Articles tagged with energy

European experiences offer hints as to whether high seismicity in the U.S. oil patch is related to new gas extraction methods.

A new report on funding renewable energy projects offers a primer on how policy decisions are best engineered to boost the industry.

A thriving transatlantic trade in compressed wood scraps is creating New World timber jobs and meeting Old World clean energy requirements.

In the hamlet of Susya, a joint effort by Israelis and Palestinians is lighting a single candle (lit by biogas) rather than cursing the darkness.

Doing deals with the Russians to put a pipe under the North Sea gives Germany some flexibility in its post-nuclear future, but at what price?

Response: The editor of Midwest Energy News notes that while CFLs are a common replacement for power-hungry incandescent bulbs, new laws don’t mandate their use and their drawbacks are often overstated.

German Chancellor (and physicist) Angela Merkel did a 180 on nuclear energy after Fukushima, setting off an “energy revolution” in the process.

Studies suggest the greenest building is the one already built — a pleasing message for historic preservationists.

In his film review of “The Last Mountain,” Lewis Beale describes a horror flick about environmental degradation and predatory capitalism.

The idea of capturing waste heat for other purposes is well known and very green, but what about when the waste heat is derived from burning the dead?

Using rail lines for the energy grid may help a suddenly nuclear-shy Germany transition to wider use of renewable sources.

Some environmental advocates say the federal government is ignoring the real future of solar energy: photovoltaic cells on almost every roof. But even supporters acknowledge rooftop solar isn’t the complete answer to the energy question — yet.

Index of Clean Energy Leadership finds Midwestern upstarts mixed among the usual suspects.

Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, inventor of the plastic solar cell, reviews the past, present and bright future of his invention with Miller-McCune’s solar guru, John Perlin.

The fine balance in Germany between markets and green energy policy highlights the real-world challenges for moving away from traditional power sources.

PBS documentary “Deep Down” looks at a cordial, intense dispute over mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia.

On-again, off-again federal support cripples emerging industries in the United States, America’s pre-eminent wind energy pioneer believes.

Advances in technology make low-efficiency but wide areas solar energy newly practical.

Coal-fueled region uses more energy per capita and pays less for it than the U.S. overall.

A tenuous compromise that promised to move a U.S. climate bill forward may be part of the Deepwater Horizon’s collateral damage.

The King Kong of buildings makes efficiency pay, but how much energy renovation should come from regulators?

Fears that wind only provides power when it’s blowing outside could be neutralized by drawing from a wide area — like the U.S. Atlantic coast.

National contestants chosen by the EPA vow to slim down their energy “waste lines.”

Overcoming some of the obstacles that have hindered petri-dish-to-gas-pump schemes in the past, scientists are finding ways to produce high-octane fuel and even pure hydrogen from co-opted algae.

Algae can purify wastewater and provide electricity.

Nobel laureate Walter Kohn is bullish on renewable energy but sees the answer to global energy woes as population stabilization through the education of women.

To engineers, every problem is just a solution that hasn’t occurred yet, our Michael Haederle learns at the El Paso innovation conference.

Blocks of ice are joining molten salt and compressed air as ways to deliver yesterday’s energy when it’s wanted today.

A host of meaningful stories from Miller-McCune.com’s second full year on the Web.

An algae conveyer belt on the ocean’s surface may be more than just a scientist’s dream.

The hidden costs of all energy choices aren’t posted on the pump, but, nonetheless, they’re just as real.

Germany’s new clean coal “Schwarze Pumpe” plant is not clean yet …

Germany’s upcoming election has put an unforgiving light on the nuclear phase-out promised in 2001.

America’s way of providing medical care has an Achilles’ heel — not in the operating room or the pharmacy, but at the oil well and the refinery.

A recent energy policy summit concluded what the Group of 8 powers are learning: The Third World may require help reducing heat-trapping gases.

Feed-in tariffs grow green power but may fall victim to energy politics, German-style.

