Green Car Congress informs us that the EPA has proposed stronger air quality standards for SO2.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, EPA is proposing to strengthen the nation’s sulfur dioxide (SO2) primary air quality standard to protect public health. Power plants and other [...]
Back in ‘07, this blog noted that a potential development in the resurgence of global rail could be a Bering Strait tunnel between Alaska and Russia for oil, gas and rail transport. Such a venture, which has been envisioned for some time, [...]
Look, Amory, the Chooster, a.k.a. DOE (US Department of Energy) has designated $34.7 million to ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN) for development of carbon fiber manufacturing and processing. Green Car Congress reports that a portion of those [...]
Full Disclosure: This blog lives over a part of the Marcellus Shale Appalachian Basin. While the energy companies have yet begun to drill in my backyard, nearby (about 10-15 miles away) they have been drilling for shale gas. Recently, there was news that my Pennsylvanian neighbors are concerned about [...]
Subtitle: Cue the Timpanist
Repost from Green Car Congress with a graph, an illustration, links and captions added.
Despite the economic effects of [...]
This blog feels less remorseful about a previous cynical post… Not that one… No, not that one either, nor that one, it was “No Hope in Hogging“. Another observer has referred to COP15, the Copenhagen Climate Summit, as vapourware. Now that is way harsh, dude.
Subtitle: blighter (n. Chiefly British Slang) A fellow, especially one held in low esteem. Taken from blight, see “a bad case of the humans“
HuffPo contributor Richard Greene wants to hear some words that we can believe in, to wit:
The “CLEAN AMERICA Bill” IS:
Our Children’s Energy Our Grandchildren’s Energy Sustainability Corporate [...]
Brooklyn Treehugger Matthew McDermott relays word that “world oil reserves are far lower than officially reported, the situation far more serious than publicly admitted, and we’re already past peak oil.”
The Oil Drum is a weblog about energy and our future [...]
Via Peak Energy, we learn from The Guardian that high winds over the weekend supplied 53% of Spain’s electricity – equivalent to the power output of 11 nuclear plants.
Re-post of John Kerry, Senator from the state of Massachusetts, calling for A New Green Youth Movement.
I know the difference a generation of young Americans in motion can make.
I was in college at a time of great political ferment and fundamental changes to our social fabric: the [...]
Senate Republicans are demanding lengthy economic analyses of clean energy policy, even though, attests the Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund full EPA*, EIA, and CBO analyses were conducted of the House bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act [...]
Andrew Kimball expresses the belief that changes in agricultural practices could reverse climate change.
World leaders who met last month at the United Nations climate summit took stock of the sobering reality that a global pact on climate change very likely will not be achieved in Copenhagen this December… However, [...]
The United States and China, advises The Gray (”Getting More Dismal by the Day”) Lady, rely heavily on coal for their energy needs. If both countries continue to depend on burning large amounts of coal for the foreseeable future, eventually there will be no foreseeable future.
The 3rd part [...]
Original Title: Blowing Up Our Clean Energy Future by Joshua Kahn Russell
Cross posted from Grist via It’s Getting Hot in Here
Last week, blasting began on Coal River Mountain in West Virginia. This is a part of the country where dynamite routinely goes off—turning the region’s historic mountain ranges [...]
As part of mountaintop removal operations, the mining companies dump their coal mining waste. This process coupled with lack of enforcement and immoral interpretation of existing standards, e.g., the Bush administration’s 2002 manipulation of the stream buffer rule, “has jammed and sullied an estimated 2,000 miles of streams in the [...]
In this, the first week of November 2009 — a brief eye blink away from COP15, a.k.a., UN Climate Change Conference 2009, or as this blog now is calling it, No Hope In Hogging — a question for students of his story: [...]
Subtitle: The Last Days of the Evil Empire, Now on Videotape
There is some pro-climate justice rhetoric, courtesy of a student activist blog that is in the media biz, as the Senate devises* their version of a climate bill, (a.k.a., S.1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power [...]
As the Senate begins ’serious’ consideration of a climate bill, it bears repeating that such is the influence of fossil fuel industries that our ear tagged Congress critters accept the questionable assurance of carbon capture and storage while paying little heed to [...]
To quote the Yogi, “It’s Deja Vu, all over again.” Admittedly, this blog is a Carboy fan boy. And, while Dan “Carboy” Sturges is just one person to have visualized the station car, we do hope that he is pleased with the kind of coordinated, intelligent melding of [...]
Subtitle: For Halloween 1984 2009
We already have had a good creepy start, Washington Theater goers. Also under consideration was a Copenhagen truth squad home video (anyone know where to get a Senator Inhofe mask?), but then NBC Los Angeles declares the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) is [...]
