Archives: May 2008

Sun shades cool parking lots, pump out solar energy

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 29

Add up all the asphalt parking lots surrounding the nation’s malls, offices and commuter hubs, and there’s more than enough blacktop to pave over Connecticut. Envision Solar International hopes...

The Grid Will Get Smarter

Posted by: John Carey on May 29

The electricity grid is vital, but it is a dumb unwieldy beast. Utilities and other power providers must constantly juggle powerplants' outputs and the ever-changing demand for electricity. Currently they...

Hurricanes ahead mean rising damage for unprepared infrastructure

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 28

Coastal residents and infrastructure planners, take note. The 2008 hurricane season, starting June 1, is expected to be worse than historical averages. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts this...

Parsing the economic impact of the Climate Security Act

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 23

Abstract as it may be, economic modeling is likely to become a hot topic in the upcoming debate on the Climate Security Act. Already, countering claims are flying: critics from...

Climate Security Act: Spin battles begin

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 22

If you haven't been paying close attention to the rumblings about US laws addressing climate change, you won't be able to avoid the issue much longer. The leading bill in...

EPA Does White House Bidding

Posted by: John Carey on May 20

Who is calling the shots at the Environmental Protection Agency? The EPA has recently denied California’s request for tougher auto pollution standards, even though most legal experts think the denial...

GM Stumbles, Sees the (Green) Light

Posted by: Arthur Eves on May 14

Like most Americans, GM made some bad strategic choices in the last decade or so and has come to regret it. Bob Lutz called hybrids an "interesting curiousity" and went...

Alternatives to Corn-Based Ethanol are Coming

Posted by: John Carey on May 14

It’s ironic that, even as the backlash over corn-based ethanol reaches a fever pitch, companies are already moving forward with new technologies that will alleviate the perceived problems. The market...

Rethinking the Energy Solution

Posted by: Arthur Eves on May 13

Corn ethanol may be the methadone of our national oil addiction but its still the first step to a cure. Its biggest strengths and liabilities are its close ties with...

Bigger, more efficient next-gen Prius due Jan 2009

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 12

Edmunds Auto Observer has some intriguing details of the much anticipated update to the Prius, Toyota's iconic and best-selling hybrid which just surpassed 1 million units in sales, a major...

Put a Little Green in Your Life

Posted by: Arthur Eves on May 08

I spend a lot of time thinking about how existing industries can navigate the difficult transitions to a global, more sustainable approach. There are a lot of obstacles. Two critical...

Another twist from high energy costs: Costly camels

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 07

The ultimate solution in green biofuels could turn out to be farm animals. In other words, why bother growing grains to put through industrial chemical process to make biofuels...

Beware Angry Parents and Plastics

Posted by: Heather Green on May 07

A broad group of environmental and educational organizations are banding together and urging parents to basically yell at Congress and follow Canada in banning Bisphenol A or BPA, the organic...

My Retro Biofuel Fantasy

Posted by: Arthur Eves on May 02

Last year I was inspired by Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma to visit Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms where I saw beyond-organic natural grass-farming in action. He uses active management...

New Money Moves into the Vacuum

Posted by: Arthur Eves on May 01

Though typical sources for energy funding may be laggards there is good news on the energy investment front. According to Chris Morrison over at VentureBeat there's been a flood of...

Too little is being spent on energy R&D

Posted by: Adam Aston on May 01

Over at Economics Unbound, Mike Mandel, my BW brother-in-blogging has started a ruckus with some eye-opening data on how far federal spending on energy R&D has fallen in the past...