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Entries from April 2007

Artic ice melting … melting … melting … gone?

April 30th, 2007 · 42 Comments

On 1 May 2007, the online edition of Geophysical Research Letters will publish a study by a combined team from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).  This study report will show, in yet another way, how the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) […]

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Tags: Global Warming · Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Hitting the Peak … will we know it when we’ve done it?

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Hitting the Peak … will we know it when we’ve done it?

One key challenge related to Peak Oil is whether we’ll know it any other way than looking in the rear mirror.  At this time, in addition to hard numbers about falling productivity at key oil fields, oil discoveries continually being outpaced by usage, and questions about reserves, what the world (or at least the small […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Earth Portal … adding to the Blogroll …

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Earth Portal … adding to the Blogroll …

For me, Ecotality has a valuable, diverse, and expanding blogroll.  Perhaps, however, this blogroll simply overwhelms and changes/additions to it are opaque rather than illuminating. Thus, a few words about an addtion today to the blogroll:  EarthPortal.

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Tags: alternative energy · Energy · environmental · Global Warming

Batteries … PHEVs/Hybrids to drive market?

April 26th, 2007 · Comments Off on Batteries … PHEVs/Hybrids to drive market?

Power storage is a key challenge for many paths forward to a better energy future. Whether finding a power storage system as efficient as gasoline or a path for cost-effectively storing intermittent power to enable renewable sources like wind and solar to pick up baseload power requirements, storage is a real challenge.  And, for hybrids/plug-in […]

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Tags: automobiles · batteries · hybrid

Making Green by Going Green: New Hampshire and Renewable Power

April 26th, 2007 · Comments Off on Making Green by Going Green: New Hampshire and Renewable Power

In The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy, Steven Lacey of Renewable Energy Access  examines the economic impact of New Hampshire’s moves toward a renewable portfolio standard (RPS).  An RPS creates a standard for a certain percentage of energy (electricity) to come from renewable sources. Lacey’s conclusion — based on work done by the University of […]

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Tags: renewable energy · research

Brains or Brawn: Solar Energy & Massachusetts’ economic future

April 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brains or Brawn: Solar Energy & Massachusetts’ economic future

Thanks to gmoke for the tips to the Boston Globe’s ‘green’ articles on Earth Day.  Green Light is subtitled “How to make Massachusetts the Silicon Valley of eco-energy”. This article begins: “Since the beginning of his gubernatorial campaign, Deval Patrick has made clean energy a pet issue …” “Pet issue”?  Well, perhaps regular readers might […]

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Tags: alternative energy · business practice · Solar Energy

CHPing our way toward a better energy future …

April 25th, 2007 · 6 Comments

No, not the California Highway Patrol (nor CHiPs), Cogeneration (Combined-Heat Power)  is combining the production of electricity and heat.  Right now, major US electricity production has waste heat that is that, waste. Tremendous opportunities exist in the Untied States for converting this “waste” to something useful.  And, well, in America’s  homes, the (just-finished winter season)  […]

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Tags: chp · Energy · energy efficiency

Voting the Environment …

April 24th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Bit-by-bit, explicit efforts to prioritize environmental issues — with committed voters — are emerging for the 2008 election. Here are two: The Heat is On from the League of Conservation Voters for “Making Global Warming a Presidential Priority” Climate Voters “united for a cooler future” (brand new on the web … your chance to be […]

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Tags: Global Warming

From GHG Footprint to SocialWay Rootprint?

April 23rd, 2007 · 2 Comments

By now, you’ve probably heard of Freecycle, the group that allows you to follow the second precept of the Energy/Environmental Three Rs by ‘reusing it’ by passing ‘it’ along to others.  This can range from leaves for mulch to that baby grand piano that just can’t fit in your new home.   Freecycle enables you to […]

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Tags: recycling

Pelosi: Paint the People’s House a Brighter GREEN!

April 23rd, 2007 · 2 Comments

As discussed in Pelosi is painting the House GREEN, in the beginning of March, Nancy Pelosi directed the House Chief Administrative Officer to come up with a plan to ‘Green the House’. This is moving forward. As per Democrats Painting the House GREEN …, the preliminary report (summary: pdf) of the Green the Capitol Initiative […]

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Tags: conservation · Energy · energy efficiency · General · Global Warming · Nancy Pelosi