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Break Through: A Book Review
2008-01-22 23:58:00
One of the things I like the most about the upcoming Presidential election is that we could actually wind up with candidates from both parties expressing a vision of a strong America, but one that is also energy- and emissions-conscious. Both sides have front-runner candidates that seem to be concerned about energy independence (at the very least from a national security standpoint) and seem to be invested in harnessing the traditional ingenuity and industry of the American people to make dramatic and lasting change. If that happens, I think Break Through by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger is going to be seen as a seminal work in that regard. They start at a point where they posit the pending death of environmentalism--that is, the historical end of the notion that ecology can be preserved exclusively through limits on human action, and the coordinating assumption that no human action other than imposing limits can help preserve nature, setting the two in essential, and fal...
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Greenedia Weekly Blog Report: 155MW of Geothermal Financing Up, Cleantech&
2008-01-21 07:08:00
This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. Merril Lynch Funds Raser Technologies for 155MW of Geothermal Power The Energy Blog reports that Wall Street powerhouse Merril Lynch has agreed to financing and structuring for as much as 155MW of geothermal power plants installed by Utah-based Raser Technologies. The deal also includes full funding for its first 10.5MW geothermal installation. The financing will give them enough capital to get their installation projects off the ground, including a goal of installing 100MW or more per year for the next three years. According to the article, Raser Technologies will utilize UTC Power PureCycle(tm) geothermal technology to exploit previously unusable geothermal fields, previously considered too cool for traditional geothermal power generation. From The Energy Blog: The PureCycle s...
More About: Financing , Report , Weekly

Greenedia Weekly Blog Report: 155MW of Geothermal Financing Up, Cleantech'
2008-01-21 07:08:00
This is a selection of recent popular blog artciles aggregated on Greenedia, where you will find the best blogs from the world of green media, as well as video uploads, podcasts, and blog authoring. Merril Lynch Funds Raser Technologies for 155MW of Geothermal Power The Energy Blog reports that Wall Street powerhouse Merril Lynch has agreed to financing and structuring for as much as 155MW of geothermal power plants installed by Utah-based Raser Technologies. The deal also includes full funding for its first 10.5MW geothermal installation. The financing will give them enough capital to get their installation projects off the ground, including a goal of installing 100MW or more per year for the next three years. According to the article, Raser Technologies will utilize UTC Power PureCycle(tm) geothermal technology to exploit previously unusable geothermal fields, previously considered too cool for traditional geothermal power generation. From The Energy Blog: The PureCycle s...
More About: Financing , Report , Weekly

State of the World
2008-01-13 05:56:00
Earlier this week, The World watch Institute--a sustainability thinktank--released its annual State of the World report, a 270 page description of how the world is faring in terms of environment and sustainability, and where it can expect to be headed. The report, available from their site, goes in depth on the question of the world's approach to sustainability, with special focus on economic impact. The question of impact is, of course, crucial. One of the biggest concerns about global climate change is how it will affect not only animal and plant life around the world as habitats change and species fail to adapt, but also the impact on human societies and lifestyles that depend upon that animal and plant life. Likewise, the rising of oceans could make unlivable some cities, and more than just pushing people from their homes it could also crimp economic production as traditional centers of such could be displaced or destroyed. That's the bad news; climate scientists witnesse...
More About: The World

State of the World
2008-01-13 05:56:00
Earlier this week, The World watch Institute--a sustainability thinktank--released its annual State of the World report, a 270 page description of how the world is faring in terms of environment and sustainability, and where it can expect to be headed. The report, available from their site, goes in depth on the question of the world's approach to sustainability, with special focus on economic impact. The question of impact is, of course, crucial. One of the biggest concerns about global climate change is how it will affect not only animal and plant life around the world as habitats change and species fail to adapt, but also the impact on human societies and lifestyles that depend upon that animal and plant life. Likewise, the rising of oceans could make unlivable some cities, and more than just pushing people from their homes it could also crimp economic production as traditional centers of such could be displaced or destroyed. That's the bad news; climate scientists witnesse...
More About: The World

Bush's About-Face On Climate Change
2007-12-21 06:10:00
Well, maybe it's not as surprising as some in the traditional media would like to point out; President Bush officially got on the clean energy bandwagon during his State of the Union Address earlier this year, though he still seemed to be a step behind popular thinking in the alternative energy community. His solution of corn-based ethanol, for instance, had already peaked in terms of potential in 2006 and most of the thinkers were already looking toward cellulosic ethanol or some other novel energy source that doesn't quite offer such a thunderous impact on food prices and arable land. But it is interesting that the US delegation to the Bali Negotiations, for instance, has gotten on board with most of the IPCC's recommendations (though it should be noted that the final recommendations have been watered down a bit, lacking firm date commitments). Something like this happened with the Kyoto Protocol, but the treaty was never sent to the Senate for ratification. Democratic co...
More About: Climate Change , Climate , Change , Face

Bush's About-Face On Climate Change
2007-12-21 06:10:00
Well, maybe it's not as surprising as some in the traditional media would like to point out; President Bush officially got on the clean energy bandwagon during his State of the Union Address earlier this year, though he still seemed to be a step behind popular thinking in the alternative energy community. His solution of corn-based ethanol, for instance, had already peaked in terms of potential in 2006 and most of the thinkers were already looking toward cellulosic ethanol or some other novel energy source that doesn't quite offer such a thunderous impact on food prices and arable land. But it is interesting that the US delegation to the Bali Negotiations, for instance, has gotten on board with most of the IPCC's recommendations (though it should be noted that the final recommendations have been watered down a bit, lacking firm date commitments). Something like this happened with the Kyoto Protocol, but the treaty was never sent to the Senate for ratification. Democratic co...
More About: Climate Change , Climate , Change , Face

BaliBuzz: U.S. Finally Dragged Kicking And Screaming into UN Climate Deal
2007-12-15 09:38:00
Apparently the United States delegation to the Bali International Climate Negotiations - well the fake delegation, not the real delegation - has finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, into some kind of agreement on a road map to proceed on post-Kyoto Protocol international climate change negotiations. Details on what that deal is are emerging, and I hope to hear more soon from our correspondent at Bali, Richard Graves. However, for now, this is from Reuters: NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday dropped opposition to a compromise plan to launch talks on a new U.N. climate treaty after pleas from other nations. We will go forward and join consensus, Paula Dobriansky, heading the U.S. delegation, told the 190-nation meeting to cheers from many in the audience, minutes after triggering boos by saying Washington was opposed. The proposed compromise, breaking a deadlock between rich and poor nations, had been supported by all other previous speakers, in...
More About: Canada , Deal , Finally , Kicking

BaliBuzz: U.S. Finally Dragged Kicking And Screaming into UN Climate Deal
2007-12-15 09:38:00
Apparently the United States delegation to the Bali International Climate Negotiations - well the fake delegation, not the real delegation - has finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, into some kind of agreement on a road map to proceed on post-Kyoto Protocol international climate change negotiations. Details on what that deal is are emerging, and I hope to hear more soon from our correspondent at Bali, Richard Graves. However, for now, this is from Reuters: NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday dropped opposition to a compromise plan to launch talks on a new U.N. climate treaty after pleas from other nations. We will go forward and join consensus, Paula Dobriansky, heading the U.S. delegation, told the 190-nation meeting to cheers from many in the audience, minutes after triggering boos by saying Washington was opposed. The proposed compromise, breaking a deadlock between rich and poor nations, had been supported by all other previous speakers, in...
More About: Deal , Finally , Kicking

The Reach of Cleantech and Clean Energy
2007-12-01 23:20:00
To me one of the remarkable things about the very recent and very rapid developments in the adoption of clean energy and cleantech is how widespread it has become. And not only widespread, but cutting across what one might call traditional political and ideological lines. Inherently, cleantech has a sort of appeal that the alternative does not--no one is really that in favor of pouring toxic smoke into the atmosphere for everyone to breather, for instance. No one is in favor of smog, or a return to the bad old days of Pittsburgh's unreformed steel mills when the city hung under a cloud of smoke and nastiness. No one wants miners to die in more coal mine cave-ins, or get blacklung, or what-have-you. So it's not surprising, and yet it is, in that the environmental debate has long been framed in polarized political terms--liberals in favor of increased restrictions and regulations, conservatives against. But that's the critical thing, on a social level, of the pending cleant...
More About: Energy , Clean , Reach , Cleantech

