warm

Because nothing beats a nice hot meal

One of my favorite things when I was a kid was going to family brunch on the weekends. Having good cooks as parents was a definite bonus for the kids, and when we had Sunday brunch, we knew we could count on an elaborate spread. One of the best things about brunch is that we got to serve ourselves out of the seldom-used warming pans. There was something extra special about spooning food out of a buffet-style pan warmed by heating candles.

Broil King knows that warming pans like the ones my parents used give instant "host with the … Read more

Asian air pollution could make U.S. summers hotter, but for how long?

So-called "short-lived" gasses and black particle pollution from power plants in Asia and transport in the United States could have a greater influence than previously predicted on temperature changes in North America and elsewhere on Earth, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last week. But is the headline the whole story?

While the general press and blog coverage of the report emphasizes Asia as a cause of warming in the United States, scientists also emphasized that better practices in energy-intensive economies with less-than-clean power plants could be an equally large opportunity for stabilizing the climate. … Read more

One-third of China's carbon emissions tied to exports

One-third of China's carbon emissions come from manufacturing electronics and other goods that are then exported worldwide, according to a July report in the journal Energy Policy.

The findings come from researchers led by Christopher Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Researchers measured 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide resulting from China's exporting industries in 2005. That rose from 760 million tons in 2002 and from 230 million tons in 1987, based on an analysis of economic and emissions reports from China.

In that time, carbon emissions from making electronics … Read more

Is Al Gore nuts?

In his speech in Constitution Hall this week, former Vice President and renewable energy investor Al Gore extolled a stretch goal challenging America to achieve 100% renewable power within 10 years.

The quote: "Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years." And my favorite part: "When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and … Read more

What Cleantech sector are the VCs after now?

As always, the venture community is looking for its next big thing. The cleantech world is no exception. Despite the dearth of exits, so much capital has flowed into the cleantech sector that investors need new places to put it. So despite my promise to certain friends not to blog certain funding rumors in each category, the top 4 contenders are:

Green building materials - I'm not sure it would be my thing, but investors across the board seem to think this area is ripe for a hit.

Carbon IT - With some sort of cap and trade a … Read more

Craig Venter's CO2-Eating Organisms

Craig Venter, who led the charge to decypher human DNA, is now on the green hunt. According to Treehugger he's looking for a double-wammy: take CO2 in the atmosphere and convert it into fuel (rather than fuel creating CO2 as is mostly the case today).

As we've described before, Venter's overarching goal is to produce microorganisms that are able to "convert things like sugar or sunlight or carbon dioxide into fuels that people are very familiar with, like diesel fuel and gasoline," as he himself put it. These would constitute not only the fabled second- … Read more

U.S. voluntary carbon market does not reward complexity

I had a lively discussion with Susan Wood, CEO of SCC Americas, at the Carbon Finance North America Conference last week. SCC Americas is the U.S. arm of Syndicatum Carbon Capital, one of the largest developers of Kyoto-based CDM carbon credit projects in the world. Susan herself has been doing emissions trading for more than a decade, after starting out as an environmental engineer.

The punchline in our chat was quite fascinating--the U.S. voluntary carbon market does not reward complexity in projects, Susan says. Basically, U.S. carbon credit developers are only doing a few limited types of … Read more

Will people pay more for cleaner energy? You decide

It's funny how the same study can spark slightly different, even contradictory reactions. Consulting firm Deloitte released a report Monday of consumers' attitudes about household energy costs and climate change. Here's how two publications interpreted the results.

Greenwire: Most would accept higher electric bills to battle warming -- survey

A majority of Americans say they are willing to pay slightly higher electricity bills to help curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants...More than 36 percent of respondents said they would accept a 5 percent increase, and 17 percent of respondents would accept a 10 percent annual boost … Read more

EcoSecurities founder says carbon markets work

As arguably the largest single market segment in the clean-tech sector, carbon markets are an area of keen interest for me personally and professionally, so it is always frustrating that the mainstream media largely refuses to learn the details.

In general, layman and media who don't understand the details of the carbon markets attack carbon offsets in two areas: first, questioning whether the credits are for a project that would have occurred anyway (a concept known in carbon as "additionality"); and second, questioning whether there are checks and balances to ensure the environmental standards are adhered to … Read more