As we watch the progress, or more likely lack thereof, in the run-up to the December Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (COP15), we keep thinking “there must be a better way.”   We think the chances of a real “success” in Copenhagen, as distinct from a partial solution that is “spun” as being a success , are “vanishingly [...]

In 2008, the Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett was named best Business and Finance Journalist in the British Press Awards and was highly commended in the Reporter of the Year category for her coverage of the credit crunch. She also authored the book “Fool’s Gold” about the origins of the global financial crisis. We find [...]

A physicist, a chemist and an economist are stranded on a deserted island. A case of canned food washes ashore. The physicist says “I can open these cans by climbing that tree and dropping rocks on them!” The chemist says, “No, I can open these cans by creating a corrosive solution from salt water and [...]

Except that this Clipper is not a ship, it’s an oil pipeline to be built by Enbridge.  One that stretches 1,590 kilometers from Hardisty in central Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin and will carry 450,000 barrels per day of heavy crude, with an option to expand to 800,000 barrels a day.
The US State Department issued a [...]

- The latest issue of Foreign Affairs is out and is filled with climate and energy related issues: an analysis of the upcoming Copenhagen Conference,  “Black Carbon” emissions, Cap and Trade versus a Carbon Tax, and a contrarian forecast for an extended period of low oil prices.  We expect some insightful commentary from this well-respected [...]

The wood pellet is coming back.  The recent trend in the export of pellets from North America to Europe to meet EU rules has spurred plans to build a series of large scale pellet producing plants across the US South.  Europe’s RPS rules require 21% of electricity generation and 20% heat to come from renewables [...]

Things that caught our eyes this morning:
- Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com Fame is trying to teach climate change skeptics who use local weather observations (e.g.  “sure been a cold summer, global warming is bunk”) a lesson in statistics with his wager challenge.
- Super-material to watch: Graphene.
- At the request of Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss (GA) [...]

There must be something about mid-July that triggers looking back.
A year ago July may turn out to be the date of “Peak Oil” although it will be many more years before we know for sure.
40 years ago on July 20, 1969 was the first manned lunar landing.  (And NASA is announcing plans to return to [...]

Okay, the pile on Sarah Palin  is so high that we’re just going to crawl on top of it.  We refer you to an op-ed on Cap and Trade she wrote for yesterday’s Washington Post.
Why is this the new focus of her attention? Because, Obama’s Cap and Trade Energy Plan “is at the top of [...]

Today’s New York Times was heavily tilted to renewable energy, both purposely and not:
Debate on Clean Energy Leads to Regional Divide: The lack of a national grid is a common complaint/refrain for renewable power developers: optimal generating sites are located far from end users. This is an interesting scoop, then, from Matt Wald on [...]