Peace Prize Awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC for their work on climate change. Well deserved. Electrification From the Oregonian I pulled a piece on the lining of Oregon highways with solar panels, as is done in Europe. It’s stuff like that the keeps Oregon a leader. If the program is expanded sufficiently, it [...]

Why Hasn’t John Edwards Done Better? Sam Smith When Democrats talk about things they don’t like about John Edwards, they typically express skepticism about a wealthy trial lawyer advocating populist positions or his $400 haircut or the size of his 10,000 square foot home and 15,000 square foot barn. These same Democrats – and the [...]

Gordon Smith is a formidable foe – well respected within the powerful establishment yet still retaining appeal among the masses for his perceived moderate stances on Oregon issues like the environment and civil liberties. In addition, Smith’s affable charm is in stark contrast to Ron Wyden’s uncomfortable persona, the comparison akin to Kennedy versus Nixon [...]

OSU’s Electrical Engineers created this presentation just for you. The pdf, ‘Wave Energy Opportunities and Developments‘, outlines not only the technology but also the environmental protocol being followed in the assessment of wave energy. Scientists are quite aware of the potential effects of electromagnetism and mechanics on marine ecosystems. Data is now being collected that [...]

The US Department of Energy has released statistics showing that the total consumption of renewable energy increased almost 7% in 2006. Solar power was in the lead with an increase of 45%, followed by biofuels at 27.6%. In the DOE Newsletter, it’s reported that Solar Thermal Power Plants of 200-300 MW are planned for Florida [...]

Good News ODOT is giving deep thought to lining its highways with photovoltaics, a common sight in Germany. They reason that substantial parts of highway corridors are used for nothing else so why not? Planners are thinking of a slow start – not so many kilowatt hours to begin with. They need to gain the [...]

Because Big Tobacco is replacing smokers just as fast as it kills them.

As an example of how insidious the dependence on fossil fuel is, let’s go back to the turn of the century, when farm animals were used for crop cultivation. If you had horses or oxen, so much land was needed just to graze the animals. So before the advent of fossil fuel, farmland had to [...]

The tempest in a teapot over my criticisms of biofuels (and especially of the post blasting Oregon League of Conservation Voters’ decision to grade legislators up or down based on whether they support using tax dollars and subsidizing them) and the criticism of Onward Oregon for allowing me to post under a nom de plume [...]

As you may be aware, the green lifestyle encompasses many different forms and philosophies, to the extent that the movement has become somewhat fragmented. What it loses in focus it makes up for in the diversity of the approaches that are evolving to heal our environment. In this blog I’ve attempted to gather this information [...]