Since taking the job as UC San Diego’s first director of strategic energy initiatives in September 2008, Byron Washom has worked to turn the 1,200-acre campus into a model of sustainability, a “living laboratory” he calls it.
This includes renewable energy, greenhouse-gas reduction, energy management, energy storage systems and greening the campus transportation fleet. The [...]
The British novelist Ian McEwan, inspired by the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks, changed the finished manuscript of his new book about a scientist working on a technology to address global warming.
The end of the book is set in summer 2009, and McEwan introduced a new scene, in the last few pages, in which [...]
February 25, 2010 – 7:54 am
Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary by Chris Paine which explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, especially the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s.
It uses archive footage and interviews to build a case against various characters that surrounded the creation [...]
February 22, 2010 – 8:22 pm
Did you know that sometime in this remaining lifetime of yours you might find yourself driving a nuclear-powered car? ‘Tis true, ’tis true. You also might be driving a solar-powered, wind-powered, landfill-gas powered, hydroelectric powered, ocean-energy powered, coal, oil or natural gas-powered car. ‘Tis true, ’tis true.
As it stands the US gets about [...]
January 28, 2010 – 7:40 am
According to Whitehouse.gov, the release of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) 4th Quarter 2009 industry assessment indicated that stimulus spending is directly responsible for turning a potential 50% decline in wind power sector growth into a 39% increase in growth in the country’s wind plants, just in 2009 alone.
Denise Bode, the trade association’s chief [...]
December 8, 2009 – 12:38 am
While all of the world leaders will be gathering in Copenhagen this week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to come up with new and creative ways to reduce climate-altering emissions and make plans for a low-carbon energy future; a simple solution is right in front of our noses: natural gas.
Gasoline prices this [...]
November 15, 2009 – 12:24 pm
Many of us take the free and wonderful air for granted, yet few of us realize it. Compressed air is used for inflating tires, it’s used in repair shops and production facilities to power sanders, grinders, impact wrenches, drills, caulking guns, nailers, paint spray guns, cutting tools, blow guns and polishers. Mechanics use air-powered tools [...]
November 9, 2009 – 3:43 pm
I need not strain myself by explaining that people and governments are both stubborn when it comes to going green. Global warming is nearly an impossible sell and as for energy, well, “if it ain’t cheap, it won’t compete.” Governments, worldwide apparently do not have the cajones to legislate a significant cut in oil consumption. [...]
November 1, 2009 – 11:19 am
Feeling the pinch these days? Don’t worry, most of us are. And if you’re still dedicated to being environmentally friendly, not only are you a righteous dude or dudet, but it just so happens that you’re also in luck!
Here’s a way to squeeze a few extra bucks out of Uncle Sam, while being a [...]
October 28, 2009 – 3:15 pm
A U.S. firm, California-based, Better Place, is building electric car chargers, in Jerusalem of all places and has installed a network in Tel Aviv.
By 2011, roughly 100 charging stations will be found on the streets of Jerusalem. In the same year Israel plans to have electric cars available for mass consumption. Twenty of the [...]
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