The Reach of Cleantech and Clean Energy
2007-12-01 23:20:00
To me one of the remarkable things about the very recent and very rapid developments in the adoption of clean energy and cleantech is how widespread it has become. And not only widespread, but cutting across what one might call traditional political and ideological lines. Inherently, cleantech has a sort of appeal that the alternative does not--no one is really that in favor of pouring toxic smoke into the atmosphere for everyone to breather, for instance. No one is in favor of smog, or a return to the bad old days of Pittsburgh's unreformed steel mills when the city hung under a cloud of smoke and nastiness. No one wants miners to die in more coal mine cave-ins, or get blacklung, or what-have-you. So it's not surprising, and yet it is, in that the environmental debate has long been framed in polarized political terms--liberals in favor of increased restrictions and regulations, conservatives against. But that's the critical thing, on a social level, of the pending cleant...
More About: Energy , Clean , Reach , Cleantech

Old, New, Cycling Around
2007-11-27 01:11:00
The whole cleantech and alt energy movement has seen a number of major throwback concepts; the sod roof, for instance, is making a comeback from its days as a necessity on the lumber-free American prairie. Another, surprisingly, is the sail, millenia old and long ago dumped into the dustbin of technology, suitable only for hobbyists and sports yachters. But a German company, SkySails, is ready to outfit an oceangoing freighter with one of their innovative new sails and launch next month from their home port in the Baltic. The concept is, well, as old as sailboats on the Nile in Ancient Egypt. But the application, of course, is staggering. Now, instead of salty old captains reading the winds and making their adjustments on giant sail rigs, computers will control the play-out on a tow line, linked to a sail 1000 feet above the ocean's surface, guiding it into better winds. Basically, it's an ocean-going hybrid, an answer to rising diesel prices and ever-increasing demand for...
More About: Cycling

Old, New, Cycling Around
2007-11-27 01:11:00
The whole cleantech and alt energy movement has seen a number of major throwback concepts; the sod roof, for instance, is making a comeback from its days as a necessity on the lumber-free American prairie. Another, surprisingly, is the sail, millenia old and long ago dumped into the dustbin of technology, suitable only for hobbyists and sports yachters. But a German company, SkySails, is ready to outfit an oceangoing freighter with one of their innovative new sails and launch next month from their home port in the Baltic. The concept is, well, as old as sailboats on the Nile in Ancient Egypt. But the application, of course, is staggering. Now, instead of salty old captains reading the winds and making their adjustments on giant sail rigs, computers will control the play-out on a tow line, linked to a sail 1000 feet above the ocean's surface, guiding it into better winds. Basically, it's an ocean-going hybrid, an answer to rising diesel prices and ever-increasing demand for...
More About: Cycling

Keep the Heat On and Focus the Nation!
2007-11-09 04:17:00
[This is a guest post by Alex Tinker:] The powers that be in Washington DC heard loud and clear at Power Shift 2007 this weekend that the Youth Climate Movement will not be sated with lip service and policy band-aids that don't address the true scope of the climate crisis. This movement is made up of hundreds of thousands of dedicated individuals, but dedication alone isn't what's forcing our leaders to listen and act. We must engage millions of constituents across the country, and turn the heat up on every politician who isn't already a leader on climate change. The raw enthusiasm unleashed in the capitol this weekend is just a sliver what's happening nation-wide; what we're witnessing is a movement that will change the world. Wondering what's next? Well in less than 90 days, millions of students, educators, citizens and people of faith will combine the knowledge of academia with the drive our generation has sparked to create the largest teach-in in U.S. history: Fo...
More About: Nation , Heat , Focus , The Nation

Keep the Heat On and Focus the Nation!
2007-11-09 04:17:00
[This is a guest post by Alex Tinker:] The powers that be in Washington DC heard loud and clear at Power Shift 2007 this weekend that the Youth Climate Movement will not be sated with lip service and policy band-aids that don't address the true scope of the climate crisis. This movement is made up of hundreds of thousands of dedicated individuals, but dedication alone isn't what's forcing our leaders to listen and act. We must engage millions of constituents across the country, and turn the heat up on every politician who isn't already a leader on climate change. The raw enthusiasm unleashed in the capitol this weekend is just a sliver what's happening nation-wide; what we're witnessing is a movement that will change the world. Wondering what's next? Well in less than 90 days, millions of students, educators, citizens and people of faith will combine the knowledge of academia with the drive our generation has sparked to create the largest teach-in in U.S. history: Fo...
More About: Nation , Heat , Focus , The Nation

