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| 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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Taking care of rural coal workers
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David Roberts |
14 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This WSJ piece on the battle over coal in rural (and important electoral swing) states is frustrating. On one hand, you have enviros, characterized as urbanites concerned exclusively with global warming. On the other hand, you have rural residents, characterized as concerned exclusively with keeping their mining jobs. Why is there no mention of the ways Dem candidates and enviros are attempting to address those concerns? No mention of the ways Obama and Clinton propos ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, green jobs, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Ausra
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David Roberts |
14 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Via Deathridesahorse, here's a video of Ausra ('utility-scale solar power') CEO David Mills explaining Ausra's solar thermal technology: |
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| Topics: business, energy, energy at home, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics) |
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Markets, not technologies
A long-term extension of the solar investment tax credit is vital |
Adam Browning |
14 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Joe is correct to point out that solar energy is not a monolith -- but he's got the categories wrong. The relevant division is not between technologies but markets. Market No. 1 is distributed generation solar -- that is, solar sited on the customer side of the meter, serving on-site load. Think rooftops. This market will be served almost exclusively by photovoltaics (for electricity -- hot water is another case) -- and the relevant cost comparison is the retail pr ... |
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| Topics: business, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
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Coke: Still 'it' with the kids
Coca-Cola and McD's top brands among teens, study says |
Tom Philpott |
14 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Photo: Taneli Mielikäinen There has been a lot of great work in the last decade to wake kids up to alternatives to industrial food. Here and there, farm-to-school programs have been launched, soft drinks banished from cafeterias, books like Eric Schlosser's Chew on This have emerged. Yet clearly, much more work needs to be done. Seems that teens are still gulping down Coke and flocking to McDonald's (when they're not heading for Burger King, evidently seen ... |
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| Topics: advertising, agriculture, business, food, health, industrial ag, messaging (all these topics) |
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Succeeding in the free market
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David Roberts |
13 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| One of my favorite writers, Jonathan Chait, has an article in The New Republic on 'the latest in global warming denialism' (the latest being acknowledging it exists but refusing to do anything about it). It mostly goes over familiar ground, but I wanted to call out one part where Chait makes an unwarranted concession. Discussing recent efforts to repeal some oil industry tax breaks in order to fund tax credits for renewable energy, Chait writes: Objection number one ... |
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| Topics: business, climate change skepticism, energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Cheap clean coal now dirty, expensive
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David Roberts |
13 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The WSJ energy blog points out that skyrocketing demand for coal in the developing world is rapidly driving up the commodity price. (And WSJ proper points out that rising prices for coal mean rising prices for steel.) Meanwhile, Reuters says 'clean coal' is 'elusive' and the head of one of Australia's biggest energy companies -- AGL -- says that coal's days are numbered: ... Michael Fraser said it is unlikely any new coal generators will be built without significa ... |
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| Topics: Australia, business, carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy (all these topics) |
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MoJo uncovers the eco-spies
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David Roberts |
11 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Mother Jones has a blockbuster scoop today on the private security firm that spied on green groups on behalf of corporate clients: A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, a ... |
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| Topics: business, Greenpeace, insanity, national security, shenanigans (all these topics) |
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Breaking the Bank
World Bank should get out of carbon-offset market, says report |
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11 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:48 PM on 11 Apr 2008 Carbon-offset dealings by the World Bank have been criticized (and not for the first time) in a report released Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies. In the past two years, the report charges, the bank has loaned $1.5 billion to fossil-fuel companies to make minor greenhouse-gas reductions. It then sells carbon credits for those reductions, says coauthor Daphne Wysham, " ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon offsets, climate, energy, fossil fuels, news, World Bank (all these topics) |
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Do we need a massive government program to generate breakthroughs to make solar energy cost-competitive?
Concentrated solar power is already doing great; no breakthroughs needed |
Joseph Romm |
11 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Almost certainly not and absolutely not. I give two answers here because there are two very different types of solar energy: Solar photovoltaics, PV, which is direct conversion of sunlight to electricity. It is well known, high-tech, uneconomically expensive in most parts of this country (but poised to resume dropping sharply in price), and intermittent (power only when the sun shines). Solar thermal electric or concentrated solar power (CSP), which uses mi ... |
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| Topics: business, Department of Energy, energy, renewable energy, solar thermal power, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
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ANWR of the heartland?
