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Ethanol ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, new study says A new study casts serious doubt on ethanol’s status as a green wonder-fuel. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers lay out a series of grim findings about corn-based biofuel. Runoff from large-scale corn cultivation contaminates waterways with nitrogen, phosphorus, and […]

Stinky

From today's Progress Report:

It does feel a bit wobbly

I bet Revkin wrote this one just as an excuse for the headline.

Ex-GM employee responds on electric car

A man who claims to have worked for GM's Hughes division, which created the electric car, has responded to the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? on a usenet thread. He says:

A smidgen more madness

Oh, what's that? You're still hankering for nuclear madness? OK, here's a digestif:

As the use of nuclear power expands, it will become increasingly ineffective at combating global warming, warns a report by an independent think tank published today.

The Oxford Research Group argues that a worldwide shortage of high-grade uranium ore will force new nuclear reactors to exploit increasingly lower-grade ores for their fuel. Because that requires more energy to extract, the process will result in ever-greater amounts of climate-wrecking pollution.

Nuclear insanity

So, I've been thinking about a non-shrill way to discuss this, but ... the world has gone insane. Batshit insane.

First of all, Bush is going to sign a deal with Vladimir Putin to establish broad cooperation between U.S. and Russian domestic nuclear industries. In practice, this means that Russia gets billions of dollars to store thousands of tons of our nuclear waste. Even Bush supporters seem a little mystified -- the U.S. has balked at this kind of deal for about a decade. Why? Let us count the ways:

• Russia has long supported Iran's nuclear program (not to mention North Korea's); it has resisted, and continues to resist, U.S. pleas to support economic sanctions on Iran.
• Russia is notoriously lax about the nukes and spent nuclear fuel already littering the country. It's one of the major security threats Bush has neglected while pursuing his dimwitted messianism in the Middle East.
• Putin is increasingly flagrant in his drive to reverse democratic reforms and reassert totalitarianism in Russia. Needless to say, there was no nationwide referendum on Russia becoming the world's nuclear dumping ground.

So why this deal, and why now? I'll give you one guess. No, I'll tell you: Bush wants Putin's support in our coming drive to war with Iran. He needs votes in the U.N. This is early maneuvering.

So, OK, that's insane. But this is even insaner:

California Connected on organic and Wal-Mart

A nifty PBS show called California Connected recently did a special on organic food, focusing on Wal-Mart's decision to get into the organic-food market. It's unusually substantive and thoughtful (at least relative to cable tv fare). Check it out.

Importing coal

Here's a story you don't hear about much:

Efficiency vs. biomass smackdown

This post was written by Clark Williams-Derry, who's on vacation.

An interesting contrast.

The NW Current is reporting that, even with rising prices for fossil fuels, biomass electricity projects -- using, say, wood waste or sewage solids -- are having trouble penciling out. Between capital and fuel costs, it's still cheaper to generate electricity from fossil fuels than from biomass.

Meanwhile, energy-efficiency programs are wildly successful, oversubscribed -- and in Oregon, cost about 1.3 cents per kilowatt hour saved, which is a massive bargain. Says Energy Trust's executive director, Margie Harris:

Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective resource -- half the cost of new generation ... There's more to be acquired if it were the wish of the Oregon Legislature for us to go after it.

True 'nuff.

Discovery Channel on global warming

On Sunday at 9pm, the Discovery Channel will run a special called ''Global Warming: What You Need to Know." It will break the exciting news -- available to you for the first time! -- that the scientific community agrees that global warming is happening, quickly, and it's going to be bad.

Discovery stresses that this is a scientific thing. There's "no agenda." They're not one of those, you know, lefty groups who go on and on about this kind of thing.

That's how corrupted our national dialogue has become. A handful of nutbags can, through their extraordinary media access, politicize the issue for the entire country. Argh.

Anyway, the special is hosted by Tom Brokaw, who, according to the NYT, has become something of a green. Get this:

He's tried to alter some habits to save fossil fuels: changing light fixtures in his homes, for example. He owns a hybrid car, and so do both of his daughters.

"It's not affecting our lifestyle at all, not one whit," he said.

Oh, well ... whew! Wouldn't want to change our lifestyles just because the entire earth is frying.