Joining Forces For Lower Emissions
2007-11-06 22:28:00
Now, here's a policy that makes a bit of sense. Or, well, potential policy, anyway. As reported in the Detroit Free Press, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has vowed to pursuse $20 Billion in green vehicle bonds for the US auto industry to retool and improve factories if she is elected President in 2008, in exchange for vehicles with higher gas mileage. The bonds would carry low interest, and ancillary proposals in Clinton's overall clean energy package would encourage the purchase of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like GM's forthcoming Chevy VOLT. Additional monies would be available for research into battery improvements for standard gas-electric hybrids. Ahhh, a policy that makes a little sense. One of the traditional obstacles to raising CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards has been the cost of engineering the vehicles and retooling factories to meet unilateral government demands for increased economy. The primary reason for that has been the little ...
More About: Emissions , Lower , Forces

Joining Forces For Lower Emissions
2007-11-06 22:28:00
Now, here's a policy that makes a bit of sense. Or, well, potential policy, anyway. As reported in the Detroit Free Press, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has vowed to pursuse $20 Billion in green vehicle bonds for the US auto industry to retool and improve factories if she is elected President in 2008, in exchange for vehicles with higher gas mileage. The bonds would carry low interest, and ancillary proposals in Clinton's overall clean energy package would encourage the purchase of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like GM's forthcoming Chevy VOLT. Additional monies would be available for research into battery improvements for standard gas-electric hybrids. Ahhh, a policy that makes a little sense. One of the traditional obstacles to raising CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards has been the cost of engineering the vehicles and retooling factories to meet unilateral government demands for increased economy. The primary reason for that has been the little ...
More About: Emissions , Lower , Forces , Missi

Bill McKibben Says It's Time to Organize, Organize, Organize for a Cleaner
2007-10-30 04:48:00
Bill McKibben has three pieces of advice for people who want to make a difference in the fight against global warming: 1: Organ ize . 2. Organize. 3. Organize, says the well-beloved author, educator, climate activist and co-founder of Step It Up. Only then does he add his fourth piece of advice: After that, if they have some energy left, by all means change the light-bulbs. And to the young climate activists who are putting together a growing and increasingly sophisticated youth climate movement, McKibben says, Keep it up! This weekend, over 5,000 young leaders will converge in Washington D.C. for Power Shift 2007, the first-ever national youth climate summit, organized by the Energy Action Coalition. Back at home, tens of thousands more youth will be joining in hundreds of actions in their home communities as part of the second nationwide Step It Up day of action, November 3rd. Energy Action Coalition and the Power Shift organizing and outreach team caught up with Bill ...
More About: Time , Cleaner , Bill

Bill McKibben Says It's Time to Organize, Organize, Organize for a Cle
2007-10-30 04:48:00
Bill McKibben has three pieces of advice for people who want to make a difference in the fight against global warming: 1: Organize . 2. Organize. 3. Organize, says the well-beloved author, educator, climate activist and co-founder of Step It Up. Only then does he add his fourth piece of advice: After that, if they have some energy left, by all means change the light-bulbs. And to the young climate activists who are putting together a growing and increasingly sophisticated youth climate movement, McKibben says, Keep it up! This weekend, over 5,000 young leaders will converge in Washington D.C. for Power Shift 2007, the first-ever national youth climate summit, organized by the Energy Action Coalition. Back at home, tens of thousands more youth will be joining in hundreds of actions in their home communities as part of the second nationwide Step It Up day of action, November 3rd. Energy Action Coalition and the Power Shift organizing and outreach team caught up with Bill ...
More About: Time , Bill

Global Warming Claims Island Community, Displaces 2,000 in Papua New Guinea
2007-10-27 21:03:00
The 2,000 residents of the Carteret Island s in Papua New Guinea are now some of the world's first climate change refuges, as rising sea levels driven by global warming have claimed their island homes. The residents of the low-lying South Pacific atolls have given up their 20-year losing fight against rising seas and will be resettled elsewhere in Papua New Guinea. [From Pacific Islands Report:] The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls in eastern-most Papua New Guinea is on the front line of climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their existence. For 20 years, the 2,000 islanders living there have fought a losing battle against the ocean, building sea walls and trying to plant mangroves. Each year, the waves surge in higher, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes and contaminating fresh water supplies. [Image: View of Huene Island in the Carteret's. Huene used to be one is...
More About: Global Warming , Community , Global

