Latest Articles
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Can the Keynes notion of ‘spontaneous optimism’ help U.S. investments in clean energy?
This post originally appeared on the Great Energy Challenge blog, in partnership with National Geographic and Planet Forward. John Maynard Keynes, a giant in modern economic theory, famously wrote, “Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be […]
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Republican overreach may save EPA
[UPDATE: All four amendments to block EPA went down to defeat in the Senate today. McConnell’s, the one that would block EPA permanently, got only 50 votes — not as many Dem crossovers as expected. This isn’t the end, of course; it was just stage-setting. The big bid is to attach an amendment to a […]
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Paul Ryan’s Big Oil budget halts energy innovation
Rep. Paul Ryan.Photo: Gage SkidmoreCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposed fiscal year 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit Big Oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in the […]
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Monsanto cash helped fund bill to stifle whistleblowers in Iowa
Monsanto: See no evil, speak no evil in Iowa’s factory farms.Speaking of Monsanto, it turns out they are playing a role in Iowa’s proposed anti-whistleblower bill — a bill focused primarily on agriculture. Should the bill pass, it will become illegal to produce undercover videos at various types of agricultural facilities (as well as to get a […]
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Does nuclear power have a negative learning curve?
We’ve known for a while that the cost of new nuclear power plants in this country has been soaring. Before 2007, price estimates of $4,000 per kilowatt for new U.S. nukes were common, but by Oct. 2007, Moody’s Investors Service report, “New Nuclear Generation in the United States,” concluded, “Moody’s believes the all-in cost of a nuclear generating […]
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Clean Energy: It’s Complicated
“American ingenuity” is the key to developing renewable energy resources, said President Obama last week, in his address on energy policy. That is surely true, and here in San Francisco, there are many examples of ingenuity being deployed to good effect. But ingenuity alone is not enough. Our electricity regulatory system is in need of […]
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2012 Election: Newt Gingrich Talks Energy in New Hampshire
Cross posted from New Hampshire Primary 2012: Green Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was back in New Hampshire on Monday, where he shared his views on cellulosic biofuels and oil drilling in North Dakota with local talk show host Al Kulas: Al: “You mentioned in your talk that in Iowa unemployment was 2% because everybody […]
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Crazy idea from the feds: Maybe companies should stop shipping contaminated meat
Here's a good way to prevent a food recall: Don’t ship contaminated food in the first place. Companies that process meat have to test it for salmonella, E. coli, and other buggies, but they can send it off to stores before they get results. The Department of Agriculture has recently caught on to the fact […]
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Climate change breaks NASA temperature chart
The temperature anomaly in the Arctic — the amount that current temperatures differ from historical norms — is now so severe that NASA's James Hansen had to add a new color to his charts in order to accurately depict it: Hot pink. In other words, last winter the Arctic was more than 10 degrees C […]
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Race, class, and the demographics of cycling
This post original appeared on Sightline’s Daily Score blog. If you’re reading this, then the phrase “interesting demographic data” probably doesn’t sound like an oxymoron to you. That’s a good thing, because you’ll find a heap of it in a new analytical report out on bicycling. Among other things, we get a clearer view of […]
