Blogs & Ecology

Benxi Steel Mills In China

Six hundred adults "living in private households in the state of Indiana" recently were asked the extent to which they supported State subsidy of co-called "clean coal" projects. The results were surprising, but make sense in light of recent developments in the political arena.

Why is clean coal considered a "sub-prime'" choice for government support?

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, historically at the center of US coal production, regularly hosts a meeting of the worlds' scientists and engineers who are dealing with coal's dirty details.

Those attending this year's 25th Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, focus "on environmental emissions issues and technologies surrounding the continued use of coal and the development of future coal-based energy plants to achieve near-zero emissions of pollutants, reduced costs, and high thermal efficiency while producing a suite of products to meet future energy market requirements." ...

photo: Vattenfall

Photo via Yomanimus

While many investments look sketchy for 2009, venture capitalists expect green technology to receive strong funding according to a KPMG survey. In fact, many believe investments could grow by as much as 20%

KPGM polled 301 venture capitalists, company execs and bankers to feel out their thoughts on what will happen with green tech funding in the new year. Roughly half of them say green tech investing will grow by 20% or more, and about 34% expect to see it grow from 10-19%.
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Image credit::Scrap melamine sample. New York Times

Though it certainly has a number of technical kinks to work out, and there are overarching political and ecological questions which must be addressed, carbon capture and storage (or sequestration, depending on how you want to translate the ‘S’ in the CSS acronym) is the ace in the hole which an increasing number of people hope will allow society to keep burning coal without emitting tons and tons of carbon emissions every year.

Last week when I posted on Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, I promised John McCain would get the same treatment. As much of his speech focused on his past record of service and pointing out differences between his campaign and Obama’s, his relevant passages (other than passing remarks) in regards to the environment were pretty much given in one go. So, here ther...

Many of you have probably seen, heard or read about Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last night. For those who haven’t seen it and who have 45 minutes to spare, a video of the entire speech is embedded above. However for those with less time on their hands, here are the relevant portions in regards to what Mr Obama has said in regards to energy policy. ...

photo by Future-PhD. via flickr

We’ve written about the enthusiasm for algae-based biofuels a number of times, but this is first time I’ve seen reference to this angle on the green fuel’s production. Using waste carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants to grow the algae.

Given that it is green conventional wisdom (as well as my personal belief) that we should be doing everything possible to reduce coal burning as much and as quickly as possible, I am torn by this development.

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A few years ago, I wouldn’t have known who Jeffrey Sachs was had I not walked into my university bookstore and beelined my way towards a book jacket announcing a special foreword by Bono. Always a fan of Bono’s music and philanthropic work, and intrigued by the mystery author's ambitious title—The End of Poverty—I picked up the book on a whim.