Global Warming Claims Island Community, Displaces 2,000 in Papua New Guinea
2007-10-27 21:03:00
The 2,000 residents of the Carteret Island s in Papua New Guinea are now some of the world's first climate change refuges, as rising sea levels driven by global warming have claimed their island homes. The residents of the low-lying South Pacific atolls have given up their 20-year losing fight against rising seas and will be resettled elsewhere in Papua New Guinea. [From Pacific Islands Report:] The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls in eastern-most Papua New Guinea is on the front line of climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their existence. For 20 years, the 2,000 islanders living there have fought a losing battle against the ocean, building sea walls and trying to plant mangroves. Each year, the waves surge in higher, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes and contaminating fresh water supplies. [Image: View of Huene Island in the Carteret's. Huene used to be one is...
More About: Global Warming , Community , Global

White House Puts the Muzzle on CDC Testimony on Health Effects of Global Wa
2007-10-26 22:39:00
The White House is at it again, censoring expert testimony on Global Warming. This time the Bush Administration cut out over half of Center for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding's Senate testimony on the public health effects of climate change. The White House PR machine first tried to pass the Administration's edits off as minor edits. DeSmogBlog blows away that argument with a comparison between the Gerberding's original testimony and the final version after the White House got through with it. The White House cut the original version down from 3,100 words to only 1,500, completely wiping out whole sections on health related effects due to extreme weather, air pollution-related health effect, allergic diseases, water and food-borne infectious diseases, food and water scarcity and the long term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects. Then the White House shifted tune, saying that they had removed the sections because they conflicted with findings from...
More About: Health

White House Puts the Muzzle on CDC Testimony on Health Effects of Global Wa
2007-10-26 22:39:00
The White House is at it again, censoring expert testimony on Global Warming. This time the Bush Administration cut out over half of Center for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding's Senate testimony on the public health effects of climate change. The White House PR machine first tried to pass the Administration's edits off as minor edits. DeSmogBlog blows away that argument with a comparison between the Gerberding's original testimony and the final version after the White House got through with it. The White House cut the original version down from 3,100 words to only 1,500, completely wiping out whole sections on health related effects due to extreme weather, air pollution-related health effect, allergic diseases, water and food-borne infectious diseases, food and water scarcity and the long term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects. Then the White House shifted tune, saying that they had removed the sections because they conflicted with findings from...
More About: Health

Watch Out for the Echo-Boom: Why Politicians Had Better Start Paying Attent
2007-10-25 00:15:00
80 million teens and twenty-somethings are ready to make their mark on American politics. Is the growing youth climate movement - now poised to explode off campuses and into the nation's capitol for Power Shift 2007, the first national youth climate summit - the vanguard of a new progressive, pro-environment youth political movement? By 2010, another 17.3 million young Americans will come of age, swelling the already sizable ranks of voting-age Millennials those teens and twenty-somethings coming to age in the early years of the 21st century. At 80 million strong, the Millennial generation outnumbers even the Baby Boom ers by 3 million and represents the single-largest demographic age group in electoral politics, according to a recent Mother Jones article ( The 50-Year Strategy , in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue - not online yet). Polling data, recent voter turnout, and the swelling ranks and increasing coordination of the youth climate movement all demonstrate that this young gene...
More About: Watch , Politicians , Start , The Echo

Watch Out for the Echo-Boom: Why Politicians Had Better Start Paying Attent
2007-10-25 00:15:00
80 million teens and twenty-somethings are ready to make their mark on American politics. Is the growing youth climate movement - now poised to explode off campuses and into the nation's capitol for Power Shift 2007, the first national youth climate summit - the vanguard of a new progressive, pro-environment youth political movement? By 2010, another 17.3 million young Americans will come of age, swelling the already sizable ranks of voting-age Millennials those teens and twenty-somethings coming to age in the early years of the 21st century. At 80 million strong, the Millennial generation outnumbers even the Baby Boom ers by 3 million and represents the single-largest demographic age group in electoral politics, according to a recent Mother Jones article ( The 50-Year Strategy , in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue - not online yet). Polling data, recent voter turnout, and the swelling ranks and increasing coordination of the youth climate movement all demonstrate that this young gene...
More About: Watch , Politicians , Start , The Echo

