Voters go to the polls in the U.K. on Thursday after a campaign that, by many accounts, has failed to engage the electorate, despite the many weighty issues in play – such as climate change. Perhaps that’s because on the surface, there’s not much space between the leading parties on climate policy – nothing like in the U.S.… Keep reading →
Biomethane is a drop in the ocean of fuel used in the U.S. shipping industry now, but its prospects improved a bit on Tuesday with the announcement of an agreement by UPS to buy “renewable natural gas” (RNG) from Clean Energy Fuels, the natural-gas-for-transport company co-founded by T. Boone Pickens. UPS said that beginning this month, tractors and delivery… Keep reading →
President Barack Obama’s assertion last month that climate change will bring more asthma and worse allergies drew a skeptical response in some quarters, but it turns out the president’s signature climate solution – the Clean Power Plan – could come with significant health “co-benefits.” That’s the conclusion of a new study in the journal Nature… Keep reading →
The Obama administration late last week put out a final safety rule on moving flammable liquids by rail, a subject of concern with the growth in crude by rail. Critiques were plentiful on the high-stakes issue. From the green side, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) blasted the new regs, done in concert with Canada, as “more of a status… Keep reading →
MidAmerican Energy this week has announced $1.5 billion in planned new wind power investment, including $900 million to build 552 megawatts of new capacity in Iowa. And that state’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad, couldn’t be more pleased. “Iowa derives a greater percentage of its electricity from wind than any other state, and we’re second in the… Keep reading →
Tesla Motors is now more than an electric car maker. As expected, the California company late Thursday night presented new stationary batteries for homes, businesses and even utilities, all wrapped up in a significant new business called Tesla Energy. There was nothing revolutionary about the lithium-ion battery technology itself in the “Powerwall” and “Powerpack” products that… Keep reading →
Republicans have been pummeling President Barack Obama for waging what they call a “war on coal,” but you’ve got to wonder how politically useful that tactic is when one of the nation’s biggest corporations is suggesting that it wants nothing to do with comparatively dirty fuel. General Motors this week put out a press release boasting… Keep reading →
Nothing’s changed in the long run; California is still aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. But with one marker along the way – parity with 1990 emissions by 2020 – apparently in the bag, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday set a bold new interim target: a reduction of… Keep reading →
Everyone knows how Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas has been a complicating factor (to say the least) for Western political leaders in their reaction to Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian adventures. And now energy analysts are seeing the Russian president lining up similar leverage with nuclear power, in Eastern Europe and beyond. “Gazprom cutting Ukraine’s energy just… Keep reading →
It’s microscopic compared to the massive offshore wind farms that have been going up in European waters over the past decade, but Deepwater Wind’s Block Island project, 18 miles from mainland Rhode Island, is under construction. In the United States, that’s a first, and Jeffrey Grybowski believes the importance can’t be overstated. “This is what offshore… Keep reading →
