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EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Officials Confirm Criminal Election Fraud Investigation of Gingrich Campaign

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Brad Blog - Jan. 31 (News) - Had the same thing been carried out by a worker for the now-defunct ACORN, Republicans -- and even Newt Gingrich -- would have called it massive "voter fraud". But the 1,500 acts of fraud, by Gingrich's own admission, were carried out by a worker hired by his campaign, so ...

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Hemp bootstraps superior technologies, rescues capitalism from cannibalistic culture | End the Lie - Independent News

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

endthelie.com - By Justin Michels - Dec. 02 (News) - Our economic crisis is directly associated with a crippling dependence on unsustainable resources and their ever-growing scarcity. Developing sustainable resources is a necessary precursor to rebuilding the various manufacturing industries, which must again become the backbone of this great nation. True to legend, the industrial hemp plant stands ready for this monumental task. Offering not only an infinitely valuable resource, but also sobering lessons for the evolution of capitalism and American culture.

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America’s Not Broke: Solving the Debt Crisis By Making Nation More Equitable, Green & Secure

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 22 (News Analysis) - The bipartisan so-called "supercommittee" has failed to reach an agreement on reducing the federal deficit after three months of negotiations over taxes and spending. The full Congress will now have a little over a year to come up with an alternative. A trigger of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over 10 years to military and domestic programs takes effect in 2013. “What people need to remember is that we are a rich country and that this crisis is actually an opportunity to harness our abundant resources in ways that will position us better for the future,” says Sarah Anderson, co-author of a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, “America Isn’t Broke: “How to Pay for the Crisis While Making the Country More Equitable, Green, and Secure.” [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Will Clean Energy Ever Be a Reality in the U.S.? Here's What's Standing in Our Way

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Wishnia - Oct. 05 (News Analysis) - So what are the obstacles to converting the U.S. electrical system to renewable energy? They are a mix of technological, economic and political factors.

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What The Press Is Getting Wrong About Solyndra

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - Sep. 22 (News Analysis) - FACT: Same Panel Of Career Officials Approved The Loan Guarantee Bush Admin. Advanced 16 Projects, Including Solyndra, Out Of 143 Submissions. The Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. At a congressional hearing, Jonathan Silver, the Executive Director of Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, testified that the Bush administration's DOE [Department of Energy] selected Solyndra from 143 submissions to move forward in the process:

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Climate Change and Disaster in Montana

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Naomi Klein, - Jul. 17 (News Analysis) - 'So the flooding may have caused the pipeline spill. But here is the really uncomfortable question: Did the pipeline cause the flooding? Not this one particular pipeline, of course, but all the pipelines, and all the coal trains, and all the refineries and the power plants they supply?'

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Vancouver green push goes to the next level

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Vancouver Sun - By Jeff Lee - Jul. 13 (News Report) - For nearly three years, Vancouver has been working on a plan to become the “greenest city” in the world by 2020. It has taken baby steps, such as bringing in separated bike lanes downtown, allowing backyard chickens and setting minimum efficiency standards for all new building construction. But now the city says it plans to make changes over the next nine years that will radically alter how businesses, homeowners, government and its partners deal with the environment. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Vancouver+green+push+goes+next+level/5091821/story.html#ixzz1S1boCwdJ

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The ungreen city — or the polluting countryside?

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

significancemagazine.org - By Chris Smaje - Jul. 01 (Investigative Report) - City‐dwellers have public transport, efficient buildings and services, everything near at hand; their country cousins travel by car and their services have to be brought long distances. City living damages the planet less. So says the new orthodoxy — but is it true?Chris Smaje asks if cities are really greener.

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New battery design could give electric vehicles a jolt

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

web.mit.edu - By David L. Chandler - Jun. 06 (News Report) - A radically new approach to the design of batteries, developed by researchers at MIT, could provide a lightweight and inexpensive alternative to existing batteries for electric vehicles and the power grid. The technology could even make “refueling” such batteries as quick and easy as pumping gas into a conventional car.

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National biomass debate intensifies with new limits in Massachussetts

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

iWatch News - By Ronnie Greene - May. 05 (Investigative Report) - The debate over biomass plants – pitched as a way to produce power while protecting the environment, but derided by critics as anything but green – intensified this week in Massachusetts with proposed new rules that would make it harder for industry to secure public aid to erect new facilities.

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The 10 Least Green States

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Joanna Zelman - Apr. 23 (News Analysis) - While Earth Day was an important time to highlight issues surrounding our environment, pollution impacts our world on every single day of the year. Last year, 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the environmental issues facing each state. In observance of Earth Day, the rankings were updated to reflect the most recent data. 24/7 Wall St. examined energy consumption, pollution problems and state energy policies. The most recent information, issued in 2009 and 2010, was used for all states. Thousands of data points were collected to determine the most and least “green” states. Below are the ten least green states in the 24/7 Wall St. ranking, based on environmental problems and how effectively these problems are addressed.

