Thursday, April 23, 2009

Tom Linzey on Democracy Now!

One of the most insightful activists in the environmental movement is a mild mannered lawyer named Tom Linzey. After winning a streak of lawsuits against companies violating or planning to violate pollution and other laws, only to see the companies eventually secure victory for themselves because of pro-corporate case law, he has taken citizen rights to a whole new level. PLEASE check out this brief interview here:

Friday, April 3, 2009

Interesting Research on Energy Alternatives

I've been following the research of a Stanford professor named Mark Jacobson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He published an article in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science that ranks energy options according to an extensive list of criteria. As Professor Jacobson puts it...
This review evaluates and ranks 12 combinations of electric power and fuel sources from among 9 electric power sources, 2 liquid fuel sources, and 3 vehicle technologies, with respect to their ability to address climate, air pollution, and energy problems simultaneously. The review also evaluates the impacts of each on water supply, land use, wildlife, resource availability, thermal pollution, water chemical pollution, nuclear proliferation, and undernutrition.
What technology comes in first? Wind energy comes in first place, and Ethanol come in last. Carbon sequestered coal and nuclear tie for "next to last" place. I'm not sure where biodiesel would come into play here. I'd guess better than CCS Coal. I'm also not sure where non-carbon-sequestered coal would come in, but I'd guess it would show up dead last. The article is not without its critics, and you can check out some interesting counterpunches in the comments at TreeHugger.com.

Here's another article by Jacobson (and Masters) that appears in the journal Science. It is a little older, but a bit easier to understand, and can be summed up in this opening quote:
the cost of wind energy is now less than that of coal.
I'm going to get this information spread around as best I can. Would love feedback, too.