Climate Climate & Energy
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Obama’s International Climate Budget Proposal Would Make Key Investments
President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2012 budget request that will invest in global efforts to reduce carbon pollution, tap into the growing global demand for clean energy, and make countries more resilient to the impacts of global warming. It takes a scalpel to the international funding at a time when we need more international […]
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Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow want to destroy tomorrow
How self-destructively anti-science are the next generation of conservatives? The New Republic’s Bradford Plumer visited the booths at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in DC and reported this: The Collegians For a Constructive Tomorrow let passersby hurl eggs at pinup photos of Al Gore and Penn State paleoclimatologist Michael Mann; I saw one girl […]
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Richard Muller, Charles Koch, and the implosion of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study
Multiple head-vise alert! Let’s say you’re a major national lab, affiliated with a major university, concerned about critiques of the global temperature record. Let’s say you get the bright idea to assemble some really smart scientists and statisticians “to resolve current criticism of the [global] temperature analyses, and to prepare an open record that will […]
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Obama, Chu try to slash the multi-miracle hydrogen program once again
Technology Review: It used to be thought, five to eight years ago, that hydrogen was the great answer for the future of transportation. The mood has shifted. What have we learned from this? Steven Chu: I think, well, among some people it hasn’t really shifted. I think there was great enthusiasm in some quarters, but […]
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Republican budget proposal guts international climate funding
The House Republican budget proposal would gut key programs to help the US tap into the growing global demand for clean energy technologies, reduce the carbon pollution from the loss of tropical forests, and help developing countries adapt to the impacts of global warming. Cutting these programs is bad for American competitiveness and for the […]
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Moving from coal to clean energy
Who needs coal when there are such great examples of clean energy initiatives around the U.S.? I’ve got several examples for you this week. First, let’s head to coal central: West Virginia. There are some new solar panels appearing in Morgantown: A group devoted to creating alternative energy jobs in Central Appalachia is building a […]
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How to bury nuclear waste for the next 100,000 years
A scene from Into Eternity, a documentary that looks at Finland’s plans to store the country’s nuclear waste for 100,000 years. Yep … 100,000. Photo: PosivaThis piece was written by Lewis Beale. The first documentary that Netflix might slot into their science fiction category, director Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity, is an eerily fascinating look at […]
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Will US international climate funding be cut?
The Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Hal Rogers (R-KY) just proposed significant cuts to US international funding. While the proposal he just released doesn’t spell out the exact cuts for different programs and categories of funding, we expect that the Majority Members of the committee will recommend cuts to US international climate funding. Such […]
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Why America’s Sputnik moment should include trees
Last week the President unveiled his “Strategy for American Innovation” which details his approach to jumpstarting the American economy by investing in important areas such as clean energy, health care technology, and education. This week he hits to road in an effort to get folks excited about modernizing our infrastructure. As a climate champ, this […]
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Distributed renewable generation = big numbers
Distributed renewable energy comes in small bites, but it makes mouthfuls — gigawatts — of renewable energy capacity. Americans tend think big, but it is countries that built small that are hitting big renewable energy targets. Take Germany. In 2009, it installed 3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar PV, more than three times all the solar […]
