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Students successfully rally to juxtapose Exxon arch-nemesis with Exxon CEO as commencement speaker
The CEO of America's largest and most profitable company is invited to be the commencement speaker at one of the country's oldest technological universities — you would think everyone would be pumped! But no, the students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute responded to the secret deal to bring the head of WPI mega-donor Exxon Mobile to […]
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An underwater grid for offshore wind, funded by Google
I have a feature story in the latest issue of Popular Science: “Hundreds of Miles of Wind Farms, Networked Under the Sea.” It’s about the Atlantic Wind Connection, a new project (funded, in part, by Google) that would lay high-voltage transmission lines beneath the sea floor along the mid-Atlantic coast, opening the area up to […]
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Now that we’ve killed Osama bin Laden, let’s kill oil
The U.S. military’s killing of Osama bin Laden is a huge victory in the war against terror and on behalf of a safer, freer world. But if this is to be the beginning of the end for al Qaeda and repressive governments everywhere, we have to make it our national mission not just to hunt […]
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What would a Chernobyl or Fukushima disaster at Indian Point mean?
Twenty-five years ago, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, sending plumes of radiation around the planet and devastating the area surrounding the plant to this day. The world learned firsthand then about the dangers of nuclear power. Today, the ongoing nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is a tragic reminder of the threat that […]
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DOE shocker: the future will be like the past, but more so
Last October, I had some fun looking at the Department of Energy’s historic predictions of natural gas prices and noting their consistent failure to, uh, predict. From 2004 to 2010, natural gas prices were massively volatile, ranging from $4 to $11 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) (on an annual, inflation-adjusted basis). Not only did […]
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New hot GOP thing: Voting for oil subsidies, then saying you oppose them
Three's a trend, so we're officially calling oil subsidy doubletalk the Instagram of this season's GOP. First John Boehner said oil companies "ought to be paying their fair share," until his handlers stepped in and told everyone he didn't mean it and oil companies definitely shouldn't do anything fair at all. Now two more representatives, Daniel […]
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Is there a toxic mercury hot spot near you?
Chances are you’re near one.Image: Sierra Club/Google MapsDo you live around Clearfield, Penn.? The Shawville coal-fired power plant is spewing more than 1,500 pounds of toxic mercury into your air and water every year. Live near St. Louis? The Labadie coal-fired power plant emits more than 1,400 pounds of mercury every year. And if you […]
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Infographic: Should you coal-power your life?
More reasons to avoid coal, courtesy of David Malki ! of Wondermark: Made of carbon Finger cancer Costs literally millions of dollars Absurd "pimptastic" modifications Impossible
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BP’s still making bank
Looks like the past year hasn’t been so bad after all for BP, which today reported a 16 percent increase in profits over the first quarter of 2010. The company reported $7.2 billion in net earnings — compared to $6.2 billion for the first three months of last year. The company sold off a bunch […]
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National coal expert: ‘Mining is a loser’ in practically every way
Anytime coal’s cost to America is discussed, the coal industry reflexively talks about what an economic lifeline it is for the states in which it operates. Headwaters Economics, a Bozeman-based think tank focusing on natural resource issues, has a solid new study that’s getting national attention for undercutting those claims. For instance, the Headwaters study […]
