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A question for James Fallows about coal and focus

I waded into "Dirty Coal, Clean Future," James Fallows' new cover piece for The Atlantic, prepared to be outraged, what with coal being the enemy of the human race and all. But it turns out to be an incredibly cogent, accessible walk through some extremely vexed issues. Still I can't help wonder why he put the focus on coal's necessity rather than its evil.

Feeding the world means hogging less grain

How many people can the Earth support? Depends on their level of food consumption. At the U.S. average of 1,763 pounds of grain per person annually for food and feed, the 2-billion-ton annual world harvest would feed just 2.5 billion people.

Anti-advertising billboard showcases the clean air around it

This billboard is highlighting the good job done by the Clean Air Act while also giving instant weather updates.

Home Energy Score could be a much-needed MPG for houses

The score gives a simple 1-10 rating of a home's energy performance and then -- this is the exciting part! -- a higher score owners might achieve if they take recommended steps like adding insulation, installing a programmable thermostat, shutting down the steel refinery in their basement, etc. So a home might achieve a 6 and have an expected upgraded score of 8.

Feed-in tariff champion Hermann Scheer leaves big legacy

The recent death of German renewable energy advocate Hermann Scheer -- dubbed the sun king or even the Stalin of renewables -- is a unique opportunity to reflect on his largest legacy, the feed-in tariff, a policy responsible for the rise of the renewable energy industry.

The smart grid could help you be smarter about your home electricity use

The smart grid, we?re told, will integrate renewable energy and decentralize power production. But what?s in it for you and me?

Do we really have a food-safety crisis?

In this first installment in our debate over the Food Safety Modernization Act, our experts lock horns over food-borne-illness data and whether the problems we have with the food system are about dirty, bumpy vegetables -- or dirty, buggy cattle.

Webcast: What is livability anyway?

On Thursday the electronics giant Philips offers a webcast on that aims to sketch out more of what livability means. It's got some interesting guests, including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Creative Class theorist Richard Florida.

Boulder schools remove the stigma from free school lunches

Fortunately, gone are the days when students had to identify themselves as too poor to buy lunch in order to get fed.

Oil spill investigator says no corners were cut to save money

BP's critics are incredulous at the conclusion that people on the doomed oil rig weren't motivated by cost-cutting to take risks.