Climate Climate & Energy

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  • Corn-based meat and ethanol: burning the planet to a crisp

    Corn harvest in Iowa. Would you like that in your Big Mac, your gas tank, or both?Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS. What do industrially produced meat and corn-based ethanol have in common? Well, they both thrive on the assumption that it’s good idea to devote vast swaths of land to an incredibly resource-intensive crop–corn–and then […]

    Tom Philpott Climate & Energy

  • 2-way connections between electric cars and grid have amazing potential that needs no exaggeration

    One of the many tasks of running an electric utility is maintaining operating reserves and spinning reserves to handle seasonal peaks, and occasional generation failures. Between peak demand that only occurs a few times a year, and the occasional shutdown for routine maintenance and response maintenance, utilities have to keep operating reserves — backup equipment […]

    Gar Lipow Climate & Energy

  • New interactive map shows devastating effects of global temperature rise

    No need to waste your money on the new apocalyptic thrillers coming soon to theaters. A new world map released Thursday by the British government, and unveiled at the Science Museum in London, provides plenty of real life doom and gloom — and it’s free! The slick and colorful interactive graphic shows what a 4 […]

    Tyler Falk Climate & Energy

  • Student solar homes shining light toward the future

    The public tours the international U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, featuring energy-efficient, solar-powered houses built by 20 university teams from North American and Europe, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 13.Photo: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar DecathlonI wanted to congratulate all the students who competed in the Solar Decathlon on […]

    Ed Markey Climate & Energy

  • Find an action. Shout 350. Tell us about it!

    Will getting to 350 ppm be the great barrier to saving the Great Barrier Reef? Poppy and Jarrah via 350.org Flickr Creative CommonsIn parts of the world, today is already the first-ever International Day of Climate Action in places like New Zealand, but it’s not too late for millions of you to find the biggest, […]

    Ashley Braun Climate & Energy

  • Fixing the bioenergy accounting loophole

    A group of prominent ecologists and climate scientists have an important article coming out in tomorrow’s issue of Science, in which they call for “fixing a critical climate accounting error.” The error is ignoring a significant source of global warming pollution related to using biomass for energy (“bioenergy”). I know that most people’s eyes glaze […]

    Dan Lashof Climate & Energy

  • Host a viewing party for the must-see new film “Coal Country”

    This week’s post was co-written by Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign “My hope is this superb documentary will shock Americans and create a surge of urgency that stops the atrocity of mountaintop removal coal mining immediately.” — actress Ashley Judd That’s the trailer for the powerful new documentary […]

    Bruce Nilles Climate & Energy

  • Methane leakage runs up a $50 billion bill

    Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, so when it’s leaking by the ton, it’s a $50 billion problem. The New York Times described the phenomenon of methane leakage in a recent article which raised questions about the true costs of this waste.  The EPA estimates that 3 trillion cubic […]

    Michael A. Livermore Climate & Energy

  • The rising tide of environmental refugees

    Desertification of formerly productive farm land is one of the many reasons for a growing number of environmental refugees around the world.Photo: pizzodisevo via FlickrOur early twenty-first century civilization is being squeezed between advancing deserts and rising seas. Measured by the biologically productive land area that can support human habitation, the earth is shrinking. Mounting […]

    Lester Brown Climate & Energy

  • Renewables are inevitable, transmission is optional

    Editor’s Note: This post was written in response to a comment by Gar Lipow in his post on 10/20. We all agree that a 100 percent renewable energy system is preferable.  But we don’t need a new, high-voltage transmission network now to reach that goal, and it’s far from clear that we’ll need it in […]

    John Farrell Climate & Energy