Latest Articles

Wind power breakthrough: Carbon nanotubes make strongest, lightest blades ever

Bigger wind turbines can harvest more wind energy, but they're also heavier, which makes them less efficient. But a scientist at Case Western Reserve University figures he can solve this fundamental dilemma by throwing carbon nanotubes at it.  

Breaking: Major victory — deal reached to retire old, dirty Potomac River Coal Plant

Only a few short weeks ago, I stood on a boat in front of the ancient, dirty, and deadly GenOn coal plant in Alexandria, Virginia, and introduced Michael R. Bloomberg, philanthropist and Mayor of New York City, who then announced a game-changing gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Today, major […]

Stranded penguin is going home

Here's your awesome for the day. A penguin named Happy Feet washed up on a New Zealand beach in June, and promptly made himself sick by eating a bunch of sand that he mistook for snow. It's not clear how he wound up 2,000 miles from his Antarctic habitat, but Happy Feet is now well and is getting a lift back home. 

Run and hide from methyl iodide

Activists gathered in San Francisco to protest the use of methyl iodide, a known carcinogen, as a pesticide on California crops.

Busting myths about China's one-child policy

Joe Biden's latest gaffe thrust China's population policy into the headlines. Let's seize this opportunity to set a few things straight.

In battle between fuel and food, food is losing worse than ever

Despite the backlash against ethanol in the U.S. and biodiesel in the E.U., global production of biofuels was up 17 percent in 2010. That's 27.7 billion gallons of liquid fuel for the year. (For reference, the U.S. uses 137 billion gallons of gasoline per year, though that's not directly equivalent because biofuels include biodiesel, and ethanol contains slightly less energy than regular gasoline.)

Ice-cream-selling bike vendors run wild in Portland

Visit a park in Portland, and you could find a nice vendor biking around, hauling a cooler of ice cream. But this isn't any ice cream. It's illegal ice cream, and the people who are selling it are thumbing their nose at the law that is the Portland Parks Bureau. 

You’re supposed to pay $120 each month for a permit to sell ice cream in the parks, and these lawless vendors just aren't buying them. It annoys the people who sell legal ice cream, and the parks people. But are they going to crack down? 

Despite everything, natural gas is still cleaner than coal

Back in April, the EPA officially recognized that drilling for natural gas releases more methane than the agency had thought and offered a new methodology for estimating methane emissions connected to natural gas. The Worldwatch Institute, which does sustainability research, and the Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, who do pretty much what their name says they do, crunched the numbers and found that, despite this, natural gas still releases less atmosphere-clogging gas than coal.

Critical List: Earthquake shook nuclear plant too hard; new Energy Star labels for more efficiency

Last week's earthquake may have shaken a Virginia nuclear plant more than the plant was designed to withstand. There wasn’t much damage, but, uh, maybe it’s time to retrofit these older East Coast plants, just in case.

Since Energy Star labels have come to mean next to nothing, there are new ones. Look for "most efficient" Energy Star labels to find appliances that meet the highest standards for energy saving.

Japan passed a bill promising incentives for renewable energy, but companies are waiting for the government to hash out the details before they jump in.

Nestle wants you to be scared of organic food

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe trots out tired and debunked arguments against organics, then reveals his company's foray into neutraceuticals, or disease-fighting foods.