Archive for June 2011

US DOE Investing in Geothermal Research and Development

June 30, 2011 Add Comment Edit

On June 23, 2011, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will be funding eight geothermal projects in five states. The announcement was made by US Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The eight projects in five states (California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah) have been selected to receive...

June 29, 2011 Add Comment Edit

On June 29th - 30th 2011, eyeforenergy is holding its second annual Enhnaced Georthermal Systems (EGS) Conference in San Jose, California. Geothermal is a promising renewable resource that has a very bright future.Geothermal energy is a safe and reliable renewable power source that can produce energy...

Survey Shows China More Receptive to EVs than America

June 28, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Electric Vehicles (EVs) may be taking the world by storm but public acceptance is better in China than it is in America. These are some of the conclusions of a 2011 Accenture survey tiled "Plug-in Electric Vehicles: Changing Perceptions, Hedging Bets".Globally 58 percent of respondents said they favor...

The US is Positioned to Lead the Global Competition for EV Supremacy

June 27, 2011 Add Comment Edit

The US is well positioned to lead the global competition for EV supremacy. A 2010 McKinsey research firm study suggests that the US is the nation most likely to lead the world in electric car ownership in the coming years.America is the home of car culture and the nation has a strong domestic auto...

June 26, 2011 1 Comment Edit

The 2012 Department of Energy (DOE) budget submitted to Congress includes a 20 page section on Vehicle Technologies (VT), much of which is focused on vehicle electrification. In the 2012 DOE budget, VT finance increases 80 percent from $325 million to $588 million. Charging equipment and energy storage...

US DOE Supports Electric Vehicles with $184 Million in Grants

June 26, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Late in 2010 US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will start accepting applications for grants to accelerate the development and deployment of new efficient vehicle technologies. Up to $184 million in grants is available for a wide variety of EV technologies...

Fuel Efficient Combustion Engines: Too Little Too Late

June 26, 2011 1 Comment Edit

Innovations in conventional combustion engine technology can offer dramatic improvements in fuel economy.There is a large and growing demand for these highly efficient combustion engine technologies. These technologies include downsized engines that use turbochargers to add horsepower and 6 or 7 speed...

Video: Sustainable Economic Development that Works

June 25, 2011 1 Comment Edit

In April 2011, more than 100 people convened at Boston University for Development That Works, an all-day conference that brought together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss development ideas that have the potential to lead to sustainable and effective growth worldwide.The fourth and final...

June 25, 2011 Add Comment Edit

A report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), indicates that a relatively small investment by governments can go a long way towards helping the green economy to grow. According to Pavan Sukhdev, head of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative:"Governments have a central role in changing laws and policies,...

Economic Development is the Only Way Forward

June 24, 2011 2 Comments Edit

Some of the most passionate supporters of the environment argue that we cannot make the necessary changes within the current consumer oriented capitalist system. They point to the fact that growth in the 20th century was all about resource depletion.Economic growth is not an end, but rather a means...

June 24, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Like all major socio-economic revolutions the acceptance of climate change takes time. Although reluctance to fully engage the battle against climate change may seem painfully slow, it is consistent with the theoretical stages in what is known as the cycle of acceptance.The popular attitude towards...

Belief in Global Warming is Tied to the Economy

June 23, 2011 Add Comment Edit

It would appear Americans are victims of the false choice between the economy and the environment. As the economy was ravaged by the recession, polls indicate that American support for climate change declined.Over the last couple of years, when Gallup asks Americans about top problems facing the county,...

June 23, 2011 Add Comment Edit

In debates on the issue of climate change we are often asked to make a false choice between the environment and the economy. However, an intelligent discussion of climate change cannot be framed as a choice between the environment and the economy.The rise of sustainable business is making it abundantly...

June 22, 2011 1 Comment Edit

TerraCycle is a winning combination of environmentalism and free enterprise. The company has succeeded in diverting one million non-recyclable packages from landfills. TerraCycle is a company with a mission to "Eliminate the Idea of Waste®" by creating sustainable collection systems and end of life...

Canadian Global Warming Denial from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

June 22, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Like Americans, Canadians are influenced by climate denial groups posing as think tanks. Peter Holle is the founding president of one such climate-denying think tank known as the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. This Winnipeg-based group is behind a series of ridiculous assertions related to energy...

Canadians Support Efforts to Combat Climate Change

June 22, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Unlike their Conservative federal leadership, Canadians support efforts on climate change. According to a joint study released in April 2011, Canadians are more likely to believe in the veracity of climate change then Americans.The study also found Canadians are more willing than their friends to the...

Canadian Conservative Government Rejects Kyoto

June 21, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Canada's newly reelected Conservative government has confirmed that it will not support an extension of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper had already announced his government would not meet the binding emissions cuts it committed to...

Progress at the Bonn Climate Talks and Hopes for COP17

June 21, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Climate talks wrapped up in Bonn on Friday June 17 ahead of the seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP17) which will take place later this year in Durban, South Africa.Before the climate talks in Bonn, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...

Hope in the Face of the Fastest Ever Rise in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

June 19, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Despite 20 years of climate negotiations global warming causing greenhouse gases (GHGs) from energy are now rising at record setting levels. As reported in the Guardian, UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, indicated that we are experiencing the fastest-ever rise in greenhouse gas emissions, but...

Video: Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2011

June 19, 2011 Add Comment Edit

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres provides some of the highlights from the June 2011 Climate Talks in Bonn, Germany. This video was recorded on the final day of the UN Climate Change Conference. Figueres indicates that it is important to resolve the future of the Kyoto Protocol which is...

June 18, 2011 Add Comment Edit

SolarDay takes place on Saturday June 18 in Canada, the US and the UK (November 19 in Australia). This is the third annual SolarDay event, it celebrates solar energy and its capacity to help protect the planet from global warming. SolarDay includes events by cities, non-profits, companies and the solar...

June 17, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Electric vehicles (EVs) are reducing emissions and creating sustainable jobs. EV technology is steadily improving and consumer interest is growing. While EVs create jobs, combustion engine vehicles contribute to global warming and America's dependence on foreign oil.The Chevrolet Volt is an example...