Latest Articles
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Sapphire Energy hopes to soon power your car with algae
Sapphire Energy says it has successfully turned algae into biofuel, raising hopes that a viable oil alternative could be produced without need for agricultural land. The indeed-sapphire-colored fuel produced by the year-old company is coaxed from algae, sunlight, non-potable salt water, and carbon dioxide. Sapphire says its fuel is equivalent to conventional crude in both […]
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Interview with solar champion Hermann Scheer
NewScientist has a great interview with German Social Democrat MP Hermann Scheer, who chairs the World Council for Renewable Energy and has done as much as anyone alive to spread the word on solar power. Unfortunately, it’s behind a subscription wall, so you can’t read it. But have no fear! I’ll post a big chunk […]
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A fool and his money
I’m guessing these people just want attention, so I’ll give them a little: Conservative grassroots group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 by “hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars.” But only a little.
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Reich for auctioned permits
Robert Reich — former Clinton Secretary of Labor, current economics public policy prof at Harvard — was on public radio’s Marketplace yesterday, stumping for 100 percent permit auctions and even, toward the end, something that sounds like cap-and-dividend: Our atmosphere belongs to all of us, and polluters should have to pay to use it. The […]
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Behavioral quirks make taxes a tough sell
Tom Friedman is in full-on green mode these days, which is a welcome change from his writing on Iraq. And his proposal yesterday — that the U.S. should declare a $4 price floor for a gallon of gas — is all right, although I’m not sure why we shouldn’t just raise the gas tax and […]
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City residents emit less CO2, study says
Residents of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States emit less carbon dioxide pollution per capita than the U.S. average, according to a new study. The Brookings Institution analyzed data on household and transportation energy use and found that the average U.S. resident was responsible for about 2.87 tons of carbon pollution a […]
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Great new video on state efforts to tackle global warming
Sea Studios has put together a fantastic new video called "Ahead of the Curve: States Lead on Climate Change." Check it out: You might also remember their previous video, “Ahead of the Curve: Business Leads on Climate Change.” Here it is:
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North Carolina bill would ban burning of coal from mountaintop-removal mining
On Tuesday, North Carolina State Rep. Pricey Harrison introduced legislation in the state House that would ban the burning of coal obtained through mountaintop-removal mining. If it passes, North Carolina would become the first state in the nation with such a law. The mining method isn’t practiced in North Carolina, but 61 percent of the […]
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Link dump
Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has an article in The NYT, "The Rich Get Hungrier," which is a good short summary of various causes of higher food prices and increased world hunger, and why they are related even though not the same thing.
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