Perhaps the largest impact of global climate change will be on agriculture, and there is no crop more sensitive to changes in climate than wine grapes. As temperatures rise and average precipitation levels change, the signature wine-making regions such as those in France and California will be forced to adapt. There have been studies conducted analyzing (more…)

As the last days of the year wind down, Congress scurries around to finish its unfinished business, almost always with "surprises" for the regulated community. 

The House appropriations committee issued a final version of the 2012 Omnibus spending bill last week.  It has, of course, significant implications for energy (more…)

Go ahead — call me a hypocrite. I claim to be a cleantech venture capitalist yet I tell you here and now that I am not convinced of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change (aka global warming). And I will audaciously tell you that my convictions on climate change in no way run contrary to my strong belief in the need for a cleantech revolution. (more…)

South Africa, which earlier this month hosted the turbulent climate change conference (COP17) in Durban, has announced it is supporting en.lighten, a global initiative to phase-out inefficient lighting by 2016. South Africa promised to transition (more…)

The Australian government will begin imposing a tax on carbon emissions in mid-2012. But large giveaways to industry mean Australia’s scheme doesn’t go nearly far enough in reducing the nation’s CO2 emissions or providing economic stimulus.

Another global climate conference has come and (more…)

Electric utilities operated under a rarified business model for decades. Their customers were captive so they rarely had to think about what motivated them to buy. New government energy efficiency mandates have changed that, and done so with an ironic twist. Now utilities must figure how to get their customers to refrain from buying. (more…)

For a long time in corporations, sustainability had been a soft issue – nice to highlight in the annual report but not thought to affect the bottom line. Not any more.

Now it’s considered, including by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), to have direct impact (more…)

Global carbon emissions soared 5.9 percent in 2010, the largest increase ever recorded, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists that tracks carbon emissions.

The increase comes after a short-lived decline in emissions in 2008 and 2009 and is a sign that global (more…)

Using state-of-art video technology, 12 energy experts met simultaneously in London, Washington DC and São Paulo to discuss the technological, behavioral and policy solutions to help the world achieve long-term energy goals.

The event was called Global Energy Conversation (more…)

Recently, the U.N.’s official climate change body announced that extreme weather events are tied to climate change and we can expect even more mayhem as the century wears on. Among other climate disasters, the authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report foresee more scorching days and (more…)