Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published September 2, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: New Flyer What's the Difference Between CNG and Diesel? The Board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (the "MTA") has awarded New Flyer of America a contract for up to 475 buses. The contract is for 135 40-foot compressed natural gas ("CNG") heavy-duty transit buses with options for up to an additional 340 CNG buses. We know ...
Read more...published September 1, 2010 and has No Comments
photo: Jonathan McIntosh via flickr With all the increased attention Canada's tar sands projects have been getting--both in terms of environmental impact and distributing them through pipeline into the United States--it's not surprising that many people are calling for a boycott on oil and fuel produced from tar sands. But is that really possible in a meaningful sense? ... ...
Read more...published September 1, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: Flickr , CC Should Access for Regular Hybrids be Phased Out? In California, vehicles that meet certain fuel economy and tailpipe emission criteria are granted special access to the high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV, aka the carpool lane). In car-centric places like Los Angeles, it's a huge advantage. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill (SB 535) into ...
Read more...published September 1, 2010 and has No Comments
map: Wikipedia The Canadian tar sands industry-government group Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program doesn't much like a recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that tar sands projects are responsible for elevated levels of water toxicity downstream from projects. RAMP's Fred Kuzmic maintains that any to... Read the full story on TreeHugger Read the rest ...
Read more...published September 1, 2010 and has No Comments
photo: Martin Abegglen via flickr All the regulatory paper shuffling required to get the 240 MW Cape Wind project started is finally coming to an end. As Renewable Energy World reports, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the state can give the project a "composite certificate" superseding local regulatory agencies, some of which do not look favorably ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: GM A Significant Drop Predicted It's all about supply and demand: According to Hideo Takeshita, an analyst at the Institute of Information Technology Ltd. in Tokyo, the price of lithium-ion batteries could drop by about 19% in 2010, while another analyst, Shiro Mikoshiba of Nomura Holdings, said that the worsening oversupply may push prices down as much as ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: D'Arcy Norman & timtak (Creative Commons) When I wrote about industrial agriculture exploring sustainability , commenter Ruben suggested that the idea of something being "more sustainable" was illogical. Citing Bill Rees, the inventor of Ecological Footprinting, he claimed that sustainability was like pregnancy—"either you are or you aren't". I'd like to politely disagree. ... Read the full ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
photo via flickr Notoriously publicity shy Bjørn Lomborg, the Danish climate skeptic known for saying outrageous things about climate change , has seemingly changed his tune. Yesterday, the UK's Guardian reported that Lomborg makes a new claim in his upcoming book: we should confront climate change now and invest huge sums for technology development and deployment. ... Read the ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
Images from flavorwire A good documentary photographer takes us to places that we never could imagine and teaches us something at the same time. The Canadian Ed Burtynsky has been photographing the impact of China's massive industrial revolution and the environmental devastation it has left behind. The Brazilian Salvador Salgado depicts conditions endured by Brazilian coal miners and... Read ...
Read more...published August 30, 2010 and has No Comments
Roads in Residential Areas Should be Safe for All In residential areas, lowering the speed limit for cars not only reduces the number of accidents, injuries and deaths, but it also revitalises the neighborhood by encouraging more people to walk and bike. When people feel safe on the streets, they use greener forms of transportation more often. That's the ...
Read more...
photo: Graham Racher via flickr Go chimps, go! An interesting new paper in the journal Primates documents how a group of chimpanzees in Bossou, Guinea have been successfully deactivating snares set by human bushmeat hunters. Though not always successful, ...
Image credit: MASONS via The Telegraph From police on Vectrix electric scooters to cycling proficiency courses for cops , the British police are clearly willing to think outside the box when it comes to more efficient, and effective, transportation. ...
