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Should We Talk About Climate Change?

January 4, 2012 by David Lewis
with 706 views
5

David Roberts, a blogger at Grist, is challenging what he says is an evolving consensus among American "climate hawks" who say there's "nothing to be gained from talking about climate change".  These types, according to Roberts, argue that political effort aimed at climate mitigation needs to conceal itself inside debate focused on... [read more]

Ford’s first all-electric car to be sold in 20 cities in 2011

November 16, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 759 views
1

photo: Ford I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Bummed that you don’t live in one of the select cities that will be the first to get the electric Nissan Leaf or the Chevrolet Volt next month? Or you do live in one of those early-adopter municipalities and want an electric ride but don’t like either car? Well, if you’... [read more]

GE hits the electric car showroom

November 15, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 1,266 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. With the first mass-produced electric cars set to hit American streets next month, there’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the media about whether consumers will actually buy the vehicles once they’re in showrooms. But as General Electric made clear this week,... [read more]

Code enforcement: iPhone app for enviro monitoring

November 11, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 697 views
0

I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Environmental enforcement? Yes, there’s an app for that too. As California’s permanent budget crisis results in continuing cutbacks to environmental agencies, IBM haCreek Watchs rolled out Creek Watch, an iPhone app that lets the State Water Resources Control Board crowdsource the... [read more]

The smart grid, your house, your electric car and you

November 10, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 1,529 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. When experts try to describe the smart grid, their favorite analogy is the internet. Just as the internet enabled interactive, two-way communication, the smart grid, we’re told, will deploy sensors and software to digitize a century-old analog electricity... [read more]

Why the green energy revolution needs the smart grid

November 8, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 1,230 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. If you want a birds-eye view of the future of power, scramble up to the roof of a 562,089-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, a city that sits in the smoggy heart of Southern California’s Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. On a roof the size of several football... [read more]

Prop 26′s impact on California’s global warming law

November 4, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 621 views
0

photo: eSolar I wrote this story for Sustainable Industries, where it first appeared. The landslide defeat Tuesday of Proposition 23, the California ballot measure that would have suspended the state’s landmark global warming law, was not enough to stop Proposition 26, another initiative that could complicate efforts to launch a cap-... [read more]

Tilting at turbines: China takes the wind out of the U.S.

October 28, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 704 views
1

I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Installation of new wind power capacity in the United States is expected to decline 39 percent this year, according to a report released Thursday. Now that would be a brutal blow for any industry battered by a vicious recession. But it’s particularly bad news for the American wind... [read more]

Recipe for U.S. solar boom: policy, money + a little sunshine

October 27, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 679 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The United States is on the verge of a solar boom that could provide 4.3 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. There’s just a 12-figure catch: Investors need to put $100 billion into the solar... [read more]

Texas oil companies tap the well again in Prop 23 fight

October 25, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 694 views
1

I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. With a week to go until Election Day, a gusher of Texas oil money has begun to flow once more into California to support Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend the state’s global warming law. On Friday, Tesoro and Valero, the Texas oil companies that are largely... [read more]

Feds approve first solar farm on goverment land in Nevada

October 13, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 876 views
0

I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The Obama administration’s solar building boom continues. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed the first lease to build a large-scale photovoltaic project on federal land in Nevada. “Yes, it’s about jobs and finding a new way forward but it’s also about dealing with... [read more]

First solar projects on federal land approved

October 6, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 731 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday gave the green light to the first two big solar power plants to be built on federal land in the California desert, promising more approvals of solar projects in the coming weeks. The granting of leases to Tessera Solar’s... [read more]

California’s solar binge continues; enacts energy storage law

October 1, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 481 views
0

photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. While efforts to pass federal climate change legislation have stalled and a fight rages in California to overturn its global warming law at the ballot box, Golden State regulators have been licensing massive desert solar power plant projects at a breakneck pace in... [read more]

Community Solar Pioneers

September 30, 2010 by WattHead Guest Contributor
with 852 views
0

David Brosch had a problem many Americans can relate to. He wanted solar power, but wasn't able to put it on his house. His roof had the wrong orientation, a tree partially blocked the sun, and it was more than he could afford. Many of his neighbors were in the same situation -- some were renters, others were too busy to handle the... [read more]

No on Prop 23 rakes in cash, enviro justice backers join fight

September 27, 2010 by Todd Woody
with 1,664 views
10

graphic: Grist I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. As predicted, the big money has started to pour into the battle over Proposition 23, the California ballot measure that would suspend the state’s global warming law. But not from where you’d expect. The six-figure donations filling campaign coffers is not coming from... [read more]