Why plowing up Conservation Reserve Program land won't solve the food crisis |
Tom Philpott |
11 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Uh oh. The New York Times reports that 'thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government's biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate.' Rather then let the ground lie fallow, they're planting it with corn, soy, and wheat -- the price of each of which stands near or above all-time highs. 'Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined,' The Times reports. And there's serious pressure to bring mo ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, cellulosic ethanol, economy, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Saving the planet: sometimes as important as saving jobs
Maryland House committee kills climate bill |
Joseph Romm |
10 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. ----- After reporting last week on the climate policy progression carving its way through the Maryland Senate, the same measures were defeated in a Maryland House committee this week. Supposedly, the bill was killed by pressure from industry and labor lobbyists, ironically accompanied by steelworkers draped with 'Save Our Jobs' t-shirts. First of ... |
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| Topics: business, legislation, Maryland, politics, state politics (all these topics) |
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Can industrial agriculture feed the world? Part 2
Global food riots edition |
Tom Philpott |
10 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A couple of months ago, I raised the question, can industrial agriculture feed the world?I was being intentionally provocative. For decades, policymakers have treated low-input, diversified agriculture -- 'organic' in the sense described by the great British agriculture scholar Sir Albert Howard -- as a kind of hippy indulgence. Sure, it's nice to grow food without poison, but you can't feed the world that way. To feed the globe's teeming masses, you need loads of mined ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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The faces of green
The Dream Reborn: diverse speakers and audience with a common vision |
Erik Hoffner |
10 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Jennifer Oladipo is a writer from Louisville, Ky., whose recent Orion article 'Global Warming is Colorblind' was just reprinted in Utne Reader. She was in Memphis last weekend to see firsthand what the green jobs movement is about. (To read more Grist coverage of the Dream Reborn conference, see Pat Walters' dispatches from day one and day two.) ----- The hopeful skeptic in me was the part most drawn to The Dream Reborn conference hosted by Green For All last week ... |
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| Topics: business, environmental justice, environmental movement, grassroots activism, green jobs (all these topics) |
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Having naan of it
India's 4,000 MW coal plant is a bad answer to electricity woes |
Nathan Wyeth |
10 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A few more thoughts on the 4,000 MW coal plant in India recently approved for international aid financing, which David and Joe have noted. I think this deserves attention because it's at the center of the biggest climate question out there: how to meet tens of thousands of megawatt hours of unmet and projected power demand in India and China without huge coal plants like this Tata Mundra 'Ultra-Mega' plant. It's not simple. But following the logic for this project invol ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, economy, energy, India (all these topics) |
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The technologies needed to beat 450 ppm, Part 1
Examining the IPCC's 'portfolio of technologies' |
Joseph Romm |
10 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In 2007, the IPCC wrote [PDF] in its Working Group III summary (page 16): The range of stabilization levels assessed can be achieved by deployment of a portfolio of technologies that are currently available and those that are expected to be commercialised in coming decades. This assumes that appropriate and effective incentives are in place for development, acquisition, deployment and diffusion of technologies, and for addressing related barriers (high agreement, ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, business, carbon sequestration, climate, energy, green building, IPCC (all these topics) |
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How Enterprising
Enterprise Rent-a-Car opens six 'green' branches in Atlanta |
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10 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:26 AM on 10 Apr 2008 The largest car rental company in the United States, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, announced it's opening six "green" branches in Atlanta, Ga., where 60 percent of the available rental vehicles will be hybrids or other fuel-efficient cars. The agency said the increase in efficient vehicles is due to consumer demand. Enterprise currently has a fleet of about 4,000 hybrids out of a tot ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, hybrids, news, United States (all these topics) |
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The Van fan club
GOOD magazine's profile on the black green activist |
Maywa Montenegro |
09 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| What Grist readers might have predicted over a year ago, when David interviewed Van Jones, is quickly becoming reality. In October, Thomas Friedman, in a gushing editorial, called Jones a 'rare bird' who 'exudes enough energy to light a few buildings on his own.' Now he's appeared on the Colbert Report where, despite the always-awkward position of Stephen's interviewees, he managed to land 'green jobs' in the mental dictionary of millions of young viewers. I had th ... |
