Photo: Richard Harrison , Geograph, CC The EPA is planning on increasing the pollution controls on coal plants — a move that is being fought tooth and nail by industry and the politicians who support it. And they’re fighting for good reason: The new regulations, which, among other things, will clamp down on the amount of toxic pollution (sulfur dioxide, mercury, etc) coal plants can emit, will likely cause a massive wave of coal plant closures — or hefty, hefty fines — across the nation. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Tom Vanderbilt Thinks The Future of Transport is Smaller, Slower and Shared. Others Don’t.
December 16, 2010 No Comment
Small Cars “Almost Cheaper Than Walking” In January I wrote a prediction for this year, The Three Ss For 2010: Small, Simple and Shared . Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic, says much the same thing a year later in World Policy Blog, writing A Car for the Future: Smaller, Slower, Shared. He points out the simple and unavoidable reality: As plentiful as t… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Michael Graham Richard LED is Coming of Age To paraphrase William Gibson, the future of lighting is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Light-emitting diodes (LED) lightbulbs have been coming on the market in the past few years, but their quality varies greatly, from “almost perfect” to “horrible” (kind of like the early compact fluorescents). I had the opportunity to spend a few days with two LED lightbulbs from Qnuru , and I’d like to share my impressions with you. Read on for more photos and my review…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image: Worrell Water Technologies Enter the United States at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on the Mexican border, and you’ll never know just by looking around that you’re walking through a “living machine” wastewater recycling system. But when installation is complete, a custom-designed system will treat and recycle wastewater on site, reducing “generation of wastewater and demand for potable water, while increasing the local aquifer recharge,” according to the company that designed the system, Worrell Water Technologies…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo by mpeterke via Flickr Creative Commons There are lots of challenges utility companies face as we work to upgrade our electrical grid. However, there is one that stands out as easily fixable. The stories we’ve heard over the past year about consumers balking at smart meter installations could have been avoided. So too could a smart meter
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Is this our future, to be as crowded as the Planet Gideon? As Sami noted in his post Is Birth Control the Cheapest Answer to Climate Change? , overpopulation isn’t exactly a taboo subject here on TreeHugger. The subject has attracted the attention of many of our writers, and some scepticism. Here is a roundup of the various positions:… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …GM Cotton Fails – Insect Pests Thriving on Indian Plants When They Should Be Dead
December 16, 2010 No Comment
photo: Beau / Creative Commons An article in the latest issue of the journal Current Science raises serious questions about the long-term viability of genetically-modified Bt cotton to actually do what it’s intended to do, increase pest resistance. Scientists have found for the first time b… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …The Mesh Explains Why the Present and Future of Business is Sharing (Book Review)
December 16, 2010 No Comment
Photo credit: The Mesh by Lisa Gansky. Lisa Gansky sees a new emerging business model emerging. One she has dubbed, The Mesh . “… one in which consumers have more choices, more tools, more information, and more power to guide those choices.” A model “based on network-enabled sharing—on access rather than ownership.” In her book, Lisa notes the primary benefit to business is that they can “sell” the same product multiple times and in doing so build up a profile of customer needs and actions to further refine the business. The upside for customers is that they get use stuff without all the hassles of own… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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No, this is not what you need to clean up a broken CFL. Image Credit Foxtongue Fred Upton, soon to be head of the Energy and Commerce Committee , was too green for Rush Limbaugh because he co-sponsored the 2007 legislation on light bulb efficiency. Glenn Beck called him a “socialist” for it. To get his new gig he had to backtrack and promise to re-examine his position.
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