military homes — "the larger domestic residential rooftop solar project in history," Energy Secretary Chu said.
Rick Perry thinks he's a smart as Galileo. Or at least that some climate-denying scientists are.
So he’d be pretty irked to see yet more evidence that global warming is real, if he actually read newspapers. -
The case of the disappearing bike lane
Sacramento may not have the best built-in bike infrastructure, but some residents are taking matters into their own hands and using guerrilla tactics to make their own.
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For sharks, a race to the fin-ish line?
The shark-fin ban sitting on California Gov. Jerry Brown's desk could help curb a barbaric practice and boost dwindling apex-predator populations. But it also highlights the complexities of sustainable shark fishing.
