Podcast: Blending in biomass makes coal-fired generators seem a little cleaner

Blog Post: An Op-Ed commentary in New York Times contains fundamental errors

Article: Blending in biomass makes coal-fired generators seem a little cleaner

Blog Post: President Obama gathered auto executives, auto workers, environmentalists, and top federal and California officials at the White House this week to unveil a new consensus on fuel economy standards. His plan will harmonize the federal government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy or CAFE standards with tougher tailpipe standards for CO2 poised to take effect in California and 17 other states. Obama traded up, according to close Detroit observer Jim Motavalli, who writes in the New York Times' Wheels blog that the new-and-improved CAFE is "roughly equivalent to those proposed under Californiaâ¿¿s tailpipe greenhouse-gas program." …

Blog Post: The time is ripe to use some of the Economic Recovery Act monies for conversion of trails back to their original mass transit use.

Blog Post: Prospects for a "cash-for-clunkers" bill to stimulate new car sales in the U.S. are dimming amid dissatisfaction with the law's slim environmental benefits. As Energywise reported, representatives in the House led by Michigan Democrat John Dingell converged on an automotive scrappage bill earlier this month that would provide cash vouchers worth up to $4,500 to buyers of new cars and trucks that get at least 22 miles to the gallon if they scrap an …

Blog Post: For decades, ever since fuel cells provided electricity to the Apollo spacecraft, their design and manufacture has been a niche businessâ¿¿one in which small startups or somewhat obscure divisions of big companies made the electrochemical devices and most of their ingredients in-house, almost by hand. But on Wednesday, May 6, the German chemicals company BASF cut the ribbon at a new plant in New Jersey where it will make the key components used in high-temperature methanol fuel cells, without actually making or selling fuel cells as such.

Blog Post: One doesnâ¿¿t want to make overly direct and invidious comparisons between coal-generated and nuclear-generated electricity, for fear of being called a vulgar environmentalist. But itâ¿¿s hard not to wonder, sometimes, why such a fuss is being made about hypothetical dangers that nuclear wastes could pose 100,000 years from now, when coal wastes are wreaking havoc right now, right before our eyes.

Blog Post: Those formulating the U.S. cap-and-trade climate bill appear to have converged this week on a â¿¿cash for clunkerâ¿¿ formula: those driving cars or trucks that get 18 miles to the gallon or less will be entitled to trade them in for more fuel-efficient vehicles, entitling them to a cash voucher of up to $4,500, depending on how much better the new vehicle is. Taking into account the elementary fact that it takes a lot of energy to make a new car, does the formula make sense? IEEE Spectrumâ¿¿s automotive editor John Voelcker addresses the question critically in a recent …

Blog Post: â¿¿Like giant sentinels, dozens of wind turbines straddle the mountain ridges near Sicily's infamous mafia stronghold of Corleone,â¿¿ the ancestral home of the fictional Corleone family of Godfather fame. So begins a story in todayâ¿¿s Financial Times detailing the alleged muscling of the Sicilian mob into the lucrative business of building wind farms, taking advantage of generous government subsidies. "Sicily is blessed with sun and wind, but it is also cursed by the Mafia," an official told the FT. So itâ¿¿s only to be expected that Cosa Nostra would make the sun and wind one of its things.