Our network

The Future of Oil & Gas: Exploring New Innovation in Old-Fashioned Energy Webcast Recap

February 6, 2012 by Sheila Oliva
with 242 views
4

In case you missed it, last week The Energy Collective hosted a webcast on the topic of oil and gas and what the future held for these fossil fuels. As recent research has shown, despite the unprecedented levels of growth and attention wind, solar... [read more]

New Cuban Crisis Threatens Florida's Coasts

February 5, 2012 by nrdc switchboard
with 569 views
0

Ever since Cuba’s intent to drill within 70 miles of Florida’s coast has become known, concerned Floridians have been reeling with how to protect our treasured Florida Keys. For many Floridians, this is a very charged issue. It’s no secret that... [read more]

Decarbonizing California requires relying more on electricity, once it's low carbon

February 4, 2012 by Karen Street
with 166 views
7

A 2006 California law, Assembly Bill 32, obligates the state to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 (30% below business as usual), and to 80% below that level by 2050 (90% below business as usual). How is it to done? A... [read more]

Back to the Public Service Board: Next Steps for Vermont Yankee

February 4, 2012 by Meredith Angwin
with 203 views
0

The court ruled in favor of Entergy in the recent court case. In consequence, Entergy applied to the Public Service Board for a Certificate of Public Good for Vermont Yankee.Judge Murtha's ruling in the case is over 100 pages long. At one level,... [read more]

Science, risk management or just politics?

February 3, 2012 by David Hone
with 349 views
0

An opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) on Tuesday (a few days earlier in the USA) presented the views of sixteen scientists on the issue of climate change under the heading “No Need to Panic About Global Warming“. Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of science discussed and the reality of the policy world is very different from the story they have written. [read more]

exclusive

Audio Archive: The Future of Oil & Gas: Exploring New Innovation in Old-Fashioned Energy

February 3, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 205 views
0

While renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biofuels experience unprecedented levels of growth and attention, such projections seem to confirm that these fossil fuels will make up large parts of our energy mix for quite some time to... [read more]

Sierra Club admits taking money to promote natural gas over coal

February 7, 2012 by Rod Adams
with 171 views
0

On February 2, 2012, the Sierra Club allowed a Time magazine blog to break a poorly kept “secret” whose existence had threatened to get out of hand. In a post titled Exclusive: How the Sierra Club Took Millions From the Natural Gas Industry—and Why They Stopped Bryan Walsh described how one of the oldest, largest, and best endowed... [read more]

Cincinnati Explores 100% Renewable Energy Plan

February 7, 2012 by Jonathan Smith
with 85 views
0

Cincinnati is working on a new power aggregation deal right now that could lead to the entire city being powered from 100 percent renewable energy sources. The deal, city officials say, could be finalized within the coming months and be in place for consumers by summer 2012. Such a move would make Cincinnati the largest city in the... [read more]

exclusive

Australia: Solar Flagships extends deadline, re-opens bidding

February 7, 2012 by Bea Gonzalez
with 51 views
0

The Australian government has given the Areva-led Solar Dawn project a six month reprieve, and has re-opened bidding for the PV portion of its national solar program. The Solar Dawn consortium proposing to build a 250MW solar thermal plant in south-west Queensland as part of Australia’s Solar Flagships program has won a six month... [read more]

The Dawn of a New Day for Autos

February 7, 2012 by Steve Seidel
with 125 views
0

A lot has changed in the two years since I made my first visit to the Washington Auto Show. Back then, gas prices averaged $2.68 per gallon and the Nissan LEAF looked like a “car of the future” compared to the other vehicles on the showroom floor. Now, prices at the pump are 25 percent higher, averaging $3.50 per gallon in 2011, and fuel... [read more]

Four Smart Grid Innovations that are Utility Painkillers

February 7, 2012 by Christine Hertzog
with 149 views
0

The electricity value chain of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption has a number of challenges, or pain points, to overcome to deliver all Smart Grid benefits.  Electric utility Smart Grid investment decisions are made on the basis of what reduces or eliminates pain.  There is no “one size fits all” answer in... [read more]

Liquid Wood, Anybody?

February 6, 2012 by Stefano Ratti
with 396 views
1

One of the most abundant forms of renewable energy available in the United States is wood residue from forestry operations. The carbon in wood residue is bound to go back to the atmosphere, either as carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of combustion (natural or controlled fire), or through methane (CH4), as a result of decomposition.... [read more]

International nuclear markets gain momentum

February 6, 2012 by Dan Yurman
with 455 views
0

China restarts approvals, moves to 3G designs The China Daily reports in its English language editions Feb 1 approvals of new nuclear reactor projects in China will take place at a pace of three-to-four projects per year. According to Xiao Xinjian, a nuclear energy industry expert, six projects that had already received approval prior... [read more]

Public Opinion, the Media and Climate Change

February 6, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 371 views
0

A must-read study published Monday in the journal Climatic Change debunks some pervasive myths about public opinion and climate change. The lead author, Dr. Robert J. Brulle of Drexel University, gave me an exclusive interview. [read more]

Why I am opposed to Northern Gateway

February 6, 2012 by Simon Donner
with 149 views
0

After a few months of thinking, I came to the conclusion that there is no choice but to oppose the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline. There are many worthy arguments on either side of this issue, from the economy to First Nations rights, and from the preservation of the BC coastline to the reality of oil consumption here and... [read more]

Dwarfing Cape Wind with a Patriot-sized wind farm

February 6, 2012 by Rich Maltzman
with 151 views
0

Take a look at the two areas above. The top one represents Cape Wind, about which we’ve posted several times. Now, a new area has been set aside for a wind farm which, according to a story in today’s Boston Globe, “could produce as much as 4,000 megawatts, 10 times as much electricity as the proposed Cape Wind project, which is slated to... [read more]

Raising the Efficiency of Solar Cells

February 3, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 399 views
0

There’s a cottage industry in solar research involving the manipulation of quantum dots. Solar cells using these tiny particles of semiconductors are much less expensive to produce than traditional ones, because they can be made using simple chemical reactions. And scientists for a number of years now have been drawn to their ability to... [read more]

Predicting the Top Sustainability Stories of 2012

February 3, 2012 by Gil Friend
with 436 views
1

Last month I offered my picks for the Top Sustainability Stories of 2011. Here are my predictions for the Top Sustainability Stories of 2012. (It's a rugged mix of bad news and good.) Climate heats up and hides out The sheer pressure of the hard-to-escape evidence -- more record-breaking temperatures, more disastrous weather events, big... [read more]

India’s Solar Power Revolution Could Have Global Effect

February 3, 2012 by Antonio Pasolini
with 624 views
0

   Photo: Ashden Awards/FlickrIndia has a Solar Mission to install 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022. Solar electricity is already cheaper than electricity produced with diesel generators.   These optimistic figures from India, the second most populated country in the world, has led the New Scientist magazine to write an in... [read more]

How to Go Green Without Going Crazy

February 3, 2012 by Benjamin Lack
with 218 views
0

Utilities worry about a lot of things, such as keeping the lights on, earning a return for investors, and making regulators and customers happy with their service.Now there is a new worry: How can they protect customers from what one utility refers to as “mental fatigue?”In this particular case, the utility raises the issue as it... [read more]

more +