Climate Technology
All Stories
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Mysteries of on-bill financing revealed!
In my last post, I described a nonprofit bank’s program for financing building energy retrofits, as a way to speed the green-collar recovery. Here, I describe two new, innovative approaches to financing efficiency upgrades in buildings — meter loans and local improvement districts — and one old-school, utility-run approach that may be the best bet […]
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If the automakers won’t, the city leaders will
Introducing the Detroit Office of Energy and Sustainability. Who woulda thunk it?
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Cellulosic ethanol’s bumpy ride
The so-called Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 lays out ambitious targets for production of cellulosic ethanol: a gradual increase to 16 billion gallons per year by 2022. Rounding off to the nearest 10 million, producers are churning out approximately zero gallons of the stuff today. That had better change quickly. By 2010, the […]
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Hertz to offer car sharing service like Zipcar
Hertz is going to experiment with hourly rentals a la Zipcar. Here’s hoping they make a go of it, and the other national chains follow. Every person who realizes you can live well — and inexpensively — without owning a car is a plus for the environment.
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CNNMoney reports that electrification is key to Chrysler’s bailout pitch
CNNMoney has the surprising story of “Chrysler’s plan to beat the Chevy Volt“: Chrysler is pinning a huge part of its future on a plan to produce a full line of electric vehicles, at a reasonable cost to both the carmaker and the consumer … Chrysler’s strategy hinges on keeping it cheap. The carmaker will […]
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New energy chief’s enthusiasm for cellulosic ethanol makes me uncomfortable
"World demand for transportation fuels is growing fast, and biofuels have a major role to play in meeting that demand. That’s why BP is investing in a range of biofuels-related activities around the world, all aimed at bringing biofuels into the mainstream by making them more widely available to motorists." — From a BP press […]
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Ring in the new with a ‘natural’ bottle of bubbly
Fewer chemicals in our sparkling wines? We’ll drink to that. Nothing says festive quite like the pop of a chilled bottle of bubbly. But while sparkling wine delivers a party in a glass, things are typically less thrilling out in the field. Like most wine, bubbly tends to come from grapes grown in large monocrops […]
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The Fair Food Foundation crumbles under weight of the Madoff Ponzi scheme
For a couple of years, there has been lots of buzz in the sustainable-food world about the Fair Food Foundation of Ann Arbor, Mich. Fair Food was founded recently by Oran Hesterman, under whose leadership the Kellogg Foundation became the key funder in the sustainable-food space. Kellogg has been pulling back from that space; Fair […]
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Theo Chocolate is the country’s first organic and fair-trade chocolate-maker
Photo: Sarah van Schagen Stroll into Theo Chocolate in Seattle’s artsy Fremont neighborhood, and you’re bound to feel all warm and cozy. From the freshly made confections beckoning from behind the counter to the welcoming brick fireplace and mugs of hot cocoa (a new addition this winter), the storefront offers a respite from the winter […]
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NYT op-ed says mostly men will benefit from green jobs
Green jobs are great — if you’re a dude, says a recent New York Times op-ed by Linda Hirshman: It turns out that green jobs are almost entirely male … especially in the alternative energy area. A broad study by the United States Conference of Mayors found that half the projected new jobs in any […]
