Monday, October 31, 2011
Vertical Farming at The Plant: How a Former Meat-Packing Facility Became a Successful Farm
Vertical Farming at The Plant: How a Former Meat-Packing Facility Became a Successful Farm: pby Cole Mellino There’s a heated debate among proponents of urban agriculture about whether vertical farming is truly feasible. Most people agree that it would solve many of our current agricultural problems, such as land and water use, heavy reliance on chemical inputs, fertilizer runoff and soil erosion, and carbon emissions from transportation. However, real [...]/p
Friday, October 28, 2011
House Airline Bill is Bad for Business, Jobs and the Climate
House Airline Bill is Bad for Business, Jobs and the Climate: pHarsh GOP Response to EU Emissions Trading System Risks Disaster for U.S. Industry by Andrew Light and Rebecca Lefton On Monday the U.S. House of Representatives took the unusual step of passing a bill, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011, which would forbid U.S. airlines from participating in an EU law [...]/p
Monday, October 24, 2011
If Republicans Try To Manufacture A Clean Energy Scandal With Fisker, These Letters May Haunt Them
If Republicans Try To Manufacture A Clean Energy Scandal With Fisker, These Letters May Haunt Them: pAs news outlets hype the ABC News piece about Fisker Automotive, a company that received an Obama administration loan program while creating jobs both in Finland and Delaware, Republicans are likely to pounce as well. Already, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) appeared on Fox News to tout the Fisker story as part of a larger narrative [...]/p
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Massachusetts Is The Most Energy Efficient State
Massachusetts Is The Most Energy Efficient State: pAccording to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Massachusetts has edged out California as the most energy efficient state, with scores of 45.5 and 44 out of 50 on ACEEE’s rankings. The council used six criteria to score each state: utility and public benefits programs and policies, transportation policies, building energy codes, combined heat [...]/p
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Hot Dog Bites Skeptical Man: Koch-Funded Berkeley Temperature Study Does “Confirm the Reality of Global Warming”
Hot Dog Bites Skeptical Man: Koch-Funded Berkeley Temperature Study Does “Confirm the Reality of Global Warming”: pFour new papers confirm that “the world is warming fast,” as the Economist summed it up. One paper finds that “the effect of urban heating on the global trends is nearly negligible.” Another finds that the work of the scientist-smearing denier Anthony Watts is pure BS. Okay, that’s all “dog bites man” stuff, which is [...]/p
Evidence Builds That Scientists Underplay Climate Impacts
Evidence Builds That Scientists Underplay Climate Impacts: pFar from being “alarmist,” predictions from climate scientists in many cases are proving to be more conservative than observed climate-induced impacts. The observed rate of Arctic ice loss exceeds the projections of all IPCC climate models — by NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve updated through 2011 (via Climate Crocks, click to enlarge). By Douglas Fischer, Daily [...]/p
Climate Ethicist: Why Should People in the Future Pay to Clean Up Our Mess?
Climate Ethicist: Why Should People in the Future Pay to Clean Up Our Mess?: pThe global challenge of climate change poses a perfect moral storm — by failing to take action to rein in carbon emissions, the current generation is spreading the costs of its behavior far into the future. Why should people in the future pay to clean up our mess? by Stephen Gardiner, in a Yale Environment [...]/p
A Big Source of Climate Confusion: The Factor of 3.67 Difference Between Carbon vs. Carbon Dioxide
A Big Source of Climate Confusion: The Factor of 3.67 Difference Between Carbon vs. Carbon Dioxide: pOne of the biggest source of confusion and errors in climate discussions concerns “carbon” versus “carbon dioxide.” I was reminded of this last week because of my post Economics Stunner: “Oil and Coal-Fired Power Plants Have Air Pollution Damages Larger Than Their Value Added.” I noticed that Skeptical Science innocently confused C and CO2. The [...]/p
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Senator Whitehouse’s Must-See Climate Speech: “We Ignore the Laws of Nature—of God’s Earth—at Our Very Grave Peril”
Senator Whitehouse’s Must-See Climate Speech: “We Ignore the Laws of Nature—of God’s Earth—at Our Very Grave Peril”: p“We are earning the scorn and condemnation of history…. It is magical thinking to imagine that somehow we will be spared the plain and foreseeable consequences of our failure of duty.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered a 23-minute stemwinder last week on the failure of the U.S. Senate to act on global warming pollution. Here’s [...]/p
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The U.S. Could Get 20% of Power From Solar Sited Beneath Transmission Lines
The U.S. Could Get 20% of Power From Solar Sited Beneath Transmission Lines: pby John Farrell What if the U.S. could get 20 percent of its power from solar near transmission lines without covering virgin desert? It could. Transmission right-of-way corridors, vast swaths of vegetation-free landscape to protect high-voltage power lines, could provide enough space for over 600,000 megawatts of solar PV. These arrays could provide enough electricity [...]/p
