global warming

NOAA reported today that whis winter turned out to be the 4th warmest on record in the contiguous United States. That’s not surprising given how much the world has warmed over the past few decades. In fact, all of the seven warmest years in over 100 years of climate data have occurred since 1992, and over the past three decades, a warmer...[read more]

 Editor's note: Marc Gunther is a long-time advisory board member and contributor to TEC. Congratulations to Marc on the publication of his new book! I’m pleased to let you know that my book, Suck It Up: How capturing carbon from the air can help solve the climate crisis, is being published today as an Amazon Kindle Single. Please...[read more]

I’ll be the first to admit that cheap natural gas prices are one of the biggest short-term threats to deployment of renewable energy in the U.S. today. With a glut of gas dropping prices to historic lows, the competitiveness of technologies like wind, solar PV, and solar hot water are facing significant challenges. But here’s the...[read more]

Less Summer Arctic Sea Ice Cover May Mean Some Colder, Snowier Winters in Central Europe [For Now] [T]he probability of cold winters with much snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer. Scientists of the Research Unit Potsdam of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in...[read more]

On the day that President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have brought corrosive Canadian tar sands oil through America largely for export, I was at an energy conference in Houston, listening to a tar sands representative talk about what the industry had done, and would do in the future, to reduce the impacts of tar...[read more]

"A Great Aridness:  Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest", the recent book written by William deBuys, is getting some attention. The NYTimes summed up the book by quoting the author:  "The story of the West is essentially a story about water".  The reporter paused then quoted deBuys again:  "and its...[read more]

 In the first episode of R-Squared Energy TV for 2012, I give a short presentation on global warming. I believe there are a number of misconceptions around the U.S. contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, and I provide some graphics that may surprise some viewers.  Some of the topics discussed are: What do I think about...[read more]

Just before the holidays, I posted this short video about how the shrinking lake ice "season" across much of the Northern Hemisphere is one of the clear physical signs of climate change, and might affect the holiday tradition in my family.This year, there was no skating or hockey for us. The lake was frozen, but just barely thick enough...[read more]

Go ahead -- call me a hypocrite. I claim to be a cleantech venture capitalist yet I tell you here and now that I am not convinced of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change (aka global warming). And I will audaciously tell you that my convictions on climate change in no way run contrary to my strong belief in the need for a cleantech revolution.[read more]

Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and apparel company, ran an eye-catching, full-page ad in The New York Times the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year. The headline, “Don’t Buy this Jacket,” was above a photo of one of its products and some text that reminded us of its environmental footprint: 135 liters of water,...[read more]

So what the heck happened in Durban? Is the world closer to dealing with the problem of global warming? Or not? If, like me, you aren’t a devotee of the UN climate negotiations, reading the headlines isn’t much help. From the glass-half-full crowd: Progress at end of Durban Cop17 climate talks (LA Times). Reason to smile about Durban climate conference (Eugene Robinson in the WPost). Climate deal salvaged after marathon talks (The Guardian). From the pessimists: How the world failed to address climate change–again (Michael Levi at The Atlantic.com). The Durban climate deal failed to meet the needs of the developing world (The Guardian, again). COP out (South Africa’s Cape Times).[read more]

One year ago, countries rallied around the Cancun Agreements with multiple standing ovations and strong words of support.  While these agreements are not sufficient by themselves to fully address global warming, there are several key elements which establish a foundation for international action on global warming.  Since Cancun...[read more]

In September 2010, the German government announced the following three targets: Renewable electricity: 35% (or 38.6%) of total electricity production, TEP, by 2020, 50% by 2030, 65% by 2040 and 80% by 2050 Renewable electricity was 16.8%  of TEP in 2011 and 19.8% in 2011.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...[read more]

Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and most other long-lived greenhouse gases (i.e., barring short-lived water vapour), are considered ‘trace gases’ because their concentration in the atmosphere is so low. For instance, at a current level of 389 parts per million, CO2 represents just 0.0389% of the air, by volume. Tiny isn’t it? How...[read more]

People hear climate change through different concerns. Some hear threats to the environment, others to people, and others still to national security. (Of course, there is overlap.) For those in the national security category, the National Security Journalism Initiative has created Global Warning. Water shortages in Yemen Go to A...[read more]