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Powering up: Green tech investment surges

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - Apr. 05 (News) - by Todd Woody. Some good news on the environmental front for a change: Global investment in green technology in the first quarter of the year spiked 52 percent compared to the previous quarter, to $2.57 billion. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the Cleantech Group, a San Francisco research and consulting firm. The increase represents a 13 percent jump over the first quarter of 2010, and indicates that investors’ appetite for renewable energy, electric cars, and other green technologies continues to rebound from the recession. But the numbers aren’t exactly good news for entrepreneurs toiling away in their garages on the next new thing. The first quarter results show that investors are focusing on existing portfolios rather than financing a lot of new startups. In fact, 93 percent of that $2.57 billion represented so-called follow-on investments. “In the first few months of the new year there have been a rash of large later-stage deals which have propelled 1Q11 to the second highest quarter ever for clean tech VC investment,” Sheeraz Haji, the Cleantech Group’s chief executive, said in a statement. “It’s encouraging to see some big private equity firms entering the space.” So who got the money? Solar companies were the big winners, taking in $641 million in 26 deals, according to the Cleantech Group. About a third of that went to a single startup, BrightSource Energy, the Oakland, Calif., solar thermal power plant builder. And venture capitalists seem to have a renewed appetite for cutting-edge thin-film photovoltaic technology, an area they poured a couple of billion dollars into back during the green tech boom. One such startup, MiaSolé, scored $106 million in the first quarter. Electric cars also proved popular among investors as the new year got underway. Fisker Automotive, a Southern California startup building a super sleek plug-in hybrid sports sedan called the Karma, took in $150 million. At the other end of the electric spectrum, Coda Automotive, another SoCal startup, took in $76 million for its middle-of-the-road four-door. Biofuels are back as well, taking in $148 million. The largest share, $75 million, went to a California company called Fulcrum Bioenergy, which is developing a process to turn municipal waste into ethanol. North America still accounts for the lion’s share of investment—85 percent in the first quarter, a 43 percent rise from the same period last year. And Silicon Valley’s Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers did the most deals—nine. But in a sign that corporate America is increasingly seeing green tech as a good bet, GE Energy Financial Services took third place for the number of deals done. Related Links: China charges up the on-ramp of the electric highway Watch a Robot swap out batteries from this electric vehicle [VIDEO] Getting to 100 percent renewables in 20 years

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The Magic of Re-reinventing Government

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By John Mecklin - Dec. 16 (Special Report) - Before the ideological war over entitlement reform begins, Congress should look to the ways technology can reduce the cost of government. All trillion of them.

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Putting Sustainability to Music

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By MIchael Todd - Nov. 05 (News Report) - A body of environmentally minded musicians and music industry types, while not abandoning the public face of action, are working to create institutional change behind the scenes.

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Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck, Big Business Leaders Meet to Plot 2010 Election

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lee Fang, Salvatore Colleluori, Riley Waggaman, Ben Kaldunski - Oct. 20 (News Report) - In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations.

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Greenwashing Goes through the Wringer

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Emily Badger - Oct. 13 (Special Report) - Companies have had an open field when it comes to making assertions about how environmentally friendly their products are. Now the feds want a little more honesty in those claims.

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Dust-Up in Coal Country

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Viveca Novak - Oct. 01 (News) - West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is under fire from his Republican opponent, John Raese, for supposedly undermining the coal industry. Raese’s ad is misleading, though. Even the coal producers disagree with it. The two are competing to fill the last two years of the late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd’s term. Raese says that Manchin "passed a law [...]

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Solar waste recycling industry starts up

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:37:09 -0700

spot.us - By Erica Gies - Aug. 09 (News Report) - Clean-tech firms seek to reuse a variety of rare, potentially toxic materials. New businesses emerge as manufacturers prepare for modules' end of life. In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life’s end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air and lungs. Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry’s green credibility.

