In the lead up to another 15% reduction in Germany’s feed-in tariff (the price paid for solar electricity fed into the grid), the German solar industry finished 2011 off with a bang — installing 3,000 megawatts of solar photovoltaic systems in December. Let’s put those figures in perspective: In just one month, Germany installed almost…
Category: Energy
14,000 U.S. DEATHS TIED TO FUKUSHIMA REACTOR DISASTER FALLOUT
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting…
More Radioactive Leaks From Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant
Nearly nine months after Fukushima Daiichi was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami, the plant continues to pose a major environmental threat. Before the latest leak, the Fukushima accident had been responsible for the largest single release of radioactivity into the ocean, threatening wildlife and fisheries in the region, experts have said. The new radioactive…
Obama Delays Keystone XL Pipeline
In a statement Thursday, Obama stressed the importance of “strengthening our nation’s energy security” while addressing both the environmental and procedural concerns raised by critics. “Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised…
Shell More Than Doubles Profits To $7 Billion
Royal Dutch Shell announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting profits of $6.98 billion, more than double their profits posted a year ago, bringing their total profits for 2011 to over $21 billion. Below is a quick look at Shell by the numbers: – Shell has spent nearly $8 million on lobbying in 2011, making it…
Republicans in the House have averaged a vote every day to undermine the EPA
They have picked up the pace recently — just last week they voted to stop the EPAs efforts to limit mercury and other hazardous pollutants from cement plants, boilers and incinerators — and it appears their campaign will continue for the foreseeable future.Using the economy as cover, and repeating unfounded claims that “regulations…
Flood-Gate: Perry Officials Try to Hide Sea Level Rise from Texans with “Clear-Cut Unadulterated Censorship”
In one of the most flagrant recent instances of scientific censorship, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) refused to publish a report chapter unless all mention of climate change and its impact on sea level rise were eliminated. The author — Rice University oceanographer John Anderson, a leading expert on sea level…
Masters on “Unprecedented” Arctic Ozone Hole: Inaction Risks “Future Nasty Climate Change Surprises Far More Serious”
An unprecedented ozone hole opened in the Arctic during 2011, researchers reported this week in the journal Nature. Holes in the Antarctic ozone layer have opened up each spring since the early 1980s, but the Arctic had only shown modest springtime ozone losses in the 5% – 30% range over the past twenty…
Congestion and the real value of public transit
One common argument against boosting public transportation is that buses, trains and subway systems “don’t pay for themselves.” Roads, we’re told, are bankrolled by drivers, via gas taxes. Subway systems, by contrast, aren’t self-sufficient and usually need additional funds on top of whatever they collect through fares. (Boston’s subway system, for instance, collects just 25…
Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a “Human Fingerprint” on Recent Climate Change
Last year, physicist John Cook, who runs the must-read website Skeptical Science, published “The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism.” It’s a good introduction to global warming science and skepticism. He sent me the 8 figures of the “human fingerprints on climate change,” which I repost below. The clever deniers these days don’t…
Obama Administration Presses Ahead With Renewable Energy Grants
The Obama administration this week announced millions of dollars in new grants for dozens of projects related to advanced solar technology and other new clean energy technologies. On Thursday, the Department of Energy said that it had awarded $156 million to fund 60 different cutting edge technology projects in five categories: low cost biofuels, substitutes…
Solyndra Executives Refuse To Testify At Hearing : NPR
Top executives from a bankrupt California solar energy company have declined to testify before a congressional hearing investigating their half-billion dollar government loan. Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and the company’s chief financial officer, Bill Stover, both invoked their Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify to avoid self-incrimination. Harrison told the House Energy…
EIA: China and India rule our energy world
On Monday, the Energy Information Administration released its International Energy Outlook 2011 report. The chart on the right shows the projections for global energy consumption from 1990 to 2035. Notice that energy use in the OECD countries — North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia — stays nearly flat during that period. It’s the…
Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics
Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets…