Umbra on landfills vs. incinerators

Hi Umbra, Is there an environmentally preferable choice between sending your trash to a landfill or an incinerator? I know...

Edwards, Canada, and now South Africa

Former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) -- now a presidential hopeful -- has just published his latest energy plan. One important plank of that plan foresees the nation producing (not just consuming, which would allow for imports) 65 billion gallons a year of ethanol by 2025. ("I'll meet your bid for 2030, Barack, and raise it by five billion!")

If the 51 cents a gallon volumetric ethanol excise tax credit (VEETC) is extended beyond the end of 2010 -- as most commentators and even the USDA expect will happen -- here's what the cumulative cost to the U.S. Treasury would be from 2007 through 2025, assuming straight-line growth:

Almost $350 billion (=$0.51 x 19 x [7+(65-7)/2]).

He’s fer it

Andrew and I have a story coming out later today on the whole brouhaha around AEI allegedly offering scientists $10,000...

This is huge

Holy sh*t! This is huge: Under a proposed $45 billion buyout by a team of private equity firms, the TXU...

Chlorine plant goes mercury free

Now that cell phones are choking hazards and television is high def, it's hard to believe some chlorine plants are still using mercury-cell technology developed back in 1894. The good news is that in the last 48 hours, one of these technological dinosaurs has agreed to enter the 21st century. Each plant that uses this technology emits hundreds of pounds of mercury pollution to our environment every year. So it is cause to celebrate when another one of these dinosaurs agrees to go mercury free.

Maybe

I'm a day or two late on this, but there's promising news from Oregon on Measure 37. Governor Kulongoski has proposed legislation that essentially puts a temporary moratorium on the most obnoxious results of the law. (See here and here [pdf] for the details.)

Kulongoski's bill will still allow rural landowners to continue with small-scale claims. In fact, it should actually speed up the processing of these claims. So legitimate claimants who want to build a single family house on their property -- or subdivide to build a new house -- will be allowed to.

Seems like smart politics to me.

Shocker

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Turns out global trade in ethanol disadvantages developing nations. Who coulda...

Microsoft’s Vista boasts energy-saving features, but does that mean it’s eco-friendly?

Most of the chatter about Vista, Microsoft’s new operating system, centers on whether the techies in Redmond have outsmarted the...

It don’t make no sense

The following analysis was sent to me by someone who shall remain unnamed, lest he or she lose his or...