Articles by David Roberts

David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.

All Articles

  • Natural gas

    I missed this when it came out, but Michael T. Klare has a great piece in The Nation about "The Geopolitics of Natural Gas." It's short -- I recommend reading the whole thing. A few tidbits:

    David Roberts Uncategorized

  • Taking care of our own

    Ah, I feel so proud:

    Shortcomings in aid from the U.S. government are making New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin look to other nations for help in rebuilding his hurricane-damaged city.

    Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of foreign dignitaries since Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, says he may seek international assistance because U.S. aid has not been sufficient to get the city back on its feet.

    (via ThinkProgress)

    David Roberts Uncategorized

  • Breaking news: Customers like hybrids that save gas

    A Wall Street Journal story (yes, I know you can't read it, and I am truly sorry, deep in my heart sorry) attempts to explain the relative failure thus far of the Honda Accord Hybrid. It contains this tidbit:

    A four-cylinder Accord EX sedan with automatic transmission is rated at 24 miles per gallon in the city, 34 highway. The asking price, with leather seats, is $25,500. The Accord Hybrid's asking price, for 2006, is $31,540 with freight charges. The rated mileage for the redesigned car is 25 miles per gallon in the city, and 34 highway.

    I guess not much more needs to be said, huh?

    As many folks have pointed out, financial savings are only one of many reasons folks might buy a hybrid. Just as important -- more important, I suspect -- are issues of identity. Driving a hybrid is an expression of values.

    So Honda makes a hybrid that's virtually unidentifiable as a hybrid (you have to squint at the bumper), that offers little-to-no fuel savings. It just accelerates a little faster.

    W, as the kids say, TF?

    David Roberts Uncategorized

  • What’s the most energy-efficient crop source for ethanol?

    Biofuel is the hot topic lately in the green blogosphere. There's legitimate dispute about the political and environmental wisdom of plant-based fuels, but at the very least everyone should be starting from a valid, shared set of numbers (oh, to dream).

    In an attempt to offer up such numbers, I'm going to ... rip off somebody smarter than me. Namely, Lester Brown, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, and author of the recently released Plan B 2.0, which is the best big-picture summary of our environmental situation I've ever read (and I'm only 2/3 through it!). The entire thing can be downloaded for free from EPI's site.

    There are two key indicators when evaluating various crops for biofuel: fuel yield per acre and net energy yield of the biofuel, minus energy used in production and refining. This table (taken from Chapter 2) compares crops based on the first indicator:

    David Roberts Climate & Energy