Climate Technology
All Stories
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European Union will require airlines to join carbon-trading program
Airlines flying within the borders of the European Union will be required to participate in a pollution-permit trading system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions starting in 2012, the E.U. ruled on Friday. The decision ticked off the U.S. and the airline industry.
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Greenland ice-loss soars: Bad for you, great for bottled water biz
A new study in Geophysical Research Letters ($ub. req’d) led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory finds … … the ice sheet was losing 110 ± 70 Gt/yr [billion tons/year] in the 1960s, 30 ± 50 Gt/yr or near balance in the 1970s-1980s, and 97 ± 47 Gt/yr in 1996 increasing rapidly to 267 ± 38 […]
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Some mass-transit agencies hit hard by financial crisis
Even with increased ridership, some major metropolitan transit agencies are struggling more than usual these days as the credit crisis messes with their funding and ailing banks suddenly call in huge loans, asking for millions of dollars on short notice. Transit agencies in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have been affected […]
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Electric-car infrastructure coming to Australia
In just a few years, Aussies will be driving to and fro in electric vehicles, plugging in to a grid powered entirely by renewable energy. At least, that’s the goal of California-based startup Better Place, which is heading Down Under to put its ambitious vision for an electric-car future into action. Some $671 million, raised […]
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Coal-power producer will disclose climate-change risks to shareholders
Coal power could be a risky investment — according to none other than giant coal-power producer Dynegy Inc. After being subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last year, Dynegy agreed Thursday to be forthcoming to shareholders about the risks that climate change could pose to their investment. Said Cuomo in announcing the deal, […]
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Gratitude for quirky wind entrepreneurs
This story about a quirky entrepreneur pursuing the first large-scale, floating-turbine, offshore wind project on the Oregon coast reminded me of this story of a quirky entrepreneur pursuing a massive offshore wind project on the Delaware coast. Both faced stiff resistance — the latter eventually overcame it, the former, not yet. Let us pause and […]
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U.N. initiative urges green global economy
Fear not: The economic, food, and climate crises can be tackled in one fell swoop, says the United Nations Environment Program. The organization launched a Green Economy Initiative Wednesday, comparing it to Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-tackling New Deal. “Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy,” says Pavan Dukdhev of Deutsche Bank, which is […]
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Wal-Mart lays out more environmental goals for itself, suppliers
Huge-mongous retailer Wal-Mart is back at its favorite activity of all time (besides counting its money and sprawlin’, of course): setting environmental goals for itself and its suppliers. At a company confab in Beijing, Wal-Mart execs promised a host of eco-improvements in the next few years. Soon, they said, suppliers will have to be certified […]
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Consolidation in the beef industry has gotten too intense even for the Bush DOJ
Way back in March, Brazilian beef-packing behemoth JBS finished an extraordinary lunge into the U.S. market, having snapped up Swift, National Beef Packing, and the beef assets of Smithfield — the nation’s third-, fourth- and fifth-biggest beef packers. If the deals were approved by U.S. antitrust authorities — and nothing in recent history suggested they […]
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EBay to ban sales of ivory on its website
Online auction giant eBay announced Monday that it will ban sales of ivory via its website starting next year due to concerns that it is helping to fuel poaching of endangered elephants. The announcement was made ahead of a report [PDF] released Tuesday by the International Fund for Animal Welfare that tracked online wildlife-product commerce […]
