climate change

  • Barack Obama speaking Detroit Economic Club

    For the first time ever, China has agreed to limit its greenhouse-gas emissions, under a deal announced this morning between Chinese president Xi Jinping and U.S. president Barack Obama. In exchange, the U.S. set a goal of cutting its own carbon emissions more deeply by 2025, building on a previously announced goal for reductions by 2020. The news came late last night in articles by The Washington Post and other outlets. DON'T MISS: Time Running Out, Global Carbon Emission Must Fall To Zero: UN Panel China has agreed to cap its carbon emissions by 2030 or earlier, and even more challenging...

  • Pickup truck "rolling coal"
    Time Running Out, Global Carbon Emission Must Fall To Zero: UN Panel

    While mankind has been pumping carbon into the atmosphere since the discovery of fire, the modern era of carbon emissions began roughly 250 years ago. Now a new report by global scientists goes further than any before: Carbon emissions must ultimately be cut to levels so low that they approach...

  • Oil field (Image: Flickr user johnny choura, used under CC license)
    Rockefeller Oil Heirs Will Divest Fossil-Fuel Stocks From Family Funds

    The Rockefellers will divest fossil-fuel stocks from their charity.

  • Traffic
    1.2 Billion Vehicles On World's Roads Now, 2 Billion By 2035: Report

    Calculating the total number of motor vehicles on the planet is an inexact science, but the number is growing rapidly. The automotive trade journal Ward's Auto had estimated that the total crossed 1 billion vehicles sometime during 2010. DON'T MISS: It's Official: We Now Have One Billion Vehicles...

  • Electric power plant outside Ithaca, New York
    Do New EPA Emission Rules Just Hasten Coal's Inevitable Death?

    Take a deep breath and relax. It is highly unlikely that "millions of Americans will be freezing in the dark" (in the words of a critic) once new EPA rules lowering carbon emissions from power plants go into effect. In fact, some analyses suggest that the rules issued last week by the U.S...

  • 2016 Fiat 500X prototype body shell in assembly plant in Melfi, Italy
    Cost Of New EPA Carbon Limits? About $7 Per Car: Report

    Every time a new environmental regulation is proposed in the United States, there's a predictable chorus of doom-and-gloom predictions that it will kill jobs, cause manufacturers to move their operations out of the country, and destroy the economy. Those predictions tend to be a bit, shall we say...

  • Two BNSF locomotives hauling coal trains meet near Wichita Falls, Texas

    Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce new regulations to cut the carbon emissions of more than 600 existing coal-fired electric power plants. And many analysts suggest that this regulation--which will likely spark a major political battle--will be the most important environmental legacy of the Obama Administration. The regulation would propose cutting carbon emissions from coal plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, sources tell The Washington Post and The New York Times. If the regulation survives, it could close hundreds of coal plants across the...

  • Chrome exhaust pipe
    Atmospheric Carbon Is Higher, Faster, This Year Than Last

    Atmospheric CO2 levels have already exceeded last year's annual peak.

  • 2012, 2013, and 2014 Toyota Prius
    Toyota's Texas Move: Prius Maker Lands In Highest-Carbon State (Updated)

    Toyota announced yesterday that it would relocate the headquarters of its U.S. arm from Torrance, California, to Plano, Texas. Left unaddressed in the announcement was the fact that the Japanese carmaker, known for its green image and its pioneering Prius hybrid range of 50-mpg cars, is moving from...

  • 2011 GMC Canyon 2WD Reg Cab 111.2" SLE1 Air Vents
    'Super Greenhouse Gas' Emissions From Air Conditioning A Climate Concern

    Leaking air-conditioner refrigerant may be increasingly contributing to global warming.

  • Beijing smog
    Even In China, Coal Consumption May Be Peaking

    While use of coal for generating electricity has started to decline in the U.S., China continues to build coal power plants. With public anger at filthy air bubbling below the surface, and the costs of associated health effects more apparent, the country's government is well aware of the long-term...

  • Two BNSF locomotives hauling coal trains meet near Wichita Falls, Texas
    Proposal: Buy Out, Shut Down U.S. Coal Industry For $50 Billion

    Give Felix Kramer credit for thinking big. Twelve years ago, he and others founded CalCars, a group dedicated to promoting plug-in hybrid vehicles with large battery packs--and built the world's first plug-in Prius hybrid. Now he and coauthor Gil Friend have published an audacious proposal to buy...

