Pulse: Notes on Soft Energy Use

Bugatti: The Last Grand Accomplishment of the Age of Oil

2009-10-20T17:33:00.001-04:00

Those of us born in the 50's or 60's (maybe even later) are so thoroughly enraptured by the mystique of the automobile that—even though the reality of peak oil is as inescapable as a future visit from the grim reaper—we still can't totally escape the visceral admiration of machines that can propel bodies at fantastic speeds with unflappable precision. WIRED reviewer Joe Brown did a nice job of

Climate distruption hits Peru

2009-10-19T19:38:00.000-04:00

Call it global warming or climate disruption or whatever you want: it's hitting Peru big time.

Tibetan Solar Technology

2009-09-17T16:22:00.001-04:00

As reported by Kellie Schmitt in The Faster Times, Tibetan nuns regularly tap into the power of the sun, thin as the rays may be on the Lhasa mountainside. Next time your yak butter tea needs heating you might try this low-tech but effective technique.

Health Physicist Talks of Three Mile Island Coverup

2009-09-03T15:20:00.001-04:00

As reported in a detailed investigative piece by Sue Sturgis in Facing South, Randall Thompson, the health physicist hired to monitor radiation emissions in the aftermath of the near meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in March of 1979, spoke of radiation releases hundreds to thousands of times higher than official reports.The number of discrepancies between the government and Kemeny

Small-scale solar transforms Kenya

2009-08-30T14:07:00.001-04:00

President Obama's Kenyan grandmother, Sarah, goes solar in this Greenpeace video. Good work yields good results...

New Wind Energy Milestone: 4,000 megawatts in Six Months

2009-08-23T08:28:00.001-04:00

The wind-power juggernaut continues, with a promising new milestone announced by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and reported by Consumer Reports.AWEA CEO Denise Bode commented:“The numbers are in, and while they show the industry has been swimming upstream, adding some 4,000 MW over the past six months, the fact is that we could be delivering so much more,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode.

Cooling the Planet with White Roofs

2009-07-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

Some energy solutions are complicated. Others are amazingly simple. Among the simplest is a trend that has developed in California to use heat reflective properties of white surfaces to save energy. Homeowners and businesses are installing roof coverings made of a shiny plasticized material that can reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more during sunny weather, as reported by Felecity

Zero Energy Homes Within Reach

2009-06-21T14:53:00.001-04:00

A recurring theme in this blog is that the answers to many of our energy problems have already been solved. Making changes, however, to our building practices, transportation systems, public utility regulations, and legal infrastructure in order to implement proven energy-saving strategies is a daunting challenge at multiple levels. A recent post on the TerraPass site by Adam Stein illustrates

Rearming the Population Bomb

2009-06-11T15:19:00.000-04:00

It's unrealistic to have a serious discussion about sustainability and energy use without also bringing population growth into the discussion. It's a thorny topic for many, laden with religious overtones, economic growth dogma, reproductive freedom concerns, and even racial implications. All of these considerations pale in the face of a simple fact: the human population of the planet is rapidly

Algae Powers Venice

2009-05-27T15:34:00.000-04:00

Work is underway in the City of Venice to build a 40-megawatt power plant that runs on fuel made from algae. Expected to be finished by mid-2011, the power plant will supply roughly 50 percent of the city's electricity requirements. As reported in ecoworldly:The algae will be cultivated in laboratories and put in plastic cylinders where water, carbon dioxide, and sunshine can trigger

Microgeneration by Hydropower

2009-05-12T06:16:00.001-04:00

New England mill towns have a long history of tapping into the power of water running downhill. In the Orion Magazine article, The Poetry of Power, Ginger Strand profiles the resurgence of hydro sites in the area and the role of Verne Tower and others in restoring facilities that have crumbled from neglect. The tradeoff, of course, is the environmental damage caused by dams--both large and small-

Rethinking Transportation

2009-05-03T10:17:00.001-04:00

The imminent bankruptcies of major companies in the auto industry should be cause to rethink many of the basic premises of automobile transportation. Instead, Richard D. Wolff, Economist, Author, and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, sees key industry players simply trying to repeat the mistakes of the past. More at The Real News