Detroit Free Press Reporter Sara Webster informs its readers that Bolloré plans to open a plant in Quebec that will manufacture traction batteries for its electric car.
The vehicles will be built in partnership with Italian automaker Pininfarina. To be offered for [...]
Green Car Congress reports that Better Place Israel has signed an agreement with Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat. Deployment of a charging infrastructure for electrical cars in Jerusalem has begun. “Several charge spots have already been placed at the entrance to the city as part of the pilot that will [...]
A repost from the Breakthrough Institute…
Climate change legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and now under consideration in the Senate will “succeed in perpetuating business as usual and fail to avert catastrophic climate change,” according to a new Greenpeace report quietly released yesterday.
Titled [...]
Brooklyn Treehugger Brian Merchant relays word from the National Academy of Sciences that coal fired electric power plants do an estimated $62 billion dollars in environmental damage a year. The estimate accounts for “damage done to crop and timber yields, to buildings and materials, and the toll coal takes [...]
Ford now has four hybrid vehicles on sale, and Green Car Congress tells us that more electrified vehicles are coming from Ford Motor Company. Their “hybrid vehicle sales have risen 73% this year, compared with a 14% decline in hybrid sales across [...]
Subtitle: A Horror Story
This blog just finished a warning about disastrous federal energy policy. The post focused upon policy considerations among our ear-tagged Senators.
Student activist blogger Matt Wilkerson reminds us that disastrous federal energy policy not only falls within the purview of the Legislative branch, but also [...]
NY Times business reporters recently opened a story, “As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming,” which implies that the Senate will evidence something other than more denial and delay. The business reporters went on to say that their “policy decisions [are] worth hundreds of billions of dollars in [...]
CAUTION — THIS IS NOT PRETTY — CONGRESSIONAL INTERNS SHOULD BE PROTECTED FROM SEEING THIS
For some time this blog has warned its readers about zombies in Washington… coal zombies… corn zombies… and, even Chernobyl zombies. Some say there is a worse zombie infestation in Washington than [...]
Subtitle: Bully!
Hey, if re-post of Brad Johnson is good enough for a Times Hero of the Environment, then, by gosh, it is good enough for me!
—–
This morning, activists from the Yes Men troupe claiming to represent [...]
Green Car Congress relays a forecast for worldwide growth in (NGVs) Natural Gas Vehicles. Cleantech research firm Pike Research anticipates that there will be 17 million units on the road worldwide by 2015, up from 9.7 million in 2008.
Pike Research forecasts that the [...]
Subtitle: You have to go back a ways
James Lovelock has written that sea level rise is a trustworthy indicator of the “Earth’s heat balance.” Aradhna Tripati, UCLA assistant professor in the department of Earth and space sciences and the department of atmospheric and oceanic [...]
Subtitle: A Tragedy
Word from the U.S. Geological Survey? Arctic Now Traps 25 Percent of World’s Carbon — But That Could Change. And, not for the good either.
“Go on. I know that you want to use the Romm quote.”
All right, I will. “If we lose the tundra,” cautions Joseph [...]
Readers of After Gutenberg (Thanks, Mom) may recall Dr. Francesca Grifo testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Dr. Grifo testified that information from more than 120 [...]
This blog previously acknowledged that cap and trade was a first step in general public awareness, even when incapable of solving the problems associated with climate change. Thus, this weblog had acquiesced to the expressed hope that linking a rise [...]
Peak Energy relays word that a Californian developer has signed with South African firm to sell licenses to build modular 46-MW power plants. Sizzling Kangaroo Bangers, BG, more solar thermoelectric.
AG readers may recognize the California firm [...]
Old time AG readers will know that water shortage is a major impact of climate change. Still, it is good to have another reminder that dirty energy is killing our water supplies.
HuffPo contributor John DeCock writes, “While the catalysts for climate change are greenhouse gases like CO2 [...]
NYC Treehugger Matthew McDermott relays word from a UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) report that concludes we now are committed to at least 1.4°C of warming by 2100, and as much as 4.3°C. We can expect to see that [...]
“Coal ash is more radioactive than nuclear waste” is a current meme snaking its way along the Internet grapevine for savvy greenie-weenies. While it is another important reason to stop coal, please avoid the use of such evidence to support a nuclear revival.
The logicians among us can [...]
“Zytek’s E-Drive …is thoroughly proven,”states Green Car Congress. While this blog is unsure about the thorough part, there is “proof in the pudding” if Mercedes relies upon the Zytek E-drive.
Current production applications for E-Drive range from the smart fourtwo electric city car, through a number of [...]
