Dirty Coal, Clean Future To environmentalists, "clean coal" is an insulting oxymoron. But for now, the only way to meet the world's energy needs, and to arrest climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm, is to use coal—dirty, sooty, toxic coal—in more-sustainable ways. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible. China is now the leader in this area, the Google and Intel of the energy world. If we are serious about global warming, America needs to work with China to build a greener future on a foundation of coal. Otherwise, the clean-energy revolution will leave us behind, with grave costs for the world's climate and our economy. (more
here and responses
here,
here and
here)
posted by kliuless
on Nov 12, 2010 -
49 comments
Quantum processes involved in photosynthesis? "[A]lgae and bacteria may have been performing quantum calculations at life-friendly temperatures for billions of years. The evidence comes from a study of
how energy travels across the light-harvesting molecules involved in photosynthesis. The work has culminated this week in the extraordinary announcement that these molecules in a marine alga may exploit quantum processes at room temperature to transfer energy without loss. Physicists had
previously ruled out quantum processes, arguing that they could not persist for long enough at such temperatures to achieve anything useful." (
via mr)
posted by kliuless
on Feb 10, 2010 -
43 comments
Greenspan on oil (speaking to the the National Italian American Foundation, which
De Niro would never do :) "We will begin the transition to the next major sources of energy perhaps before midcentury as production from conventional oil reservoirs, according to central tendency scenarios of the Energy Information Administration, is projected to peak." And just to make it political, here's
a chart relating presidential approval ratings to gas prices!
posted by kliuless
on Oct 15, 2004 -
9 comments
Interesting dissection of US energy/environmental politics and policy along conservative/liberal lines:
"We are, it seems, always in some kind of energy crisis, real or imagined. Some worry that our major sources of energy are about to run out. Some despair that our energy-hungry civilization is destroying the natural world. Some believe our quest for energy is driving us into unnecessary wars and unsavory alliances. And some lament that excessive regulations on energy development are crippling the American way of life. When it comes to energy politics, there is no shortage of alarmism, conservative and liberal alike." The conclusion was sorta weak tho, I thought :D [via
J. Orlin Grabbe - NSFW!]
posted by kliuless
on Jun 19, 2004 -
1 comment
Republicans plan energy bill "Legislation to be introduced next week by the Senate energy committee chairman would pay billions of dollars in subsidies to the energy companies, which gave generously in last year's campaign."
More here.
posted by kliuless
on Feb 13, 2001 -
3 comments
