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.

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  • Germans pay extra for clean energy — is it worth it?

    Germany has become a world leader in renewable power thanks in part to its Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which came into force in 2000. It established a feed-in tariff program that guarantees producers of carbon-free power an above-market rate of return for 20 years. EEG pays tariffs to solar PV, concentrated solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, and […]

    David Roberts Technology
  • Rachel Gutter
    Rachel Gutter

    Meet the woman leading the charge to green America’s schools

    Recently I was at a climate conference dominated by Baby Boomers, mostly white men, droning on about the nigh-insurmountable challenges of climate change and laying out their ponderous academic theories for how to change things. In other words, a typical climate conference. Into this dolorous atmosphere came something different: a young woman, bright-eyed and quick-witted, […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Me, heading to Germany to learn about distributed renewable energy

    This week, I’m going to be traveling to Berlin under the gracious auspices of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, a German progressive nonprofit that does work on clean energy. Exciting! It’ll be my first time in Germany. Aside from saying the words “schnitzel” and “spätzle” as often as possible (schnitzel! spätzle!), I’m going to be attending […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Friday music blogging: Paul Simon

    In sixth grade, when I was about 11 years old, I used to spend a lot of time at my friend Luke’s house. His parents were more bohemian than mine (of course these things are relative in Cookeville, TN) and they were always playing old vinyl of ’60s and ’70s singer-songwriters. Back then I was […]

    David Roberts Uncategorized