Republicans opposed to clean energy in the US (who knows why?) have repeatedly put forward the idea (and claimed it was absolutely true) that a climate change and clean energy bill would cost the US jobs.
A new non-partisan report out by the Peterson Institute for International Economics finds that the American Power Act would actually result in an increase in jobs, hundreds of thousands of them per year (on average) from 2011 to 2020.
A new report just released by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) shows that extending the Treasury Grant Program (TGP) by two years, combined with new tax breaks for equipment manufacturers, would increase investement in the solar industry by $48 billion, creating 207,000 additional jobs by 2016.
The TGP is part of the US stimulus package of early 2009. It gives solar project owners a cash grant in lieu of a tax credit.The program is set to expire in December if not extended.
A major new report analyzing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financing deals across the clean tech sector in 2009 has come to the conclusion that despite the economic downturn, investment rose in 2009.
Some areas, like venture capital investment fell, but overall there was a 32% increase with clean tech investment hitting $381 billion last year.
It is an intuitive combination, and most individuals who get into or install clean energy on their home or business probably also pay good attention to energy efficiency in the building. However, you don’t often see a company focused on both issues.
Some bad news to follow as well.
NASA just reported that this April was the hottest April on record. This followed the hottest March on record and the hottest January-February-March on record. So, is the hottest January-February-March-April on record a surprise? Only if you think climate change or global warming is a farce. Of course, how to explain this record-breaking first quarter of the year would be the big question in that case (especially since we are in the “deepest solar minimum in nearly a century“).
Clear changes in growing seasons, bird migration leaf growth and blooming dates have occurred and the trends suggest that they will continue. Heat-related deaths show much more variability, despite clear heating trends, but that could be due to a variety of factors beyond climate change that have an influence on this topic.
A fun new technology that harvests power from a small generator embedded in the sole of your shoe has been developed by Dr. Ville Kaajakari at Louisiana Tech University (LTU).
The technology cannot power your house (yet), but it can be used for a range of useful purposes.
From very concerning increases in ocean acidity to a relatively fast-rising sea level to a heating ocean, all of our concerns are not in the atmosphere or on land.
A new macroeconomics analysis shows that if you want to create jobs and boost the economy, one of the best things you can do at the moment is enact strong, smart climate change and clean energy policy.
Despite what you may have heard in false science circles, we definitely have less snow cover, snowpack and ice than in the past these days.
The US Environmental Protection Agency just released Climate Change Indicators in the U.S., a report showing “compelling evidence that the composition of the atmosphere and many fundamental measures of climate in the United States are changing.”
Although there is surely much more happening as a result of climate change than what is in this report, the range of indicators presented by the EPA here and their significance for humans and life everywhere on the planet are profound.
The first restaurant chain in the world to show the carbon footprint of its menu items, believe it or not, is not McDonald’s. It is vegetarian restaurant chain Otarian. Otarian debuted this innovative menu at its first restaurant opening last week in New York.
In the next few months, Otarian is planning to open another restaurant in New York and two more in London.
One of the “greenest hotels” in the world, the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, has an interesting new option. If you ride one of its new electricity-generating exercise bikes long enough to generate 10 watt hours or more of electricity (not long), you get a free meal worth about $45.
The bikes have iPhones on the handlebars that can tell you how much power is being produced and fed into the hotel. Fun!
A recent study by ABI Research has shown that about 1% of global wireless phone subscribers recycle their cell phones but that 98% would recycle their cell phones with the right incentives.
In order to help move us from 1% towards that 98% potential, two former chief executives of two major electronics companies — Sprint and RadioShack — have teamed up to create a new cell phone recycling firm.
In just a few days, the long-awaited climate and clean energy jobs bill from Senators Graham (R-SC), Kerry (D-MA), and Lieberman (I-CT) will be unveiled and all over the news.
There has been a lot of speculation on what the bill will or won’t include, as well as a wide range of suggestions from every corner of society on what the bill should or shouldn’t include.
Of course, anyone who wants the bill to ensure that we do not increase the global temperature by more than 2°C (which scientists say is a must) are more than likely to be disappointed. However, setting things up so that future lawmakers can steer us towards a more livable climate (when it becomes painfully obvious that we need to do more), is a possibility.
I have read articles from and communicated with many leading environmental bloggers in the past week or so about Earth Day. As many are right and eagerly ready to say, Earth Day is not enough, not anymore. Today should still be Earth Day, perhaps, but it should also be the beginning of Earth Week, Earth Month and Earth Year. And Earth Year should be an annual thing.
It is great to make a little more effort to be green on this day.
And as I wrote over on Green Living Ideas recently, it can be a New Year’s Day kind of holiday, a holiday where we can examine our lives and see where we can improve, where we need to improve, and where we are determined to improve, for the long-term (not this single day of the year). It can be more useful in that way than any other way, I think.
Tony Fadell, who was formerly senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division, is the latest Silicon Valley IT expert to make a shift to clean tech.
A leading executive behind the iPod and iPhone, Fadell stepped down from his senior vice president role in November 2008 but stayed on with Apple as special advisor to CEO Steve Jobs until recently. Now, rumor is, he is moving into the fast-growing clean tech sector to focus on producing consumer-focused green technology.
Vehicle idling is responsible for countless emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. It is also completely useless much of the time, people just don’t think or are too lazy to turn off the engine.
It can be a hard issue to address, though. Even if a community decides to outlaw unnecessary idling, it can be tough to enforce. I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia a couple years ago when the city banned completely unnecessary idling of public vehicles. Nonetheless, nearly every time I rode the bus, it would sit idling illegally numerous times.