Climate Energy

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  • Sea change: Asian Americans and seafood in the gulf [Part 2]

    This is the second half of a feature story from Hyphen Magazine’s Survival Issue. Read the first part here. Recipe: South Vietnamese Bitter Melon This is the kind of dish we have only at home, never in restaurants: Mix shrimp paste, sugar, red pepper and lots of lime juice into a sauce. Shave raw bitter […]

    Nina Kahori Fallenbaum Energy

  • Group purchase gets residential solar to grid parity in Los Angeles

    This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Back for a second round, the Open Neighborhoods organization in Los Angeles has organized another group purchase of residential and commercial solar PV, bringing the lifetime cost of solar well under the cost of grid electricity […]

    John Farrell Energy

  • Tokelau, population 1,500, goes renewables-only

    At the U.N. climate talks in Durban, the South Pacific micro-state of Tokelau announced that it would be switching entirely to renewable energy. Tokelau has 1,500 people and three cars, but, uh, it's the thought that counts? Tokelau, which has 1,000 fewer people than my high school, currently runs diesel generators that eat up imported […]

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • Bonneville Power unfairly favored hydro over wind, rules FERC

    Photo: Vlasta JuricekThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ruled that the Bonneville Power Association (BPA) unfairly discriminated against wind turbine owners when it curtailed the production of power from wind assets last spring in response to high hydro production. Wind owners are understandably happy, having argued that BPA was essentially favoring hydro over wind. […]

    Sean Casten Energy

  • Fun with energy efficiency! (No, really. I promise.)

    The problem with trying to make your home more energy-efficient is that energy efficiency is deadly boring. Start talking about heating systems and insulation and smart windows and even the niftiest thermostat ever, and eyes start to glaze over. The Energy Bills, though, are funny. Ish. At least, they're funnier than any other conceivable idea […]

    Sarah Laskow Energy

  • Justin Maxson: An Appalachian trailblazer for sustainability

    Grist is proud to present the Change Gang — profiles of people who are leading change on the ground toward a more sustainable society and a greener planet. Some we’ve written about before; some are new to our pages. Some you’ll have heard of; most you probably won’t. Know someone we should add to the […]

    Andrew Leonard Energy

  • Bad guys bicker over Gulf oil spill

    Apparently today is the day we talk about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? The White House released its year-in-the-making report about what needs to be done for cleanup ("more better things"), and now it looks like BP is still trying to palm off blame. They're claiming that Halliburton, which produced the cement used to […]

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • Solar-powered tanning salon. Really.

    This is real. Comedian Kyle Kinane spotted it while driving through the wasteland of unconquerable vacuity known as Southern California. The place is called Sunlounge, and it has a website and a Yelp page full of catty reviews from people who love to tan. Sunlounge says it gets 15 to 30 percent of the power […]

    Christopher Mims Energy

  • A visual representation of renewable energy growth in the U.S.

    The folks over at Black & Veatch sent me a couple of interesting graphics today. Here is a U.S. map showing installations of non-hydro renewable energy in 1970: Click for larger version.Black & Veatch A few things jump out. One, there weren’t very many! Two, they weren’t very big. And three, they were all biomass. […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Yet more evidence that shutting down coal plants will not threaten reliability

    Light bulb: not going off.Photo: Pascal BovetRemember way back, uh, two days ago when I wrote a post arguing that new EPA rules will not threaten electric system reliability? Well, just in the last day or so, more evidence has emerged to support that position. I enjoy being right, so I’m doing a follow-up post. […]

    David Roberts Energy