All Environment
Who's watching North Dakota's oil pipelines?Recent pipeline spills in North Dakota have drawn attention to the nation's extensive oil and gas pipeline network. Pipeline capacity is short of what's needed to keep pace with oil production in the United States, Graeber writes, and the regulatory agencies to monitor safety aren't up to snuff.
Happy Halloween! But ... what's powering your pumpkin?Happy Halloween: Trick or treat? Solar or oil?聽Even Halloween jack-o'-lanterns have joined the energy debate. When the Department of Energy promoted clean energy and efficiency as pumpkin-carving suggestions, the US oil and gas lobby served up its own Halloween ideas.聽
Obama Boston speech interrupted by Keystone XL protestersKeystone XL protesters聽used President Obama's Wednesday speech on health care to put the Canada-Texas pipeline back in the spotlight. Attention has shifted away from Keystone XL in recent months as fiscal debates and health care have overshadowed climate change in Washington.
Walmart: the next clean energy giant?The retail giant Walmart currently has 89 megawatts of solar power at 215 locations and in 2012, Walmart reached a goal of a 20 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions.
How 'smart parking' could save a million barrels of oil every daySmart parking uses聽low-cost sensors, real-time data collection, and mobile-phone-enabled automated payment systems that help drivers quickly find a parking spot, Rucks and Guevara-Stone write. The system reduces car emissions in urban centers by reducing the need for people to needlessly circle city blocks searching for parking.
US extends crackdown on coal overseasThe US will end financial support for new coal projects overseas, except in narrowly defined circumstances, to address rising greenhouse-gas emissions. Can clean energy alone alleviate energy poverty?
Daylight saving time ends: Does it save energy?Daylight saving time ends Sunday in most states. But does daylight saving time actually save energy?
Pacific states push for price on carbon. Is it effective?Three western states have joined British Columbia in a regional scheme to put a price on carbon and implement other emissions-reducing policies.聽If successful, it could be a model for other regions, but questions remain over the efficacy of taxing carbon.
Morocco in spotlight amid Libya oil disruptionsOil companies operating in the once-mighty Libya are reviewing their commitments more than two years after the revolution there.聽Further west, however, sits Morocco, where some oil companies are eagerly laying the groundwork for what could be a major oil and gas bonanza.
With storms like Sandy, it's the flooding, not the wind, that gets youFlooding from surges in storms like like Sandy, which struck the US East Coast a year ago, causes more fatalities than wind or rain. Yet the official hurricane category system fails to convey the threat of flooding, say researchers.
Are Asian carp reproducing in the Great Lakes?In troubling news for those who depend on Midwest fisheries, scientists say they have documented spawning among an Asian carp species within the Great Lakes watershed.
How global warming could boost green energy in an unexpected wayGlobal warming is expected to make water scarcer in some places, which could mean nuclear and coal power plants, which need a lot of water, could lose out to green energy, a study suggests.
A superstorm Sandy legacy: Gas pumps that work when power is outNew York will become the first state to store gasoline for use during emergencies, and it also now requires certain gas stations to have backup electricity. One year after superstorm Sandy, New Jersey, too, is moving to ensure that service stations are always powered up.
Why tight oil won't make US energy secureThe US is relying less and less on foreign suppliers to meet its energy needs, but US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says lauding those gains may be misguided in the drive for energy security.
How a weird weather pattern could predict heat wavesA peculiar atmospheric pattern tends to occur up to 15 to 20 days before a heat wave in the United States, researchers say. 聽
Arctic temperatures reach 44,000-year high, scientists sayNew research shows that average summer temperatures in the Canadian Arctic are the highest in at least 44,000 years.
Oil prices fall below $100. Still good for US economy?Strong inventories have pushed US oil prices down into double digits, after three months above the $100 range. It's a lift for the US economy, even though the suddenly booming US energy industry will take a small hit.聽
Pakistan looks to Iran to help keep the lights onPakistan may be caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between Iran and Washington, Graeber writes. But given the bilateral interests on the Asian side, it's Washington that may be the odd man out.
Americans taken from oil ship near Nigeria. Why pirates are moving west.Two US citizens were kidnapped from an oil supply vessel off the coast of Nigeria. The incident highlights piracy's shift westward from East Africa 鈥� tighter security and the promise of new oil have made the continent's western coast an increasing target for pirate attacks.- False widow spiders force school in Britain to closeFalse widow spiders, often confused with black widow spiders, have forced the closure of a school in Britain a week before Halloween.聽No one has been bitten by the false widow spiders, according to the school, but local health authorities have advised it to close for the day to deal with the infestation.