The U.S. shale boom being touted as able to deliver 100 years of domestic energy supply is nothing more than the latest investment bubble, asserts a report released this week by a veteran geoscientist.
Tags: · baby, Drill, Energy, Fossil Fuels, fracking, J. David Hughes, shale gas, sustainability, tight oil, U.S.
This type of clean, no-emissions power is growing with gusto in many Spanish-speaking locations. It’s taking hold in Mexico and in Brazil, where General Electric is helping advance special turbines that capture the lighter, steady breezes characteristic of that country.
Tags: · American Wind Energy, BarbaraKesslerBlog, Red Electrica, Spain, U.S., Wind energy
Wind energy enjoyed a record year of installations in the US in 2012, adding 13,124 megawatts of capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Tags: · renewables, States, U.S., wind capacity, Wind Power
Congress ended a year of wind industry angst this week by renewing for another year the production tax credit program that has helped sustain the growth of wind energy in the U.S..
Tags: · AWEA, Congress, PTC, U.S., Wind energy, Wind Farms, wind manufacturing
Dunno how we missed this one, but last month a major re-check of American sentiment on climate 
change found that a whopping 74 percent — despite all the jokes and dissembling haunting the official dialogue on the topic — think that climate change is “affecting weather in the United States.”
Tags: · Climate Change, global warming, heat, public views, U.S.
High Speed Rail presents so much promise: It’s the greenest way to travel on anything powered by an engine. It bolsters economic development and connects cities. Its build-out creates thousands of jobs. And riding on it comes with WiFi and doesn’t require a body search. At least not yet.
So why aren’t we moving faster in the U.S. toward this 21st Century vision?
Tags: · Asia, BarbaraKesslerBlog, capital costs of infrastructure, connecting with rail, Europe, high-speed rail, India, Japan, passenger rail, U.S.
The first half of 2012 was the hottest Jan-June period in the contiguous US states since record-keeping began 118 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)*.
Tags: · Climate Change, heat, hottest weather, NOAA, temperatures, U.S.
This fall Obama Administration critics became epically riled about the failure of Solyndra, a Silicon Valley solar start up that sucked up a horrific pile of cash, including $535 million in government-backed loans, only to gasp and die in the summer of 2011.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, China, greenrightnow.com, Solar Power, Suntech, U.S.
The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed with SolarWorld Industries America that Chinese imports are hurting the U.S. solar manufacturing industry, and will continue to investigate this issue.
The commission announced its ruling on Thursday/Friday, to the delight of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., which had asked for an inquiry into alleged Chinese dumping of solar panels and modules into the U.S. market.
Tags: · Chinese dumping, solar manufacturing, solar panel unfair trade case, solar prices, solar retailers, Solar World, U.S., unfair trade practices
The world is meeting in Cancun this week to talk climate change. Is there any hope of a large-scale agreement on capping emissions around the world? Most pundits would say no.
Why can’t we agree to do something? The answers are varied and all contain some truth. There are, for example…
- The inherent challenges of tackling a problem so diffuse and long-term with responsibility laying with all 7 billion of us
- Psychological barriers to change
- A media that paints all issues as having two equal sides even if it’s 99 to 1
- Powerful, vested interests in the old, fossil-fuel-based economy
Tags: · Andrew Winston, Cancun, Carbon Emissions, China, climate negotiations, developed world, developing world, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, greenrightnow.com, OtherVoicesBlog, U.S.
Whatever the state of the political debate about climate change, the issue increasingly looks settled in the board room. Despite challenging economic conditions and regulatory uncertainty, global executives believe that the climate change agenda will significantly impact business performance and strategy over the next few years according to a new survey by Ernst & Young.
Tags: · Action amid uncertainty: the business response to climate change, Australia, Canada, China, Corporate leaders, energy efficiency, Ernst & Young, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spending on climate change, U.S.
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Global wind power installations grew by 29 percent in 2008, exceeding past performance and bringing the world’s commercial wind power capacity to 120,798 megawatts
Wind now produces 1.5 percent of the world’s electricity with 80 countries using commercial wi
nd power, according to an analysis by the Worldwatch Institute released this week.
Tags: · China, clean energy, Germany, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, India, natural gas, Spain, U.S., Wind energy, Wind Power, World Watch Institute
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift