Latest Articles
-
Half of world’s population could face climate-driven food crisis in second half of the century
[I’m on travel, so I’m updating this timely 2009 post on food insecurity.] The quote above is the powerful final sentence from a 2009 study in Science, “Historical Warnings of Future Food Insecurity with Unprecedented Seasonal Heat.” The University of Washington news release release explained: Rapidly warming climate is likely to seriously alter crop yields […]
-
![]()
![]()
High-speed train to Las Vegas probably a better use of your money than Las Vegas
Image: DesertXPressDesertXpress, a planned high-speed rail project between the L.A. area and Las Vegas, was supposed to be built entirely with private funding. As it turns out, developers will have to take out a federal loan, and there’s some question as to whether the project can make enough money to pay it back. But this […]
-
FHA PowerSaver Loans – a PACE Replacement?
Late last year, the Federal Housing Administration announced a new PowerSaver loan program to provide financing for home energy efficiency improvements. The program comes on the heels of the downfall of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, which allowed homeowners to pay back energy efficiency improvements via long-term property tax payments, as well as […]
-
![]()
![]()
Maine governor on BPA: ‘Worst case is that some women may have little beards’
Image: JMS BoggioPaul LePage, governor of Maine, is pretty confident that nothing can harm him as long as he doesn’t know sh*t about dick. Here’s his scientific assessment of the dangers of plastic additive bisphenol A: “Quite frankly, the science that I’m looking at says there is no [problem],” LePage said. “There hasn’t been any […]
-
![]()
![]()
Sitting in traffic triggers more heart attacks than eating, alcohol, cocaine, and sex
Running your car in an enclosed garage is one way to kill yourself — so why do it outside?Photo: Simone RamellaSomeday our descendants will get around solely by hover-monorail and electric car, and it will blow their cybernetically-enhanced minds that there ever lived a race backward enough to huff automobile exhaust for an hour a […]
-
![]()
![]()
Bill Nye the Science Guy says not having high-speed rail in the U.S. is embarrassing
Did you grow up smarter because you watched Bill Nye the Science Guy blowing things up on TV? Well, he’s got some choice words of wisdom for politicians who are blocking high-speed rail in the United States. “If I may, you should be embarrassed … as a U.S. citizen, not to have high-speed rail,” […]
-
![]()
![]()
Wind production in Gansu, China
As of the end of 2009, according to the China Renewable Energy Industries Association, more than 10,000 utility-scale wind turbines had been installed nationwide. And in 2010, according to figures released last month by the China Industry Energy Conservation and Clean Production Association, China spent approximately $US 45.55 billion on 378 big wind power projects, […]
-
![]()
![]()
Solar production in Gansu, China
In 2009, China launched a program to build the nation’s first big solar power projects, which produced two 10-MW photovoltaic power installations in Dunhuang, at Gansu’s far northern end. More than a dozen other solar energy projects -- totaling 280 MW -- will be completed this year.
-
![]()
![]()
Coal is China's Largest industrial water consumer
China’s coal mining, processing, and electrical generating industries consumed over 112 billion cubic meters (30 trillion gallons) of water annually, which is nearly 20 percent of all national water consumption, according to the China Ministry of Water Resources.
-
![]()
![]()
Coal is China’s Largest industrial water consumer
China’s coal mining, processing, and electrical generating industries consumed over 112 billion cubic meters (30 trillion gallons) of water annually, which is nearly 20 percent of all national water consumption, according to the China Ministry of Water Resources.
