Green Energy
Category archives for Green Energy
Low Hanging Fruit: A Very Healthy Diet for The Planet Earth
Posted by Greg Laden on November 17, 2015 
Michael Mann has an editorial on Scientific American’s site putting the well known 2.0C limit in perspective for the upcoming climate talks in Paris. Mann makes a number of important points in his essay (read it here: Meeting a Global Carbon Limit Is Cheaper Than Avoiding One) but there is one point that I want…
Should I Wash My Dishes Before Putting Them In The Dishwasher?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2015 
As an anthropologist, I find the interface between technology and the larger culture in which it is embedded fascinating. You all know the old story of the family cook who habitually cuts the ends off the roast before slipping it in the oven. One day her child, hoping some day to be the family cook,…
Build a solar power plant to help run a water treatment plant!
Posted by Greg Laden on November 11, 2014 
RMU Announces Solar Plant Completion Rochelle Municipal Utilities, in Rochelle, Illinois, has. started operation of a large Photovoltaic Solar Plant providing power to their water treatment facility. This is a great example of a project that should be done in more places. In the Spring of 2014, RMU was awarded a $500,000 grant from the…
Thinking Big About Clean Energy
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2014 
I want to put a solar panel on my roof so that I am releasing less greenhouse gas into the environment. But then I hear that manufacturing solar panels causes the release of greenhouse gasses, so I have to subtract that from the good I think I’m doing. But then I realize that the people…
No Coal in Minnesota
Posted by Greg Laden on July 18, 2014 
Governor Mark Dayton has called for the elimination of coal as a source of energy in Minnesota. Doing so is, clearly, essential. Having a governor call for it is a new thing; we are only seeing this sort of policy being developed recently. From MPR News, Dayton said to a group of energy policy ad…
Energy and Climate Change Items of Interest
Posted by Greg Laden on May 5, 2014 
Every one of these is a topic I’d like to write an entire blog post about but I don’t have time right now. So, YOU write the blog post! In Michigan there is an emerging debate and discussion about using the Vast Forests in that state to provide energy. This is a good idea because…
Koch Brothers And Utilities Try To Ruin Solar Energy
Posted by Greg Laden on April 28, 2014 
Solar energy is one of the best and most easily implemented options to reduce our use of fossil Carbon based fuels. Never mind that the sun is only up and strong for part of the day, and is often covered by clouds. If you put a few square meters of solar panels on the roof…
Calculating The Carbon Cost Of … well, anything.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2014 
There is currently a twitter argument happening, along with a bit of a blogging swarm, over a chimera of a remark made by John Stossle and Bjorn Lomborg. They made the claim that a million electric cars would have no benefit with resect to Carbon emissions. The crux of the argument is that there is…
Are electric cars any good? Lomborg says no, but he’s wrong.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2014 
John Stossel, writing at Real Annoying Clear Politics, (which is not a terrible place except for John Stossel) quotes some guy named Bjorn Lomborg about electric cars, thusly: Do environmentalists even care about measuring costs instead of just assuming benefits? We spend $7 billion to subsidize electric cars. Even if America reached the president’s absurd…
I want my flying electric car! Forget the jet pack.
Posted by Greg Laden on March 24, 2014 
If we, Western Civilization, had started out with electric cars, and a century later someone came along with the idea of exploding little dollops of gasoline mixed with air to propel them, that person would be thought insane. Depending on price, the cost of energy to propel an electric car a given distance can be…