If you care about climate change and peak oil, you're always thinking about ways to get off of fossil fuels around the world and to save energy around your house. Home energy tweaking can become an obsession. It has for me. Just take light bulbs for example. It seems that only a few years ago, I swapped out all our old incandescents for compact fluorescents that used less … [Read more...]
Business leaders urge Obama to act for clean energy
When it comes to climate and energy, some business leaders are catching on, even in the United States. On January 21, a report authored, in part, by over 100 academics, energy experts, government officials, and business leaders called upon the president to address climate change by taking measures that do not require congressional approval. Spearheaded by the Center for … [Read more...]
The Cotton Gin Paradox
It's not hard to see that, when cars get better gas mileage, people feel that they can afford to drive more. Or that consumers think they can afford a bigger refrigerator if it's Energy Star certified to use less electricity. Blame it on Jevons's Paradox that increasing the energy efficiency of machines doesn't necessarily decrease the total amount of energy people use, but … [Read more...]
Climate hell and saving energy: A few words to the wise
Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that this summer would be consistent with this past winter that wasn’t -- that is, hot. I double-checked by looking at the data from the Arctic. As expected, ice melt was accelerating faster than average. A few days after that confirming data came through, Jon Gottschalck, head of operations of NOAA’s … [Read more...]
No need to shiver: insulation will deliver
Last year may have been the joint warmest year on record, but that fact has gone almost unnoticed in Britain. Snow fell early, and it's been the coldest December since the Met Office started keeping records in 1910. We're not used to the white stuff here. Despite sharing the same northern latitude as Russia or Canada, the Gulf Stream keeps our islands relatively warm, … [Read more...]