Articles by Grist staff

An interview with Travis Bradford, author of Solar Revolution

Solar power has been the Next Big Thing for decades now, yet it remains a niche player in the energy world. The problem of intermittency is unsolved, up-front capital costs remain high, and surging demand for polysilicon, a key component of solar panels, has recently outstripped supply, stifling production. Travis Bradford. So when someone claims […]

Top Goes the Diesel

L.A. auto show sees Germans, GM committing to clean-tech cars This week’s Los Angeles Auto Show has set the car world abuzz. General Motors, plagued by its gas-guzzling reputation and notorious electric-car bungle, announced its commitment to creating a rechargeable plug-in hybrid, becoming the first automaker to do so. “The technological hurdles are real, but […]

Cut and Run

Easy efficiency steps could slash global power demand, report says Thoreau said the preservation of the world was in wildness, but it might be in light bulbs. A new report says efficiency improvements could cut global energy-consumption increases by more than half over the next 15 years. From replacing bulbs and improving insulation to rejiggering […]

Letting the Cataclysm Out of the Bag

Supreme Court hears opening arguments in landmark climate-change case Climate change made its Supreme debut yesterday, as the high court began considering whether the U.S. EPA must regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Much of the opening session concerned whether the plaintiffs, including several green groups and a dozen states, had suffered enough […]