  • Solar Panels by Flickr user Chandra Marsono

    These are interesting times in the automotive and electric-utility businesses. While the reasons are different, it turns out they may intersect. It's been quietly discussed among electric utilities that increasing amounts of distributed solar power and other renewable energy may destroy their business model. The worry is that if consumers can generate much or all of their own electricity, the utilities lose the revenue from selling them power--while continuing to shoulder the substantial costs of maintaining the electric distribution network as a backup. MORE: Electric Utilities Now Fighting...

  • Electric power plant outside Ithaca, New York
    Pricing Carbon Emissions? Bring It On, Say Some Large Companies

    Several large companies are prepared to pay for carbon emissions in the near future.

  • Two BNSF locomotives hauling coal trains meet near Wichita Falls, Texas
    TVA To Cut Coal Use For Energy Generation By Half

    The Tennessee Valley Authority will shut down eight electricity-generating units, which account for nearly a fifth of its yearly coal use.

  • Power station - Image by Flickr user MacJewell, used under Creative Commons license
    Blood And Gore: Coal Is Becoming A Stranded Asset

    In case you hadn't noticed, it's Halloween. So how could we not comment on an article whose byline reads Gore and Blood? Their topic may be slightly esoteric, but it has big implications for our energy future. It's all about stranded assets--those that lose economic value well ahead of their...

  • Power plant
    The Next Big Emissions Battle Is Not Cars; It's About Coal

    The rules for vehicle gas mileage are pretty much locked down from now through 2025. The math is complicated, but vehicles in 2025 will have to reach a fleet-wide average of 54.5 mpg by 2025--or about 42 mpg on their window stickers. So what's the next battleground over reducing emissions? It's...

  • World Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Flow Chart 2010 [source: Ecofys + ANS Bank]
    Greenhouse Gases & Where They Really Come From: Infographic

    We love data. And we love simple but informative graphic presentations of complex data even more. Which leads us to today's infographic, a presentation of the sources and activities that produce greenhouse gases as a result of human activity. Inspired by an earlier similar graphic from 2005, the...

  • 2011 Toyota Prius

    The 2012 Toyota Prius gets the best EPA-rated gas mileage--50 miles per gallon combined--of any non-plug-in car sold in the U.S. But the Prius hybrid sometimes gets a bad rap. At least some of it is due to the notorious (and very funny) South Park episode in which a deadly attack of Smug afflicts the little mountain town whose residents all drive a hatchback called the Pious. With its top-of-the-list gas mileage, a Prius hybrid is clearly a step in the direction of driving green--and all journeys begin with the first step. But by itself, buying a hybrid isn't enough. Here are five reasons...

  • Scout the dog, rescued by Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption, Accord, NY; photo: Jay Blotcher
    Want To Clean Up The Planet? Spay Your Pet, THEN Buy a Prius

    Cutting carbon emissions is complex. And there are a lot of myths and misinformation out there. The effective impact of some actions--reusing your grocery bags, for instance--is relatively low. Other methods, things that many people never even consider, are considerably more effective. For...

  • What's a Few Hundred Condoms Between Friends? by Flickr user xmasons
    Can Condoms Curb Climate Change Cheaper Than Low-Carbon Cars?

    The Frankfurt Auto Show just wound up today, and most of the concept cars focus on lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Volkswagen, for instance, launched a two-seat "1-Liter" concept car that gets a remarkable 170 miles per gallon. But suppose all the money we're investing in better gas mileage and...

  • wind farm
    Researchers: 100 Percent Green Energy Possible By 2050

    We approach energy policy with care here, since GreenCarReports is largely about ... well, cars. But a recent article claims it could take just 40 years to convert the bulk of the world's global energy usage from fossil fuels to renewable energy, primarily wind and solar power. That's not only...

  • 50 Kw Leaf Charger
    Report: Electric Cars Best Way To Reduce U.S. Oil Dependancy

    We like it when a study confirms a common-held belief. And for hundreds of would-be electric car owners across the U.S. a recent study has done just that. Years into the Military Conflict in the Middle East, and just months after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill a team at Rice University have...

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