Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
-
![]()
![]()
Know your solar
Concerns about global warming, rising fossil fuel prices, and oil insecurity have prompted calls for a new energy economy, one that replaces fossil fuels with renewables. The sun is an enormous reservoir of energy; in fact, the sunlight reaching Earth in just one hour is enough to power the global economy for a whole year. […]
-
What’s the proper role of individuals and institutions in addressing climate change?
This may seem like a trivial question with an obvious answer. But what really is the proper role for individuals and institutions in addressing climate change? An immediate and natural response may be that everyone should do their part. Let’s see what that really means. Decisions affecting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, for example, are made […]
-
![]()
![]()
The do-nothing energy tax: $3 gasoline dead ahead
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The mounds of snow blackened by auto exhaust have barely melted in Washington, D.C, yet the Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook already predicts that average gas prices “will exceed $3 per gallon” in coming months: Average U.S. pump prices likely will exceed $3 per gallon at times during […]
-
![]()
![]()
A messy but practical strategy for phasing out the U.S. coal fleet
By 2030, we have to stop emitting greenhouse gases from coal. That conclusion is most famously associated with NASA’s climate chief James Hansen, but Hansen is not alone. In a recent paper, nine other climate scientists — David Beerling, Robert Berner, Pushker Kharecha, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Paganini, Maureen Raymo, Dana Royer, Makiko Sato, and James […]
-
On rooftops worldwide, a solar water heating revolution
The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors […]
-
010 Reframing Nuclear Power as an Ally of Renewable Energy
Photo courtesy of, ah, Bitchcakes via Flickr Alec Baldwin weighs in, but which is better, coal or nuclear? The official response to that question by most environmental organizations is to say “neither.” Neither? Are they are privy to a secret consensus finding of multiple, detailed, peer-reviewed, scientific studies which have demonstrated that when all negative […]
-
![]()
![]()
Dear Vinod Khosla & Tom Friedman: No amount of sequestration makes coal ‘clean’ [UPDATED]
EVEN MORE UP-TO-DATE UPDATE (3/22): The New York Times profiles Calera, the Vinod Khosla-backed company that hopes to embed carbon dioxide in cement. Dave tells the full story below. UPDATE: Vinod Khosla sent in a response — see the bottom of the post. —— Tom Friedman had a column over the weekend lauding a couple […]
-
![]()
![]()
Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy’s limits
In making the case for a rapid conversion away from heavily polluting energy sources like coal and nuclear power to cleaner generation, renewable energy advocates often confront the argument that their scheme is impossible due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind. But a groundbreaking study out of North Carolina challenges that conventional wisdom: […]
-
Community solar gardens
A new bill being considered in the Colorado legislature would create “solar gardens.” Solar gardens allow people to participate financially in owning part of a solar array even if they do not have a suitable site on their own property. My reading of the proposed legislation is that subscriptions in a solar garden would be […]
-
Indigenous voices challenge Royal Bank tar sands policies, supported by hundreds at shareholder meet
Today more than 170 people rallied outside of the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) Annual General Shareholder meeting (AGM) in Toronto after a series of creative non-violent actions all morning. Inside, First Nations Chiefs and community representatives from four different Nations demanded RBC phase out of its Tar Sands financing and to recognize the right […]
