Climate Technology
All Stories
-
![]()
![]()
Solar startups take a shine to Portland
Portland, the new hub of solar power in the U.S.?Photo courtesy of Keith SkeltonBack in the 1980s and ’90s, the region surrounding Portland was dubbed the Silicon Forest for the cluster of computer chip companies that had flocked to Oregon to set up shop. Now those old-growth tech companies are giving way to a new […]
-
![]()
![]()
A conversation with pro-drilling environmentalist Amanda Little [AUDIO]
Amanda LittleAlison Stewart of PBS’s Need to Know speaks with Amanda Little, a Grist contributor and self-proclaimed “pro-drilling environmentalist.” Little describes her personal experience on an offshore oil rig, her argument for continuing offshore drilling, and her optimistic belief that American ingenuity can solve our energy problems. Little is the author of Power Trip: From […]
-
![]()
![]()
Google Energy’s big green power purchase
A wind farm in Iowa.Photo courtesy Edith OSB via FlickrGoogle is officially in the green energy business. The search giant announced on Tuesday that its Google Energy subsidiary signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy. Google will begin buying 114 megawatts of electricity from an Iowa wind farm on July 30. Google, of […]
-
![]()
![]()
The Gulf Coast joins an oil-soiled planet
More oil is spilled in the Niger Delta every year than has been spilled in the Gulf so far.Photo courtesy Amnesty International Italia via FlickrThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. If you live on the Gulf Coast, welcome to the real world of oil — and […]
-
![]()
![]()
The next phase of the Gulf oil disaster: lawyers and lobbyists descend
Watch out: They’re coming …We’ve gone from a gush to a seep in the Gulf. Sounds like progress. But in some ways, things are only beginning to get oily. This is the part where the lawyers and the lobbyists come in. What’s ours is ours: Let’s start with a report from the Mobile Press-Register that […]
-
![]()
![]()
A deepwater drilling moratorium might be a bad idea for Louisiana
We can’t all go cold turkey.This article is part of a special issue of The Nation magazine about green energy, “Freedom From Oil.” PORT SULPHUR, La. — Captain Pete, as everyone in town calls him, has been an oysterman nearly his entire life. He started as a boy, learning the trade from his father, who […]
-
![]()
![]()
UPDATED: McDonald’s new ad campaign: Is it localwashing or not?
[See UPDATE below.] McDonald’s has a new localwashing campaign playing out on billboards in Seattle. This one targets the Ballard neighborhood … Photos: Gilman Park … and comes with an amusing disclaimer: “Participation and duration may vary.” This one targets Seattle as a whole: Have you seen any ads of this ilk? Cheddar from Wausau, […]
-
![]()
![]()
How Obama can wean the country off oil without help from Congress
Obama could kick off the “Big Green Buy.”Photo: Wikimedia CommonsThis article is part of a special issue of The Nation magazine about green energy, “Freedom From Oil.” In the wake of the BP oil spill, some captains of industry have begun calling for government leadership to spur a clean-energy revolution. In June, billionaire software mogul […]
-
![]()
![]()
Ten green stories you probably missed this week
The big story of the week, of course, is that BP, after almost three miserable months, may have finally stopped its Gulf gusher. (Emphasis on “may.”) But chances are you missed these greener tales — from the beauty of pond scum to the bendable bike to the regenerative power of beer. Flasks of algae waiting […]
-
![]()
![]()
‘Dallas’ oil baron now solar energy pimp
Never thought you’d see the day when a Texas oilman turns sunny-side up? Oh wait, T. Boone Pickens has been there, funded that. OK, how about a fictional oil tycoon? Larry Hagman, who slicked himself up as exactly that in the hit TV soap opera Dallas — Wikipedia tells me it was a hit; it […]
