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  • Wind farms get sponsored

    It seems that if you have enough money, you can slap your name on any ol’ thing: stadiums, theaters, sporting events, and now wind farms. When John Deere Wind Energy opens its eight-turbine, 10 megawatt wind farm in Texas this May, it will be setting a precedent by allowing Steelcase, a furniture company out of […]

    Ashley Braun Technology

  • What happened and who was there?

    Well, I’m back home from the Good Jobs, Green Jobs national conference last week in Pittsburgh, and I’ve digested the speeches, the workshops, the press conferences, and the two major reports released at the event: “Green Collar Jobs in America’s Cities [PDF]: Building Pathways out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy” and […]

    Kevin Doyle Technology

  • A cap-and-trade system will not by itself eliminate dirty energy’s unfair advantages

    On p. 57 of Fred Krupp’s (generally excellent) new book Earth: The Sequel, it says this: In essence, renewable standards, subsidies, and other mandates assume that the government has all the answers, rather than letting the market figure out the best way to produce clean energy at the lowest cost. I’m never satisfied with how […]

    David Roberts Technology

  • Delayers and doomsayers receive a chilly reception from pragmatic business leaders

    There was a lot going on at the conference, but one underlying dynamic is particularly notable. I mentioned it in my post on Jeff Immelt’s panel, but it’s worth discussing at more length. The conservative ideologues — the WSJ editorial board, invited guests Fred Smith and Myron Ebell of CEI, Steve Milloy of JunkScience — […]

    David Roberts Technology

  • On the oddity of privatizing nature

    Given the uncertainty accruing to traditional investments in today's economy, here's a trend to consider: the monetizing of ecosystem services. One of the first public discussions of this, the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance Summit taking place in New York this weekend, aims to answer this question: how can financiers and corporations take a lead in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation? (I can think of a few ways, yes.)

    Welcome to the developing area of "biodiversity finance," which seeks to monetize biodiversity and ecosystem assets like wetlands, rainforests, reefs, and so forth so they can then be protected -- at a profit. Sounds spooky, right? But there are examples out there already, and not just the conservation-minded hobby ranches à la Ted Turner that we're seeing all over the Rocky Mountain West. Take this example [PDF] from Virginia, where private equity has bought the last large piece of the Great Dismal Swamp:

    Erik Hoffner Technology

  • Sail-powered cargo ship returns home, wave-powered vessel sets off

    A cargo ship partially powered by a gigantic kite-like sail has completed a 12,000-mile roundtrip voyage across the Atlantic. Captain Lutz Heldt, who says the ship used around 20 percent less fuel thanks to kite power, says, “We can once again actually ‘sail’ with cargo ships, thus opening a new chapter in the history of […]

    Grist staff Technology

  • RFK on GDP

    As I read all the fearful projections of decline in GDP if we act to address global warming, I am reminded of the words of Robert F. Kennedy on GDP: “it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.” Watch:

    David Roberts Technology

  • A few thoughts for environmentalists

    As the week's news can attest, the current financial system is in pretty bad shape; we're not at complete meltdown, but it's pretty scary. Here are a few thoughts for the environmental community (aside from the general concern we should all share as citizens):

    Jason D Scorse Technology

  • CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. offers a realistic assessment of his company’s sustainability efforts

    “We are not green.” Those words were spoken by Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. during his panel at the conference. Hours later, they headlined a post on the WSJ energy blog. Hours after that, they served as the subject of a broadside from the company’s sworn enemy, Wal-Mart Watch. Sigh. Here’s the exact quote, […]

    David Roberts Technology

  • EPA’s economic analysis of climate bill relatively favorable

    The U.S. EPA has released its economic analysis of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, concluding that implementing the bill, which includes a carbon cap-and-trade system, would not significantly harm the U.S. economy over the next 20 years. The agency estimated the bill would likely cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 11 percent below 1990 levels […]

    Grist staff Technology