All Environment
- EPA head Lisa Jackson will resign
Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says she will step down at the beginning of President Obama's second term. Her four-year tenure includes some victories, especially car fuel-efficiency standards, but was marked with disappointments over global warming and coal ash controls.
- Cleantech venture investing: dying – or just resting?
Cleantech ventures seem to be suffering from the downsides of a 2006-08 investment bubble.
- Who's killing the electric car? Consumers.
Sales of Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are far short of expectations. Fisker and other electric-car makers are in trouble. Will the lack of consumer sales kill the electric car, just as it did in the '90s?
- Who's killing the electric car? Consumers.
Sales of Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are far short of expectations. Fisker and other electric-car makers are in trouble. Will the lack of consumer sales kill the electric car, just as it did in the '90s?
- Why are US firms going 'green': CEOs or customers?
The number of large US corporations with a climate, energy strategy has soared in the past five years, a new survey says. Customers, employees are the two major forces pushing change.
- West Antarctica warming much faster than expected
Average temperatures in West Antarctica rise 4.3 degrees since 1950s. The region's warming is nearly twice as much as expected and one of the most rapid on the planet.
- West Antarctica warming much faster than expected
Average temperatures in West Antarctica rise 4.3 degrees since 1950s. The region's warming is nearly twice as much as expected and one of the most rapid on the planet.
- Energy in 2013: What's next for oil, gas, renewables?
Oil, natural gas, and coal will continue to dominate American energy in 2013 and beyond, but recent dramatic growth in solar and wind portends a transition to a clean energy economy.
- Genetically modified salmon not harmful, FDA says
Genetically modified salmon – despite concerns of environmental groups – is unlikely to harm the environment. The Food and Drug Administration report is the final step before approval of the genetically modified salmon, which grow twice as fast as regular salmon.
- SolarCity IPO launches new breed of solar company
SolarCity is off its highs of last week, but is still trading above its IPO offered price. SolarCity is leading the way in making alternative energy accessible for the retail consumer.
- Enbridge ups investment in Northern Gateway pipeline
Energy firm Enbridge has committed an additional $150 million to the Northern Gateway pipeline which would carry oil from Alberta’s oil sands into northwestern British Columbia, according to Consumer Energy Report.
- Eight reasons cleantech investors go wrong
Technology adoption tends to be slower in energy than in other sectors, which makes it easy for cleantech investors to under-price risk and overestimate commercialization.
- US government waives pollution laws for 1,500 underground water supplies
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted some energy and mining companies permission to pollute underground water supplies across the US, according to an investigation by ProPublica.
- KiOR starts making biofuel, but future still iffy
KiOR passes a key hurdle as its Mississippi plant begins producing biofuel – a cellulosic gasoline. But plenty of pitfalls lie ahead before KiOR's cellulosic gasoline is successful commercially.
- How utilities can turn pilots into partnerships
Expanding into more customer-centric pilots would greatly help utilities position themselves to protect and expand their market standing, Shrank and Tehranian write.
- Energy predictions from last year: Did they come true?
Rapier grades the predictions he made last year about Keystone, natural gas prices, and other energy topics.
- Coal on the rise as developing nations seek cheap fuel
Coal will surpass oil as the world’s most popular fuel source within 10 years, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
- The one chart about oil's future everyone should see
With high oil prices and new drilling techniques unable to move the needle on worldwide crude oil production, we should ask ourselves whether it is wise to base energy policy on the fantasies of industry and government forecasters, Cobb writes.
- SolarCity: Why all the buzz behind cleantech's latest IPO?
SolarCity ebbed the tide of bad financial news for the green energy industry with its successful IPO last week. In an interview with the Monitor, SolarCity head Lyndon Rive gives a behind-the-scenes look at the company's soaring debut on Wall Street and explains what it means for the future of renewable energy.
- Keystone XL oil pipeline hits snag in Texas
A judge in Texas has ordered that TransCanada Corp., the company behind the building of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, must stop work on a stretch of the line that will run beneath property owned by Michael Bishop for two weeks, due to that man’s challenge of the pipeline’s intentions.