In what environmentalists are deeming “the greatest environmental crime in history,” the British oil company, BP, is investing $1.5 billion in a project to extract oil from tar sands in the Canadian wilderness – a method that is both highly inefficient and ecologically destructive – effectively departing from its eco-friendly image under the “Beyond Petroleum” motto.
Red Sea Mega-Dam Would Be 'Irresponsible'
The proposed construction of a gigantic “heliohydroelectric” dam that would literally part the Red Sea holds the potential to generate large amounts of clean energy for an impoverished region, but could also cause irreversible global ecological damage through the partial draining of the Red Sea.
Emissions Growth Must End in 7 Years, U.N. Warns
The world will have to end its growth of carbon emissions within seven years and become mostly free of carbon-emitting technologies in about four decades to avoid killing as many as a quarter of the planet’s species from global warming, according to top United Nations’ scientists.
World's Power Plant Emissions Detailed
Center for Global Development publishes report with database that shows the United States is the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter and that it will quickly be outpaced by rapidly-industrializing nations.
Liquid Coal: The Stupid Fuel
Cartoonist Mark Fiore provides his support to the National Resource Defense Council’s campaign to de-bunk the Liquid Coal movement and their flacks for one of the dirtiest “smart” solutions around.
Are efficiency and technology the key to sustainable energy?
Experts call for the worldwide introduction of price signals for carbon emissions, the development of technologies for capturing and sequestering carbon from coal and other fossil fuels, and the acceleration of the development and deployment of renewable-energy technologies. A doubling of public and private expenditure on critical energy technologies is also needed, along with cutting subsidies to established energy industries … Read More
Human Behavior, Global Warming, and the Ubiquitous Plastic Bag
Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year that require an estimated 12 million barrels of oil to produce. What can be done to curb America’s insatiable desire to consume disposable waste products? I confess… I too fail to use alternatives when going to the store, although I usually decline and give back the plastic bags when I can carry … Read More
Offsetting carbon dioxide emissions through minesoil reclamation
About 5.4 billion tons of coal is burned each year worldwide, and it is the single largest fuel source for the generation of electricity world wide. About 40% of the electricity in the world and 50% in U.S. comes from coal. Coal burning generates about a third of the world’s CO2 emissions.
Power Plant Rejected Over Carbon Dioxide For First Time
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment.
Alternatives to Photovoltaic Solar Power?
One of the big problems with solar power has been that it costs more than electricity generated by conventional means. But some experts think that, under certain circumstances, the premium for solar power can be erased, without subsidies or dramatic technical breakthroughs. A sufficiently large solar thermal power plant (also called concentrated solar power, or CSP) could potentially generate electricity … Read More