Climate Technology

Design of the Times

Electronics manufacturers hop on the cradle-to-cradle bandwagon Mindful of the growing impact of consumer electronics on the waste stream — and of the likelihood that government regulations could one day require them to recycle their own wares — electronics manufacturers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Panasonic are beginning to design products with their full lifecycle in […]

The answer, my friend, is basking in the sun

Joel Makower does a quick review of the growing momentum of solar power on the world market, with high-profile moves being made by Sanyo, Sharp, Kyocera, and Mitsubishi. Then he turns to the U.S. solar market, which is lagging:

Reclaiming leadership in the global solar marketplace will be no mean feat. As recently as 1997, U.S. solar companies controlled 100% of the U.S. market and 40% of the global market, according to SEIA. Today, U.S. firms control only 73% and 14%, respectively. In 2003, following several years of growth, shipments from U.S. solar manufacturers actually decreased by 10%, while shipments from Europe grew by 41% and from Japan by 45%.

It is vitally important for enviros to make the point that solar is not some kind of hippie preoccupation -- it's a major world market that is rapidly reaching a tipping point. The U.S. risks being left behind.

This is an industry that offers the possibility of thousands of jobs -- jobs that cannot be offshored, jobs that could potentially revive dying rural areas -- in a market that's only going to grow for the foreseeable future. Yet a combination of corporate clout and political myopia is hobbling our efforts. Tell me again how environmentalists are against economic growth?

Terra Cognita

New company offers guilty motorists a way to offset emissions In what is likely to be a growing trend, a private company is stepping in to make money by offering people a concrete way to take positive action against global warming. Benven LLC runs a program called TerraPass, which emerged from a classroom project at […]

Don’t Mess With Texas — Unless You’re Buying the Hot Dogs

Texas chemical plants cause problems for nearby residents The Houston Chronicle is running an investigative series on chemical plants and their effects on nearby residents, and it ain’t pretty. There’s a fair bit of evidence suggesting that companies dramatically underreport their annual emissions. On top of that, accidental leaks — or what the industry calls […]

Dirty Pretty Things

Two major cosmetic companies will omit harmful chemicals from products Revlon Inc. and L’Oreal USA have pledged to follow the European Union’s relatively strict new anti-toxics rule in formulating their perfumes, hair dyes, makeup, and other products for sale in the U.S. The two companies were convinced to take the step by San Francisco’s Breast […]

Uncritical Mass

Anti-nuke opposition muted even as U.S. nuclear industry expands Opponents of nuclear power in the U.S. have been having a rough time of late attracting attention to their cause, even as the nuclear-power industry gears up to build five new reactors by 2015 and as many as 50 by 2050, with enthusiastic backing from the […]

Buy the Balls

Inauguration funded by industry; cynics jump to conclusions Yesterday we reported on an interview in which President Bush said that nuclear energy answers the “environmental issue” and the “dependency issue.” Turns out it also partially answers the “incredibly expensive inauguration issue.” The Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group, is coughing up $100,000 for the lavish […]

Non-Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

EPA finds possible risks in Teflon, will study further The U.S. EPA yesterday released the preliminary results of its inquiry into the health effects of a chemical used in making Teflon, saying it found “a potential risk of developmental and other adverse effects” but also that there are “significant uncertainties” in its assessment. The agency […]

How Green Is My Valley

Silicon Valley gets excited about clean-energy tech Rising oil prices and increasing competition from fast-developing countries like China have some energy entrepreneurs in California’s tech-savvy Silicon Valley increasingly excited about the potential of good ol’ American ingenuity to curb the world’s addiction to fossil fuels — and make a buck doing it. Companies like SunPower […]

Baby, You Can Drive My Car — In 2010

Lots more hybrids and hydrogen cars in the pipeline We begin with a public service announcement: Quit driving so damn much. Ride your bike. Take a bus. Walk. OK, with that out of the way, we turn to auto news, which is plentiful. Ford announced it would add four new hybrids to its lineup, at […]