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| Topics: business, economy, environmental justice, environmental movement, green jobs, hotties, Van Jones (all these topics) |
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Smithfield's European strategy
The hog giant CAFOizes Poland and Romania to gain access to Western Europe |
Tom Philpott |
09 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Farmers in Iowa and North Carolina -- the two states that together house nearly half of U.S. hog production [PDF] -- won't be surprised by this report, from the International Herald Tribune: The American bacon producer, Smithfield Farms, now operates a dozen vast industrial pig farms in Poland. Importing cheap soy feed from South America, which the company feeds intensively to its tens of thousands of pigs, it has caused the price of pork to drop dramatically ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, European Union, food, industrial ag, Poland, Romania (all these topics) |
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BP-powered no more
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David Roberts |
09 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Remember that new environmental blog at The New Republic that was "powered by BP"? Apparently it is no longer thus powered. As gratifying as it is, in a schadenfreudey sort of way, to see that other small media operations can be as dysfunctional as, er, some small media operations I'm familiar with. I'm glad this got settled quickly -- I really do think it will be a blog worth reading. (This post brought to you by Wal-Mart.) |
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| Topics: Big Oil, business, energy, gossip, oil (all these topics) |
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Herald Ford
Ford lays out how it will reduce fleet emissions |
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09 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:11 AM on 09 Apr 2008 Ford Motor Co. has laid out specific plans for reducing the greenhouse-gas emissions of its vehicle fleet at least 30 percent by 2020. The announcement comes in response to shareholder resolutions filed by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (representing about 300 religious investors) and the Investor Network on Climate Risk, organized by green-minded investment group Ceres. S ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, news, religion and spirituality (all these topics) |
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Out of the frying pan ...
Dynegy targeted by Sierra Club in new anti-coal campaign |
Ted Nace |
08 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Check out Clean Up Dynegy, the brand new website for the Sierra Club's campaign against the company Sierra calls 'America's Coal-Fired Polluter Number 1.' The campaign is significant in that it represents the first attempt by anti-coal forces to single out a single company on a nationwide basis. It kicked off in late February with mass call-ins to Dynegy headquarters originating from twenty states -- 'thousands of calls,' according to the Sierra Club. Already, the cam ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, energy, grassroots activism, Sierra Club (all these topics) |
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Haul From Grace
W.R. Grace will finally pay Montana asbestos victims |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:01 PM on 08 Apr 2008 W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay some $3 billion in cash and equity to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of people injured or killed by asbestos in the company's products. Grace operated a vermiculite mine near Libby, Mont., from 1963 to 1990, infamously coating the town with asbestos fibers. The company went bankrupt in 2001 after more than 100,000 asbestos-related claims were filed agains ... |
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| Topics: business, litigation, mining, Montana, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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The spy who greened me
Bond film to feature greenwashing eco-villain |
Sarah van Schagen |
08 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Everyone's favorite secret agent is at it again -- and this time he hopes to live and let Greene die. That's right, Craig (Daniel Craig) is filming the next Bond flick as we speak type. Quantum of Solace continues the storyline that began with Casino Royale and finds Bond shaken (not stirred) by the death and betrayal of a loved one. He wants revenge, and he points a (Gold)finger at "eco-entrepreneur" Dominic Greene (the man with the green gun?). Play ... |
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| Topics: business, celebrity, green living, greenwashing, movies (all these topics) |
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Steel Yourself
Labor and enviros join up for green-jobs campaign |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:40 PM on 08 Apr 2008 A new green-jobs campaign has been launched by the Sierra Club, NRDC, the United Steelworkers, and the Blue Green Alliance (itself a project of the Sierra Club and the steelworkers union). The Green Jobs for America campaign, moving forward on the momentum of last month's Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference, will be focused in 12 states and will aim to raise public awareness, encourage private investm ... |
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| Topics: business, energy, grassroots activism, green jobs, news, NRDC, renewable energy, Sierra Club (all these topics) |
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