On the effect of unregulated trading (speculation) on oil prices. It creates demand nearly equal to the demand China has in oil markets. Hmmm, wonder if that raises prices?   more »

Excellent! Watch the video! VP Cantwell? Yep.   more »

Check out this goofy candy commercial. Based on the premise that "blogging about our ideals" is sexy. Too bad it doesn't really work, or does it?   more »

He's the real thing, real reform is on the way. Not perfect on every energy issue by any means, but bucking the trend to ignore hedge fund trading abuses shows real allegiance to this nation dedicated to the best interests of we the people. Dedicated not so long ago on the time scale of human history.   more »

Nope, congressional testimony says it's so. 2 bucks of every 4 dollar gallon of gas goes to hedge funds. The Enron loophole is doing the same for everything we buy. This is how the rich get richer, they stash their ill-gotten gains in hedge funds for even more ill-gotten gains. Then protect their wealth by protecting hedge fund corruption, with the infamous loophole leading the way.   more »

So the Gulf Stream conveyor could stop in a few years after the arctic ice and greenland glaciers melt? Evidently yes, as this recenty retrieved Greenland ice core data shows. What could be a more catastrophic weather condition than massive flooding and storm surge followed by glacial conditions overtaking large population centers like NYC?   more »

So far high prices are helping to focus on alternatives to gas guzzling. . But this offshore drilling issue shows just how touchy this is. If we are seen as taking satisfaction in the pain at the pump, we could lose this election. Concentrating on price is the way to defeat the GOP tactics. The Rovian tactic of tarring the eco-minded as anti-economy. Voters can see through it if we help by staying on message.   more »

It is very hard to compare mpg ratings to determine which vehicles save more GHG and oil. Confusion is the result. And bad policy based on lobbyist exploitation of that confusion. Reframing, it's the way to win in politics, the zen method common to Ghandi and Obama. Change the perspective and backward thinking dissapears into the vanishing point. Aum.   more »

The right batteries have arrived for a plugin hybrid conversion. 125 pounds worth, 5 of these batteries will store 6 kwh, which is equivalent to a gallon of gas. And only costs 75 cents. That could get you 40 or 50 miles on plugin power in a really economical car.   more »

And all that fertilizer will release a mess of GHG in the form of methane from the cellulose stored in wetlands where it ends up. It will also cause huge weed overgrowth, temporarily soaking up some CO2, yes. But it will be rereleased (in a 21x worse GHG form) as that weed overgrowth kills the lakes and the weeds and fish die and turn into methane too.   more »

The "Enron loophole"! Finally a name is put to insider hedge fund market manipulation. The special loophole for Enron also applies to every energy source. It was engineered by Enron lobbyists and pushed through into law by by Phil Gramm, McBush's economic expert.   more »

These golf cart sized green, GHG free, plugin vehicles are being legalized for limited road use all over, almost everywhere people retire. Why not make them rentable with a credit card slot, wirelessly connected to the net. This could replace how many cars over the next 20 years?   more »

Another excellent article by bio-d at Grist on possible ways to convert a Toyota Yaris to a partial plugin hybrid. This idea may fit your vehicle with a fairly simple kit of parts and easy installation by a local mechanic or do-it-your-selfer.   more »

Great article here from the illustrious JCWinnie, who I am proud to say commented on a recent article of mine. It details how IBM is working on a technology previously demonstrated to boost solar PV efficiency to 38% in National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) tests.   more »

How could this be? As much power from kites a km up in the wind connected to a huge carousel on the ground, as from a nuclear reactor. Hmmm...    more »

This floating wind power design came up on Grist today, finally someone else noticed it.   more »

Guess who wins?   more »

"You will have to pay around $100,000 to $200,000 per acre." Cheaper to pay Lula directly. How much does he charge per acre? If land is worth 100k to agribizz it would most likely net 10 bucks for Lula and his cronies. Bargain pricing! What if we offered 12 bucks per acre to preserve it?   more »

Another subsidy idea, a direct infusion of cash, through actual consumers, to real capitalism, competitive small local business might be more helpfull for people and the environment. "The human fund..money for people", Larry David's "Seinfeld" fictional approach is much better. Hehey.   more »

This time there is a free lunch. But it will cost upfront. Once solar panels, geo heat exchange, plugin hybrids, wind machines, smart grid storage, and biogas backup pay for themselves with savings. All the energy after that is free.   more »

Where will we get all those economy plugin hybrid cars? There is already a shortage of just plain economy cars. 17 million cars are replaced per year in the US. It would take about 20 years at that pace, to switch them all for plugin hybrids. No problem. That is fast enough.   more »

A nice graphical representation of various fuels and their price rises during the last 8 years. Given this shocking news, it is surprising that the economy is holding up as well as it has. Add in the huge capital drain of cash flushed down the oil war and OPEC toilet, and it is down right amazing.   more »

In this episode, the mighty upstart human species actually "plumbs" space itself! Tolkien. meets Joseph Campbell. Astronauts pooping in a bag-like device? Hehey.   more »

One of the best presentations against nuclear power is out right now, from Amory Lovins and the magnificent Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). And Grist is interviewing him all about it. After beating up on nuclear power with these articles, it would be a great time to introduce a moratorium on new nukes, along with throwing the industry (lobbyists, legislators, and shills) a nice, juicy bone.   more »

Be warned, this New York Times guest op/ed by a retired gynecologist in his mid-80s recounts the horror he experienced repairing the damage done by back alley and do-it-yourself abortion attempts, back before Roe vs Wade made abortion legal. A McCain win would most assuredly result in another Scalia corporate right loving clone on the supreme court, thus overthrowing reproductive rights for women. The cruel (faux moralistic) corporate-growth-above-everything daddy state would be in charge of women's reproductive organs again.    more »

Building vertical greenhouses, a foolish trade off of cows ($$$) for beans? I thought about this for awhile, skyscraper farming. I have envisioned malls and large building being retrofitted with solar greenhouses on their south facing walls and roofs. But imagine whole skyscrapers? But how do you get the light to do this without burning (with coal fired power plants, literally) electric power?   more »

Re-framing. It could be the most powerful rhetorical tool ever. By going beyond rhetoric right into the subconscious, collective hive mind? We are talking about the fractals that order the actions of the human herd. Subconscious hive mind rules of interaction. Sounds and tones that tell the tale of where the last worker bee to come up with some actual nectar, found that nectar.   more »

The old "It's just a theory" talking point? The usual response to that was this. "Yeah, and so is the 'theory' of gravity just a theory, go ahead, please jump off a cliff. But don't take the whole planet with you." Why not just stuff the whole planet into a black hole? Where all the laws of physics are really different. The information component of human reality would persist forever, the mean reality of gravity, climate change, national bankruptcy, and so forth would be squashed out of existence.    more »

6 to 9 dollars per watt, this is around what I expected, since the last one built here in the US was 6 dollars per watt. But that was back in the 80s, so one would think this was low, what with the huge inflation in materials and construction cost during the last few years.   more »

Another great movie   more »

Is milk a strange foreign substance foisted upon human kind by the dairy industry? In its present form maybe? But look at how it all evolved to this point. Hit the reframe button. Look at humans as symbiotic predators. We turned from hunting ruminants to herding them.    more »