Energy

How to Break the Climate Stalemate Between the Global South and the North

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:27:23 -0500

by Gopal Dayaneni and Mateo Nube

To stop the climate crisis, we're going to have to build a fairer world.

Any solution to climate change will require all nations to act together to reduce global emissions. But the fact is, countries around the world are not entering a "post-carbon future" on a level playing field. Poor countries have had the smallest role in creating the climate crisis, and they have fewest resources available to change and adapt.

US Residents Fight for the Right to Hang Laundry

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:05:02 -0500

by Jon Hurdle

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.

Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.

Canada's Tar Sands Are the Future of Oil Production: Oil Exec.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:40:56 -0500

by Michel Viatteau

MONTREAL - The era of oil gushing from ground wells is over and can only be replaced by costly and complex refining of deposits such as Canada's oil sands to satisfy rising global energy needs, said a senior oil executive.

Pressed about the high cost of oil sands extraction and attacks by environmentalists worried about its contribution to global warming, Jean-Michel Gires, president of French-based Total's Canadian subsidiary, told AFP he is optimistic specifically about the future of Canada's oil sands development.

It’s a Dirty Business — The New Gold Rush That Is Blackening Canada’s Name

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:55:32 -0500

by Ben Webster

A giant mechanical digger gouges out a chunk of topsoil, grass and tree stumps, extending a neat furrow that stretches into the distance. Dozens of similar furrows run parallel with the regularity of a ploughed field.

Yet no crop could grow in the pitch-black surface exposed by the machine working 1,000ft below our helicopter. This is the edge of a fast-expanding open-cast mine in the Canadian tar sands, one of the world's most polluting sources of oil.

A Reality Check From the Brink of Extinction

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:12:09 -0400

by Chris Hedges

We can join Bill McKibben on Oct. 24 in nationwide protests over rising carbon emissions. We can cut our consumption of fossil fuels. We can use less water. We can banish plastic bags. We can install compact fluorescent light bulbs. We can compost in our backyard.

Thinking Beyond Electric Cars

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:15:34 -0400

by Lynn Sloman

From listening to the headlines about the report from the Committee on Climate Change, you might think that a wholesale switch to electric cars over the next few decades would magic away our carbon emissions from transport.

Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill Greenwashes Nuclear Power

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:11:33 -0400

by Jim Riccio

Bowing to pressure from the pro-nuclear lobby, Senators Boxer and Kerry have included nuclear power into their bill to address climate change. In their proposed legislation, the Senators claim that "nuclear energy is the largest provider of clean, low-carbon, electricity...." Funny we've heard that before. In fact, the bill's nuclear section reads like it was lifted off the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) website, despite its lack of veracity.

Afghanistan and the New Great Game

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:40:56 -0400

by John Foster

Why is Afghanistan so important?

A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.

Afghanistan is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas. And though Afghanistan may have little petroleum itself, it borders both Iran and Turkmenistan, countries with the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world. (Russia is first.)

Greenpeace Study Finds Oil Companies May Be Doomed

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:05:26 -0400

by David Teather

A long-term decline in the demand for oil could undermine the huge investments in Canadian tar sands, which have been heavily opposed by environmentalists, according to a report published today.

The report, by Greenpeace, will make uncomfortable reading for the companies that are investing tens of billions of pounds to exploit the hard-to-extract oil in the belief that demand and the price would climb inexorably as countries such as China and India industrialise.

Food Waste Helps Power Wastewater Plant

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:33:04 -0400

by Kelly Zito

Inside hulking white tanks near the Oakland foot of the Bay Bridge, some of your pizza crusts, kung pao chicken and orange peels are cleaning the wastewater from 650,000 households in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Sort of.