NewsTrust - Energy - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Game Over for the Climate

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By James Hansen - May. 11 (Opinion) - 'Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read...that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves 'regardless of what we do.''

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Wind farms can increase night time temperatures, research reveals

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Damian Carrington - Apr. 29 - Study in US claims building of huge wind farms in Texas has increased night temperatures by up to 0.72C Large windfarms can increase local night time temperatures by fanning warmer air onto the ground, new research has revealed. The study used satellite data to show that the building of huge wind farms in west Texas over the last decade has warmed the nights by up to 0.72C. "Wind power is going to be a part of the solution to the climate change, air pollution and energy security problem," said Liming Zhou, at the University of Albany in New York. "But understanding the impacts of wind farms is critical for developing management strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of wind power." West Texas has seen rapid expansion of wind farms , with turbine numbers rising from 111 in 2003 to 2358 in 2011. Zhou's team compared the land surface temperatures at the wind farms with other areas across this period and detected a clear rise at night. They note, however, that the effect on the ...

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Letters: Shale gas could fracture our renewables policy

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Apr. 24 - It beggars belief that fracking is recommended to be extended and earthquakes the only risk taken into account ( Gas fracking gets the green light , 17 April). Other risks are not just theoretical; appalling consequences have already happened on a wide scale in the US. Fracking has been carried out in rural areas where people's off-grid water supplies have been made unusable by pollution. There have been cases where people cannot use water from the tap at the kitchen sink because methane comes with it, with the risk of explosions. Only half the chemical-laden water used in the process is recovered. It is then kept in lagoons on the surface where it is allowed to evaporate volatile toxic chemicals into the air. We cannot afford the risk to our water supplies. We don't have the open spaces which have been affected in the US. Even now we are faced with water restrictions and drought. We don't have the necessary huge quantities of water available to be used and made dirty for ever. The landscape ...

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Petrol crisis 'is our Thatcher moment', Tory MPs reportedly tell party members

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Damien Pearse - Mar. 31 - Unite accuses ministers of 'spoiling for a fight' after memo from MPs emerges comparing situation with 1980s miners' strike Tory MPs have compared the panic over fuel supplies to the 1980s miners' strike and urged party members to "humiliate" the unions by stockpiling petrol, it has been reported. In a private message from MPs to constituency associations, seen by the Daily Telegraph's Charles Moore , members were told: "This is our Thatcher moment." The message reportedly continues: "In order to defeat the coming miners' strike, [Thatcher] stockpiled coal. When the strike came, she weathered it, and the Labour party, tarred by the strike, was humiliated. In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled. Then, if the strike comes, we will weather it, and Labour, in hock to the Unite union, will be blamed." In his blog, Moore comments: "There is a key difference which ministers have not spotted. When Mrs Thatcher piled up the coal at power ...

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The Caucus: Romney Misleads on Obama and Energy Prices

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By By JOHN M. BRODER - Mar. 20 (Opinion) - In an interview and a Web video, Mitt Romney made misleading or unsubstantiated statements claiming President Obama sought higher gasoline and energy prices.

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Orrin Hatch, fossilized

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - Mar. 17 - By david folland Published Mar 17, 2012 01:01AM MDT When I read Sen. Orrin Hatch’s op-ed (“Boost U.S. oil production,” Opinion, March 4), it evoked the picture of a man speeding down the freeway with head turned backwards, checking to be sure no one was coming up from behind. Indeed, looking to the past, it would appear that expanding oil exploration, as Hatch asserted, would be the best way to lower gas prices. However, ahead of us lies a serious pileup, and we are going to join the crash if we don’t turn our heads and look forward. That accide... ...

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A better understanding of Iran might save us from catastrophe

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Peter Beaumont - Mar. 11 (Opinion) - As Israel plays up the country's nuclear threat, the west should be seeking active dialogue with Tehran "Actions," said Samuel Johnson in his life of the English poet Abraham Cowley, "are visible." What are secret, Johnson added pointedly, are "motives". In the case of Iran's nuclear programme what we know of Tehran's actions and motives are the following. With some degree of "overall credibility" – according to the 2011 board of governors' report from the International Atomic Energy Agency – we know that Tehran, in all likelihood, made active studies of technologies associated with nuclear weapon design and payload design. By and large, the report believes, that activity ceased in 2003, coincident with the US-led invasion of Iraq. We know, too, because it has been even more visible, that Iran has come close to mastering the nuclear fuel cycle as well, including enrichment of uranium up to 20%. The problem with the present dangerous debate, as it has been framed ever-more closely ...

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Michio Kaku: Captain Michio and the World of Tomorrow

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Brian Bolduc - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - By 2020, the word "computer" will have vanished from the English language, physicist Michio Kaku predicts. Every 18 months, computer power doubles, he notes, so in eight years, a microchip will cost only a penny. Instead of one chip inside a desktop, we'll have millions of chips in all our possessions: furniture, cars, appliances, clothes. Chips will become so ubiquitous that "we won't say the word 'computer,'" prophesies Mr. Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York. "We'll simply turn things on."

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Pass the Books. Hold the Oil.

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - Education is a better economic driver than a country’s natural resources.

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Editorial Board: Is the fight against global warming hopeless?

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Editorial Board - Feb. 26 (Opinion) - IS THE FIGHT against global warming hopeless? It can seem so. The long-term threat to the climate comes from carbon dioxide, which lingers in the atmosphere for hundreds of years , locking in higher temperatures for generations. After decades of effort, only about one-tenth of America’s energy mix comes from renewable sources that don’t produce carbon ...

