Climate Energy

Critical List: Financial assistance for cooling costs down; Atlanta's trees are dying

Stuck in a heat wave? Can't afford A/C? Too bad: Groups that dole out government assistance for cooling have had their funding cut and have turned away up to 80 percent of applicants.

Today's the first anniversary of the climate bill's death.

Atlanta loves trees! It charges $1,000 to chop one down. But drought, storms, invasive species, and natural causes get to kill trees for free, and they’re are all contributing to a large-scale die-off.

Judge: Tar-sands equipment can't travel on Montanan backroads

A group of Montanans, Idahoans, Oregonians, and Washingtonians struck a blow against ExxonMobil and its push to extract carbon-soaked oil from Canada's tar sands this week. The Northwesterns weren't upset about the environmental impact of the tar sands, exactly, but they were upset that an Exxon subsidiary wanted to haul oversized loads of oil-extraction equipment from the Port of Vancouver, Wash., over small winding highways in environmentally valuable areas, to the Canadian border.

They asked a judge to stop the company from using those roads. And on Tuesday, he did.

Blockbuster news for the anti-coal movement: Bloomberg is all in

Michael Bloomberg is putting $50 million toward the anti-coal movement. That, needless to say, is a big deal.

The dirty little secret behind the ‘transmission debate’

Utilities are working to protect their profits again by blocking action on the creation of a better and cleaner electricity grid.

Banks inflate solar value for tax credit

Solar leasing has broadened participation in the distributed generation revolution. Unfortunately, this revolution has been co-opted by high finance.

More coal in the U.S. means more pollution for China

A new report says U.S. coal exports mean more pollution in China.

Quiz: How much coal is in your life?

Take Sierra Club's quiz to find out how much of a threat coal poses in your life.

Half of all geothermal energy is left over from birth of solar system, say scientists

Well, hello there, enormous quantities of heat that's just beneath our feet and could potentially be tapped to provide enormous amounts of base-load electricity! Where'd YOU come from? The birth of the planet, you say? No sh*t!

Using this gigantic underground, water-filled neutrino detector, scientists have finally gotten a better idea of exactly where the Earth's heat comes from:

Keystone XL pipeline would screw over farmers, threaten aquifer

The Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, which would cut through family farms and aquifers, is leak-prone and won't come with a solid cleanup strategy.

Ain’t no mountain high enough: Taking down Massey Coal

An effective combination of civil disobedience and legal reform is actually taking shape in the fight against mountaintop-removal mining and Massey.