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Tidal power in the East River

Check out this short video on two tidal power turbines recently installed in the East River off Manhattan.

These are test units. It is unknown as of yet how their operations will be affected by cement-booted former snitches.

We need to get started

You have probably noticed that I tend to focus a lot on today's technology rather the big breakthrough around the corner.

Part of this is for obvious reasons: I want to show we can get off fossil fuel even with conservative assumptions. Also, while we know what is possible, and even have good guesses as to what can be cheaper, we can't know the timing.

But there is another reason.

Some are really, really big

This post meshes pretty well with Dave's here. I spotted a yellow Hummer parked next to a yellow Cherokee (the original SUV) the other day. The contrast was startling. Status seeking has a natural tendency to escalate. You know the end of a fad is near when it finally spawns a ridiculous monstrosity like the Hummer. Insects have their own version of this phenomenon.

Really

Sorry no bloggy — I’ve been out all day having my picture taken for GQ, except not for GQ. It’s for a story in the March edition of Outside. Watch for it on a newsstand near you! Here’s a funny story brought to my attention by reader TS: apparently last month the American Recreation Coalition […]

Great article in the NYT

Periodic Grist contributor Gregory Dicum has an article in today's New York Times that does a great job of telling the story behind solar's explosive momentum. With state incentive programs closing the cost gap, homeowners make the investment for a variety of motivations. The article manages to work in quotes citing reasons that range from foreign policy ...

An interview with California environmental adviser Terry Tamminen

Terry Tamminen is a compact, affable man. With his bluntness and lack of pretense, it’s easy to see why Arnold Schwarzenegger trusted him. The California governor brought Tamminen on as his environmental adviser in 2003, elevated him to secretary of the state EPA, and then appointed him a senior cabinet adviser in 2004. In part […]

More from Lester Brown on ethanol and food costs

Worried that no one's going to post on ethanol today? Let me ease your troubled mind ...

The world may soon be facing the highest food prices in history, according to Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. The group released a missive today that says increased corn demand caused by the ethanol boom will dramatically raise food costs in the near future:

Palm oil biodiesel losing steam

From the Times Online:

An interview with Australian politician and rabble-rouser Bob Brown

Bob Brown goes to great heights to protect his homeland. Photo: Rainforest Action Network Bob Brown looks a caricature of an Australian senator: a bit disheveled in a rumpled gray suit, unfashionable glasses, and a goofy grin. But a little rumple goes a long way. In a career that has spanned three decades, Brown has […]

Wallaby Darned

Australia says it’s warming faster than much of the rest of the globe They lost the Croc Hunter, were besieged by wildfires, got slammed by a cyclone, and now this: research from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology indicates that Down Under is warming faster than the global average. Our condolences, mates. While global temps have […]