Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Energy”
Subsidies for fossil fuels that cause climate change have soared since 2013, a new study from the International Monetary Fund has revealed. Oil, gas and coal costs will be subsidized to the tune of US$5.3 trillion a year in 2015. The last time the IMF ran the data it calculated they were worth $1.9 trillion. Economists say the latest figures …
Wired put together a very interesting piece on the renewable energy company Vortex. They are now field testing bladeless wind energy turbines. Instead of capturing energy via the circular motion of a propeller, the Vortex takes advantage of what’s known as vorticity, an aerodynamic effect that produces a pattern of spinning vortices. Vorticity has long been considered the enemy of architects and …
The world’s largest privately-held coal company has been exposed capitalizing off the Ebola crisis in West Africa—a move public health officials called “ludicrous” and “opportunistic.” A Guardian exposé reveals that Peabody Coal’s new public relations campaign—which aims to brand the iconic pollutant as a “21st century fuel”—promotes its product “as an answer to Africa’s devastating public health crisis.” Journalist Suzanne Goldberg reports: Greg Boyce, …
The fossil fuel industry receives $5.3 trillion a year in government subsidies, despite its disastrous toll on the environment, human health, and other global inequality issues, a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published Monday has found. That means that governments worldwide are spending $10 million every minute to fund energy companies—more than the estimated public health spending …
Duke Energy pleaded guilty on Thursday to environmental crimes and has agreed to pay a record $102 million in fines and restitution for years of illegal pollution, ignored warnings, and poorly maintained infrastructure. U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Howard said it is the largest federal criminal fine in North Carolina history. But some environmentalists insist the punishment is insufficient, given …
For the third time in a decade, a major fire/explosion has ripped apart a transformer at the Indian Pointreactor complex. News reports have taken great care to emphasize that the accident happened in the “non nuclear” segment of the plant. Ironically, the disaster spewed more than 15,000 gallons of oil into the Hudson River, infecting it with a toxic sheen that carried downstream for miles. Entergy, …
As a former covert CIA operative, specializing in counter-proliferation, I still believe that the spread of nuclear weapons and the risk of their use is the greatest existential threat we face. Twenty-six years after the end of the Cold War, the world still has more than 15,000 nuclear weapons. Whatever other issues people care about — poverty, the environment, inequality …
In 1976, Robert Pollard, a rarity among U.S. government nuclear officials—honest and safety-committed—said of the Indian Point nuclear power station that it was “an accident waiting to happen.” Pollard had been project manager at Indian Point for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from which he resigned at that time charging the NRC “suppresses the existence of unresolved safety questions …
A new investigation by the Guardian, highlighting the large campaign contributions given by fossil fuel corporations to lawmakers who then back public subsidies for those same companies, has led presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to describe the arrangement—especially in light of the dangers posed by runaway climate change—with one word: absurd. In their examination of three specific fossil fuel projects run by Shell, …
Debbie Dooley is mad as hell. Since 2012, the fifty-six-year-old grandmother and former IT consultant has been waging a fierce grassroots battle against her home state utility, Georgia Power, to make it easier and cheaper for homeowners to install rooftop solar panels. Now, she’s working with allies in Florida to sponsor a ballot initiative that would allow businesses and homeowners …
