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Rachel Maddow explains nuclear meltdowns, with props
We did our best to break down what’s happening with Japan’s reactors, but this is some complicated shiz. We need to call in the big guns: A scintillating TV personality with props and a nuclear physicist friend. [vodpod id=Groupvideo.10773502&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D42080592%26amp%3Bwidth%3D400%26amp%3Bheight%3D320]
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Solar permitting can increase residential solar prices by nearly 20 percent
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. A new report from SunRun recently revealed that permitting can significantly increase the cost of residential solar PV projects, adding as much as 20 percent to total project costs. One large solar installer in California has […]
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‘Fukushima 50’ are Japan’s Justice League; hopefully not its X-Men
“Between 50 and 70 employees — now known in English as the Fukushima 50 — all in protective gear, were left at the plant to battle myriad problems. Some are assessing the damage and radiation levels caused by the explosions, while others cool stricken reactors with seawater to try to avert a potentially catastrophic release […]
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EPA releases mercury safeguard to protect Americans
We are happy to see the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today propose a critical air quality standard to protect Americans against life-threatening air pollution such as mercury and arsenic from power plants, which currently emit air toxics with no limits. According to EPA, each year this new protection will save as many as 17,000 lives […]
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Disasters and Resilience: Why Clean Energy Can Save Us
Kaifukuryoku (回 復力) is the Japanese word for resilience. For many in Japan, resilience has become a a way of life, a goal that has driven one of the most advanced efforts at planning for disasters in the world. The word tsunami is also Japanese, originating in their long familiarity of living on the knife […]
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Grading cities on their carbon emissions
The folks at Global Green USA have come up with an easy way to tell how a city is doing on its carbon emissions: give it a grade. That’s the idea behind Global Green’s City Carbon Index, an online tool unveiled late last month. It aims to measure a city’s emissions and helps to set […]
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As Nuclear Falters: A Practical and Affordable Clean Electricity Plan
The President of the United States has chosen to make the goal of 80% clean electricity generation by 2035 the first priority in his move to make America more competitive. In his recent State of the Union Address, Barack Obama compared this project to the 1960’s moon shot program, noting we are at another “Sputnik moment” […]
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Monster Russian heat wave to be once-in-a-decade event by 2060s (or sooner)
Simulated frequency of occurrence of western Russia temperature extremes for 30-year overlapping periods. Shown are time series for exceedance values of 3, 4, 5 and 6o316 C…. Insert shows the time series for the number of models in [%] that simulate at least a 10% probability of occurrence of a heat wave with specific temperature […]
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Dear Representative Upton: Have you been to China recently?
The House subcommittee voted for Representative Upton’s unlimited carbon pollution bill (otherwise known as the Asthma Aggravation Act of 2011). Before the subcommittee vote, Chairman Upton said: “Those that compete in global markets state that they are losing jobs to nations like China that have no intention of burdening their industries with similar restrictions. And […]
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Will Japan be hit with multiple nuclear meltdowns in wake of tsunami?
The AP reports that 180,000 Japanese are fleeing amid fears of “multiple reactor meltdowns.” In the U.S., Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) says we should “put the brakes” on new nuclear power plants. The estimated death toll from Japan’s disasters climbed past 10,000 Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns […]
