Category Archives: geothermal
White House Going Solar Again; Right Thing, Right Time
More than 30 years ago, President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed at the White House. I was a young reporter who didn’t know much about life much less renewable energy. But that single, highly-publicized gesture had a lasting impact … Continue reading
Oil Shale Debate is Back with New Report on “Fossil Foolishness”; A Defining Issue in Utah’s Race for Governor
Utah’s governor goes on a statewide fact-finding/discussion sort of campaign starting today to develop an energy policy or something. An admirable endeavor seeing as Utah’s energy policy has basically been oil/coal/natural gas since the invention of the internal combustion engine … Continue reading
China Now World’s Biggest Energy Hog; Is America Losing- or Learning?
The U.S. is still by far the biggest energy consumer per capita, with the average American burning five times as much energy annually as the average Chinese citizen…” – Fatih Birol, chief economist, International Energy Agency There was a time … Continue reading
BP Gulf Oil Spill: Compare Renewable vs. Fossil Fuels First, Then Debate
Yet another major disaster involving fossil fuels has people talking about renewable energy again. But only until the corporate news media get tired of the story and start chasing Sarah Palin and Tiger Woods again. So if you want to … Continue reading
BP Gulf Oil Rig, Massey Coal Disasters Show We Don’t Understand Energy Independence or Security
The latest oil-coal-nuclear-or-whatever in the Gulf of Mexico is just another headline unless you understand this: OUR LACK OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY IS MORE FRIGHTENING THAN GETTING ATTACKED IN A SKYSCRAPER. But Americans spend more time trying to discredit … Continue reading
Mormons Build First Solar-Powered Meetinghouse; Conservatives Finally Live Up to Their Name
“We’re trying to be as energy efficient and conservation conscious as we can.” – Bishop Richard C. Edgely Where the LDS Church stands on environmental issues has been a moving target since right-wingers (which the mostly Mormons are) demonized caring … Continue reading
Smart Electric Meters Not So Smart After All; Distributive Energy is Still Essential to Homeland Security
“…an attacker may be able to force control messages to perform such tasks as turning off the power latch, updating firmware, or attacking HAN devices. Potential ways of successfully executing such an attack may include stealing symmetric keys from a meter, private/public keys … Continue reading
Iceland Volcano Erupts: Town I Visited in 2007 Evacuated
Iceland has so many volcanos, some don’t even have names. One of those is erupting now and it’s forced the evacuation of the town of Vik along the southeastern Icelandic coast. We drove to Vik in 2007 during our visit … Continue reading
Solar Industry Will Generate $77 Billion in 2015
Our new solar hot water system (FYI: the pic is our three-year-old electricity array, not hot water), installed two weeks ago, is working beautifully, thanks to Harris-Dudley, the Utah Solar Energy Association, and all the people who’ve helped us learn … Continue reading
Breaking Irony: Utah Republicans Fight to Keep America’s Energy Industry in the 19th Century
The recent Treehugger report on how states are being manipulated by the coal industry and other fossil fuel interests includes special recognition of Utah’s Republican-dominated and easily-manipulated-for-the-right-price legislature. Not only are Utah’s Republicans upholding the most lenient lobby laws in … Continue reading
