Energy

140 nations meeting in Geneva have concluded an accord to limit mercury emissions, which must now be ratified by individual nations. It has implications for coal-fired power plants, among the most serious contributors to mercury pollution, as well as cement factories The treaty also seeks an end to mercury use in thermometers and batteries, and […]

The US put in 13 gigawatts of new wind energy capacity in 2012, 5 of it in December alone, according to a Bloomberg study. The Office of Energy Projects report was a bit more conservative, but confirmed the general trend. h/t Grist Wind alone now accounts for 6% of US electricity generation! Even the government […]

Understanding how performance-enhancing drugs raise the odds of success in sports helps us understand how dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere raises the chances of heat waves: It is the same form of reasoning in both cases. This analogy also helps us understand how the lies of Big Oil-backed outfits like the Heartland Institute about […]

Can we sue the Koch brothers and all the other dirty-energy, climate change-denying moguls yet for the billions they are costing us in climate disasters every year because of their poisonous carbon emissions? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that: “2012 marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States with the […]

The heat wave or “dome of heat” afflicting Australia may produce a record temperature of over 122 degrees F. (over 50 degrees C.). For temperatures above 122 F., Australian weathermen have developed a new color scheme, purple, which they hadn’t had to use before (the last record temperature in that range was just about 122 […]

For all those still confused by the BP, Exxon-Mobil, American Enterprise Institute, Koch Brothers, Heritage Foundation, etc. stupid noise trying to muddy the waters on how Big Oil and Big Coal are causing massive climate change, here is a painless little documentary that explains how the world actually works. Suitable for sharing with those annoying […]

Greenpeace: Doha climate conference a failure, youth have been sold down the river. Executive Director Kumi Naidoo says that the youth must organize to avoid a “four degree world,” i.e. one 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than in 1850. Naidoo, who hails from South Africa, points out that trillions of dollars were found for bank bailouts […]

Utah did not vote for President Obama, whose father hailed from Kenya. But that state has something else to learn from the east African country. Scientists have found a massive geothermal hotspot in the Utah that could be used to generate electricity, with natural steam. (Most electricity generation, including by nuclear plants, just consists of […]