NewsTrust - Green Technology - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

The New Arms Race

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Nov. 20 (Opinion) - America will not win the arms race of the 21st century with rockets, but with robust investment in and support of U.S.-based green technology. While Congress dawdles, China is clobbering us.

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The Republican Party Has Failed–And That’s Not Good For Anyone

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Chris Edelson - Nov. 07 (Opinion) - The Republican party's failure has me thinking of a Seinfeld episode, the one where Kramer is upset about a Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant featuring a bright neon sign that lights up his apartment at night. Jerry has an old college friend who winds up working as an assistant manager at the restaurant, and when Kramer hangs a banner from his restaurant protesting the chicken establishment, Jerry's friend remarks "that's not going to be good for business." Jerry responds "that's nread more

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Obama's Big Power Play

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard - Nov. 06 (Interview) - President Barack Obama likes to point out that when President Dwight Eisenhower built the federal highway system in the 1950s, he created a network that fueled postwar America?s economic rise. Now Obama?s administration wants to do the same for the green economy with the smart grid?a system of interlocking technologies that could transform the way we use electricity. By receiving real-time data on their energy use, consumers could save big on their power bills by running appliances when electricity is cheapest, rather than during peak demand periods when it?s most expensive. Power distributors could use the system to transport excess energy from one region to another, instead of simply allowing it to go to waste as they do ...

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A world of change in 287 days

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Nov. 02 (Opinion) - The columnist evaluates the successes and shortcomings of President Obama's first 287 days in office. Obama could have been quicker to close Guantanamo, tougher on Wall Street, more willing to investigate possible transgressions by the Bush administration, and bolder in pursuing health care reform. But his achievements have included preventing a nationwide depression, renouncing torture, working diligently to close Guantanamo, keeping the Iraq withdrawal on schedule, nominating the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court, touting cooperation with the Muslim world, embracing a multi-lateralist foreign policy, accepting climate change, and investing in green jobs and education. Most important, he has brought America to the brink of legislation to make health insurance an entitlement for all Americans.

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Interview with James Galbraith

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By BillMoyers - Oct. 30 (Interview) - We need to find another path for economic expansion. We need to set a strategic direction. Our problem now, our big social and environmental problem, is energy. It's climate change. It's the greenhouse gas emission issue. If we built a set of institutions that could deal with that problem effectively, you could employ a large part of the labor force for a generation, dealing with that. And you'd then make that profitable for private enterprise to get into in a serious way.

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China leaving US behind in green energy

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Joan Fitzgerald - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - Though aspects of it may violate the WTO, China has a coherent industrial policy to capture global leadership, while US initiatives are fragmented. China recognized that the real economic development potential in renewable energy is in manufacturing, which comprises 70 -75 percent of the jobs in solar, and now has more than 100 solar companies that account for one-third of global solar component production.

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Clean-energy transition promises brighter economic prospects

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Dean Allen, Maud Daudon - Oct. 22 (Opinion) - WITH the introduction of the Clean Energy Jobs bill in September, the U.S. Senate began work on repowering America's economy with a comprehensive climate and energy policy. As Washington business leaders involved in building our local clean-energy economy, we're delighted to see the other Washington moving ahead to restore American leadership in the most dynamic sector of the new economy.

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Beyond GDP: We need a dashboard for the whole economy

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New Scientist - Oct. 21 (Editorial) - From stock markets to measuring GDP, conventional economics is in a mess.

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Green Inc.: Apple Resigns From Chamber Over Climate

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Kate Galbraith - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - Apple became the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing climate issues.

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PG&E partnering on 'Smart Grid'

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By Chuck Reed,Chris Johns - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - many utilities are competing for these funds [the $4.5 billion in funding set aside for ...grid projects in the american recoery and reinvestment act] but only a few have a winning combination of strong technology, community partners and a project that pushes the frontiers of current practice.

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For opportunities in the new green economy, we should look to Norway

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

minnpost.com - By Lois Quam - Oct. 01 (Opinion) - Over the past several days the University of Minnesota and the Royal Norwegian Embassy have hosted Transatlantic Science Week. These annual meetings were initiated by the Norwegian government beginning in 2001 to strengthen cooperation in research, innovation and higher education between Norway, the United States and Canada.

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Some Bad Climate News and Some Good

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Sep. 16 (Editorial) - Though a bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions has been put on the back burner, all is not lost. The E. P. A. is rolling out emissions rules for the automotive industry.

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Finally, investors are choosing green industry

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

San Jose Mercury News - Sep. 07 (Editorial) - Every report, study and prediction about Silicon Valley's economy in this downturn has mapped the path to recovery in green: clean tech, renewable energy and good middle-income jobs, like installing solar panels, that can't be outsourced.

