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Seems like a dead end

Last week, Erik Hoffner posted about H2CAR, a process developed at Purdue University that would allegedly dramatically improve the productivity of coal or biomass gasification by adding hydrogen to the mix.

I was intrigued by the idea, and read the article. Unfortunately, I think this is a dead end.

Judge refuses request for a closed courtroom in global warming case

You may have heard about efforts by the motor vehicle industry to invalidate state laws restricting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. California crafted a rule, other states adopted it, and the industry filed suit.

It's a legal argument that stretches back to 2005. And with three active cases -- in California, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- it's not going away soon.

In a dramatic new twist, the industry asked the court in the Vermont case to hold most of the trial in secret.

Tips for reliving your childhood

I recently removed the play structure I'd built 16 years ago in our backyard. I remember wondering as I built it, "What will it feel like when I tear it down?" Well, it was kind of sad. Memories washed over me as I worked. Time perception isn't linear.

I also tore down the tree house I'd built for my kids. Not only have they outgrown it, but it also wasn't in our tree. Our neighbors had graciously given us permission to use their tree because we didn't have one of our own. Luckily, Seattle's building department has standing orders to ignore kid's tree houses.

I heart David Tilman

Tilman on biofuels in Sunday's Washington Post: eminently readable and reasonable on parsing the differences between good and bad biofuels, drops in ethanol production in Brazil, what renewable really means, and where we should go from here.

The op-ed's based on his December Science study, which was discussed here. Everything he writes makes so much sense. Why can't all scientists be this articulate?

Tomb Aiders

Taiwan freeway officials help butterflies find their way Bracing for the migratory peak of millions of purple milkweed butterflies, officials in Taiwan are closing one lane of a major highway, installing netting to encourage the butterflies to rise above traffic, and using ultraviolet lights to guide them under a busy bridge. “Human beings need to […]

It Seems We’ve Stood and Talked Like This Before

Climate change could make some climate zones disappear, worsen asthma It’s been a while since we’ve done a probable-effects-of-climate-change story, and we’d hate to leave you hanging. So: according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, climate change could reinvent the world’s climate zones by 2100 (feels closer all the […]

Outback Darkhouse

Sydney, Australia, to put the lights out for climate change Last month, Australian officials announced that traditional incandescent light bulbs would be phased out by 2010 and replaced by compact fluorescents and other efficient lighting technologies. But Sydney is getting a jump on the energy-conservation action: this Saturday, bulbs across the city will be going […]

Fuel Me Twice

Bush, Big Auto agree that ethanol is the way of the future … again Detroit’s Big Three automakers cruised to the White House yesterday to plead their case for improving biofuels access and to remind the president that they’re not so keen on that whole “improving fuel economy” idea. Bush played along by plugging a […]

A ‘Maoist insurgency’ in a global information-technology hub?

Did you know that India, hub of the global information economy and destination of untold numbers of outsourced U.S. jobs, is in the grips of a Maoist insurgency? A recent Reuters article referred (a bit casually) to: the Maoist insurgency that has spread to about half of India’s 29 states and has been described by […]

Fun all around

Rep. Jay Inslee’s wife Trudi asked me to pass this along to you: America needs a clean energy revolution, and we need your stories! Are you, your company, or community building the clean energy economy today? We want to tell the world about it. We will share clean energy stories on the website apollosfire.net, and […]