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Why hybrids beat diesels

The best thing about the Prius is that it achieves its high fuel economy without sacrificing size or performance and, most importantly for global warming, without being a diesel. There seems to be a lot of confusion on this point, so let me elaborate.

Bottom Line: If you care about global warming, don't buy a diesel car (certainly not in this country), and if you must buy a diesel, only get a new one with a very good particle trap. [Does this mean that Europe's massive switch to diesel was not good for the climate? In a word,"probably."]

Snippets from the news

• White House influenced EPA to deny California waiver. • Huge renewable-energy co. will invest $8 billion in U.S. wind power. • Iceland resumes whaling. • Newest hurricane study: they’ll be less frequent, more intense in a warming world. • Tokyoites least eco-minded of big-city dwellers. • Kansas gov. vetoes coal bill yet again.

Grist talks to underdog Oregon Senate contender Steve Novick

Tomorrow is the presidential primary in both Oregon and Kentucky, but it’s also a key Senate primary in Oregon, where two Democrats are facing off to see who will get to take a crack at unseating Gordon Smith, the sole GOP senator on the West Coast. When Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley announced his bid […]

One in eight bird species may go extinct

One in eight bird species is threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In the latest update of the IUCN’s Red List of threatened species, 190 birds are designated “critically endangered”; eight of those were added this year. Sixteen other bird species were also moved to a higher level […]

Permit auctions: the mark of progressive cap-and-trade

I missed this last week, but Kevin Drum is doing God’s work explaining the difference between cap-and-auction and cap-and-giveaway to the progressive masses. I did the same thing here, but as usual used way too many words.

In Oregon, Dem candidate admits ignorance on biggest environmental story in PNW

For enviros in the Pacific Northwest, the Hanford nuclear site is a Very Big Deal. The decommissioned nuclear production complex along the Columbia River in central Washington manufactured the plutonium used in the first nuclear bomb. Today, Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the country and the focus of the nation’s largest environmental […]

Clean energy kills

“You try to cap emissions and you kill more people than die if you don’t cap emissions. We will have killed people. We care about this issue the same way why we care about abortion. It kills people.” — Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, founder and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of […]

Hybrid speedboat makes its debut

You knew it had to happen sometime — luxury speedboats have gone green! Well, at least one has: California resource officials got a ride Friday in what Austrian manufacturer Frauscher Bootswerft says is the world’s first hybrid recreational boat. The speedy, sleek 25-footer has a combo electric-diesel engine. California Resources Secretary Michael Chrisman’s reaction after […]

Waxman discloses evidence that White House influenced EPA California waiver

It's been a matter of extreme controversy since last December, when EPA -- confronted with an impending front-page Washington Post exclusive -- suddenly announced it was denying California's request to enforce its greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles.

After months of dogged investigation, California Rep. Henry Waxman disclosed today that he had evidence that the White House tampered with the decision. The issue is certain to come up tomorrow as EPA Admistrator Steve Johnson appears before Waxman's panel.

Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released the results of its investigation (PDF) today, including private depositions with key EPA staffers.

ACEEE on the carbon-free energy source no one talks about

What if there were a source of carbon-free energy that in a single year in the U.S. drew $300 billion in private investment, supported 1.6 million jobs, and generated 1.7 quads of energy, roughly equivalent to the total energy required to run 40 mid-sized coal plants? We would drill anywhere, dig up anything, go to […]