A recent report by the libertarian Cato Institute, Does Rail Transit Save Energy or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?, claims that public transit service improvements are ineffective at conserving energy and reducing pollution emissions. But this conclusion is based on faulty analysis.
Energy
Natural Gas Boom Brings New Option to City Drivers
Officials in Fort Worth, Texas weigh regulations for natural gas compression stations arising from a boom in drilling shale for natural gas.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Yukon Ho! The New Rush North
It's Gold Rush days long since passed, Canada's Yukon Territory was until recently a wild, myth-bound place. But now oil and gas revenues are fueling new construction and population growth.
The Globe & Mail
America's Dying Middle Class
Rolling Stone pundit Matt Taibbi writes that the media are missing the real story: that millions of Americans are financially drowning under home heating costs, gas prices and debt, and the middle class is disappearing.
AlterNet
Feds Plan 'Energy Corridors' Through National Parks
The Department of Energy is proposing to construct massive "energy corridors", land designated solely for the purpose of energy conduction like oil, hydrogen and electricity.
Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments
Local Governments 'Heroes' of the Climate Crisis
If buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, then our energy and building codes are incredibly important tools attaining energy and climate sanity.
Gristmill
Climate Change Changing Assumptions on Land Use, Energy
Critic John King reflects on how common assumptions of Bay Area residents about urban growth boundaries and protesting nuclear power are challenged by the growing problem of climate change and energy access.
The San Francisco Chronicle
People Mover
This article from Next American City looks at escalators -- the expensive, energy-intensive, and often under-used transportation mode.
The Next American City
Snow Forces City To Conserve
An avalanche decimates an Alaskan city's energy infrastructure, leading residents to craft creative ways to conserve energy and lower their utility bills.
The Next American City
The Promise of New Industrial Jobs
Bethlehem Steel left 25 years ago, but a new, mysterious energy company is brining a glimmer of hope to Lackawanna, New York. The proposed plant, to be built on Bethlehem's brownfields, would convert petroleum coke into synthetic gas.
The Buffalo News
Protests, Riots Go Global as Fuel Costs Soar
Protests both peaceful and violent are breaking out across Europe and Asia as people's livelihoods begin to suffer from soaring fuel costs, and some stores are running out of food as truck drivers go on strike.
This Is London
Weird Energy Sources Debunked
One of the hosts of Mythbusters turns his eye on new ideas for energy sources, from grape juice to used tires.
Mother Jones
Surging Fuel Prices Spur Green Backlash in Europe
With dramatically increasing fuel costs, European consumers formerly amenable to "green" taxes are turning against them, leading to fears that ambitious emission-control policies may not be achievable.
The Globe & Mail
Iraq War Spending: What Could We Have Built Instead?
Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier writing in The Nation show that the U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq that could have been much more productively invested in public goods like sustainable infrastructure.
The Nation
Smart Transport Emission Reductions
Fri, 12/07/2007 - 13:46
Last week I attended the NREL Energy Analysis Forum, where leading North American energy analysts discussed current thinking concerning greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies, much of which involves emission cap and trade programs (as summarized in the report by Resources for the Future, "Key Congressional Climate Change Legislation Compared"). Similarly, a recent report, "Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much At What Cost" evaluates emission reduction strategies according to their cost effectiveness.
Saving Ginormous Amounts of Energy
Sat, 07/21/2007 - 18:52
I couldn’t wait to use the new word, ginormous, which Merriam-Webster recently added to the Collegiate Dictionary. My spell checker has been trained and now I can get about the business of saving ginormous amounts of energy. Recent bouts of ecoterrorism in the form of Hummer vandalism in Washington D.C. and the growing media attention to the environmental hypocrisy of the travel and housing habits of card-carrying carbon footprint club members (take a gander at the 10,000 sq. ft. home of Al Gore or the 28,200 sq.
More Folks Work at Home and More Homes Where No One Works
Sun, 07/08/2007 - 15:26
I find it intriguing when I hear folks talk about how high energy prices will cause a tipping point and everyone will rush back into the city in order to afford to commute to work. If, or as, higher costs for energy begin to play a greater role in location choice it is as likely that they will force even more employers to move to the suburbs. In many urban areas we may be well past the point where fuel price pressures to minimize travel would result in land use changes that move population back to town.