Generation Anything-But-Quiet: Just Wait for the Noise at Power Shift 2007!
2007-10-23 03:35:00
The Youth Climate Movement is poised to explode off of campuses and into our nation's capitol for Power Shift 2007, November 2nd-5th. Thomas Friedman, the popular New York Times columnist, recently labeled teens and twenty-somethings coming to age in the early years of the 21st century the Quiet Generation . Accusing today's young people of being too quiet, too online for [their] own good, and for the country's own good, Friedman went on to say that today's students and youth are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be. (See 'Generation Q' - the Quiet Americans, New York Times, Oct. 10th, 2007) Well, in two weeks, Mr. Friedman and the rest of the nation will hear what this young generation really sounds like, and it will be anything but quiet! More than 3,300 young people will explode off of their campuses and away from the internet, descending in person and in droves on the nation's capitol for Power Shift 200...
More About: Noise

Generation Anything-But-Quiet: Just Wait for the Noise at Power Shift 2007!
2007-10-23 03:35:00
The Youth Climate Movement is poised to explode off of campuses and into our nation's capitol for Power Shift 2007, November 2nd-5th. Thomas Friedman, the popular New York Times columnist, recently labeled teens and twenty-somethings coming to age in the early years of the 21st century the Quiet Generation . Accusing today's young people of being too quiet, too online for [their] own good, and for the country's own good, Friedman went on to say that today's students and youth are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be. (See 'Generation Q' - the Quiet Americans, New York Times, Oct. 10th, 2007) Well, in two weeks, Mr. Friedman and the rest of the nation will hear what this young generation really sounds like, and it will be anything but quiet! More than 3,300 young people will explode off of their campuses and away from the internet, descending in person and in droves on the nation's capitol for Power Shift 200...
More About: Noise

Schwarzenegger Drops The Ball--Sort Of
2007-10-18 17:11:00
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that the Governator had a unique opportunity to push California even further into the forefront on green building and cleantech. The bills up for consideration would have made the USGBC's LEED-Gold standard a requirement for all new government buildings and boosted the minimum energy efficiency for residential construction. Unfortunately, he elected not to sign those bills. He did sign a number of green bills, including a couple that take half-steps toward the goal of pervasive green building in California. Most of the rest of his green legislation slate, however, dealt with other important topics, like water conservation and monitoring of toxic chemicals. So it was far from a defeat for those who want to see California continue to advance in green-ness. Some of the green building-related bills, now law: AB 1109 will boost energy efficiency in indoor lighting; a more sane proposal than outright banning of incandescents, it provides a more open ...
More About: Schwarzenegger , Sort , Ball , Drop

Schwarzenegger Drops The Ball--Sort Of
2007-10-18 17:11:00
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that the Governator had a unique opportunity to push California even further into the forefront on green building and cleantech. The bills up for consideration would have made the USGBC's LEED-Gold standard a requirement for all new government buildings and boosted the minimum energy efficiency for residential construction. Unfortunately, he elected not to sign those bills. He did sign a number of green bills, including a couple that take half-steps toward the goal of pervasive green building in California. Most of the rest of his green legislation slate, however, dealt with other important topics, like water conservation and monitoring of toxic chemicals. So it was far from a defeat for those who want to see California continue to advance in green-ness. Some of the green building-related bills, now law: AB 1109 will boost energy efficiency in indoor lighting; a more sane proposal than outright banning of incandescents, it provides a more open ...
More About: Schwarzenegger , Sort , Ball

New Zealand Bans New Fossil Fuel Power Plants!
2007-10-16 19:36:00
New Zealand electricity producers face a 10-year moratorium on all new gas- or coal-fired power plants to help the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The nation's Prime Minister also commits to 90% renewable electricity by 2025. Electricity producers in New Zealand are now barred from constructing any new fossil fuel power plants for the next ten years, according to Bloomberg.com. New Zealand already produces about 70 percent of its power from non-polluting and renewable energy sources, including wind, hydro-electric and geothermal generators. New Zealand's Prime Minister, Helen Clarke, recently announced intention to commit to 90% renewable electricity by 2025 and the government is blocking construction of new gas-fired power plants to speed investment in wind and geothermal energy. Eventually, the Prime Minister (pictured below) would like to see the country carbon-neutral. I have set out the challenge to our nation to become the first truly sustainable nation on earth...
More About: Power , Plants , New Zealand , Fuel , Fossil Fuel