In the vacuum left by the U.S. Congress’ inability/unwillingness to pass climate change legislation, and in light of a looming budgetary squeeze for all federal agencies, including/especially those researching and developing systems to the environment and natural resources, one might think that any federal money (more…)

Speaking at the fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, California Governor Jerry Brown urged attendees to boost efforts to promote clean, renewable energy sources.

Brown said, “Climate change has become more obvious, and we see great opportunity in investing in (more…)

The United Nations has put renewable energy at the top of its agenda in 2012.

“We can create jobs that will stimulate economies and provide universal access to all the people,” said the UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. “That is why the General Assembly has declared next year as the International Year for (more…)

European chemical manufacturers are covertly venting huge quantities of the powerful super greenhouse gas HFC-23, according to a study by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). The report, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, says that (more…)

I’ve noticed that a lot of the interviews I’m asked to do around “Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies” have very little to do with the subject matter of the book directly. I’m headed back to New York City in a couple of weeks to tape a TV show called “Getting Your Money’s Worth,” which, as the name suggests, (more…)

A new study says the explosive growth of urban areas worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to human populations and the global environment, from the loss of agricultural land and wildlife habitat to increased vulnerability to the effects of climate change. (more…)

Across the board, Americans are less concerned about climate change than they used to be. But with Republicans far outpacing Democrats in terms of concern about climate change and (dis)belief that humans are causing it, never has the climate issue been as partisan as it is today. And nowhere is that pattern (more…)

A new study finds that animal and plant species are responding to the effects of climate change at a rate two to three times faster than previously believed.

Researchers at the University of York in the UK found that in more than 2,000 instances, species are changing their habitats to adapt to warming (more…)

In 2008, the European Union (EU) created its very ambitious 20-20-20 plan. It called for an increase in renewable energy use throughout the EU by 20 percent by the year 2020. Also included in this plan is a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent under 1990 levels and increased energy efficiency (more…)

According to a just released report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, New Zealand’s government is the world’s most environmentally friendly country for government sponsored research, spending 13.39 percent the total government budget for environmental research (more…)