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Here’s why renewable energy needs a boost from Congress

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Randy Rieland. - Jul. 29 (News Report) - On Tuesday, ground was broken for what will likely become the largest wind farm in the country—600-some turbines in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles that will eventually provide electricity to 600,000 homes in Southern California. Clearly, renewable energy is taking off in the U.S.? Right?? Ah, no.? And unless Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) allows a renewable electricity standard to be added to the Senate spill bill and rounds up 60 votes for the package, the situation may only get worse. Here’s some of the recent not-so-good news for renewable energy: Bust in the wind: For all the happy feelings about wind power—89 percent of respondents to a recent poll said they thought the U.S. needed to increase its supply of wind energy—it’s a sector moving backward. Through the first half of this year, the number of megawatts of wind power installed dropped 71 percent from the same period last year. Said Denise Bode, head of the American Wind Energy Association, “It’s dismal and getting worse.” Blow, baby, blow: Energy suppliers are still wrestling with the unpredictability of wind power, reports Matthew Wald in The New York Times. Companies have to dump energy late at night when it’s not needed and grid operators can’t adjust the supply of energy to meet demand like they can with fossil fuels. There’s hope that innovative storage batteries will solve the problem, but they’re still in the early stages of development. Show me the money: More than 20 wind and solar projects in California are almost good to go—except that they’re being held up by the Department of Energy’s tedious process for guaranteeing loans. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) expressed his displeasure about the situation in a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, writes Marc Lifsher in the Los Angeles Times.? Trees, don’t fail me now: The use of biomass energy took a hit this summer when a Massachusetts team of scientists concluded that burning trees could cause more greenhouse-gas emissions than coal. So now Massachusetts is tightening its regulations on the use of biomass, requiring that it would have to cut emissions by 50 percent over any fossil fuel source it replaces.? China syndrome:? As if news from within the U.S. weren’t gloomy enough, China is now kicking our butts when it comes to clean energy. Last year, it invested almost $35 billion in renewable power—nearly twice what the U.S. spent. And China also now leads the world in producing wind turbines and solar panels. Now that’s not change we need.

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Delaware passes a state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard while Congress passes the buck

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Adam Browning. - Jul. 29 (News Report) - While Congress was busy breaking our hearts and hopes for a clean energy future, guess what was happening in Delaware?? Progress, that’s what. Yesterday, Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed into law a suite of clean energy bills, including a state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard requiring 25 percent renewable energy, and some excellent solar-specific policies. It would be very nice if Congress would take care of this on a national level, but in the off chance that they don’t, it can be done state by state. It’s where most of the action has taken place to date, and, well, unfortunately I don’t see that changing.? Good work, Delaware.? Related Links: Here’s why renewable energy needs a boost from Congress Is a renewable electricity standard really back from the dead? Can the renewable electricity standard be saved?

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"Neither the Destruction of the 9th Ward Nor the South Bronx Was Inevitable"

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Majora Carter, Amy Goodman - Jul. 22 (Special Report) - We broadcast from Las Vegas, which is hosting the 2010 Netroots Nation. Thousands of people are attending, including Democrats in Congress, policy speakers, progressive bloggers and more. Among them is urban environmentalist Majora Carter. Newsweek has named her one of “25 to Watch” and one of the “century’s most important environmentalists.” She is currently president of the green-collar economic consulting firm the Majora Carter Group. In 2006, Majora Carter gave a rousing address at TED Talks about her life and her work.

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Mixed Messages on Green Homes

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Melinda Burns - Jul. 16 (News) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac try to block a municipal program that makes solar roofs affordable for homeowners.

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Corporate Heavies Urge Tripling U.S. Clean-Energy Funding

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Greenwire - By Michael Burnham - Jun. 11 (News Report) - A new council composed of General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and other corporate executives is urging the federal government to more than triple investments in clean-energy technologies to boost the nation's economic competitiveness and protect the environment. The American Energy Innovation Council, launched today in Washington, D.C., wants Congress and the Obama administration to increase the minimum level of investments in clean energy research, development and deployment (RD&D) from $5 billion to $16 billion annually. About $1 billion of the total should support the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, which Congress authorized without an initial budget but the Obama administration funded with $400 million from the federal stimulus package last year.

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DOE Releases US $200M for Solar & Water Power Technologies

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

RenewableEnergyWorld.com - Jun. 09 (News) - U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced last week that the Department will invest more than US $200 million over five years to expand and accelerate the development, commercialization, and use of solar and water power technologies throughout the United States. The investments include a photovoltaic manufacturing initiative that will provide up to $125 million over five years under which DOE will invest in manufacturing-focused research projects that will have near and mid-term impact on the U.S. solar industry and will catalyze greater cooperation within the industry. Funding will be available for applicants for university-focused development and industry-focused development. Concept papers are due June 3, 2010 with full applications due in early August.

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BPing the Arctic?

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Tomdispatch.com - By Subhankar Banerjee - May. 25 (Special Report) - If you’ve been following the increasing ecological devastation unfolding before our collective eyes in the Gulf of Mexico since BP’s rented Deepwater Horizon exploratory drilling rig went up in flames (and then under the waves), then you should know about -- and protest -- Shell Oil’s plan to begin exploratory oil drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas this summer.

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