At Rio, Corporations Pledge While Nations Demur on Climate Action. But Is It...
Delegates gathered this week in Rio de Janeiro at the 20th anniversary of the historic Earth Summit affirmed that climate change “requires urgent and ambitious action,” in an agreement that commits...
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Shell’s Voser Talks About Food, Water, and Energy; Calls for Carbon Price;...
Peter Voser, the chief executive officer of Shell, sees a world where energy, food, and water resources face increasing stress, and where businesses can offer the leadership that national governments...
View ArticleQuestioning Authority: A Few Energy Queries for the Candidates
It’s a sad fact of modern politics that what politicians don’t say is as significant as what they do. That certainly seems to be true on energy and climate change in the 2012 campaign, where both...
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The Romney-Ryan Energy Plan by the Numbers
Oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, efficiency. Which are the Republican hopefuls’ priorities? This week, it’s convention time for the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees. Last...
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Obama’s Energy Plan by the Numbers
How do Obama’s words on energy compare to Team Romney’s? Last week, while the Republicans were celebrating the Romney-Ryan ticket in Tampa, Florida, we posted a count-the-words analysis of their energy...
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On Trying to Catch the Wind Energy?
A lack of wind won’t stall our future renewable energy economy, but Congress might. Debunking the Myths That Take the Wind out of Wind Energy’s Sails Wind has its downsides. It’s intermittent; it’s too...
View ArticleShell’s Arctic Plan Curtailed by Dome Damage
The aptly named Arctic Challenger—Shell’s* trouble-plagued oil spill recovery barge—has once again demonstrated how challenging drilling for oil in the Arctic can be in a post-Deepwater-Horizon world....
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Fighting Climate Change and Air Pollution With One Swat
I’ve just arrived in Moscow for a meeting — the subject will be soot. You may hear it called black carbon or even elemental carbon. Scientists getting technical will call it the “light-absorbing part...
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On U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Cognitive Dissonance
United States predicted to be world’s leading oil producer. Warning: Claiming lower carbon emissions while exporting fossil fuels can lead to cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance, according to...
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John Sununu: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Energy Policy
History suggests he’s wrong. Republican John E. Sununu represented New Hampshire in both the U.S. House and Senate before being defeated in his re-election bid for senator in 2008. His tenure in...
View ArticleObama and Keystone XL: The Moment of Truth?
President Obama will soon have to decide whether he will be the “all of the above” president or the “respond to climate change” president. In Pursuit of Hydrocarbons Last year on the campaign stump,...
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The Tiger in Missouri’s Tank is Hydrogen
Although hydrogen has been hampered as an oil alternative in the real world because of challenges in setting up a new fueling infrastructure, students are showing that it is a viable and clean...
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Peak Oil Flip-Flop
There’s a new twist in the “peak oil” debate. Is it good news for the climate? Peak Oil Question Remains, Debate Continues Ever since M. King Hubbert advanced the theory of peak oil in 1956, experts...
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Shell Eco-marathon Europe Kicks Off in Rotterdam
France’s Team Microjoule takes advantage of a few rain-free hours on Friday to take the lead in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013. The blue car pictured behind is an electric car with solar panels,...
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Tar Sands Tour: Boomtown, Scarecrows, and Spin; “We Have Met the Enemy, and...
The words in the title above came from Pogo, and they have bounced around in the back of my brain since the 1970s when I first heard them. Many times I’ve been confronted with the truth of that quip by...
View ArticleBiofuels at a Crossroads Forum Probes Key Climate Change Question
When President Obama unveiled his long-awaited climate change strategy this week, he never mentioned biofuels. (See “Obama Unveils Climate Strategy.”) But with nearly a third of U.S. greenhouse gas...
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25 Years From Now and Still Relying on Fossil Fuels?
Will the energy future look like the present; in this case, a coal plant in Alma, Wisconsin? Photo: U.S. Geological Survey The federal government’s latest international energy projections are out, and...
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Fossil Fuel Collateral Damage
Could your neighborhood be next? Neighborhoods can be turned upside down by shale oil and shale gas drilling (see here and here), by pipelines dug through backyards, and by pipeline spills that send...
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Forum on Arctic “Science of Change” Focuses on Decisions at the Top of the World
A polar bear walks across Arctic Ocean ice. Photo by Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard. The United Kingdom may not be an Arctic nation, but it has a unique perch on the front line of the dramatic...
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U.S. Edges Saudi Arabia, Russia in Oil and Gas
Oil derricks like this one in Williston etch a now-familiar silhouette against the North Dakota sun. Thanks to fracking, the U.S. is on track to be the world’s No. 1 oil and natural gas producer this...
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