Climate

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]

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]

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]

new DOE Secretary Moniz

The budget proposal for FY2014 would give Moniz a solid start in advancing the low-carbon economy, by increasing funding for renewable energy, advanced vehicle research and development, and energy efficiency programs.[read more]

EPA nominee Gina McCarthy

As one of the most highly-qualified nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in its history, McCarthy has won plaudits from Republicans like Senator James Inhofe and energy titans like American Electric Power.[read more]

atmospheric CO2

Our goal to be avoided, 450 ppm, is now feeling a bit close for comfort, given we are already at 400 ppm and 300 ppm was only passed under the previous British monarch.[read more]

arctic drilling risks

New policy emphasizes U.S. security interests in the Arctic. That makes sense in the light of the Arctic’s international significance. But the administration’s plan makes the mistake of equating security with drilling for oil in the region.[read more]

rendering of Belo Monte Dam

Large hydropower projects are the bedrock of clean energy production, by virtue of their sheer size and reliance upon natural rainfall. But climate change's effects on rain patterns could affect new hydropower projects.[read more]

DOE and manufacturing

Originally enacted in 2007 and reauthorized in 2010, this legislation directly supports science and technology institutions that underpin U.S. innovation, particularly in clean energy.[read more]

what of future energy needs?

 

If carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are to stop increasing, then nearly all of oue future energy consumption must come from technologies that produce zero emissions.[read more]

desertification

Drought and desertification have become increasingly pressing problems for a growing number of countries. The UN estimates land degradation costs between 3-5 percent of global agricultural Gross Domestic Production.[read more]

electric car/shutterstock

Even if there is enough lithium to displace the 1 billion internal combustion engine cars that now pollute the earth with electric cars, it is the electronic waste problem that should dominate the question.[read more]

ocean temperatures/shutterstock

The average amount of energy the ocean absorbed each year over the period 1993 to 2008 was enough to power nearly 500 100-watt light bulbs for each of the roughly 6.7 billion people on the planet.[read more]

natural gas/shutterstock

Natural gas is a fuel for electricity generation that serves as a bridge to a Smart Grid that fully integrates renewables and energy storage into the energy portfolio.[read more]