All Environment
- Can Arkansas solve its piranha problem?Two Arkansans caught what they thought was a big perch, but it turned out to be something more voracious. Authorities say that piranhas are not all that uncommon in Arkansas, but why?
- Solar power is booming. But is it booming fast enough?Solar capacity is growing around the world. But new studies suggest it isn't growing quickly enough to meet the world's expanding energy needs and stall the threat of climate change.
- This deal could completely change North American energy dynamicsThe US ban on oil exports could be on the way out – at least to a limited extent, writes Alexis Arthur. And it could dramatically alter the landscape of North American energy integration.
- Why Six Flags faces a lawsuit over a solar farm in N.J.The lawsuit claims that Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., violates state law with its plans to cut nearly 19,000 trees to build a 90-acre solar farm.
- How would climate change regulations help now? Study seeks answer.Climate change regulations are always cast as job-killers for some distant and diffuse gain. A new study attempts to look at what immediate benefits they might bring.
- Electricity data: Chinese growth is slower than advertisedChina's economic growth is slowing, but growth may be even slower than the government says, Kurt Cobb writes – especially when electricity consumption is used as a proxy for growth levels.
- Missing pieces and the future of energy [Recharge]Tesla Motors goes big on batteries; Oil prices have a fragile rally; Japan backslides on climate efforts. Stay current on global energy with the Monitor's Recharge.
- With oil prices low, refining saves the day for Exxon and ShellCheap oil has challenged the oil business, but refining has been a bright spot. That's good news for the likes of Exxon and Shell, whose losses at the well have been offset by strong demand for cheap gasoline and other refined products.
- How new oil transport regulations could increase rail safetyUS and Canadian regulators unveiled new rules and standards for moving oil by train. How long until the regulations take hold?Â
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk jolts market with new home battery systemThe CEO of electric car maker Tesla Motors hopes to park hundreds of millions of large, solar panel-connected batteries in homes and businesses so the world can disconnect from power plants.
- How many species will climate change push to extinction? Study offers clue.Rising temperatures from climate change could result in the extinction of 16 percent of Earth's species, a new study says. But the variables are many and hard to gauge.
- Harvard and Bill Gates targeted: What's behind the fossil fuel divestment push? In the 1980s, it was apartheid. Now, divestment is being used to target fossil fuelsIn April, a group of Harvard University students called on the school to divest its $36 billion endowment of fossil fuel companies. They are part of a growing movement that is putting pressure on coal, oil, and natural gas companies.The Guardian launched a "Keep it in the Ground" campaign in mid-March to get The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Welcome Fund (a medical charity) to divest its $43.5 billion endowment from fossil fuel assets.
- Oil field service companies to bear brunt of price collapseOil majors like BP and ExxonMobil are optimistic that low oil prices are helping them trim fat and right-size their operations. But those savings could come at the expense of oil field service companies like Halliburton and Transocean.
- Why the US should worry about oil sector jobsCheap oil is good news for motorists at the pump, but the price downturn has hurt employment in the once-booming US oil industry – and that has implications for the broader economy.
- California's tough new plan to curb greenhouse gasesCalifornia's Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday to set a target of reducing emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
- Russia to power Arctic drilling with floating nuclear reactorsArctic drilling is becoming increasingly appealing as sea ice melts, and Russia is planning to use nuclear power to help run ports, coastal infrastructure, and oil and gas extraction.
- Points of ProgressIn 2014, economies grew, emissions did notPrevious years of CO2 'flatlining' came with economic contraction, but that wasn't the case last year. That kind of carbon-stable expansion of wealth hasn’t happened in four decades, says the International Energy Agency.
- Climate change, cyberattacks are growing threats to grid, says US energy chiefUS energy infrastructure is outdated and increasingly vulnerable to threats, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters at a Monitor-hosted breakfast in Washington.
- Why the EU bit the hand that fuels it [Recharge]The EU levels formal antitrust charges against Gazprom; Japan's nuclear restart has its ups and downs; President Obama talks climate change in the Everglades. Catch up on global energy with Recharge.
- Tensions grow in Arctic Council as US takes controlThe US has taken over a two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, an international forum consisting of the eight nations that have territory in the Arctic. Up until recently it has been held up as a model of international cooperation.