Despite all the naysayers’ affirmations that switching to clean energy will damage the economy, reality is the complete opposite. The clean energy economy is already booming despite the hard economic times. From Change.org The Clean Energy Economy Is Already Booming Without much attention from policymakers, or funding from the public trough, a low-carbon economy has already taken off in the United States. The jobs being created nationwide in clean energy are helping to bolster the...
At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce. The Business Logic of Sustainability If an oil-intensive company can do it, anyone can do it…
Looks like NASA will have to come clean on their mishandling of the $100M DSCOVR satellite. This amazing satellite would enable us to precisely measure how much energy hits the planet and how much is reflected and re-emitted. This would give us the total energy budget and would give us a very clear understanding of how much extra energy is being added to the system. DSCOVR would also be able to precisely measure the...
Today, Airbus published a press release stating, “The A380 is the first commercial plane to be powered by alternative fuel.” Loaded with special fuel derived from natural gas, the Airbus will take off from its production plant at in western England. Upon takeoff, the plane will perform a three-hour test flight ending at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France. Airbus hopes these attention-grabbing efforts will jump-start competition and collaboration for continued development of alternative...
Last month Scientific American published an interesting article on a grand plan to replace most of America’s energy sources through the use of large scale solar energy. After reading it, I would say that it is quite realistic and feasible. The biggest obstacle is the cost: 420 billion dollars over 40 years. But then again it is not that much when you consider that the war in Iraq has already cost more than that...
Here’s a very interesting talk by Amory B. Lovins on weening ourselves off of oil while saving and creating jobs and fostering economic growth. He lists a bunch of simple ideas and shows their effect on oil consumption. This talk is based on his freely downloadable book which details all of his calculations so you can verify them for yourselves.
I always believed that it is possible to make huge cuts in CO2 emissions without huge economic costs by adopting energy consumption reductions, new more efficient technologies, and renewable energy sources. Many European countries and corporations are already proving it. It just makes sense: you reduce your energy consumption, you save money! And as in any other time in history where there’s been a paradigm change in the way we live, there’s been countless...
NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) cost over $100 million and was designed to measure the energy budget of our warming planet. Yet the spacecraft has remained in its box for the last five years and it looks like it is not going anywhere anytime soon. New DeSmogBlog contributor Mitchell Anderson will write a multi-part investigative report over the next few months. You can find the first article here.
If controlling global warming is a priority, then a transformation of how the world produced, transports and uses electricity will be required, IPCC report reveals. By David Biello , Scientific American Read the story here.