Barack Obama, Climate Hawk!
Barack Obama, Climate Hawk! More context at http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/25/2213341/invest-divest-obama-goes-full-climate-hawk-in-speech-unveiling-plan-to-cut-carbon-pollution/
Read moreJonathan Koomey
The back story about “The Fatal Flaw in the Case for Keystone”
For many months I struggled with what to think about the Keystone pipeline. On the one hand, my friends in the Administration and elsewhere argued persuasively (at least on first blush) that the oil from the tar sands would be sold one way or another, so whether the pipeline was
Read moreThe Fatal Flaw in the Case for Keystone
The US State Department recently delayed their final decision about the Keystone XL pipeline, [1] which would transport heavy oil from Canada’s Alberta tar sands to US refineries on the Gulf coast. Proponents of the pipeline claim that it will create many US jobs and improve US national security,
Read moreMy talk at Google's "How Green is the Internet?" summit last week
it was an honor to follow Al Gore on stage at Google’s “How Green is the Internet?” summit last Thursday. I worked hard on the talk, and it’s posted (along with Gore’s talk, some “rapid fire” research talks, and a wonderfully passionate talk from Eric Schmidt, for
Read moreSome welcome recognition for Cold Cash, Cool Climate
Earlier this month, my book, Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs, was awarded an honorable mention in the 2013 Eric Hoffer awards, in the E-book nonfiction category. It was also a Finalist in the ‘Business: Entrepreneurship & Small Business’ category of the 2013 International Book
Read moreIDC predicts that shipments of tablet computers will surpass laptops in 2013
The data company IDC has a report out today suggesting that tablet shipments will surpass laptop shipments this year. That’s not surprising to anyone who’s been following this space, and it’s an indication (if we needed any more) that the future of computing is both mobile and
Read moreWas Three Mile Island the main driver of US nuclear power's decline?
The short answer: no. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists just published a feature article by Nate Hultman and me that addresses this very question. All the articles in that issue are available for free during the month of May 2013–after that they go behind a paywall. Here’s
Read moreAn outstanding speech on climate by Al Gore at the Stephen Schneider memorial
I wasn’t able to attend Al Gore’s memorial lecture for Stephen Schneider at Stanford, but it was just posted, and it’s “must-see”. Brilliant. Moving. Powerful. Inspirational. No visuals, just a passionate and committed person speaking from his heart. Watch it: Al Gore @ Stanford | April 23, 2013
Read moreI've posted powerpoint slides with graphics from "If we don't change our direction we'll end up where we're headed"
After Climate Progress reposted “If we don’t change our direction we’ll end up where we’re headed”, many people asked for the graphics associated with that post, so I put a powerpoint deck online for easy download. Joe Romm also posted high resolution versions of his temperature chart
Read moreBreakthrough in small batteries!
Yesterday Nature Communications published an article summarizing a new innovation in battery technology that promises much higher power AND energy densities, even for very small batteries. Batteries are usually good at delivering energy (kilowatt-hours) but aren’t as good at delivering power (kilowatts). These new batteries seem to have
Read moreEuropeans fail to correct the error of too many emissions allowances
The Associated Press reported that the European Union failed today to fix their emissions trading system. The price of emissions allowances has fallen to about 5 euros ($6.5 US) per ton of carbon dioxide, which is about one quarter of the value that has prevailed over most of the
Read moreStreamlining permitting for new photovoltaic installations can have big effects on costs
LBNL just released a report titled “The Impact of City-level Permitting Processes on Residential Photovoltaic Installation Prices and Development Times: An Empirical Analysis of Solar Systems in California Cities.” Here’s summary text from an email I just received from one of the study’s coauthors (Ryan Wiser): Business
Read moreIf we don't change our direction, we'll end up where we're headed
Joe Romm of Climate Progress did a great service for climate communications on March 8th, 2013 by publishing this graph of historical and projected global temperatures: Figure 1: Historical and projected global average surface temperatures on our current trajectory for fossil fuel emissions The historical data in the graph came
Read moreDisappointing article in Science about "greening" the Internet
In an article in a recent issue of Science, Diego Reforgiato Recupero discussed some aspects of reducing the environmental impact of the Internet, but muddled some key concepts, ignored others, and generally made a hash of things. It’s disappointing because those of us working on this issue for decades
Read moreBook review of Cold Cash, Cool Climate on Skeptical Science
The web site Skeptical Science posted a review of my book Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs yesterday. Here are the first few paragraphs: Jonathan Koomey’s new book Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs puts forth an intriguing idea – entrepreneurs are
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