Climate Technology
All Stories
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Electric-car infrastructure coming to California’s Bay Area
California’s Bay Area will enjoy an electric-car infrastructure by 2012, startup Better Place announced Thursday. The mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose signed on for the plan, which will cover the region with charging and battery-exchange stations at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
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New business coalition calls for climate leg. with 100 percent auctions and focus on efficiency
Remember US-CAP, the business association calling for carbon legislation in the U.S.? Except the call is rather vague, and several US-CAP members lobbied to weaken policy proposals? And the whole thing smelled vaguely of concern trolling? Now a new business coalition has come on the scene: Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), which […]
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USDA close to approving relatively weak organic standards for fish
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week inched closer to approving organic rules for fish for the first time that would let “organic” fish eat up to 25 percent of their diet from non-organic sources, a move which has irked organic advocates worried about sullying otherwise relatively strict standards for organic meat products.
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Brita announces recycling program for used water filters
Brita, maker of popular water-purifying pitchers, will launch a recycling program for used water filters beginning in January. The company’s announcement comes after months of pressure from citizen activists. Consumers will be able to drop used filters off at selected Whole Foods stores or mail them in; the plastic parts will be turned into recycled […]
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Toy manufacturers push back against lead-safety rule
Toys marketed to the 12-under-set must either meet new lead standards or be off shelves by Feb. 10 — but many toy manufacturers and retailers don’t wanna comply. Citing the economic downturn, they’re pressuring the government to relax the requirement.
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Exxon: Not the only profitable energy biz last quarter
ExxonMobil keeps making profits — another record one this last quarter — in the midst of meltdown everywhere else. But we here in New England had energy profits of our own: Coop Power, the regional renewable energy coop, had its first profitable quarter since it launched a couple years ago due largely to the number […]
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NYT suckered by ExxonMobil in puff piece titled ‘Green is for Sissies’
Another nail in the coffin of the "liberal media" meme. The NYT has run a greenwashing press release from the oil giant masquerading as a major business news story. Yes, the print headline really is "Green is for Sissies," but as you’ll see, it isn’t some kind of postmodern Onion-esque irony (except maybe unintentionally). Here […]
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Bush: all the bailout, none of the social benefits
I see that Bush is delightful as always: Complaining about what it termed partisan "gridlock" in Congress, the White House late Friday called on lawmakers to let U.S. auto makers get quick access to a $25 billion federal loan program, by dropping a requirement that the money be spent on converting to fuel-efficient vehicles.
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Because small fixes make the biggest difference
Despite the excellent reasons to reject the GM bailout, consider this: a strings-attached investment that tweaked GM’s production model could reap huge climate benefits — perhaps bigger than anything else we do to autos in the near term. That’s because the biggest opportunities in fuel economy are at the low end of the fleet, not […]
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Utilities ponder big buy of electric cars
In a move to support flailing automakers — and potentially boost their own bottom line — several big U.S. utilities are considering putting in orders for thousands of electric cars.