Wait! Wait! This is other than BAUAAAE (Business As Usual And Above All Else). Who let that klown in the Hall of Just His?
Related AG Posts
Hey Propagandanists! Not Real Blood, That’s Just Hunt Ketchup Who’s Your Baghdaddy? The Truth about Oil and Iraq Similar Posts:A Hierarchy of Stress [...]This blog previously relayed a warning that the areas most affected by declining grain harvests due to extreme weather would be India, Pakistan, most of Africa and most of Latin America. Now, with a similarly dire warning, Climate Progress has a post about a must-read new book: Lester [...]
I don’t understand. I keep bicycling everywhere to lower my carbon footprint, and the CO2 keeps climbing.
As the talks bogged down in Bangkok, it would seem worthwhile to remind everyone again that protecting forests is a [...]
Indiana is one of those states that lacks a RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard). Coal-dependent, Indiana obtains 95 percent of its electricity from plants running on coal. The coal largely is imported from Wyoming. Still, the Hoosier State, unlike some of its Southern brethern, [...]
Even though it would rather join in lambasting the anticipated nuclear pitch from the Chernobyl Zombie Senate, this blog would be remiss for failing to join in the Big Gav BlueGen pitch.
“Whazzat?”
An Aussie ceramic.
“Come again?”
Ah, not an AG regular? Unaccustomed to my obtuseness, eh? Unaware of the advantage [...]
Flanked by the CEOs of Renault and Peugeot Citroen, the French ecology minister announced plans this week to build the infrastructure needed to support up to 2 million electric and hybrid cars by 2020,” reported Bill Sweet [...]
It has been a while since we talked diandong zixingche, eh? While eschewed by most bicyclists, there is a niche for ebikes, particularly among those with a need for quick personal transportation in well-paved (read urban) setting.
Image: Bike [...]
Green Car Congress has reported that the EPA now is proposing a new rule under the authority of the Clean Air Act.
Maybe, Obama’s pit bull dislikes the Business Protection Agency moniker that the EPA had garnered during the Regan Regime. In any case, [...]
Bill Moore informs about a from-the-ground-up electric car that is making a debut at PHEV ‘09. Yes, it is another tragic story of a woman married to an “amphead”. (Collective sigh.)
Steve Dallas owns Toronto Electric. (Disambiguation: No, no, not [...]
This blog previously noted that one could include in an economic analysis of wind power a consideration of variable electronic gearing. Via Peak Energy, we now learn that Technology Review has an article on “new direct drive turbines promise to lower the [...]
Subtitle: Doing away with Dirty Energy, That is
Those pesky climate scientists are at it again!
(Gasp) “What are those global pariahs doing now?”
Pointing to another example of extremes in weather that could be as a result of recent shifts in climate patterns, which are very likely linked to [...]
President Obama addressed the Climate Summit at the United Nations. He said, “I will work with my colleagues at the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge.” Does such rhetoric meet the Hansen Test?
“It [...]
The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have drafted a joint technical support document (PDF) that outlines technologies for improving fuel economy. According to Green Car Congress, the study provides recommendations under five broad categories: engine, transmission, vehicle, electrification/accessory, and hybrid technologies.
Engine [...]
Subtitle: to 99 g/km of CO2
Reporting for Autoblog Green from the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, Sam Abuelsamid tells ABG readers about a Ford Focus that could meet even more stringent European Union standards for carbon emissions.
[...] 
Subtitle: “Such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there.”
Hard scratching yesterday for some good news, I came upon a video clip:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order requiring [...]
If you look at recent news about Project Better Place, then you might surmise that a resurgence of Battery-powered, all-Electric Vehicles is underway, what in April 2008 Deutsche Bank analysts concluded could be a “paradigm shift” that causes “massive disruption” to the auto industry.
Until recently, 20% of all electric power produced in the year 2030 to come from wind energy seemed a very optimistic forecast by what has been characterized as “the most comprehensive and credible report on wind power in the last decade.” Now we have news that the U.S. [...]
Andrew Price reports that “the state of Colorado is giving people tax credits that will offset the cost of turning a hybrid car into a full plug-in electric by as much as $6,000. These conversions normally cost in the $12,000 range, so this is a [...]
Doncha kno, Joe, since we now see that the phrase, “energy security,” is en vogue, perhaps it would be edifying to make note of some counter currents, globally and locally.
“Dang right Obama addressing our kids was subversive, Michelle! (hawk-splutt) He used the R-word [...]
Image via Wikipedia
Pillow talk this morning included how Tropical Storm Fred avoided coming up the East Coast and how early Ireland has had cold, snowy rain. Get up and Go to the Internetz and [...]
