Latest Articles
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What’s the season between winter and spring? Maple time! [VIDEO]
Spring doesn’t seem like it would be maple syrup time (based on the pictures on Vermont syrup bottles), but so it is. At the cusp of freezing and melting snow is when the sap is running. And while the rest of the country is praying for warmth, the maple farmers are wishing for cold. The […]
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San Francisco mayor calls for city to go 100% renewable by 2020
San Francisco’s mayor wants an all-renewable town.Photo: jfraserWhere could you get 797 people to stand in line outside a nightclub to attend a $100-a-ticket fundraiser for a nonprofit that advocates for solar energy? Not-so-sunny San Francisco, of course. The queue to get into the Vote Solar Initiative annual spring equinox bash snaked down the street […]
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Bingaman tells the truth about gas prices, is lonely in doing so
So I’m reading in Politico about Democratic fecklessness. (Yes, half my posts begin this way.) The problem is, whenever gas prices go up, Republicans benefit. They have a simple, powerful message ready to go, right off the shelf: drill here, drill now, pay less. Not enough drilling: that’s why gas prices are high. Drilling more: […]
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Keep It Fresh: On the Campus Consciousness Tour with Wiz Khalifa
While you were brushing your teeth this morning, did you ever, for a moment, think that the water coming out of your faucet would make you nauseous or damage your kidneys? Probably not. But, unfortunately, not everyone has that luxury. One in three people lack access to quality water. At least fourteen states are currently […]
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Hans Rosling at TED: Civilization depends on washing machines
Hans Rosling's little fable about "the air people, the wash people, the bulb people, and the fire people" addresses some pretty big questions about wealth, economic growth, and energy use. For Rosling, it all centers around the humble washing machine. In the end, says Rosling, washing machines mean a more intellectual society — people use […]
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Sears Tower to become giant solar farm
The Sears Tower, lately unceremoniously renamed the Willis tower, is about to pioneer a kind of crazy-innovative window, one that produces power without obstructing the view or letting in appreciably less sunlight. It's way too complicated to explain in mere words, so hopefully this image will help. If it doesn't, feel free to be a […]
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Fishermen find creative ways to get paid more to catch fewer fish
Fishing is ripe for innovation. New catch limits are critical for sustainability — without them, fish stocks would collapse, and then nobody has a job, plus a protein source vital for the planet's expanding population is wiped out. But they force fishermen to catch fewer fish, which means less money. A string of new programs […]
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Germany’s solar panels produce more power than Japan’s entire Fukushima complex
Germany is the world leader in installed solar photovoltaic panels — and they also just shut down seven of their oldest nuclear reactors. Coincidence? Maaaaybe… Anyway, it's worth noting that just today, total power output of Germany's installed solar PV panels hit 12.1 GW — greater than the total power output (10 GW) of Japan's […]
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On world water day, kids try to figure out how to prevent the deaths of 100,000 of their peers
Almost half of Pakistanis drink unsafe water. It's World Water Day 2011, and this year's theme is "Water for cities: responding to the urban water challenge." In Pakistan, unsafe drinking water kills 100,000 children per year — equivalent to a third of the children born in Canada every year. So it's either cute or tragically […]
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U.S. vehicles’ fuel economy to suck pretty much forever
This projection, based on fuel efficiency standards that are currently on the books, shows that — absent radical legislative action, or everyone in the U.S. suddenly coming over all French — American cars' fuel economy is primed to suck out loud for the foreseeable future. Anyone complaining about overly stringent regulations can therefore bite it […]
