Nearly every kind of human activity raises the concentration of carbon dioxide and other global warming agents in the atmosphere. The greater the presence of these substances in the air, the more of the sun’s heat that is trapped close to the surface. A steadily warmer Earth can have harmful effects on the health of the planet and on human health. (more…)
The history of electric cars is dated back to the 30s of the 19th century, 1832 to be precise. However, in recent years people around the world visualize the revolutionary change in the technology used in these types of cars. You can find that almost every day such cars make headlines for some unique reasons. (more…)
Here’s a Scientific American article on the problems that have been created in the Hawaiian electric power grid by the rapid expansion of PV. Is this an effort on the part of HECO (Hawaii Electric Company) to halt the incursion into its monopoly? Another example of right-wing extremists’ disinformation against the solar industry? Who knows. What is certain is that distributed generation will soon uproot the traditional utility model; it’s inevitable, and it’s very good news for humankind overall. (more…)
As part of an ongoing conversation on the environmental validity of electric vehicles, frequent commenter Glenn Doty writes:
… Every minute of usage from an EV bought or sold this year (or the next two or three decades for that matter), will always result in net additional damage to the environment rather than net additional good.
This is a quick excerpt from his much longer and quite thoughtful comment to the post linked above. I encourage readers to check it out. (more…)
Over the recent years governments and environment conserving agencies have tried to emphasize the need to recycle used material. The automobile industry has not been left behind as recycle of vehicles and vehicle parts has far reaching environmental benefits. Recycled material if in good condition is of good quality and comes at a lower cost. (more…)
Even the humble act of recycling has become a global business. According to a report by the London based newspaper The Guardian, when a Chinese made television is imported into the United Kingdom, a UK company then sells the empty box and packaging materials back to China, where they’re recycled and made into new boxes and packaging materials. (more…)
Emma Websdale, a talented young writer from the UK, publishes a blog post almost every day on EmpowerTheOcean.com. Here’s her recent piece on climate change that I deem to be her single best post yet. As I pointed out, figuring out how to inspire people to care about this subject is not a piece of cake; in fact, I wrote a short post on this myself just the other day.
What makes this an especially thorny challenge is that an estimated $1 billion is spent annually in an effort to convince us that climate change isn’t real and/or that no action should be taken to avert it. It’s perversions of democracy like this that hold us back from progress in this all-important arena.
Like most people, there are a number of things I do with ridiculous consistency throughout the holiday season. For me, it starts Thanksgiving Day, when I wake up and make a few calls to thank the people who made great personal sacrifices to ensure that I turned out to be a half-decent human being. And then, in mid-December, I write three checks to causes I believe to be supremely worth-while. (more…)
Here’s an article that speaks to the vast improvements in fuel-economy standards for our cars and trucks that we’re in the process of achieving. I’m sure a great more could be said about this graph that maps all this out over the last few decades, but two facts stand out to me:
An obvious one: That our cars in 1987 got better gas mileage than they did in 2007 is absolutely deplorable.
A slightly more subtle one: The rapid improvement in gas mileage occurring today, while something to celebrate, puts a damper on the migration away from fossil fuels – something that we most certainly need to accomplish. For example, today’s car-buyer who may be considering an alternate fuel vehicle, perhaps an EV, needs to consider the modest savings in fuel given gas consumed at the rate of 50 MPG, vs. the far more onerous cost of gas consumed at 25 MPG — the prevailing average just a few years ago.
Can you handle a little good news? This article just in from frequent commenter Colin Brown: It appears that nuclear reactors based on thorium (vs. uranium) may be closer than we think. There is very little not to like about thorium: it’s far safer operationally, and it’s not capable of being turned into weapons – thus any progress is good.
And check this out: the U.S. Oak Ridge National Lab is teaming up with the Chinese government to make this happen. That’s really good. As I always say, any energy solution that doesn’t get China out of the coal-fired power plant business isn’t really a solution at all. And it sure is good to see international cooperation from two parties that are potential adversaries.
Tonight, I urge you to find someone you like, and offer a toast to a saner, cleaner, safer world.