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The New York Times Asks “Where Did Global Warming Go?” While Ignoring Its Own Failed Coverage
The New York Times Asks “Where Did Global Warming Go?” While Ignoring Its Own Failed Coverage: p The New York Times is one of many major news outlets blowing the story of the century (see “Silence of the Lambs: Media herd’s coverage of climate change “fell off the map” in 2010“). The one-time “paper of record” cut coverage sharply since its peak in 2006 and 2007 and failed to connect the [...]/p
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
‘Guns & Patriots’ Editor Creates Fake Solar Scandal About SunPower, Murdoch’s Fox News Misinformers Run With It
‘Guns & Patriots’ Editor Creates Fake Solar Scandal About SunPower, Murdoch’s Fox News Misinformers Run With It: pMisinformed editor claims SunPower is getting a $1.2 billion loan guarantee, equating it to Solyndra. Note to real reporters: SunPower isn’t even getting the loan guarantee — it is simply building a 250-MW solar PV project for the global energy company NRG. When Total, the 14th largest oil and gas company in the world, bought [...]/p
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a “Human Fingerprint” on Recent Climate Change
Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a “Human Fingerprint” on Recent Climate Change: pClick to Enlarge The Yale Project on Climate Change Communications asked Americans “If you had the opportunity to talk to an expert on global warming, which of the following questions would you like to ask?” The top question, as reported in their “Global Warming’s Six Americas in May 2011” report, is “How do you know that [...]/p
Solar and Wind Could Power the West Right Now, All of America in 2026
Solar and Wind Could Power the West Right Now, All of America in 2026: pby John Farrell, in two posts that came from Energy Self-Reliant States The Germans have installed over 10,000 megawatts of solar panels in the past two years, enough to power 2 million American homes (or most of Los Angeles, CA). If Americans installed local solar at the same torrid pace, we could already power most [...]/p
Record Heat Causes Peanut Butter Prices to Skyrocket: “I Don’t Remember A Year” We Had “So Little Moisture”
Record Heat Causes Peanut Butter Prices to Skyrocket: “I Don’t Remember A Year” We Had “So Little Moisture”: p“The drought conditions should sure that have plagued farmers this growing season have taken a toll on the area’s peanut crop. Withered blooms, burned pods and few undeveloped peanuts define this year’s peanut crop for many area farmers.” (Photo/Jaine Treadwell) First, we heard that climate change could decimate the chocolate industry. Now it’s peanut butter. [...]/p
Friday, October 7, 2011
Robert Bryce Raises Climate Denial To New Levels Of Stupid
Robert Bryce Raises Climate Denial To New Levels Of Stupid: p“The science is not settled, not by a long shot,” writes disinformer Robert Bryce in the Wall Street Journal. “Last month, scientists at CERN, the prestigious high-energy physics lab in Switzerland, reported that neutrinos might—repeat, might—travel faster than the speed of light. If serious scientists can question Einstein’s theory of relativity, then there must be [...]/p
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL
Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL: pIn recent weeks, email communications between Obama administration officials and corporate executives at energy companies have come to light. Television coverage of the Solyndra photovoltaic company’s bankruptcy has been wall-to-wall, with over 190 mentions and 10 hours of coverage (led by Fox News) between Aug. 31 and Sept. 23. Meanwhile, emails from the permitting process [...]/p
Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins — On Solyndra, Silver Bullets and Solar Buckshot
Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins — On Solyndra, Silver Bullets and Solar Buckshot: pThis GreenTechMedia repost is a joint effort of the solar industry supergroup: Doug Payne, Donnie Fowler, Danny Kennedy, Ned Harvey, Tom McCalmont, Jigar Shah By now the financial, political, and emotional fallout from the recent Solyndra bankruptcy filing is running at full tilt. Print, online, and social media channels are filled with the appropriate questions about what [...]/p
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Organized Climate Change Denial “Played a Crucial Role in Blocking Domestic Legislation,” Top Scholars Conclude
Organized Climate Change Denial “Played a Crucial Role in Blocking Domestic Legislation,” Top Scholars Conclude: pThe Denier Industrial Complex (Click to Enlarge) Two leading scholars have written an excellent analysis of what I’ve been calling the Denier Industrial Complex. Riley E. Dunlap, a sociology professor at Oklahoma State, and Aaron M. McCright of Michigan State call it the “climate change denial machine” in their book chapter, “Organized Climate Change Denial,” [...]/p
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”
German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”: pA state in Germany’s industrial heartland is moving quickly to replace nuclear power with renewable energy, a transition that supporters say could be applied in the United States to reduce our reliance on coal. The state of Baden-Württemberg, home to Mercedes-Benz and a strong manufacturing sector, faces abrupt changes to its energy systems as Germany [...]/p
Monday, October 3, 2011
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