In the proud tradition of Don Quixote, Kimball Rasmussen — the CEO of a coal power plant — has taken to jousting with windmills, according to a recent story ("Green jobs and energy debate on Utah's Capitol Hill," Sept. 22). And just as the windmills posed no threat to Cervantes' hero, windmills aren't the enemy threatening Rasmussen's coal plants.
Submitted by Arthur Morris on Fri, 2011-05-27 10:24
Debates about environmental standards often revolve around the issue of jobs. A central argument for less protective standards is the “race to the bottom” concept.
This idea is that businesses will invest in the least protective countries, states and cities, because it’s cheaper. This can incite a competitive race among governments to have the least protective standards. The troubling extension of this logic is that more protective standards come at the expense of jobs and economic growth, pitting health and the environment against jobs.
If businesses really do “dumpster dive” to find the least protective environmental standards, then there must be serious trade-offs. We’ve spent some time tracking down research on this question in order to understand these costs.
Submitted by Arthur Morris on Fri, 2011-05-13 10:11
Everything you need to know about fracking is in this amazingly-musical and surprisingly-nuanced little package:
In addition to making drinking water flammable, fracking yet again highlights the faustian dilemma inherent in getting power from fossil fuel: energy helps us but always comes with harmful side effects, from dirty air to poisoned water. There are real health costs that we bear everyday when we flip the lights on across America. We need to be honest with ourselves about these costs.
Submitted by Arthur Morris on Fri, 2011-05-06 15:36
If you’re one of those folks who thinks renewables are too expensive to be a reality here are two quick headlines to blow your mind (you might want to put down that Hot Pocket you’re about to bite into):
It turns out that even when the sun and wind are doing all of the work you have to pay for power – I guess my econ professors were right there really isn’t any free lunch. It also turns out that the renewable energy lunch is getting cheaper.
