Latest Articles
-
CTLariffic!
Business writer Marc Gunther doesn’t like liquefied coal. Neither does the New York Times editorial board. If we have any musicians in the audience, do me a favor: write a song called "Coal Is the Enemy of the Human Race." I’ll do my best to make it a hit.
-
Depends on how it’s made
It depends on the fuel used to drive the conversion process -- according to a new study:
In particular, greenhouse gas emission impacts can vary significantly -- from a 3% increase if coal is the process fuel to a 52% reduction if wood chips are used.
These results come from the energy life-cycle wizards of Argonne Lab, who have published a new study, "Life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of different corn ethanol plant types," in the open-access Environmental Research Letters.
Here is a figure showing "well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emission changes by fuel ethanol relative to gasoline":
-
Oy
How did the wingnut critique of Rachel Carson (worse than Hitler!) move from the lunatic far-right fringe to the slightly-less-lunatic conservative mainstream? Tim Lambert does a little digging and find that the answer traces back to … Big Tobacco. Seriously.
-
Revkin puts global warming in AARP Magazine
Andy Revkin has a couple of new pieces on global warming in, of all places, AARP Magazine. Yup, he’s bringing the word to men and women of a certain age. Andy told me he went through several back-and-forths, over the course of many months, and I believe it — AARP’s known for having conservative (in […]
-
Looks like the plug-in might actually happen
General Motors is apparently serious about introducing a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which I have repeatedly argued is the car of the future (PDF). The race is now on between Toyota and GM as to who will be the first to introduce this game-changing vehicle.The Chevy Volt is to be the "legacy" of Robert Lutz, GM's vice chair of product development, according to Business Week's "Auto Beat" column. The Volt will go about 40 miles on an electric charge before reverting to being a regular gasoline-powered hybrid.
-
I meant just one more
There’s a growing tension between the subsidy-happy proclivities of Congress and its self-imposed mandate to reduce carbon emissions. You just can’t spend all the available federal dollars on ethanol and CTL and expect to reduce emissions. Bills like this one, introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), are going to bring that tension to a head: […]
-
Imagine a politician leveling with citizens about something
This is a great column from a former Winnipeg mayor: "Higher oil prices or carbon tax: Take your pick." Imagine if all politicians were as frank. Why, we might even have the kind of discourse Al Gore mourns losing in The Assault on Reason.
-
Umbra on returnable bottles
Hi Umbra, I’ve been wondering lately what happened to the returnable bottles that were so common up until some point in the ’70s. Why did the legislation go away? Does reusing bottles use less energy? It seems like it would, but I haven’t found info on advocating for bottle reuse in any of the green […]
-
-
Sun rises in east
I suppose everyone’s heard by now that the U.S. plans to stiff Germany and the UK on climate change at the upcoming G8 summit. German and British leaders will no doubt express grave concern to the media, and then when it becomes obvious the U.S. won’t budge, try to recast their utter ineffectuality as some […]
