Grist List
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The U.S. is building an interstate highway system for bikes
One day you'll be able to head out on the highway WITHOUT getting your motor running first. Take that, Steppenwolf! Last week the Association of American State Highway and Transportation Officials breathed new life into a long-fallow plan to build an interstate bicycle system, approving new routes for the first time in more than 30 years.
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World's first hybrid-electric plane is aeronautical equivalent of flying pig
Siemens just unveiled the world's first hybrid-electric aircraft, the DA36 E-Star. It uses an unique power train to do the seemingly impossible: take off and land on nothing but batteries.
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Rick Perry is running as the anti-climate-science candidate
If you thought a field full of anti-science blowhards was scary, just wait until you get a load of GOP presidential johnny-come-lately Rick Perry, currently governor of Texas.
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Take this quiz to find out how badly coal pollution is screwing you
Even if you don't live next to one of the country's dirtiest coal plants, coal pollution is still likely finding its way into your body. Answer three questions, and the Sierra Club will tell you how at risk you are: very, extremely, or MY GOD GET OUT OF THE HOUSE.
All you do is input where you live, how much fish you eat, and whether you belong to any groups known to be sensitive to air quality issues. (Oh, and they also want your email address, but there's a tiny "skip this" button in the right bottom corner of that screen if you're scared of what those mean greenies might do with that information.) Then hit “get score” and the calculator will tell you that coal will kill you. -
Critical List: Oil prices drop; Soros invests in energy efficiency
Oil prices went down -- for about a minute, before they started climbing again -- after the International Energy Agency announced the release of emergency supplies.
The Department of Energy is backing the $2.6 billion Project Amp, which will install 733 megawatts of solar -- as much as was installed in all of 2010 -- in 28 states over four years.
To make it even clearer that the the vast liberal conspiracy has it in for dirty energy: The right wing’s favorite bogeyman George Soros joined forces with Google to invest $25 million in an energy efficiency company called Transphorm. (Don't worry, conspiracy theorists, it's only $25 million! They can't be that serious about this.) -
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We should all have plastic money like Canada
Canada has unveiled new polymer bills, which will replace paper $100 bills and, by 2012, paper 50s and 20s. They're super slick and futurey-looking (even though they still feature pictures of the prime minister from 1911). More importantly, they're designed to prevent fraud and will be better for the environment than paper money.
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How better window glass will extend electric cars' range
As you already know if you’ve tried to chug your car up a hill on a really hot day, cranking the AC reduces fuel efficiency. In an electric car with a limited range to begin with, that's a big deal, and can mean shaving dozens of miles off the distance a vehicle can travel on a single charge.
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A flooded nuke plant in Nebraska can’t be good, right?
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.10774971&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D43504156%26amp%3Bwidth%3D400%26amp%3Bheight%3D320] The Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant near Omaha is basically sitting in a puddle of water after recent floods. That … that can't be good, right? I mean, granted, nuclear fuel sort of sits in a puddle of water at the best of times — that's how you keep it cool — and […]
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Drilling company's coloring book sells fracking to kids
Kids! Are you worried about natural gas companies pumping mysterious chemicals into the rocks near your house, leaking methane gas, poisoning cattle, and making your water flammable? Well, don't be! A coloring book from Talisman Energy says everything will be fine, and afterwards there will be deer and rainbows.
