Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
-
![]()
![]()
Four oil-spill questions scientists can’t answer
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worker carries an oiled pelican to a boat for transport to a recovery center.Photo: Deepwater Horizon ResponseCoast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, Barack Obama’s talking head of choice, made news on the Sunday talk shows with his grim prediction that the battle against BP’s oil blobs will last well into […]
-
![]()
![]()
City brings renewable energy to the little guy
Solar power nerds are fond of an estimate that 100 square miles of Nevada desert — filled with solar panels — could provide enough electricity for the entire United States. But right now, solar supplies just 1 percent of the country’s energy. Cost is one reason that figure is so low. Unless you’re an independently […]
-
![]()
![]()
How a city got real about solar energy
Photo courtesy of Gary ShaverWhen the city of Ellensburg asked the Washington State University energy program for help designing a community solar project, the state folks weren’t sure the city folks were serious. At the time, just a few years ago, solar projects were few and far between. But WSU energy consultant Gary Shaver jumped […]
-
![]()
![]()
We don’t know how to completely kick oil, but we do know how to get started
Energy investment consultant Chris Nelder takes issue with my suggestions for upping transportation efficiency as a way to reduce the demand for offshore oil, saying they would “do absolutely nothing” to eliminate the need for risky deepwater drilling projects. In fact, he explains why a lot of oft-proposed green solutions aren’t going to do much […]
-
![]()
![]()
Me, on BloggingHeadsTV with Andy Revkin
A few days ago I did a BloggingHeadsTV episode with Andy Revkin, formerly environment reporter for The New York Times, now senior fellow at the Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies at Pace University. (He still writes the indispensable DotEarth blog in NYT.) We talked about the oil spill, nationalizing BP, the climate change bill, […]
-
![]()
![]()
Oil has spread into Florida waters open to fishing
Cross-posted from Wonk Room. With the headline “All Florida Waters Open to Fishing,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission claims the “state’s recreational and commercial fisheries have not been affected by the oil spill.” But a Wonk Room analysis finds that oil has spread into areas of the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast […]
-
Is Wind Energy the Magic Bullet for our Energy Future? (Video)
Last year, the wind industry employed more workers than coal mining, according to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association. Wind energy jobs increased 70 percent to 85,000 in 2008, 4,000 more workers than are employed in coaling mining (based of Department of Energy figures). But is it the magic bullet that will […]
-
Ohio Coal Plant Linked to $30m in Annual Economic Damage
This post was co-written by Nachy Kanfer, Associate Field Organizer for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Ohio. We regularly dispute Big Coal when they say coal is not bad for the environment – now we have another example of how this dirty, outdated power source is costing jobs and damaging the economy in […]
-
![]()
![]()
In new ad, BP’s Tony Hayward thanks U.S. for ‘strong support’
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The foreign oil giant BP has launched a new series of advertisements to contain the damage to its reputation and stock price from its uncontrolled disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In a television advertisement that aired nationally this morning, BP CEO Tony Hayward promotes how his corporation is running […]
-
Domestic offsets in the American Power Act: preserving the integrity?
This post was co-written with Sasha Lyutse. NRDC staff have posted assessments of a number of key elements of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act discussion draft. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the domestic offsets program. I’ll give a brief overview of the program, as outlined in Part D of the bill (Sec. 731-741), […]
