Climate Energy

What we could have bought with the $4 trillion we spent on Iraq and Afghanistan

Americans like us some war, but to the tune of $4 trillion? In adjusted dollars, that's just short of what it cost us to whup the Nazis.

Here's a look at what we could have done with that money, had we spent it on something besides stoking Americans' confusion over whether or not the world's 1.5 billion 'Muslims' are in fact a monolithic group whose every member is a terrorist.

Biomass is the new coal

Dominion wants to convert three of its Virginia coal plants to run on waste biomass. Will biomass be a smart way to transition away from coal?

Feds say Massey cooked the safety books

According to federal investigators, Massey Energy -- the folks who brought you the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 -- has been deliberately misleading inspectors about safety conditions at its mines. That's the Mine Safety and Health Administration's conclusion, based on 84,000 pages of documents and 266 interviews. 

Who's down with (more) MPG?

The Pew Clean Energy Program and other environmental groups are calling on Obama to raise fuel efficiency standards in the auto industry to 60 MPG.

Natural gas, war of words

Citizens blocked a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on tribal land in Maine, but the battle isn't over yet.

The good news about coal

Big Coal faces a powerful new enemy in its quest to build new plants: you.

Germany to substantially increase geothermal feed-in tariffs

Higher payments should boost distributed generation, doing for geothermal energy what Germany has already done for wind, solar, and biogas.

Kentucky coal companies remind us why we really, really need the EPA

The latest episode in the saga known as Big Coal's Watergate began Tuesday when environmental and citizen groups filed a second notice of intent to sue the two largest mountaintop-removal mining companies in Kentucky.

Bill McKibben: Blame Canada!

Bill McKibben has it in for Canada. In a new article in The New Republic, he calls it "one of the earth's most irresponsible nations," admonishes liberals that they need to find a new country to dream of emigrating to, and stops just short of calling Canadians (and Americans, but what else is new) giant hypocrites.

What's pissing McKibben off? Tar sands, of course.

Will wind power blow the Earth out of orbit?

YES. YES IT WILL.