Climate Technology

U.S. investors make a killing off of Chinese coal

China’s vast coal industry: Where would we be without it? Cheap Chinese coal keeps consumer-goods prices low, allowing us to consume like mad even as crude-oil prices skyrocket. It’s also returning handsome profits to U.S. investors. Take it away, Associated Press: As China’s appetite for coal is booming, American investors and businesses are cashing in. […]

WSJ produces special environment report

The Wall Street Journal has a special environment report today, leading with an overview of the business end of the current rush to go green. With additional articles covering home energy-efficiency audits, hybrid economics, green building, and more, the whole package is worth a look.

Automakers debate skipping directly to full-electric cars

Ah, finally! The argument surfacing among auto-industry leaders gathering for the Tokyo Motor Show this week is over whether it is time to skip past partial electrification of cars — represented by gasoline-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius — and push instead to revive the idea of an all-electric car. On one side are […]

California air regulators adopt emissions-tackling rules

As part of its groundbreaking plan to tackle air-polluting, climate-warming emissions, the California Air Resources Board has adopted six new rules for manufacturers, shippers, and truckers. Starting in 2010, vehicles that go in for a tune up or oil change will be required to fully inflate their tires; trucks and trailers must be fitted with […]

Green car dealerships sell alternative vehicles

Want to buy a green car (and we’re not talkin’ paint color)? Get thee to one of at least 16 car dealerships in the U.S. that sell only alternative vehicles. Says one green dealer in Montana: “This is exciting, this is innovating … and you can make money doing this. What can be more American?”

FTC files appeal of Whole Foods’ Wild Oats buyout

In an unusual move, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is pursuing an appeal of a district-court ruling that allowed natural-foods giant Whole Foods to acquire its former competitor Wild Oats in August. The $565 million deal has already been completed, but the agency hopes the long-shot appeal will reverse it.

Printers emit hazardous particles, says study

You thought the office was a safe refuge for your lungs, a place to escape from the smoggy outdoors? You were wrong. Beware the polluting printer, says a new study. No one is safe!

Don’t believe the power company hype about coal’s low price

This just in from Restructuring Today ($ub req'd): Sunflower Electric, of the recent Kansas decision not to allow an electric permit because of CO2 concerns, has argued that the decision was a bad idea because it will drive up power prices. But their math is wrong.

Here's a partial excerpt from the RT story:

A decision by the Kansas Department of Health & Environment to deny a coal power plant permit would mean higher power bills for some. That's "an absolute certainty," Sunflower Electric Power told us Friday.

How much higher? At today's prices the firm could pay 1.5¢ for coal versus 8¢ for natural gas.

Uh, no. But this is a mistake that is aggressively and frequently made by our electricity generators.

Envisioning possible green futures helps create a greener future

Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, writes a monthly column for Gristmill on sustainability in the U.K. and Europe.

There has been much discussion lately of the need to turn the green agenda from a negative to a positive one. I think that an important part of this is developing some more positive visions of what living in a sustainable future might be like. My organization, Forum for the Future, has set itself this task. Partly because we think the green movement needs more credible and aspirational stories of the future if we are to take people with us. And partly because we become the future that we imagine -- it is to an extent a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, we are trying to take different parts of the future and imagine what they might look like. We now have a series of projects looking at different aspects of future living.

Our recent report, "Low Carbon Living 2022," asks how might our lives be better if we get the response to climate change right. A low-carbon Britain doesn't have to mean cutbacks and sacrifice. Low Carbon Living 2022 looks forward 15 years and shows ways in which a low-carbon future could deliver: stronger communities, a cleaner local environment, more money, better transport, a healthier lifestyle, and a thriving economy.

A new company offers relief from unwanted mail

Perhaps the only great thing about having moved four times in the past year is that I get virtually no junk mail, at least yet. At my permanent residence in Tennessee, however, where my parents have lived for over twenty years; the catalogs, credit card offers, and sweepstakes offers cram the mailbox on a daily basis. Just yesterday my mother was telling me how bad it's gotten -- and how bad she feels trekking straight from the post box to the recycling bin with armfuls of glossy glut.

Last year I posted about Greendimes, an agency that, for a dime a day, will do pesky work of unsubscribing you from mailing lists. It was, and still is, a great idea, but unfortunately $36 a year is just above what most people will dish out in order to avoid junk. So I was thrilled to read about a new unsubscribe service that is absolutely free. Called Catalog Choice, it's a site that was developed by three nonprofit environmental groups -- the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Ecology Center. According to the Times, since it was introduced last Wednesday, more than 20,000 people have registered.

Since it targets catalogs only, it may not be as comprehensive as paid services like Greendimes, but who knows? Maybe the feeling of a junk-free mailbox will spawn more support for legislation to enact do-not-mail lists.