Despite the hopes of environmentalists, coal’s not going away any time soon. A revived “clean coal” demonstration plant is getting a reasonably warm welcome.

Many environmentalists oppose a “green” idea for tidal power in the U.K. So do British surfers.

The marketing war between industry and environmentalists over the catchphrase belies a pragmatic truth: Both sides really want the same thing.

A new generation of machines, some based on nature’s own designs, is mobilizing to draw cheap and carbon-free renewable energy from the seas.

In a nondescript industrial park near Portland, Ore., lies a solar gem that just might save the American Dream.

The nation’s largest natural gas producer discusses the ‘ocean’ of untapped product available in North America.

Energy researcher Jonathan Dorn says he backs electric cars, dismisses natural gas as our savior and reluctantly supports a Big Three bailout.

University centers harness brainpower and technology to stop wasting energy — conserve, baby, conserve!

A host of meaningful stories from Miller-McCune.com’s first full year on the Web.

UPDATED: President-elect reportedly selects physicist John Holdren as his consigliere on science.

Professionals hope the new president can change the culture of science in the White House.

The impassioned arguments around Daylight Savings Time generate a lot of energy

The fossil-fueled portions of T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan for the U.S. have had a rough ride.

The lure of a cool blast costs 22,000 barrels of oil and pumps out tons of carbon dioxide.

Analysis: Writer Bruce Allen claims that picking the right solar options can power America’s clean electricity and transportation future.

Only a fool would support expanded domestic exploration — offshore or elsewhere — under the Bush administration’s dysfunctional energy policies. Here’s how those policies need to change for America to responsibly find the energy it needs.

Michael Reynolds has been building his variety of low-consumption, off-the-grid housing for decades. Now, though, the Earthship is taking off.

Like the advice given to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, some people think the future of solar cells lies in plastics. Here’s why.

To stave off water crises created by climate change, we need new systems that manage water, energy and ecosystems together. Here’s why.

Biomass, for those areas with a reliable supply of woody waste, could be a dream source of renewable energy and the ideal enemy of carbon release. If only someone would try it …

We’ve got deserts with no people and people with no power. So, like an electrical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, we’ve got thinkers with an idea …

While industrial production of ethanol may not be the savior as it was once heralded, home distillers are willing to tap into a more parochial form of energy independence.

The cheapest solar technology is just situating your home or office in the right direction when it’s built. You don’t have to be Socrates to understand the concept — but it might help.

Sticking solar concentrators where the sun shines could potentially generate phenomenal amounts of electricity. But the perfect technology doesn’t yet exist.

The German experience offers an excellent model for creating a solar cell marketplace.

How the in-space success of the world’s first solar cell-powered satellite encouraged their commercialization across the globe.

Climate change and fossil-fuel costs have re-energized the flickering nuclear movement in the United States, but many proponents are the fairest-weather of friends.

The climate problem can be solved. But tackling it is going to be a lot harder than you’ve been led to believe.

When people think of solar these days, photovoltaics, or solar cells, pop into their heads. But there is just so much more than merely PV when it comes to solar devices.

Individual states are taking occasionally painful steps to rein in emissions.

Some commercial adventurers are considering topping off their tank with pond scum, an approach that gains currency as other biofuels lose some luster.

The 2007 Farm Bill suggests tax credits as one way to offset the cost — as great as the environmental benefits — of small wind projects.

The United States remains on the low end of countries using energy powered by wind. Experts point to tax credits as a factor in efforts to establish wind as an energy source.

Build new, low-impact hydropower facilities but keep the old: Large dams already in existence can be improved.

Hydropower will never be the complete answer to emissions-free energy production in the U.S., but a strong case can be made for it becoming a useful part of the answer.

Looking at the untapped potential for hydropower to supply the U.S. with carbon-free electricity, Lea-Rachel Kosnik finds ample opportunities for expanding hydro.

Cleaning up a broken compact fluorescent bulb (and the toxic mercury inside) can turn any living room into a hazmat site.