Some vets think their war was for oil. Now they’re working to help us use less.
Energy & Industry
Posted inArticles
Colorado Guv cozies up to natural gas
After butting heads with the fossil fuels industry, Gov. Bill Ritter changes his tune
Posted inWotr
Organic goes down a slippery road
Here’s the sad news: Even as the demand for organic food continues to explode, organic farmers in America are getting thrown under the very beet cart they helped build. The Chinese are taking over market share, especially of vegetables and agricultural commodities like soy, thanks to several American-based multinational food corporations that have hijacked the […]
Posted inGoat
“Organic mecca” organizes against GMO sugar beets
The Boulder Daily Camera calls them “organic industry heavyweights.” And they’re out to make sure Boulder County Commissioners disallow the request of six area farmers to grow Roundup Ready sugar beets on open space land. Not because of the scientific and economic arguments against GMOs — enumerated later — but because it may besmirch the […]
Posted inGoat
NW Renewables: Infrastructure needed
By Sharon Fisher, NewWest.Net Guest Writer, 7-14-09 The Northwest—Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana—is arguably the riches region of the United States for renewable energy resources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar, said Paul Manson, president of Seabreeze Power Corp., speaking at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference today (with a windmill pin on his […]
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
Biomass is where it’s at
I have checked your “Alternative Alternative Energy: An HCN Special Report” issue over carefully, twice now, and it appears that my eyes are not deceiving me — you really did ignore the potential contributions of woody biomass (HCN, 6/22 & 7/6/09). This is shortsighted, to say the least.Forest biomass is plentiful, carbon-neutral and essential to […]
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
Wavin’ in Oregon
In your otherwise excellent series of articles on renewable energy in the West, a few gaps were evident (HCN, 6/22 & 7/6/09). Your map on page 16 leaves the impression that Oregon is far behind neighboring states in alternative energy projects (see correction, page 11). In fact, many wind energy sites not noted on the […]
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
Even hard-liners want to experiment in Arizona
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking control of the machine.” “We squashed the timber industry and the Forest Service, and dictated the terms of surrender” in the Southwest, says Kieran Suckling, the director of the Center for Biological Diversity. He’s talking about a war that began in the 1980s, […]
Posted inArticles
The Hungry Intern: Dinner
The starving journalist is no longer starving, and he filled up on all local foods
Posted inArticles
The Hungry Intern: Lunch
Jeff’s zany local food adventure continues with his second meal of the day
Posted inArticles
The Hungry Intern: Breakfast
A zany attempt to eat locally, on a starving journalist’s budget. Episode 1.
Posted inGoat
Alternative alternative energy in the West
The West’s renewable energy resources — especially the wind, solar and geothermal energy concentrated on our vast public lands — are in the limelight a lot these days. With that in mind, HCN put together this summer’s special issue around the concept of alternative alternative energy — as in, not just those big solar and […]
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
The Renewable Energy Landscape
A look at renewable energy in the West
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
Renewables: The Final Frontier
Why historian Vaclav Smil thinks there are no easy solutions to our energy problems
Posted inGoat
Fracking, fracing or fraccing?
Most of us have heard of “hydraulic fracturing.” It’s a way to get fluids out of the ground by drilling a well, then pumping liquid under pressure down the hole. The liquid fractures nearby rocks, thereby releasing a substance (generally natural gas these days) that has been trapped in the rocks. “Hydraulic fracturing” […]
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
From Pickups to PV
Utility brings solar power to far-flung Navajos
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
Thinking Past the Moment
An interview with Sierra Club renewable energy expert Carl Zichella
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
Growing Away from Big Coal
Rural electric co-ops make a slow push back toward community energy
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
Modern-day La Mancha
Are environmentalists re-enacting Don Quixote’s crusade against windmills — while ignoring the real monster of climate change?