When Will the Obama Administration Possibly Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline?

The Keystone XL pipeline project permit application has been delayed for multiple years.  Despite making changes to reroute the pipeline around the most environmentally sensitive watershed areas and receiving affected State’s approval, the Administration required a new-expanded environmental review, and implemented a new...

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The Pros and Cons of Exporting US Crude Oil

Calls for an end to the effective ban on exporting most crude oil produced in the US are based on a growing imbalance in domestic crude quality.At least recently, the ban has likely benefited refiners more than consumers. Assessing the impact of its repeal on energy security requires further study. Senator Lisa...

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How the Smart Grid Helps Address Climate Change in California

Last week’s article on the California Energy Commission’s 2013 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) identified how climate changes impact energy needs and create new challenges for the state of California’s electricity, natural gas, and transportation fuel sectors.  Heat and precipitation are two of the major climate...

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The Four Men Who Caused The Majority Of Global Warming

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just four men, who between them invented machines responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age.Left to right: Frank Whittle, Rudolf Diesel, Nicolaus August Otto and Charles Algernon ParsonsPrime movers,...

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How About a Wiki for Clean Energy to Share Best Practices for Improving Energy Efficiency, Boosting Renewables and Reducing Emissions

There is no shortage of ideas on how businesses, governments and households in the U.S. and other industrialized countries can become more energy efficient; same applies on how to grow cleaner supplies of energy while lowering harmful greenhouse gas emissions and doing so in ways that create sustainable jobs.There are so many ideas,...

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What Is The Most Dangerous Impact Of Climate Change?

NOAA concluded in 2011 that “human-caused climate change [is now] a major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts.” Reds and oranges highlight lands around the Mediterranean that experienced significantly drier winters during 1971-2010 than the comparison period of 1902-2010. [Click to enlarge.]What...

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Can Crowdfunding Help Cleantech Ride the Big Data Wave?

"Big data is a coming wave of 'green gold,'" says Nick Eisenberger of Pure Energy Partners."Information technology will be the most powerful tool to address resource challenges in our lifetime."Eisenberger was speaking at the Markle Foundation offices in New York, where Agrion, which bills itself as the global network for energy,...

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Can Geoengineering Save the Planet?

The concept of geoengineering, whereby humans artificially moderate the Earth’s climate, is not the sexiest sounding topic, but a small group of scientists say it might be able to prevent catastrophic global warming. In a fast-flowing and sometimes heated head-to-head climate professors David Keith and Mike Hulme set out the “for” and “against.” Keith, a geoengineering advocate, doesn't believe that this science...

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Commission Proposes a Market Stability Reserve for Europe's Carbon Market

The European Commission has just proposed a major reform of the European carbon market. It released this week a proposal for a non-discretionary mechanism that would reduce the amount of pollution allowances available to emitters in cases of exceptional drops in emission levels. The purpose of the so called “market stability...

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Converting Coal to Synthetic Natural Gas in China

With so much attention focused on China's shale gas potential, its growing synthetic natural gas industry is a wild card.In light of China's severe air quality problems,  trading smog for higher CO2 emissions is an understandable choice, but one with global implications.In its latest Medium-Term Coal Market Report the International...

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