Climate Technology
All Stories
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Ethanol is now a matter of national security
Two steps forward, one step back: Congress cuts two ethanol subsidies worth billions, but the White House redirects $510 million to power the military's ships and aircraft with corn-sourced biofuels.
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Honey laundering: tainted and counterfeit Chinese honey floods into the U.S.
A third of the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals, according to a blockbuster story in Food Safety News.
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Infographic: How many jobs would solar create?
Stronger solar policies could create over 100,000 jobs in just a few years, according to this (excerpted) infographic from One Block Off the Grid. That's not a lot, proportional to the unemployment crisis, but given that CERTAIN PEOPLE are always talking about sustainable energy as a job-killer, it's pretty good. And jobs would only go up […]
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'Skypump' let's you fill 'er up — with wind
Got an electric car? And some wind? Then this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, if you add in the Sanya Skypump for a horsepower three-way. Sure, you might think putting a wind turbine on an electric car charging station is kind of obvious, if you are a wiseacre. But the Skypump is a […]
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'Floatovoltaics' energize otherwise boring bodies of water
'Flotovoltaics,' solar panels that float on existing reservoirs, leads to all kinds of unexpected side benefits. At the Far Niente winery in Napa Valley, which pioneered the technology in the U.S., their floating solar grid reduces evaporation from their irrigation pond and inhibits algae growth. It also saves the winery from giving up valuable grape-growing land, even as it produces more electricity than the winery uses.
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Infographic: What it would take to meet Obama's 2035 clean energy goals?
Obama wants 80 percent of America's energy to come from clean and renewable sources by 2035. But what would that really take? Mostly, it means replacing 2/3 of our coal-fired power plants with power sources that don't depend on fossil fuels. The scale of that ambition is difficult to comprehend — which is why it's […]
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Revival of 117-year-old canal cuts cargo emissions 65 percent
Turns out shipping by barge is crazy efficient. It's also kind of picturesque! (According to this video from CNN there are no mules anymore, but we choose to imagine mules to up the picturesqueness factor.)
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Solar could be as cheap as coal by end of decade
A report from the Chinese government asserts that solar power will be as cheap as coal by 2015. Industry watchers have already predicted that the cost of solar will drop by half by 2020, putting it at parity with coal-fired power. And solar is already competitive on sunny days when utilities pay a premium for "peak" power.
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Mark Ruffalo wants you to fight the tar sands
Actor Mark Ruffalo explains why you should join him and thousands of others in protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 20.
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Walmart to go 100 percent renewable … in Canada
As the world's biggest, union-bustingest retailer, gigantic sack of Chinese lead paint chips Walmart has the opportunity to push more money at sustainability than pretty much anybody else on the planet. Which is why the company, like IKEA before it, is committing to getting 100 percent of its power from renewable sources!