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Fukushima workers prepared to die; don’t even know how much radiation they’ve been exposed to
A piece in today's Guardian reveals that TEPCO, the utility responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors, did not until very recently have enough dosimeters for all of the employees who are working to stop an even worse catastrophe at the plant. Normally, dosimeters would be worn at all times in order to measure cumulative exposure […]
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High-def flyover video of Fukushima shows the extent of the damage
This stunning, sobering flyover video of the Fukushima plant was shot in HD, which means it's probably as detailed as you can get while trying to focus a camera from a plane. Some of the rubble is still smoking.
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We have gobs of money to spend on nuclear waste disposal — so why is our storage leaking?
The country has $24 billion dollars tied up in a fund to create a permanent storage solution for spent nuclear fuel rods. Yet plants are stuffing spent rods into already-overfull, vulnerable, sometimes leaky pools of water. What the hell? Basically, our nuclear waste is like a trust-fund kid in some wacky comedy, who can only […]
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Should we compromise on key environmental laws to get greentech support? Alexis Madrigal wonders
This is the fifth and final post in a series from my conversation with Atlantic tech channel editor Alexis Madrigal about themes and stories from his new book, Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. DR: How should the lessons from your book alter the strategies of technologists and policymakers? How can […]
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Coal plants don’t create the jobs they promise, study finds
Coal-fired power plants sicken and kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, especially those (generally low-income, often minority) Americans who have the misfortune of living near them. So why would any community allow a coal plant to be built in its midst? Indeed, why would communities pay enormous amounts of money in bribes development […]
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Peak Oil, not Libya, is the reason you’re paying more at the pump
The further into the post-carbon age we grind, the more mainstream the notion of peak oil becomes. Long derided because it runs contrary to the only two things more American than football and corn syrup — that would be endless economic expansion and our right to commute 90 minutes a day, should we so choose […]
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Senator from Louisiana wants to drill for oil in Alaska
David Vitter (R-La.) has 28 cosponsors on a bill in the Senate that would block EPA climate regulations (par for the course), expand offshore oil exploration (how soon we forget), and … open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. It's the political football that just won't go away. If this country is around […]
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Solar could save Minnesota schools millions
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Currently, Minnesota’s public schools spend approximately $84 million per year on electricity costs, money diverted from the classroom. But a bill to make clean, local energy accessible now (CLEAN) could help the state’s public schools use […]
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Me, on TV, talking Obama’s energy plan [VIDEO]
Yesterday I appeared on The Alonya Show, a political talk show on the RT (previously Russia Today) global news network, talking about Obama’s new energy plan: If I’d known I was going to be on TV, I might have showered. And put on a decent shirt. And shrunk my enormous head. One thing I’d add: […]
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Small number of senators ready to act like grownups
In the midst of a hair-pulling, face-scratching tussle over the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases, a number of senators are looking into reviving 2008’s bipartisan “energy gang.” The last gang crumbled under bickering about high gas prices — but not before swelling its ranks to 20 senators, and putting forth a bipartisan plan that […]
