All Environment
- Romney zinger: Obama backs 'green' energy losers. Is he right?Romney pans Obama's subsidies for 'green' energy, citing Solyndra and other high-profile failures. Obama has far more green energy winners than losers so far, but his strategy is risky.Â
- Snow on the way? Why forecasters see a big winter for much of eastern US.AccuWeather is forecasting above-normal snowfall from the southern Appalachians to southern New England. The biggest storms, it says, will take place in January and February.
- The numbers conundrum for Tesla's electric car 'Superchargers'Tesla plans to build 100 of its 'Supercharger' stations across the US by 2015. The number might be a bit high considering the chargers are only compatible with Model S sedans--of which Tesla has only built 255, according to OilPrice.com.
- Obama blocks Chinese wind farm ownership in OregonCiting national security risks, President Obama has blocked a Chinese company from acquiring wind farms in northern Oregon, according to Consumer Energy Report. The wind farms are situated near a US military base where unmanned drones are tested.
- Ghana's best shot at going green: sewage powerWith solar and wind power costly and inadequate, Ghanaians are turning to some very alternative sources of energy – like human waste.
- Natural gas futures fall. A mild winter to blame?Natural gas futures slipped 3.8 percent Wednesday, ending a six-day rally. Analysts attribute the drop in natural gas futures to weather forecasts predicting relatively warm temperatures for the coming winter.Â
- Want a green job? Here's who's hiring in wind energy, solarWind energy, environmental consulting, biotechnology, and solar power were some of the fastest-growing industries in 2011, according to OilPrice.com. Which companies are doing the most hiring this year?
- Fisker tries new tack as woes pile up for plug-in carmakersFisker wants to share technology and sell shares, the latest sign that the economics of plug-in cars are making it difficult for automakers to turn a profit.Â
- Nest Learning Thermostat: temperature control for the iPhone crowdThe Nest Learning Thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits, creating energy-efficient, customizable temperature settings for homes. Oh, and you can control the Nest Learning Thermostat with your iPhone.Â
- South Africa OKs fracking for natural gasSouth Africa has lifted a ban on the hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method for tapping natural gas reserves commonly known as "fracking," according to OilPrice.com. South Africa ranks among the top ten global owners of shale gas resources and some say fracking will help the country exploit these resources.
- Sanctions on Iran: Is there a limit to their effect on Iran's oil production?OPEC figures show a general decline in Iran's crude oil production after Iran was hit with economic sanctions this summer, according to OilPrice.com. But has the effect of the sanctions on Iran's oil production reached a limit?
- Nikola Tesla gets his own museum, thanks to cartoonistNikkola Tesla, not Thomas Edison, is considered the true 'father of electricity' by many. Now, thanks to the fundraising efforts of a Seattle-based cartoonist, the inventor's abandoned New York laboratory may find second life as a museum dedicated to Nikola Tesla.
- Half of Great Barrier Reef lost to starfish and cyclones in less than 30 yearsThat overall 50-percent decline, they estimate, is a yearly loss of about 3.4 percent of the reef.
- Organizing and synthesizing the world's energy dataEnergy is a sector potentially well-suited to be mined with big data—the accumulation, integration, synthesis and interpretation of enormous amounts of data from disparate sources—Stuebi writes.Â
- Helium shortage? Bureaucrats, firms are creating too little hot air.Helium shortage is raising prices for everyone from physicists and hospitals to retailers of Mylar balloons. But it's not supply and demand that's caused the helium shortage, it's a botched public-private handoff of responsibility.
- But is it really 'green'? FTC cracks down on false eco-friendly adsNew guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission warn marketers not to make broad, unqualified claims that their products are environmentally friendly or eco-friendly.
- 'Green banks': The answer to clean energy's subsidy woes?Green banks, clean-energy finance banks that operate as public-private financing institutions, are being touted as a life-line that will push the clean energy industry into maturity, according to OilPrice.com
- The clunky, lagging transition to renewable energyHistory suggests that it can take up to 50 years to replace an existing energy infrastructure, and we don't have that long, Cobb writes.
- Is energy independence a fantasy?Can America's vast shale oil and gas reserves – combined with fracking and drilling technlogies – drive the U.S. to complete energy independence? It looks doubtful, according to OilPrice.com and a report from Credit Suisse.
- Oil prices fall as global demand weakensOil prices dropped 12 cents to $92.07 per barrel Monday amid expectations for weaker demand. The lag in oil prices showed pessimism over the prospects for both domestic and global demand given weak growth in China, the US, and Europe.