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Renewable energy can green America's environment, economy, and democracy

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Hightower Lowdown - By Jim Hightower - Aug. 27 (Opinion) - The Bible tells us that on the sixth day, God created man, allowing him to live in the lush Garden of Eden and be steward of the whole Earth. That hasn't worked out so well. As we can see all around us, God's great mistake on that day was failing to demand a damage deposit before turning the place over to such a calamitous creature. What a mess we've made.

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Blackout: Heinberg on dwindling coal reserves and the siren song of “clean coal”

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By David Roberts - Jul. 27 (Review) - There isn’t nearly as much coal left as most people think. “Clean coal” will run down limited reserves even faster. If humanity doesn’t begin massive, sustained investment in renewable power sources immediately, civilization could be at risk before the end of the century. And that’s without considering the impacts of climate change. Such is the stark conclusion of Richard Heinberg’s Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis, which despite its dry tone and technical complexity is one of the scariest f*cking books I’ve ever read.

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Feed-in Tariffs for Solar Continue To Spread

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Felicity Barringer - Jul. 22 (Opinion) - Variations on the policy that jumpstarted Germany’s decade-long boom in rooftop solar systems are taking root in more cities in the United States. The policy, called a feed-in tariff, offers small-scale producers of solar energy long-term contracts (usually at above-market rates) for the electricity they sell.

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Climate Loopholes

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Jul. 21 (Editorial) - In the last-minute wheeling and dealing of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, the House bill acquired two ways to evade compliance that the Senate must fix.

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Green jobs must mean good jobs that respect labor

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Rick Bender, Tom Chamberlain - Jun. 12 (Opinion) - in March 2007, SolarWorld purchased a facility in Hillsboro, Ore. The company was lured there in part by $43 million in tax breaks and public subsidies. SolarWorld jumped at this opportunity to move its operation to a new facility. But at the same time, they adamantly rejected requests by the Machinist Union to remain neutral in any efforts to unionize the Oregon work force. New employees at the Hillsboro facility were offered much lower pay than the unionized Washington workers, inferior benefits, no job protections and work shifts that varied between 12-hour graveyard and 12-hour day shifts.

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The Climate-Industrial Complex

Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Bjorn Lombord - May. 21 (Opinion) - Some business leaders are cozying up with politicians and scientists to demand swift, drastic action on global warming. This is a new twist on a very old practice: companies using public policy to line their own pockets.

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First 100 Days: Obama's two biggest promises

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Apr. 29 (Editorial) - For the final installment in our coverage of President Barack Obama's first 100 days, we decided to look at the 514 campaign promises in our Obameter database and choose two -- one Kept and one Broken -- that we consider the most significant because they illustrate the early accomplishments and setbacks of his presidency.

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Moore’s Law and the Law of More

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Apr. 25 (Opinion) - “Right now we’re paying a huge price — a tax — for everyone trying to achieve more in an unsustainable way. But the ‘More Tax’ is not imposed by the U.S. government. It is a tax imposed by the market and will continue rising indefinitely as more and more people want more and more stuff. It will steadily drive up gasoline prices, home heating prices and factory electricity prices. But because this ‘More Tax’ is set by the market and not the government, many opponents contend that there’s nothing to be done: ‘Oh, $4.50 a gallon gasoline — that’s just the market at work. We can’t do anything about that.’ And then all that tax money out of your pocket goes to enrich oil companies and petro-dictators.

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To Save the Earth, Start With Data

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Alex Madrigal - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - You can't cast a stone without hitting a list of tips to save the planet, but few of them come with any hard data on how hand-washing your dishes will save polar bears. And all those companies "going green" just to do something on Earth Day could be hurting the cause, not helping.

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Environment Justice, Blacks and the Green Movement

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Root - By Kai Wright - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - "Polar bears will not be the biggest victims of global warming," Ellis-Lamkins said. "People will be the biggest victims—ourselves, our children and grandchildren. And as Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, it will be poor people and people of color who are hit hardest."

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Top 10 Tech Cars of 2009

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

IEEE Spectrum - By John Voelcker - Apr. 06 (Review) - If necessity really is the mother of invention, then surely the auto industry is on the verge of an era of blinding brilliance. Times are that bad.

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A North American Energy Plan for 2030: Hydro-electricity - The forgotten renewable energy resource

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Oil Drum - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - Presently 38% of North American electricity is produced from carbon free sources (nuclear 19%, hydro 18% and wind energy 1.7%). N America has substantial oil, natural gas and coal reserves, exceptional potential solar and wind resources, a large hydro electric capacity, and unique natural hydro storage lakes that can be used for short and long term energy storage.

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