There is an op-ed in today’s NYT from a Japanese astrophysicist, Satoru Ikeuchi. He recalls the words of a predecessor in Japanese science: “The more civilization progresses, the greater the violence of nature’s wrath.” I am not a Luddite, by any stretch of imagination. I firmly believe, however, in using the power of reason, and […]
In a previous post, I flagged an analysis by Robert Alvarez on the situation with the spent fuel pools. Here is a look from this morning at the situation from another expert, David Wright, at the Union of Concerned Scientists: Spent Fuel Pools at Fukushima. Wright concludes that the indications are that the water level […]
The events of the past several days in Japan are in many ways beyond the scope of the mind to comprehend. Thousands of lives were swept away in an instant. I walked around the World Trade Center on September 12, 2001 and had a very hard time then being able to grasp the enormity of […]
This explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is just one part of the nightmare that visited Japan Friday. There is an ongoing effort now to cool the reactor. Bloomberg reports here that the engineers are trying to avoid damage to the radioactive core of the reactor. Anti-nuclear group in Japan says emergency was […]
Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, and Nicholas Stern, the most distinguished economist in the world working on climate change, have an op-ed in today’s Financial Times: Urgent steps to stop the climate door closing. They say we must have a much greater emphasis on energy efficiency, a “price on carbon” […]
The excellent folks at Renewable Energy World have themselves awarded their “2011 Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards — Projects of the Year.” The categories were Solar, Wind, Biomass, Geothermal and Hydro. I was particularly pleased to see The Wild Center in the Adirondacks as the biomass winner. The Wild Center is the brainchild of an […]
I’ve written about the need we have on this small planet for convergence, including in this post, “Galloping Consumption,” from just about three years back now. The following is a great little movie, succinctly illustrating the situation. Thanks to Germanwatch for this and for all the excellent work that they do. P.S. Further to this, […]
I’ve said this any number of times: Environmental protection is much more about public health than it is about the natural environment. Every time you hear somebody tear down the EPA or some other environmental protection agency, just remember that sometimes they may be the only thing standing between you and lung disease, cancer and […]
I noted a great innovation a few years back – kites to enhance the power of ocean-going shipping. Last week, we looked at Sustainable Shipping in general, plus I got a heads-up from the good folks at Forum for the Future on their Sustainable Shipping Initiative. Today there’s a story at GreenBiz.com on Cargill’s plans […]
I’ve never been more proud to be a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. I spent a few happy years in Madison way back when. It was just past the days of the anti-war demonstrations, and I was generally apolitical about things for a brief time in my early 20s, but it’s a great little […]
I flagged an event to you recently, “The Climate for Renewable Energy,” cosponsored by the government of Navarra and NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. There were some excellent presentations made by the impressive group of panelists assembled for the evening. The President of Navarra, Miguel Sanz Sesma, noted that his province has developed a “comprehensive […]
Maersk orders largest, most efficient ships ever is the title of the release from one of the world’s biggest marine shipping concerns. Given that 90% of the world’s international trade travels by ship, the importance of how we build, power, and even dispose of these critical components of commerce is enormous. These new ships are […]
I’ve written many times about the “despicable practice” of mountaintop removal mining. (Al Gore called it that – and he couldn’t be more right.) There’s an op-ed in the NY Times today from one of the co-authors of a new book: Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal. Silas House remind us in “My Polluted Kentucky […]
I took a tour today of NYU’s new trigeneration plant: It’s “tri” because it produces electricity, heat and hot water, and chilled water for air conditioning. It’s a great facility, well thought out and executed. It’s state of the art. It provides 13.4 MW of electricity and that which isn’t used by the school is […]