Even in the absence of an increased production of corn ethanol, Mike Millikin tell us, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh warn that an aggressive nutrient management strategy is needed to reduce the extent of the Dead Zone [...]
As previously noted Google wants renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. And, they are doing something more than simply stating such an expectation.
Reuters reports1 upon greater efforts toward this goal. “We’ve been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface [...]
From Bixi in Montreal to bikes in Dublin, bike sharing in urban centers is growing. Paul De Maio relays a story from The Irish Times on the launch of dublinbikes.
image credit: dublinbikes
On [...]
As previously noted, Borg-Warner is striving to keep a lead position in the making of transmissions as the passenger car market goes through a dramatic shift. Transmissions can be designed that make a drive train more efficient and there are trade-offs in terms of cost and weight.
A [...]
Reddit commentator chicifaraby makes the following observation to a MIC (Military-Industrial Complex) THWR (Talking Head With Ribbons): “The Afghans aren’t fighting because we won’t “stay the course,” Admiral. They are fighting because we are foreigners and we [...]
It has been a while since this blog talked polyhydroxyalkanoates. So, thanks and a wave of the corn phone to Peak Energy for the reminder that biomass-based materials have some distinct advantages over the predominant petroleum-based ones that Big Oil wants you to keep using without much [...]
While we yet have seen airships commonly used to lift loads from farm to processing and / or distribution points, IEEE Online does relay a announcement from a German-U.S. company of an upcoming test of a Segmented, Self-Steering Airship.
While hybrid taxis have been making inroads, e-taxis so far have been generally unsuccessful. Thus, Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi certainly is taking a risk by choosing the arduous duty cycle of Tokyo taxis to test the battery swapping platform developed for Project [...]
Battery-powered, all-Electric Vehicles are beginning to re-appear on the near horizon. For instance, Green Car Congress reports that a Range-Extended Electric Hummer H3E powered by Raser Drive was able to drive over 50 all-electric miles using only approximately 60% of the battery pack. “The course used for the [...]
Image via Wikipedia
San Francisco Treehugger Dan Kessler reports that, at the Southern Governors’ Association’s annual meeting near Williamsburg, VA, “outgoing chair Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia said his goal was to see how the South can increase its use of [...]
From Beautiful Athabasca to You
State Dept Issues Permit for Pipeline to US from Alberta Tar Sands
And, the fateful search for non-ecocidal leadership continues.
Have a Nice Day, ‘Merika.
Similar Posts:Hoosda Fool? [...]
Only fairly recently had China announced a renewable energy standard of 20% by 2020. Now the Chinese government has announced a new renewable energy effort that will dwarf previous government support.
photo: Wayne National Forest via flickr
China is going to launch [...]
While sea level rise probably is the best measure of heat absorbed by the Earth, that is, until there is no ice to melt, it is very much an after the fact indicator. The clathrate already is hitting the fan, so to [...]
A new report, written by Penn State University paleoclimatologist Michael Mann and several colleagues and published in the scientific journal Nature, indicates that the last decade has seen, on average, more frequent hurricanes than any time in the last 1,000 years.
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“The U.N. Climate Panel [...]
Green Car Congress reports that Stanford researchers take another approach to improve the durability of silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries. The research team leader, Dr. Yi Cui, has reported on development of a novel design of carbon-silicon core-shell nanowires. The researchers at Stanford believe that these carbon-silicon [...]
The LEAF is Nissan’s new electric car targeted for sale in 2010.
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeIndustry observers and electric car salespeople will make a big deal about the car’s connection to a global [...]
PEEM (Power Electronics and Electrical Machine) technology is essential with electric-drive vehicles. PEEM technology comprises three main elements: power electronics (e.g., boost converters and inverters); electric motors; and thermal control and system integration.
Thermal control is a critical element to enable power density, cost, and reliability of the other components. [...]
In an exclusive interview for Autocar, Toyota’s Executive Vice President responsible for research and development, Masatami Takimoto, confirmed with Autocar’s Matt Sanders that the company will offer for sale a Toyota Plug-in HV. AG readers may recall that there was a great deal of speculation in 2007 as [...]
Image via Wikipedia
It has been some time since this blog featured the Korthof NiMH rant. Not much has changed since musing whether improvements in NiMH cells (and their availability), plus better BMS (battery management systems) could result in a practical, cheaper, combined [...]
HuffPo contributor Bruce Niles1 warns that [in its current form] ACES (The American Clean Energy and Security Act) is a disaster in the making. As the current version is written, this policy further threatens life on the planet as we know it, not to mention that it “threatens to [...]
A more environment friendly auto-rickshaw has been the subject of several After Gutenberg posts. Via Andy Revkin, we learn of student teams from Dutch and Indian universities that took part in a competion to design the cleanest, cheapest and most practical upgrade kit to cut carbon emissions. [...]
This blog previously lamented that our Congress critters are fossil fooled and nuke duped. It especially would seem that any chance of the Senate passing ACES requires we all get more radioactive. Sigh, just more BAUAAAE (Business As Usual And Above All Else), fellow soldiers.
[...]
It has been a while since this blog ranted about destabilizing feedback. So, let’s step off-screen, shall we, and pull in James Lovelock, father of the Gaia Theory.
Image via WikipediaIn an interview with the New [...]
As repeatedly noted, they, i.e., almost the entire Senate, have chosen to ignore their official responsibility to respond to degradation of the atmosphere brought about by anthropogenic emissions. This is even after the Administration released a study, which represented the compilation of [...]
The headline read: “Obama Opposes Tariffs on Nations That Don’t Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Well, of course he would.
To this blog, his objection seems pretty self-serving given that the United States prior refusal to agree to the Kyoto Accord and now with the chances of H.R.2454 gaining Senate [...]
So, when the House got finished with ACES, it was a travesty of a mockery of a sham, and, as the HuffPo News Team observed in a cap and trade Q & A, “Approval of a climate bill in the Senate has been viewed [...]
“Everybody wants into da act”. Even, in this case, when it is a school play. This blog will get its review of the MTR Follies in early. “… a delightful show, wherein Gilbert and Sullivan Meet Sweeney Todd.”
“What is he on about now?”
The fight to end mountaintop removal, an [...]
I have another idea for a cartoon. This one is a split frame.
In the left frame we have a caricature of the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Collin Peterson (D-MN), speaking to the Press, stating “My Farmers Don’t Like That“. He is wearing an ear tag.
Rob Perks warns us that “those clamoring for ‘all of the above’ on energy really want ‘all of the below’.” They want federal energy policy to continue with Business As Usual when it comes to the use of dirty and dangerous fuels like oil, coal and uranium (for nuclear power).
It [...]
Writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution David Kyler states1 “subsidies for the nuclear industry are unwise, unfair and unjustified. Instead of sinking billions more tax dollars into this hazardous, extremely expensive source of energy, we should be converting to clean, proven technologies that are far more practical.”
Well, David, while practical, [...]
Collin Peterson (D-MN), the chair of the House Agricultural Committee, has a big problem with H.R.2454. “Mixing climate change together with energy independence. I don’t think that is smart.”
By smart, I take it he means politically savvy, since to switch away from oil dependency to the production of clean [...]
My snarky comment upon a Huffington Post report that a U.S. Senate panel has approved oil drilling near the Florida Coast: “Well, near to what is the Florida coast at present.”
Well, guess what, Texans. SCUBA ain’t just for Florida anymore.
When this blog relayed a concern expressed by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank1 about a series of anti-environmental decisions recently made by the Obama Administration, there was use of Star Wars imagery. Specifically, this blog suggested that Emperor Palpatine Emperor Fossil has yet to disband [...]
Nearly a third of the country’s food supply comes from California. And, guess what, California agriculture has water woes.
But, not to worry, ‘Merika, we just can rob Fisher Peter to water Farmer Paul and ignore the increasingly longer (by no means, all inclusive) list of warnings, e.g.,
Over fishing [...]
HuffPo reports that the US may follow the example set by Spain with High Speed Rail. “President Barack Obama has cited Spain, France and Japan as countries with systems worth emulating.” More from la Dama Gris, a.k.a., the NY Times…
Alberto Estevez/European Pressphoto [...]
Subtitle: Carbon Footprint for a 1000, Joe
The ACES (American Clean Energy and Security) battle is fraught with irony. For instance, Joe Romm is giving odds that the Waxman-Markey bill might (MIGHT) give us a 10-20% chance of stabilization at 450 ppm and avoiding catastrophic climate change.
Subtitle: Rufus Gits Sustainable for Mo’ Pork
Writing for Green Car Congress, Bill Cooke profiles Farmers’ Ethanol and how the company focuses upon sustainable production of ethanol from corn. With their approach, Wendel Dreve and Marion Gilliland claim that they are demonstrating a commitment to a triple bottom [...]
According to the Times Online, a group of 20 Nobel prize-winning scientists, economists and writers declared that global heating must stay below 2C or the World faces ruin. If humanity is to stand a chance of preventing the worst consequences of climate change, then global carbon emissions must start [...]
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