Environment

bound by oil prices?

So, when gas prices go up, we all suffer and our economy lags. What we really need are more choices to break the iron-clad grip that oil prices have on our lives and our economy.[read more]

carbon emissions/shutterstock

There is vastly more carbon in the ground than can safely be put into the atmosphere, whatever temperature limit you think there should be. Policy should seek to ensure the available carbon budget is used as wisely as possible.[read more]

emissions by state/EIA

A lot of the debate over energy and climate change has focused on changing how people live. But in a lot of ways, where someone lives is as important as how they live.[read more]

new energy efficient glass

China’s building sector accounts for more than 25 percent of China’s energy use. Improving the efficiency of its buildings, new and old, is a key part of China’s strategy to reduce energy demand.[read more]

German solar production

This idea, that you build wind farms where it is windy and solar panels where it is sunny is a curiously controversial one. Some would even lobby accusations of you being “anti-renewables” if you put it forward.[read more]

reducing wireless energy demand

The GreenTouch consortium outlines energy efficiency measures that could reduce the net energy consumption of global data and communications networks up to 90% by 2020, compared to 2010 levels.[read more]

 

nuclear energy back on track?

 

Reconstructing nuclear confidence in a post-Fukushima world is a long and painful process. Russian experience in this field can offer some interesting solutions to decision-makers.[read more]

energy choices/shutterstock

It’s time we stopped wasting time with brain dead energy saving mantras and got on with the real task of building a clean energy infrastructure so we can use far, far more electricity.[read more]

GDP/shutterstock

It isn’t about “Green GDP” or “green accounting.” It’s honest accounting. Every ton of coal, every barrel of oil causes more in external damages than it adds value to GDP. Properly measured GDP ought to reflect that fact.[read more]

energy innovation inspiration?/shutterstock

The idea of an “artificial leaf” sounds simple enough: Take a small, cheap, light-collecting device the size of a typical leaf, dunk it in a quart of water, and use solar energy to generate enough hydrogen gas for powering a small fuel cell.[read more]

hydropower in China

Reuters reports that China’s environmental ministry has okayed the construction of a new hydroelectric dam on the Dadu River in the Sichuan province, which when completed will be the country’s largest.[read more]

natural gas well entrance

Just released federal government draft rules for fracking fail to protect people from harm. Instead the rules protect the oil and gas industry from having to follow strong public health and environmental standards.[read more]

coal-fired plants

Now, the inexorable growth of coal in China in the last decade is often news even to people who make some kind of living writing about energy, but could it possibly be slowing down? And could wind be growing faster than coal?[read more]

Most leaders believe they made it to the top because of their experience, knowledge and past success. The problem with that assumption is today is no longer a reflection of the past.[read more]

climate change future?

Terrorism seems to be the only actionable trigger in our leaders' minds. Perhaps we need to brand Mother Nature a terrorist to provoke action on climate change?[read more]