Published on September 4th, 2008
Barack Obama is the U.S.’s best hope for developing a clean-energy future, according to a new group formed to promote and raise funds for the Democratic presidential nominee.
Cleantech & Green Business Leaders for Obama (Cleantech for Obama, or CT4O) kicked off its campaign in San Francisco this week. The organization plans to hold fund-raising events across the country to collect at least $1 million to support Obama’s campaign.
Some of the group’s coming events include a Sept. 7 “Barbecue for Barack” in Durham, North Carolina, and an Oct. 11 “Baracktoberfest” in San Francisco.
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Published on August 28th, 2008
If you happened to be in Chena, Alaska last weekend, you may have attended the third annual Chena Renewable Energy Fair, chowed on some hot dogs barbecued on the hydrogen-powered grill, toured the the geothermal power plant, or visited the Aurora Ice Museum that’s kept cool in the summer using the patented absorption chiller.
Bernie Karl is all about renewable energy. Proprietor of Chena Hot Springs Resort, located 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks and 33 miles off the grid, Bernie acquired the ramshackle resort in 1998 from the state of Alaska. From the very beginning Bernie’s vision was to run his operation using only the abundant thermal energy of the surrounding hot springs. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 29th, 2008
Years of legal wrangling have finally produced a long-awaited report on the current and potential effects of climate change on the U.S. And it should come as no surprise that regions already hurting — Alaska and the arid Southwest — are among the areas expected to feel the greatest pain from continued climate change in the future.
The report, Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States, was released today by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. According to the Government Accountability Project, the study was “years overdue under a requirement of law” and was prepared only after a federal court order last year set a release deadline of May 31, 2008.
Among the report’s highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective):
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Published on May 20th, 2008
Gas prices are sky-high and people are hurting. Is it market speculation, tight supplies or the first throes of peak oil? And, if it’s the latter, how can civilization survive?
Well, residents of the small Alaskan capital of Juneau are showing us how. Following an April 16 avalanche that severed the city’s main power lines, Juneau found itself forced to cut its energy calories big-time literally overnight. It was that, or face energy bills double or triple or many times more than the month before. The good news: society didn’t collapse.
How did residents do it? Let’s count the ways: Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 19th, 2008
I’ve recently witnessed a few scenes of life after peak oil, and it isn’t necessarily the Apocalypse.
In Juneau, Alaska, for example, people are proving it’s possible to change our energy-hogging ways literally overnight and still keep a community up and running. The inspiration in their case: an avalanche that severed the hydroelectric power lines serving the remote Alaska capital, cutting off about 80 percent of the city’s available electricity.
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Published on May 16th, 2008
Today is Endangered Species Day in the U.S., and the timing couldn’t be more sadly appropriate.
On the same day designated as Endangered Species Day by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Dianne Feinstein (California) comes news from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that Earth has lost nearly a third of its biodiversity over the past 37 years.
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Barack Obama is the U.S.’s best hope for developing a clean-energy future, according to a new group formed to promote and raise funds for the Democratic presidential nominee.
