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03/30/08

What is All Things Green

By SEDER

The All Things Green column will feature cross posts from Grist.org and some of the most vibrant and insightful environmental/energy blogs in the blogosphere.

05/16/08

Fast Route to Plug in Hybrids?

By A Siegel

 visit EnergySmart for more great energy and environmental stories

 

  • Toyota
    (Prius) and Chevy (Volt) seem to be in a
    race as to who will provide the first mass-produced plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) onto the market. The backfit
    market is building, with options coming to market for plug-in
    conversions for existing hybrids    . But what about the 10s of millions of
    normal, internal combustion engines out there? Is there any hope for them? If Poulsen Hydrid is to be
    believed, the answer is a resounding YES.The Poulsen Hybrid Power Assist System
    “creats a PHEV by retro-fitting electric motors, DC motor controllers, storage
    batteries and an on-board charger to a conventional new or used automobile.” The
    electric system would be used for maintaining speed, after acceleration.

     

    The development is based on the observation that only 10-15 horsepower is
    required to propel a compact or mid-size automobile along a level road at a
    steady 60-70 mph. leading to the conclusion that this relatively small amount of
    electric power would be able to cope with 70-85% of normal driving, only aided
    by the combustion engine during start up and when extra energy is required for
    acceleration and hill climbing.

    • 05/12/08

    Cyclones and Climate Change - The Deadly Legacy of Oil

    By Desmogblog

    by Mitchell Anderson

    In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Burma , the world’s attention is rightly focused on the unfolding human tragedy. This storm is already one of the deadliest cyclones of all time, with up to 100,000 people losing their lives, and another 1.5 million left destitute and homeless.

    The incompetence and corruption of the Burmese military regime is exacerbating an already gruesome situation. The impact of the storm was also made worse by the fact that much of the coastline had been denuded of trees, making areas more vulnerable to the deadly storm surge.

    05/07/08

    Catastrophe to Celebration …

    By A Siegel

    Read more great enviromental and energy policy posts at EnergySmart


    Not everything is the Bush White House’s fault. Not everything. In this case, not fully their fault, but the contrast is too striking to go without comment.

    The White House sent Laura Bush to speak on the disastrous cyclone in Myanmar. She gave a prepared statement. And, then she took questions. And, the press had their chance to ask questions. Some were quite serious, quite on target. But, toward the end the questions strayed to issues closer to Laura’s heart. MSNBC, however, took a little time to pick up the shift of subject as you can see over at Huffington Post. Sigh …

     

    Again, it isn’t as if the White House press office has the ability to control questions. Or that Laura might have suggested something like “Why don’t we focus our attention on the tragic situation in Myanmar.” No, of course, that would have been impossible. Actually, in fact, Laura’s opening comments invited the questioning.

    Thank you all very much for giving me a chance to speak. I’m going to leave tomorrow for Crawford, for Jenna’s wedding, and I wanted to be able to make a statement about Burma before I left.

    05/01/08

    The Feds Object To Energy Smart Local Governance

    By A Siegel

    Read more great enviromental and energy policy posts at EnergySmart

     

    Montgomery County, Maryland,266086986_25270589b8_m.jpg is moving toward a stronger building code, with requirements for new homes to meet the Energy Star home building
    parameters. This is the type of measure rapidly implementable across
    the country to help foster the move toward a more sensible building
    infrastructure such as envisioned by Architecture2030 (which has a plan to a deCarbonized building infrastructure by 2030).

    04/22/08

    At CitiGroup: Voting "Yes" on Both Climate Action and More Coal

    By SolveClimate

    by David Sassoon

     

    It's a coincidence that this Tuesday both the registered Democrats of
    Pennsylvania and CitiGroup's shareholders will be casting their votes.
    In Pennsylvania, it's a choice between Obama and Clinton, and at Citi
    there's a proxy statement full of issues -- but in both cases the
    troubling face of climate and coal is on view.

    With 47,000 coal workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia --
    critical states for both nomination and election -- Obama and Clinton
    have been campaigning along a tight rope suspended between the opposite
    poles of a glaring contradiction: promising strong climate action and a bright future for coal.

    Citi's shareholders face a choice laden with a similar contradiction.
    They have a stake in a bank that has promised vigorous action on
    climate change, yet financing coal is an important source of profits.
    In fact, Citi is one of the leading financiers of mountaintop removal
    mining (MTR).

    Now shareholder proposal #9 (on page 86 of the 2008 Proxy Statement available here) is asking shareholders to tell the bank to stop dirtying its hands with profits from coal:

    Resolved: Shareholders request Citigroup’s board of directors amend
    its GHG emissions policies to cease all financing, investment and any
    further involvement in activities that support MTR coal mining or the
    construction of new coal-burning power plants that emit carbon dioxide.

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