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Friday music blogging: Duffy

It’s a testament to how silly pop culture gets that there’s been a bit of controversy swirling around Duffy, the UK phenom who went from Spin’s “who’s next” to Spin’s cover over the course of five short months. You see, Aimee Anne Duffy is a young white girl from rural North Wales, and she sings […]

Energy efficiency is the core climate solution, part 2

Energy efficiency is by far the biggest low-carbon resource available. It is also, as we'll see, every bit as renewable as wind power, solar photovoltaic, and solar baseload.

People who have little experience with what serious energy efficiency investments can do for a company or a state -- this means you, neoclassical economists who consistently overestimate the cost of climate mitigation! -- think it is a one-shot resource wherein you pick the low hanging fruit. In fact, fruit grow back. The efficiency resource never gets exhausted because technology keeps improving and knowledge spreads to more and more people.

After leading the country in comprehensive efficiency efforts that have kept per capita electricity demand flat for three decades, California does not merely believe it can continue at this pace, they plan to accelerate their efforts and actually keep electricity demand itself flat. I have discussed California's efforts and plans in previous posts, and will discuss them further in part 3.

The focus of this post is the best corporate example of the inexhaustible nature of the energy efficiency resource -- Dow Chemical's Louisiana division.

The WSJ reports on lavish second-home gardens

I got a bit of flack for my post on “lazy locavores” earlier this week. Riffing off of a New York Times “trend” piece, I questioned the practice of “outsourcing one’s veggie patch” — paying someone to install, tend, and harvest a home veggie garden. I accused folks who use such services of having a […]

Snippets from the news

• Boston airport will test eco-asphalt. • California mountain could be named after environmentalist. • BusinessWeek wonders: Should oil be cheap? • D.C. landmarks could be in trouble. • Puffin decline unexpected.

Wind power in China is ‘huge, huge, huge’

China, known for its environmental struggles, is looking to have a success story in wind power. “China’s wind energy market is unrecognizable from two years ago,” says Steve Sawyer of the Global Wind Energy Council. “It is huge, huge, huge. But it is not realized yet in the outside world.” China’s wind generation has increased […]

Adjustable rate mileage

Your fuel mileage is lower than you think.

Granted, that assumes you do not fastidiously monitor your own fuel mileage -- that instead you take the EPA's fuel mileage estimates at their word.

Turns out, the EPA calculates fuel economy with "straight" (100 percent) gasoline. However, in the consumer market a blend of 10 percent ethanol, E10, is nearly universal. Jonathan Welsh of The Wall Street Journal explains:

Fuel economy decreases by about 2% for vehicles running on E10, so a car rated at 25 miles per gallon will actually travel about 24.5 miles.

Okay, this decrease is peanuts if you're a lead-foot. And the EPA just started including air conditioning with this year's estimates. Nevertheless, even with perfect driving habits, the fuel economy of your brand new Prius will never match the sticker's claims.

From Feud to Fashion

Toby … or not Toby Former feuders Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks tried to put a boot in global warming’s ass by appearing together in a “we” campaign ad. But plans were nixed when they couldn’t reconcile their differences schedules. Seems they’re still not ready to make nice. Photo: John Shearer/Wire Image Grin and […]

Farmers markets and local agriculture: age-old systems for the future

We often think that farmers markets are products of our times as they spring up in cities and small towns across the country. Truth is, a farmers market is the traditional way of selling agricultural produce around the world.

The really nice aspect of this transaction is that the farmer receives just compensation for his product and the eater can be assured the product is fresh, local, and grown in a manner that is acceptable to all. If these criteria are not met, the consumer can look for another farmer whose products better suit his or her needs.

After the industrialization of agriculture, farmers still sold at farmers markets, but it was just a matter of time before supermarkets were developed and farmers started selling to large companies that moved food all over the world; many Americans stopped planting gardens because it was so much easier to get "everything" at the store.

We certainly have gained something through the globalized food system: more variety, foods we cannot grow in cold climates, and, of course, cheap food that is mass-produced by underpaid farmers and farm workers. Some good news, some bad. I certainly like coffee and chocolate, but I want to know the growers and workers were paid fair wages and that the crops were grown in an environmentally-responsible manner. I would like to be sure all the food I need to buy meets those same standards, whether imported or locally grown.

Beware of U.S. trade officials bearing gifts

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made headlines this week by offering to reduce U.S. farm subsidies. The context was the so-called Doha Round of trade talks — the WTO’s latest, oft-stalled effort to grease the wheels of global trade. Among sustainable-food advocates, there’s a reflexive tendency to cheer whenever farm subsidies go on the chopping […]

More school districts consider four-day week

As energy costs rise, rural school districts across the country may follow the lead of the 100 or so schools in 16 states that offer classes just four days a week. Cutting out a day of heating, cooling, and transportation fuel — which can be significant in spread-out districts where school buses might travel 100 […]