Renewable Energy

And George Will should stick to writing about baseball or whatever it is he knows something--anything--about

Yes, green jobs do exist and are good for the economy 0
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Remember that transparently hackjob Spanish report railing against green jobs that made the rounds of the fossil lobby (in and out of Congress) earlier in the year?
The Grist List: From Heath to Health

Heath Ledger harpoons whaling, and more 3
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
He's no joker: Before his death, Heath Ledger created a grim music video about whaling for Modest Mouse.
Breakthrough's rebuttal

Joe Romm’s strategy to lose the clean energy race 30
Posted 4 months ago By Jesse Jenkins, Teryn Norris
On Monday, Joe Romm of Climate Progress publicly attacked us for publishing an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle -- called "Will America lose the clean energy race?" (a longer version was posted here at Huffington Post.). Here's our response.
Coal is the enemy of the human race, pant-wetting terror edition

Blackout: Heinberg on dwindling coal reserves and the siren song of “clean coal” 13
Posted 4 months ago
There isn't nearly as much coal left as most people think. "Clean coal" will run down limited reserves even faster. If humanity doesn't begin massive, sustained investment in renewable power sources immediately, civilization could be at risk before the end of the century. And that's without considering the impacts of climate change. Such is the stark conclusion of Richard Heinberg's Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis, which despite its dry tone and technical complexity is one of the scariest f*cking books I've ever read.
Star power

Mass. startup uses biotech smarts to take the corn out of ethanol 2
Posted 4 months ago
Joule Biotechnologies mixes bioengineered micro-organisms with carbon dioxide and solar energy to produce corn-free ethanol.
It's the 'Green' Mountain state for a reason

We need an energy revolution 4
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for "an energy revolution that leads us toward energy independence, the cessation of support for foreign dictatorships and the ability to avoid Mideast wars fought over oil."
ACES low...

Obama stays on message ... health care, health care, health care 5
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
President Obama made a single, passing reference to clean energy in his July 22 primetime press conference. After that, it was all health care.
Letter from Europe

Britain’s Labour government places big bet on low-carbon future 2
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
Gordon Brown's government unveiled a plan last week detailing how Britain would develop a low-carbon economy, multiply many fold its use of renewable energy, and achieve one of the world's most ambitious targets for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide.
Sun Worshippers Descend on Bay Area

Intersolar gathering 0
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Fifteen thousand solar devotees from around the world are expected to meet in San Francisco this week in an event that organizers hope will "create strong global relationships." Actually, the sun worshippers will be fully clothed (many in suits, no doubt). These movers and shakers, metaphorically speaking, will be attending the continent's largest business-to-business solar trade conference and exhibition, called Intersolar, from July 14-16 at the Moscone Center.
First Things First

If you want a revolution, start with a clean energy one 0
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Sun city

Washington state may soon be home to world’s largest PV solar project 1
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Seattle is known for its gray skies, but could a town 80 miles southeast of the city provide enough solar power for 45,000 homes? The investors at Teanaway Solar Reserve are banking on it.
On the legality of feed-in tariffs in the US 0
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
For the past year we've been involved in a proceeding before the California Public Utilities Commission on an effort to establish a feed-in tariff, or standard offer contracting program for renewables.
glass half full

California net metering bill progresses 1
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
AB 560 (the bill to lift the net metering cap in California) passed a key hurdle today, passing out of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications committee by a vote of 9-1.
Trope-a-dope

Replace the “Saudi Arabia of wind/solar/etc power” trope 0
Posted 5 months ago
How many times have you heard that Place X is the "Saudi Arabia of solar power" or "Saudi Arabia of wind power" or "Saudi Arabia of geothermal"? Kate Galbraith of The New York Times' Green Inc. blog has heard it one too many times, so she's launched a contest for a new phrase to describe renewable energy potential.
Wind: still enough to save the world 14
Posted 5 months ago
Back in 2008, Christina Archer and Mark Z Jacobson published data showing worldwide commercial wind potential exceeded world energy use by many times. A new peer reviewed study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences now confirms his, and further shows that this potential is not limited to a lucky few.
Ya gotta have faith

Why we overestimate the costs of climate change legislation 12
Posted 5 months ago
The way economists calculate the costs of tackling climate change misses low-carbon alternatives and underestimates innovation. Just as economic models have overestimated the cost of virtually every environmental regulation in history, so today they're overestimating the costs of the clean energy revolution.
Always look on the bright side of life

The faint silver lining of the Waxman-Markey clean-energy-mandates cloud 4
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
The Waxman-Markey bill would require that 20% of the nation's power supply come from clean energy (15%) and efficiency (5%) by 2020. But wouldn't the U.S. have reached those mild targets without any government intervention, through natural market growth? Would the bill's mandates have any effect at all?

A spate of recent analyses have argued that the bill's Combined Efficiency and Renewable Energy Standard, or CERES, would induce no new deployment of renewable energy over and above the business-as-usual scenario. In other words, they might as well not have bothered.
Lots of great green stuff in the latest issue of The Atlantic 1
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I haven't read The Atlantic much lately, but I picked up the latest issue at the airport and it is superb. Three pieces are worth particular note.
Let's get a move on here

Sierra Club, MoveOn call on House leaders to strengthen climate bill 1
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
The Sierra Club, MoveOn, and other green and progressive groups have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asking her to work to strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act when it moves to the House floor.
This blows

Renewables industry protests weak RES proposals in Congress 6
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
The clean-energy industry says the renewable electricity standards being considered by Congress are way too weak. If the proposals aren't strengthened, the U.S. will lose jobs and economic opportunities to competitors abroad, people in the industry warn.