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Stop Keystone pipeline before it's too late

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By Ted Turner - Feb. 22 (Opinion) - The purpose of Keystone XL is to bring tar sands crude oil through the United States to Gulf Coast refineries. The route through the United States is actually the oil industry's second choice: Transporting the oil west from Alberta to the Pacific Coast would be shorter and much cheaper, but Canadians concerned about environmental impacts and threats to native people's lands are challenging that route, and with good reason. The existing and potential environmental impacts along the 2,000-mile pipeline route are profound.

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Vintage ketch sets sail to launch slow cargo movement - The Guardian

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - Feb. 13 - Vintage ketch sets sail to launch slow cargo movement The Guardian The hope is that, with this symbolic journey, Irene – a lovely wooden ketch built in Somerset in 1907 to transport bricks and tiles – will blaze a trail for wind-powered cargo ships. The project, New Dawn Traders, was hatched by Jamie Pike, ... and ...

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'Stirling' power should propel spacecraft, experts say

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New Scientist - Feb. 02 - 'Stirling' power should propel spacecraft, experts say

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Project to pour water into volcano to make power

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

San Jose Mercury News - By editor@mercurynews.com (

By Jeff Barnard

Associated Press

) - Jan. 15 - Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise.

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Best of the Web Today: Bad-Faith Journalism

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By James Taranto - Jan. 04 (Opinion) - It's not as eagerly awaited as Time's "Man of the Year" was back when people paid attention to Time, but PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year" nonetheless manages to generate a lot of chatter, aimed as it is at those who chatter for a living. This year almost all of the chatter was negative, as the St. Petersburg Times's self-styled "fact checking" operation, which usually leans left, tacked to the right, naming as its "Lie" the claim that "Republicans voted to end Medicare." The reference is to Rep. Paul Ryan's reform proposal, which passed the GOP-controlled House as part of a budget resolution before being rejected by the Democratic Senate.

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Will the year 2012 be an apocalyptic game-changer?

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times - Jan. 01 () - Amid a swirl of science, hucksterism and genuine spiritual belief, prognosticators say Dec. 21, 2012, will usher in a new era of nonviolence and sustainability or bring about TEOTWAWKI — survivalist shorthand for The End of the World As We Know It.There are years that are remembered for changing the course of human history:1492. 1776. 1945.

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Climate Talks Consensus: All Countries Should Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions--In Future

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Scientific American - Dec. 11 - DURBAN, South Africa--For the first time, all major nations--developed and developing--have agreed to a roadmap that would combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions via an "outcome with legal force" that would not come into effect before 2020. The 194 countries negotiating here also agreed that such a universal plan must be completed by 2015 at the latest. ...

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Warmth In Winter: Smart Windows To Let Heat In

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

All Things Considered - Nov. 29 - Windows treated with an insulating film are twice as efficient as regular double-pane windows, since they block heat from entering a building. That's useful on warm days, but inefficient when it's cold. One lab is researching a new coating that could be turned on and off with an electrical current.

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Rural Peru gets connected | Mattia Cabitza

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Mattia Cabitza - Nov. 28 - More than 100 communities in rural Peru now have renewable energy and internet access, thanks to an aid programme that is being rolled out across the eight poorest nations in Latin America The connection was not of crisp video quality, but the chorus of schoolchildren from San José de Huamaní, near Ica in the south, could be heard loud and clear: "Good morning," they chanted. Hundreds of kilometres away, they were greeted with applause, through video link, by a brightly lit conference room full of Peruvian and European Union officials. They were meeting in Lima to announce the completion of an aid programme that is taking renewable energy and the internet to 130 rural communities in Peru. With funding from the EU, the Euro-Solar programme is being rolled out across the eight poorest nations of Latin America, such as Peru, at a cost of €36m ($47.6m/£30.9m). The aim is to benefit more than 300,000 people whose communities are not connected to the electricity grid. Via satellite ...

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Here Comes The Sun

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - We are, or at least we should be, on the cusp of an energy transformation, driven by the rapidly falling cost of solar power. That’s right, solar power. If that surprises you, if you still think of solar power as some kind of hippie fantasy, blame our fossilized political system, in which fossil fuel producers have both powerful political allies and a powerful propaganda machine that denigrates alternatives.

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Solyndra's Execs Take The Fifth

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

All Things Considered - Sep. 24 - Top executives of Solyndra, a bankrupt solar-energy company, have declined to testify in a congressional hearing Friday, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. The company is under investigation for a half-billion dollar government loan guarantee it received.

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Southeast a holdout in mandating renewable energy

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By By RAY HENRY, Associated Press - Aug. 06 - Southeast a holdout in mandating renewable energy

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Editorial: Blame Congress

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:09:03 -0700

New York Times - Jul. 19 (Opinion) - Congress has failed to enact climate change legislation that would have encouraged innovation.

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Opinion: Don't rush to abandon nuclear energy

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

San Jose Mercury News - By editor@mercurynews.com (

By Patrick Moore

Special to the Mercury News) - Jun. 08 - In the wake of events in Japan that damaged Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear reactors, Americans must resist the temptation to make hasty conclusions about the future of nuclear energy.

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Do the China-Pakistan pipeline shuffle

Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Aljazeera - By Pepe Escobar - May. 27 (Opinion) - China is adamant that the West "must respect" Pakistan's sovereignty. The message was delivered during Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani's recent four-day visit to Beijing, The Times of India reconstructed the message as a stark warning that: "any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China."

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