Monday, 02 May 2005

If we're to cope with climate change and peak oil, says Mike Millikin, we need to make the broadest-scale, most rapid transition of behavior, technologies, and markets ever conceived. "Sustainable mobility" is key, and that's why Millikin, this week's InterActivist, writes and publishes Green Car Congress, a blog on the latest developments in greener ways to get around. Hit Millikin with a question of your own by noon PDT on Wednesday, May 4; we'll publish his responses to selected questions on Friday.

They Did It Norway

Norway's high gas and auto taxes lead to lower gas consumption

Americans, who view cheap oil as a divine birthright and throw a tantrum when gas prices exceed $2, would surely view Norway as a strange and alien land if they, ahem, knew anything about it. Despite the Scandinavian country's huge oil reserves -- it is the world's third-largest exporter of black gold -- gas prices hover around $6.66 (Satan's price!), roughly two-thirds of which is gas tax. Benighted Norwegians also pay up to $395 a year per vehicle in auto taxes, and import duties substantially jack up the prices of SUVs and large trucks. As a result, per capita oil consumption hovers around 1.9 gallons a day, compared to America's three gallons. Surely revolt is imminent? Um, no. "There is no political will to change the system," says radio announcer Torgald Sorli. Perhaps the country's average income, among the world's highest, eases the burden a bit. Or maybe it's the 37.5-hour work week, or the five weeks of vacation. Or the plentiful public transportation. Or maybe they just hate freedom.


Ah, spring is in the air. Or is that smog? Whatever the aroma, it causes one reader to wonder about the environmental impacts of mulching one's garden. Green advice guru Umbra Fisk is a veritable horn of plenty on the topic.

The Nukes of Hazzard

Utilities not as hot for new nuke plants as Bush is

Not everyone is as cuckoo for new nuke plants as President Bush, not even the nation's electric utilities. Though some power companies have shown some interest in planning for future nuclear power plants in the U.S., experts concede the stars are not aligned just yet to make nuke power palatable to energy companies. The cost of building a new nuke plant starts at around $1 billion; add to that the well-known risks and you have enough to deter most investors unless there's substantial federal assistance. "The abiding lesson that Three Mile Island taught Wall Street," said former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Peter Bradford, "was that a group of NRC-licensed reactor operators, as good as any others, could turn a $2 billion asset into a $1 billion cleanup job in about 90 minutes." But with the rising costs of natural gas and the growing likelihood of a carbon tax in the next decade, NRC chair Nils Diaz expects five or six applications to be submitted for new U.S. nuke plants by 2008.

Talkin' Bout Microgeneration

Microgeneration may energize future

With an energy crisis looming and national governments slow to adopt clean, renewable sources, some small communities are creating their own solutions -- and their own energy. Case in point: Beddington Zero Energy Development in South London (BedZED for short), a carbon-neutral sustainable-housing estate employing "microgeneration," or small-scale, local, renewable power production. BedZED's eco-village uses green roofs and well-insulated walls and windows; all the lighting is low-energy, and water-saving washing machines and low-flush toilets reduce the need for H2O. Energy needs are met by solar panels and the community's 130-kilowatt generator, which is fueled by landscaping waste. BioRegional Development Group, the independent organization responsible for BedZED, is working on plans for an eco-tourism project based on the same principles in Portugal, and the group may tackle growing energy sink China next.

Iceland Is Your Land

Last chance to enter Iceland sweepstakes

OK, some of you are sick of hearing about Iceland, but others of you are sitting on your hands, bouncing a little, like the kid who had to pee in math class but wasn't allowed to get up. Because you are dying to know if you're going to win a vacation to Iceland! If, by some strange chance, you haven't yet entered our sweepstakes, just get two friends to sign up by May 6 to receive Grist emails, and you -- or one of your friends -- could win a trip to this land of fire and ice from one of Icelandair's U.S. hubs. And you don't even have to feel guilty about emissions; we're donating Native Energy green tags to Clean Air-Cool Planet to offset the trip's effects. So come on, use your friends to win stuff. But be quick about it!