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Checking in with the Kossacks

I've known in a vague way that a person with the nom de blog "Jerome a Paris" does a lot of eco-blogging over on Daily Kos, but I must confess I don't have the fortitude to wade into that site very often.

However, via an Oil Drum open thread I stumbled on Jerome's "Countdown to $100 oil" series, which is very cool. Here's the latest entry, about the recent sharp rise in oil-futures prices -- it also has links to all 24 (!) previous entries in the series.

He's also involved in the dKos' community's "Energize America" plan -- of which you can read the fourth draft here.

Earth bites SUV

A water main break beneath 73rd Street and 4th Avenue in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge neighborhood opened up a 12-foot-wide sinkhole that literally swallowed an SUV. You bite the earth, she bites back. (The driver was not seriously injured.) On the other hand, maybe bad eco-karma isn't at fault: the water also flooded into a subway tunnel, disrupting thousands of eco-friendly commutes on the R train.

Photos available from Newsday.

Stockholm syndrome II

A while back I mentioned that Stockholm, Sweden was starting a short-term trial of congestion pricing -- essentially, making drivers pay to enter downtown. London instituted a similar system in 2003, which has proven unexpectedly popular: It's reduced traffic levels by 15 percent, while boosting downtown driving speeds considerably. Stockholm's experiment seemed like it was off to a rockier start -- the city was far less congested than London, and the charges were, if anything, even less popular with commuters.

So it may come as something of a surprise that Stockholm's trial has been greeted with less opposition than predicted:

Jason Edens, rural solar advocate, InterActivates

Low-income households are often the most gravely affected by energy crises, says Jason Edens of the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, yet they are the least able to afford renewable-energy alternatives. As InterActivist this week, Edens chats about installing solar-heating systems in rural areas of Minnesota and empowering families to warm themselves (but not the earth!). Send Edens a question of your own by noon PST on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

Oh Say, Can You, Seattle?

Seattle commission unveils recommendations for meeting Kyoto goals Ex-VP Al Gore and environmental journalist Elizabeth Kolbert were in Seattle last week (both gave PowerPoint presentations, the chic new environmental look […]

Reporter Michael Grunwald gabs about his new book on the Everglades

For about 5,000 years, the waters of the peninsula we now call Florida flowed south into the Kissimmee River. The Kissimmee emptied into enormous Lake Okeechobee, which in turn spilled […]

Now they’re burning coal to make ethanol

TheWatt and Treehugger both flag a story in the Christian Science Monitor that makes my sense of uneasiness about biofuels even ... uneasier.

Here's the deal: An ethanol plant that opened last year in Iowa is burning 300 tons of coal a day. You heard me: coal. And it's not an isolated case:

The trend, which is expected to continue, has left even some ethanol boosters scratching their heads. Should coal become a standard for 30 to 40 ethanol plants under construction -- and 150 others on the drawing boards -- it would undermine the environmental reasoning for switching to ethanol in the first place, environmentalists say.

It's a farce to call ethanol a clean, renewable fuel if it involves burning coal, right? What do you have to say for yourself, ethanol industry? What could you say, what ... term could you use, to answer these terrible charges?

Wait for it ... wait for it ... feel the love coming ...

Giant power sucking sound

Here's one problem that should be relatively easy to fix: appliances that use power even when they're not in use. The Economist has a nice summary of the problem:

Strange though it seems, a typical microwave oven consumes more electricity powering its digital clock than it does heating food. For while heating food requires more than 100 times as much power as running the clock, most microwave ovens stand idle--in "standby" mode--more than 99% of the time.

Apparently, somewhere between 5 and 13 percent of residential power is consumed by appliances that nobody is actually using. Hmph.

Green architects speak

Two nice interviews with architect/designer types: Our own Amanda Griscom Little chats with Richard Cook and DesignBoom talks with Cameron Sinclair. Interesting stuff.

(both via TH)

Exxon-Valdez anniversary

Today is the 17th anniversary of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. Some bloggy thoughts and reflections here and here. AP stories here and here.