Solar-Powered Movies

2009-04-24T09:47:00.000-04:00

Employing unique cylindrical tubes, rather than panels, to capture solar energy, an installation on the roof of a Livermore, California movie theater has become the largest solar-powered cineplex. As described in an article for The Mercury News by Jeanine Benca, these solar modules work well in areas where windy conditions make it difficult to use solar panels.For theater owner Dave Corkill,

Reservations Strong for Tesla Model S

2009-04-04T07:15:00.001-04:00

GM and Chrysler are practically giving their vehicles away and still can't find takers. Even perennial market leaders Honda and Toyota are in the sales doldrums. But, even in this economic climate, Tesla Motors collected 520 pricey reservations (at $40,000 a pop) for an electric car that won't be delivered until 2011. No ordinary car, the Tesla Model S has specifications that put electric

Middlebury College Becoming Carbon Neutral

2009-03-27T10:32:00.001-04:00

With a target to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2016, Middlebury College in Vermont has taken a major first step in that direction with the completion of a $12 million dollar biomass boiler and plant. Bill McKibben, whose organization 350.org is playing a major role in calling for a fair global climate treaty, participated in the opening ceremonies and gave a lecture on the importance of

Peak Everything

2009-03-16T16:50:00.001-04:00

An economy designed around the cornucopia principle of unlimited growth--as most are in the world--doesn't fare well when the fundamental, non-renewable sources of energy start running out. A nice, concise summation of the problem in this video by Richard Heinberg.

Primed for the Denver Auto Show: the LH4

2009-03-12T07:38:00.001-04:00

Many of the more interesting hybrid vehicle designs are coming not from the established automotive giants (whose stature seems to be shrinking daily), but from innovative smaller firms. Lightning Motors has come up with a design that combines an efficient diesel engine with a 150-horsepower Rexroth hydraulic hybrid system to produce a sleek machine, which will be unveiled at the Denver Auto Show,

Students Protest Coal on Capitol Hill

2009-03-07T17:30:00.001-05:00

The dirtiest energy source around still has the potential to derail efforts to combat global warming. A massive student protest on 3 MAR 09, as captured by the Real News, brought the issue directly to their legislators.

Beyond the Stimulus: A Global Green Deal

2009-03-01T17:00:00.001-05:00

With indications that global warming is accelerating faster than many earlier computer models predicted, you would think that this information would spur a concerted global effort to reverse the trend. But so far the response of most governments around the world has been fairly tepid and the levels of greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise in those countries most responsible for the problem.

Diet and Carbon Footprints

2009-02-23T08:40:00.001-05:00

Children gathering potatoes on a large farm, vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Me. Schools do not open until the potatoes are harvested (LOC) Originally uploaded by The Library of CongressThe agroindustrial machinery (as Julia Whitty calls it in her article, Diet for a Warm Planet) currently in place around the world is a major contributing factor to carbon emissions. Changing what we put on

Grid? We don't need no stinkin' grid. . .

2009-02-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Power Plant at Sunset Originally uploaded by lady_lbrtyA recent guest post in the New York Times by Amory B. Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute speaks to a theme that is becoming increasingly prevalent in energy discussions: the advantages of distributed generation. Putting clean, small-scale power plants close to where the energy is needed makes more sense than building mammoth power plants,

From a Fossil-Fuel to a Green Economy

2009-02-02T17:18:00.001-05:00

From Nation videos, some thoughts on the benefits of moving from an economy based on fossil fuels to one that generates jobs though solar projects, wind energy, and energy efficiency.

The Distributed Generation Approach

2009-01-29T17:14:00.001-05:00

We've grown up in a country where when you flipped the switch on the wall to light a lamp, the electricity came from a power source dozens or maybe hundreds of miles away. This centralized model of power distribution is beginning to give way to a smarter approach: distributed generation. Small wind farms, solar installations for a building or apartment complex, co-generation systems that heat a

Renewable Energy in the 21st Century

2009-01-24T14:05:00.001-05:00

One of the refreshing parts of the following independent short, Unlimited: Renewable Energy in the 21st Century, is the perspective of the young people interviewed. If there is hope for the human population of this harried planet, it's in the upcoming generation's unvarnished, unblinkered viewpoints.

Energy Tips for President Obama

2009-01-12T19:09:00.001-05:00

A few energy tips offered by some high-profile folks to the incoming President Obama (produced by the Sierra Club)...