Sign up | Login with →

Posts by Marc Gunther Subscribe

Here comes the sun... not!

Germany, once the world’s leading market for solar power, is pulling back its subsidies.Q Cells, once the world’s largest solar company, just went bankrupt.This isn’t happy news. If the country that birthed the Green Party cannot sustain its support...
Posted April 9, 2012 with 1,263 views     
18

Direct air capture of CO2 is becoming a business, for better or worse

  Klaus Lackner Since 1999, when Columbia University physicist Klaus Lackner wrote the first scientific paper [PDF, download] about capturing carbon dioxide from the air, his unlikely idea has grown into a nascent industry. Four start-up...
Posted March 12, 2012 with 1,162 views     
5

Is car sharing revving up?

 Who would have thought that Bill Ford, the executive chairman of the Ford Motor Co., and GM Ventures, the venture capital arm of General Motors, would invest in peer-to-peer car sharing companies? The big automakers historically craved market...
Posted March 6, 2012 with 389 views     
0

Suck It Up: A book about climate change, geoengineering and air capture of CO2

 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...
Posted March 2, 2012 with 538 views     
2

Peter Gleick, climate hero?

 I need to say a few words about Peter Gleick. If you haven’t heard of him, you will. Gleick is a co-founder of the respected Pacific Institute, a widely-recognized water expert and a McArthur Foundation “genius” fellow, but none of that...
Posted February 23, 2012 with 1,062 views     
4

The toxic debate over climate science

 Can the climate-science debate get any more toxic? The Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank that challenges the scientific consensus about climate change, was embarrassed by the release yesterday (Feb. 14) of confidential documents,...
Posted February 16, 2012 with 589 views     
10

Why Google invests in clean energy

 Last year, Google invested more than $915 million in clean energy projects–solar, wind and transmission. That’s a lot of money, even for Google, which had $38 billion in revenues in 2011. The investments don’t appear to be core to the company’...
Posted February 1, 2012 with 624 views     
0

Which Side Of The Solar Trade Wars Are You On?

Should we worry about Chinese government subsidies to its solar industry? Or send the Chinese a thank-you note? A group of seven US-based manufacturers of solar panels is alarmed. These manufacturers, led by Solar World, a German firm with a plant...
Posted January 9, 2012 with 835 views     
6

Climate, Insurance & the Next Financial Meltdown

  Miami Beach oceanfront properties Well-to-do Brazilians are buying up luxury condos on the beach in Miami, The Times reported last week. “They are taking Miami by storm,” one real estate executive declared.   It’s an unfortunate metaphor...
Posted January 5, 2012 with 320 views     
2

Why I’m (Still) An Optimist

Happy New Year! And good riddance to 2011, a year during which we made little or no progress on some of the issues that I care most about: climate change, the long-term federal debt, social mobility (aka the American dream), and our dysfunctional...
Posted January 2, 2012 with 441 views     
7

Making Sense Out of Durban

 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...
Posted December 13, 2011 with 200 views     
0

Big Brands Talk Climate Action Buuuuuut…

 Led by Unilever, Astra Zeneca and Nike, consumer brands are taking climate change more seriously than ever, says a new report from Climate Counts, a nonprofit that rates some of the world’s largest companies on their climate impact. Big...
Posted December 7, 2011 with 387 views     
0