| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
The education of Warren Buffett
Why did the guru cancel six coal plants? |
Ted Nace |
15 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| One of the biggest climate stories of 2007 never made it to the business pages. It's about how Warren Buffett, with no fanfare, quietly walked away from coal, cancelling six proposed plants. Warren Buffet. Buffett used to love coal. His involvement with it began when Berkshire Hathaway bought MidAmerican Energy Holdings in 1999. MidAmerican was a big operator of coal plants, and with natural gas prices edging toward a huge leap upwards -- bringing coal back in ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Casten gospel reaches NYT
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David Roberts |
27 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Congrats to our own Sean Casten for getting the following letter to the editor in The New York Times: Re "States' Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock" ("The Energy Challenge" series, March 20): Proponents of coal-fired power argue falsely that coal is cheap. Coal is a cheap fuel. But who cares? Coal can't run an iPod. And electricity from coal -- which also includes fuel, maintenance and capital recovery costs -- ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Another entrant in the $1/watt solar sweepstakes
Cost of solar cells may be driven down dramatically |
David Roberts |
26 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Well lookie here! A series of manufacturing process improvements could make the cost of electricity from silicon-based solar cells comparable to today's prices for coal generation within about four years, according to a company emerging out of stealth today. The company, 1366 Technologies, will be using technologies developed in MIT labs to reduce the manufacturing costs of standard-issue multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. They say they can ultimately reduce ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon sequestration, coal, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
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Boogie Woogie Google Boy
An interview with Google's green energy czar, Bill Weihl |
Amanda Griscom Little |
07 Feb 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| The phrase "to Google" has become synonymous with "to search." But soon it may connote something altogether different: "to green." That is, if the internet titan can successfully pull off its latest world-changing endeavor. Bill Weihl. In late 2007, the dot-com giant announced its intention to make renewable energy cheaper than coal. The RE<C pro ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon neutral, carbon offsets, coal, energy, energy efficiency, greening biz operations, greenish companies, interview, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics) |
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Coal is the enemy of the human race: Goliath, meet David edition
Google invests in solar thermal company eSolar |
David Roberts |
18 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Today, Google announced it's investing $10 million in eSolar, a solar thermal company, as part of its RE<C project. (Speaking of the latter, we've got an excellent interview on it coming up soon.) Here's what esolar has to say about itself (PDF): To serve the renewable electricity needs of utility-scale energy providers, eSolar has developed a market disrupting solar thermal power plant technology. Generation can be scaled from 25 MW to over 500 MW at energy p ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics) |
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Coal myths
They're still common, but they make no sense |
David Roberts |
20 Aug 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A little while back I praised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for opposing new coal plants in his home state. Now he's clarified his position: he opposes new coal plants anywhere in the world. Word. One grumpy note. Look at this: Michael Yackira, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Pacific Resources, said his company 'respectfully disagrees' with Reid's position. His company is seeking approval to build one of the plants. 'We believe what ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, Harry Reid, politics, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, wind power (all these topics) |
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