Back in April 2005 we published the feature “Mangroves Stop Tsunami,” which explained that much of the devastation from the tsunami that struck South East Asia in December 2004 could have been avoided if the mangrove forests hadn’t been ripped out to make room for aquaculture and timber.  After the devastating cyclone hit Myanmar earlier [...]

Solar thermal power is considered an important step towards developing large scale sources of clean electricity, but within this sector there are some very distinct applications of the technology.  Bright Source Energy, with offices in Oakland, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel, is building next generation “power tower” solar thermal power plants.

The power tower.
(Photo: Bright Source Energy)

The stated advantages of [...]

Back in January 2007 we posted “New Environmentalism,” one of several attempts we’ve made to redefine environmentalism, that particular one inspired by comments from Robert Metcalf, a partner at Polaris Ventures in Boston.  Metcalf’s comments were part of a keynote address he delivered at the Massachusetts Energy Summit entitled “Framing the First Massachusetts Energy Summit.”  We [...]

On April 22nd we had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by Ripu Malhotra, a researcher with the Stanford Research Institute, who was speaking at AlwaysOn’s “Nordic Green” conference.  Mr. Malhotra has taken the unusual step of converting all forms of energy use into cubic mile of oil equivalents - a measure that is quite [...]

A few months ago we toured the “Idea House,” sponsored by Sunset Magazine, located in the lower Mission District of San Francisco.  The building was fascinating - two units, three stories - with one larger home taking up all three floors, and an apartment consuming part of the 2nd floor on the west side of the structure.  [...]