Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
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Without major capital investments, this generation of Americans will short change the next
From 1980 to 2007, total U.S. electricity consumption increased by a factor of 1.8, but total generation capacity increased by only 1.7 times. In other words, demand out-grew supply. For a while, that was fine — we had more toys than we needed, and real power prices declined for two decades as we made better […]
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Without affordable clean alternatives, South Africa turns to coal
South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, has an op ed in the Washington Post that illustrates the multi-faceted challenges facing developing nations as they struggle to provide the affordable access to modern energy needed to pull citizens out of poverty. The piece highlights the current tension between such objectives and simultaneous concerns about the environmental […]
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Tapping the power of energy efficiency
One of the fastest-growing states in the nation has the potential to save its residents billions of dollars over the next decade and a half and create thousands of new jobs to boot. How? By adopting several common-sense policies to save energy and investing more in clean-energy research. So concludes a new report focused on […]
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Dark Secret of World Water Day: Coal-Fired Plants Drink 1.5 Trillion Gallons
Here’s a sobering fact on World Water Day: Coal-fired power plants use approximately 1.5 trillion gallons of water a year in the US. In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff. Makes you wonder: Has the EPA ever tabulated the […]
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Revkin: "The idea that we're going to fix the climate change problem or solve global warming has alw
File this under “Self-fulfilling prophecy.” Below is an excerpt from the Friday Greenwire story (subs. req’d), “Treaty, regs won’t solve warming problems, former NYT reporter warns.” If the quotes are inaccurate or incomplete, the former lead climate reporter for the paper of record can clarify and/or expand upon his remarks here or at DotEarth: [UPDATE: Revkin’s initial […]
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Is Al Gore a good science communicator?
I wrote last year “the best climate reporter in the country is Al Gore, a former journalist, a brilliant synthesizer and communicator.” Who could have imagined that a film of him giving a PowerPoint presentation about climate science would be the 5th highest grossing documentary of all time in this country? Yet filmmaker/scientist Randy Olson wrote this month: […]
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On the eve of landmark climate manipulation conference, chief sponsor moves to quell criticism
Sometimes blog posts have immediate impacts. On Thursday, March 18, I wrote a piece on the Climate Response Fund that reflected concerns raised to me by many leading climate experts: “Exclusive: Chief sponsor of landmark climate manipulation conference maintains close financial ties to controversial geo-engineering company.” CRF’s Board responded with a statement on Friday, specifically addressing these […]
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Does carbon-eating cement (still) deserve the hype?
People here because of the NYT link might want to start with “An Introduction to Climate Progress.” My bio is here. I’m quoted in today’s NY Times article on Calera. The “Silicon Valley start-up says it has found a way to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas power plants and lock them into cement.” I wrote […]
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Endangered frequent fliers [slideshow]
Photo: Roy LoweWe love birds. They’re beautiful. They do really cool things like building elaborate nests — without thumbs! And they can fly. What’s cooler than flying? Okay, maybe X-ray vision, but still. We love birds. Which is why we were stricken — though not surprised — by the recent State of the Birds [PDF] […]
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The changing threat to water: Global warming & World Water Day
All regions of the world show an overall net negative impact of climate change on water resources and freshwater ecosystems. Today is World Water Day — a day established to recognize the importance of water to the nations and people of the world. Nearly one billion people around the world don’t have clean drinking water […]
