Climate Technology

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  • New number quantifies greenness of your unitard

    Something in the water.Photo: Google MapsDenim sucks — at least, environmentally speaking. If there’s any doubt in your mind, check out the image to the right. New York Times writer Tom Zeller Jr. found the Google Maps photo of Xintang, China, the No. 1 denim producer in the world. That dark blue stuff? That’s dye […]

    Holly Richmond Technology

  • Take action: phase out fossil fuels at the World Bank

    The Sierra Club is joining activists from around the world to call on the World Bank to free us from fossil fuels and the landscapes of extraction, hidden conflict, and increasingly frequent natural disasters associated with their consumption. Today, we join our international colleagues in a day of action that will flood the World Bank’s […]

    Mary Anne Hitt Technology

  • Big Oil gains from higher prices while families pay the price

    Cross-posted from the Center for American Progress. This post was coauthored by Valeri Vasquez, special assistant for energy policy at the Center for American Progress. Political instability in the Middle East over the past month has driven parallel unrest in world oil prices. The drive for political freedom in the Middle East has rightfully captured […]

    Daniel J. Weiss Technology

  • Now on Facebook: your grandma, mailman, and … the solar industry

    You just got poked by the sun.Photo: diogo dubiellaYou have a new friend request … from the sun! OK, it’s actually from a company selling solar panels. “Solar service providers … are increasingly turning to social media tactics in an attempt to create engaged communities around the sunny clean power,” says Earth2Tech. Solar startups are […]

    Holly Richmond Technology

  • Will natural-gas fracking turn New York into a 21st century Appalachia?

    How much is it worth to you to put up with contaminated drinking water?Photo: Helen SlottjeLet’s define “Appalachia” at the beginning: a place blessed with mountains above below-ground natural resources, but cursed with chronically high unemployment; a place where natural resources are not owned by the landowners; a place where extracting those natural resources poisons […]

    RL Miller Technology

  • New EPA regulations better but not good enough

    The regulations will require the installation of scrubbers at plants like this one.Photo: Duke EnergyEPA released revised regulations for industrial and commercial boilers and incinerators this week. Implemented under the Clean Air Act, the move is a step in the right direction for reducing air pollution. But it misses out on opportunities to maximize net […]

    Michael A. Livermore Technology

  • Chicago to build electric car charging network

    An electric car charging station next to a gas station in Lake Oswego, Ore.Photo: Todd MecklemFirst Chicago gets Rahm Emanuel, now electric cars. Well, at least an electric car infrastructure. In a move that indicates electric cars won’t just be a phenomenon of Greater Portlandia, utility Exelon and the city will roll out 280 charging […]

    Todd Woody Technology

  • Flies and cockroaches carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria from factory farms, study finds

    A fly’s paradise: Near a giant hog factory in North Carolina, downed pigs fester while sprayers spread untreated manure onto fields. Photo: Steve WingWhat sort of antibiotic-resistant pathogens are growing on factory farms, along with all the cheap pork chops and chicken wings? And what level of threat do they pose to our health? Well, […]

    Tom Philpott Technology

  • Costco agrees to stop ravaging the oceans

    Photo: Sharon MollerusIt only took eight months for pressure from Greenpeace to make food-hoard purveyor Costco stop selling threatened fish. Twelve species that appear on Greenpeace’s “red list” were also appearing on Costco’s shelves. Activists finally made the wholesale giant revise its seafood policies, but first they had to open up economy-sized whoop@ss: Over 100,000 […]

    Jess Zimmerman Technology

  • Google-backed startup claims energy efficiency breakthrough

    Photo: Marcin WicharyOn Wednesday I joined a cadre of other reporters who had been summoned to the Googleplex in Silicon Valley for what was billed as the launch of a clean tech startup that has developed a revolutionary new technology. The big reveal came as we sat around a conference table at Google Ventures, the […]

    Todd Woody Technology