Latest Articles

Three energy developments that are changing your life — and not in a good way

This essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. Here’s the good news about energy: Thanks to rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global oil demand will not grow this year as much as once assumed, which may provide some […]

Secret electric supercar to be unveiled in Korea by end of year

If you thought the all-electric Tesla Roadster was fast — it can go from zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds — wait until you get a load of the forthcoming electric supercar from little-known Leo Motors of South Korea. Details are sketchy, but the company claims that within six months, it will show off a […]

Germany can phase out nuclear by 2017

The conservative German government has issued a 14-page document [PDF] outlining how Germany can close all of its nuclear reactors by 2017 — sooner than the government’s official proposal of 2022 — and still keep the lights on. The report, and the timing of its release, indicates the intense political debate within and without the […]

Fukushima radiation was double previous estimates

Japanese officials have admitted that the meltdown at Fukushima released almost twice as much radiation as they had initially allowed. ("Did we say 370,000 terabecquerels? Oops, that should have been 770,000.") They also said that the meltdown at the plant began five hours after the quake/tsunami double-punch. The plant's operator had said earlier the meltdown […]

Watch the ad that made Australian climate scientists get death threats

I'm no Peggy Olson, but if someone asked me to put together an ad that would NOT cause anybody to get death threats, I'd probably say something like: "Make it positive and upbeat about the future. Throw a baby in there. Can we get Cate Blanchett? See if we can get Cate Blanchett." Positivity + […]

Critical List: Kyoto will expire with no successor; Rock climbers scale wind turbines

Global fail: The Kyoto Protocol will expire without a deal to take its place, the top UN climate official said yesterday. China's own Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a report that the country's not doing so hot on the environmental front. The report ticked off problems like acid rain (half of the China's cities […]

The Deniers are Coming Through the Wire

I published an op-ed in the Denver Post today about climate change’s first casualty, which might be joy. The article isn’t terrible, really, and it’s posted here: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_18201745 if  you care to read it.  But I urge you to look in particular at the comment section, where every single one of the 59 or so comments is from a […]

Smaller generation incites largest renewable energy gains

While seeming counterintuitive, a focus on smaller-scale distributed generation enables more and faster development of cost-effective renewable energy. In April, I wrote about the illusion that we can “move forward on all fronts” in renewable energy development; rather, a bias toward centralized electricity generation in U.S. policy reduces the potential and resources for distributed generation.  […]

‘Walkerville’ tent city springs up in shadow of Wisconsin’s grand Capitol

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building.Photo: Sarah GoodyearI wrote back in January about the importance of public space and urban design in the Egyptian revolution, and more generally about the role it plays in the ability of people to protest the actions of their governments and demand political change. Well, last week I was in Madison, […]

Key actions on climate & energy at the Earth Summit in 2012

Carbon pollution from fossil fuel use reached the highest level yet in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.  So should we throw up our hands?  No, this is a wake-up call that countries need to significantly speed up the pace of their action to reduce emissions.  And when they come to the Earth Summit […]