Climate Energy
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Will North America be the new Middle East?
All Obama has to do is say yes or no to the climate-killing Keystone XL pipeline.
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When is it time to break up with your utility?
Boulder ends its franchise agreement with Xcel Energy and looks into independent, renewable options instead.
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So much for GOP's lightbulb bill
Whether they decided they had more important things to worry about than saving the inefficient lightbulb, or whether they were scared of enraging the ghost of Thomas Edison, House members put the kibosh on a bill that would have repealed lightbulb efficiency standards.
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Coal company: 'Birth defects aren't from mining, they're because you're inbred hicks'
Babies born in areas with mountaintop-removal mining have higher rates of birth defects -- we know that from a study that came out last month. But, say coal companies, that doesn't mean the mining CAUSES the birth defects! They could easily be caused by something else -- like, say, rampant inbreeding.
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Surprise! Fracking fluid kills trees
Not that this is a big surprise or anything, but a new study shows that disposing of fracking fluid can do a number on local trees. One perfectly legal dump of used fracking fluid in West Virginia ended up killing more than half of the trees in the affected area.
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Desperate times call for dirty energy
Turning coal into liquid fuel is a majorly polluting proposition. An Ohio town starved for jobs doesn’t care.
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Germany says auf wiedersehen to nuclear power
Some see Germany's nuclear phase-out as an overreaction to Fukushima, but really it's a smart move toward a low-carbon economy.
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Do you live near America's Fukushima?
This infographic from 1BOG.org — click for the much bigger original, which has details about all the plants — shows at-risk nuclear facilities in the United States. Most of the ones situated in high-population areas (the larger gray circles) don't coincide with the high seismic risk areas (yellow and red), so that's comforting … but […]
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Strip-mining the Moon: Bad idea, or the worst idea?
As a millennial, I don't share boomers' enthusiasm for the power of science to solve all problems. So when someone says that strip-mining the Moon for rocks rich in helium-3, heating the rocks to harvest the helium, and using that helium for nuclear fusion will solve the world's energy problems, I am inclined to say, “Ha! You power-mad old person, you are living in a science fiction story.” But that, in fact, may be the direction humanity is heading in, moon-wise.
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What does the volatile past of natural gas tell us about its future?
Natural gas is on the rise, partly because it's cleaner than other fossil fuels. But do the climate benefits justify the costs of fracking?
