Climate Climate & Energy

All Stories

  • Road Map, Not Regulations, Will Bring Coal Free Future

    Note: This is a guest post by Stephanie Pistello, Ben Evans, and Jeff Biggers, co-founders of the Coal Free Future Project.  In the wake of the worst coal mining disaster in 40 years, compromise and political machinations this spring have resulted in a regulatory crisis of failure; workplace safety in the mines, including the black lung […]

    Jeff Biggers Climate & Energy

  • Betting site sets odds on BP containment dome

    From our sports department a press release, we learn that at least one online gambling site is taking bets on whether BP’s underwater mega-dome will be successful. BP is attempting an unprecedented engineering feat to deal with the Gulf oil spill: a 100-ton, 40-foot-tall, steel pollution-containment chamber. If all goes well, the dome will be […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Climate & Energy

  • Gulf Coast oil spill: Health questions

    Cleanup crews are getting the highest exposures to both the oil spill itself and chemical dispersants.Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Cross-posted from NRDC’s Simple Steps blog. Dr. Gina Solomon provides answers to the health questions raised by the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion and the efforts being made to contain it. How do you think […]

    Gina Solomon Climate & Energy

  • The choices we'll have to make to save the world

    I was in the rec center pool on a snowy May afternoon recently talking to my friend Dave as my kids sloshed around in what struck me as a massive inoculation tank. As usual, nerds that we are, we talked about energy efficiency in our houses. Dave recently had an energy an audit, and like […]

    Auden Schendler Climate & Energy

  • Ecosystem conservation vs. renewable-energy development: Let’s hike on it

    Adam Bradley, hiking for an important cause.Sometimes the push for clean energy runs up against the push to preserve unspoiled wild areas (see: Cape Wind).  Big wind farms and solar-power systems are being sited in remote and undeveloped spots, and long transmission lines are being planned to carry their output to population centers, where the […]

    Grist staff Climate & Energy

  • ‘End of Oil’ author warns enviros not to exploit Gulf oil spill

    Paul RobertsPaul Roberts, author of the influential 2004 book The End of Oil, cautions that we can’t expect the end of oil spills any time soon.  Environmentalists are using the ongoing Gulf of Mexico disaster to argue for a permanent stop to offshore drilling, but reality check: the U.S. is decades away from shedding its […]

    Mary Bruno Climate & Energy

  • UNC Decides to Move Beyond Coal; Plus Bonus Coal Ash News

    Great news out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Today the University of North Carolina (UNC) announced that burning coal has no place in our clean energy future and is transitioning away from using pollution-rich coal power to power this nationally-ranked university. I attended the press with UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp as he outlined how they […]

    Bruce Nilles Climate & Energy

  • Municipal Energy Financing is Expanding: Is It Working?

    Twenty states now allow cities and counties to finance energy efficiency retrofits and on-site renewable energy generation, with property owners repaying the loan with a property tax assessment.  Five municipalities launched Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs in the past two years and these programs have spent $37.5 million to help enable close to 2,000 […]

    John Farrell Climate & Energy

  • Corn industry brazenly turns Gulf disaster into marketing opportunity

    The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (the dull gray color southeast of the Mississippi Delta) seen by satellite on May 1 Photo: NASAAs if being bombarded with oil from below and chemical dispersants from above weren’t enough, the Gulf of Mexico also has to endure marketing rhetoric from a long-time tormentor: the corn industry. Industrial corn […]

    Tom Philpott Climate & Energy

  • Away from the oil spill, signs of local progress

    The Gulf oil spill story is too big to ignore right now. It’s a massive, toxic indictment of our dependency on fuels that fill our atmosphere with heat-trapping pollutants even when everything goes right. But there are other stories too big to ignore, including the story of people finding creative ways to escape the death […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Cities