The Daily Sprout
DIY Solar Electric Car: Between the financial strain of high gas prices and seven children it’s no wonder Brent Hatch decided to build a solar-pedal powered hybrid to schlep to and from the middle school – CBS News via Autoblog Green.
LDK CEO Founds New Thin-Film Startup: Named Best Solar, the startup founded by LDK CEO Xiaofeng Peng is the mystery buyer of $1.9 billion worth of Applied Materials solar manufacturing equipment, enough to make 1 gigawatt of thin-film panels – Greentech Media.
“An Open Letter to Our Next President about Energy Policy”: Step 1: Get elected. Step 2: Read this letter. Step 3: Make a comprehensive energy plan – The Oil Drum.
Carbon Footprint Fatalism: For those of you have switched to the hybrid, the CFLs, the vegan diet and sworn off air travel MIT has some bad news – it doesn’t matter. If you live in the developed world the infrastructure you depend on will send your footprint sky high – New Scientist.
Boone Pickens Clearing Way for Wind Transmission: Our favorite Texan oil-baron-turned-wind-power-wildcatter is getting ready to build a giant water and electricity transmission line in the Texas panhandle to accommodate the 2,700 wind turbines he plans to build there – Times Record News.
On the 4th item, re: fatalism on carbon footprints… I think the spin that came off that survey was all wrong. Really, what they did was calculate how much the current American system contributes to energy usage. That’s a useful thing to know, and highlights the need for systemic change, which I read as a good thing. I responded to it here:
MIT Class Calculates Carbon Footprint of “The Man”
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/mit-class-calcu.html
@ Alexis:
Thanks for linking your article because I think you’re absolutely right, this does not need to interpreted at “carbon fatalism.” I was just summarizing the argument made by New Scientist.
Still, it is daunting, to say the least, to see an increasingly accurate carbon footprint calculated for citizens of the developed world. Let us hope that calculation and identification are steps that lead to reduction.