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New King Coal

Coal has a reputation as the dirtiest fuel around, but the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to reinvent the stuff as clean energy by building an experimental, coal-fired, emissions-free power plant. The project, known as FutureGen, will be built within 10 years and will cost just 10 percent more than an ordinary coal plant to […]

He Kamen Through the Bathroom Window

Dean Kamen, inventor of the much-ballyhooed Segway Human Transporter, has come up with a new innovation: a portable water purifier he says can help mitigate the lack of clean, freshwater sources in impoverished parts of the world. Kamen unveiled a prototype of his creation at the annual cutting-edge “Technology, Entertainment, Design” conference, being held this […]

Umbra on wood floors and solid waste

Oh Wise Umbra, We’ll be replacing our carpeting with wood flooring, probably from one of the major home stores (Home Depot or Lowe’s). Are wood floors a really bad environmental choice if they are made from unsustainably harvested wood? Would I be better off going with a (probably petroleum-based) fake wood floor? Also, is there […]

Umbra on eco-friendly roofs

Dear Umbra, Our roof is getting pretty old and starting to fall apart. It’s one of those asphalt-shingle roofs that most houses have these days. Before we call the roofing company, I’d like to know what’s the greenest kind of roofing material to use. Metal? Cedar? More asphalt? I’m sure lots of other readers would […]

Umbra on dealing with lead paint

Wise One, We have a conundrum. Our house is covered with cedar shingles, which some dope painted, presumably with toxic or lead-laden paint. The paint is flaking, and we need to either get rid of it completely or treat the flakes and paint over them. What is the least toxic (to our family and home […]

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

It was the ultimate in pork-barrel politics, except it happened to concern chickens. Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress passed its omnibus spending bill — which included a provision wedged in by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) on behalf of Fieldale Farms, a Georgia chicken-processing company that contributed $4,000 toward Deal’s election. The provision allows farmers […]

F Is for Fish

The Bush administration received an “F” from the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition for failing to make progress on protecting endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest. The coalition, which is comprised of regional environmental and conservation organizations, said the administration has not implemented three-quarters of the measures mandated under a salmon-recovery plan adopted in 2000. […]

Hamster Dance

Eight environmental organizations sued the U.S. Forest Service yesterday for failing to increase the fees paid by ranchers to graze livestock on public lands. The groups say that the dramatically below-market rates charged by the USFS cost taxpayers money and lead to damage from overgrazing on 95 million acres of federally owned land. On average, […]

First in Fright

A bankrupt paper mill in North Carolina is refusing to take responsibility for millions of gallons of wastewater, polluted landfills, and toxic chemicals it produced, leaving state environmental regulators stymied and alarmed. “We’ve just never dealt with anybody who said, ‘We’re going to walk out the door and leave it,'” said Forrest Westall, the regional […]

Overdrive

214,000,000 — number of vehicles in the U.S.1 290,000,000 — number of people in the U.S.2 2 — number of American cars on the Top 20 list in “The Greenest Vehicles of 2003,” produced by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (the other 18 are Japanese)3 22,802 — miles per year driven by the […]