Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
How to get to 100 percent renewables globally by 2050
There are many reasons to move to a sustainable energy system: fossil fuel supplies getting tighter, easy oil increasingly having to be replaced by uneasy oil, accelerating climate change. And most indications are that we’ll have to go there as soon as possible. But is it possible? And when? At Ecofys, we’ve been working for […]
-
Single white TV station seeks idiot for lies and doubletalk
Will you be Fox’s Valentine?Photo: Adrian ScottowFox News “science” reporter Gene Koprowski doesn’t care if you believe in science. He just wants you to be willing to say it’s dumb. Global warming causing cooling? Climate change changing the climate? What is this, CRAZY TOWN? Would you say that on the record, please? And step on […]
-
How malls can save both the Earth and your ears
Photo: Carol LinWe’re big fans of anything that saves energy while generally improving your life — biking, for instance, or gardens. So we were psyched to hear that malls could save 1.18 gigawatt-hours of energy every year, and cut back 3,000 metric tons of CO2, just by turning off the Muzak. Enterprising Stanford students crunched […]
-
Snappy answers to stupid questions about smart meters
Smart meters are a revolutionary technology that could save money, save the planet, and enable a switch to renewable energy, so you’d think they’d be really popular with Californians, right? Except that California is also full of right-leaning tin-foil haberdashers and left-leaning hypochondriacs, says the New York Times. The two groups have formed an unholy […]
-
Costs of inaction: the economics of high-end warming
Perhaps nowhere is the contrast between the science and economics of climate change as great as in the dueling metaphors governing the impact of high-end warming: “collapse” (following scientist Jared Diamond) vs. “reductions in the rate of growth” (following all standard integrated assessment models in economics, including those of Nicholas Stern and the IPCC). By […]
-
Community wind projects still require financing acrobatics
Wind projects shouldn’t require financial acrobatics.Photo: Chris GawThis is part of a series on distributed renewable energy posted to Grist. It originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Community wind projects deliver larger economic returns and encounter less local resistance, but a new report released last […]
-
The ‘greenest Olympics’ actually an environmental catastrophe
If the Sochi Olympics are green, then this logo is compelling to look at.Like a downhill skier that crashes right out of the gate, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to earn a gold medal for “the greenest Olympics.” World Wildlife Fund Russia and Greenpeace […]
