“My father once told me that I would never be successful because I have too much contempt for authority,” says Edward Tufte. “I think that’s been an enormously successful strategy.” At 67, Tufte (pronounced TUFF-tee) defies easy categorization. He has…
BusinessWeek
A U.S./EU Dogfight Over Greener Air Travel | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
American airlines are balking at new EU emission rules, but with British Airways and others on board, they may be fighting a battle they can’t win This August, U.S. airlines face their first big deadline to meet European Union rules…
Can China Go Green? | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
Beijing has big plans to curb pollution and start a cleantech industry. But the global recession and looming trade frictions will test its resolve China’s unprecedented growth in recent years has come at a terrible price. Two-thirds of its rivers…
Will Green Energy Wilt from Lack of Funds? | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
The financial specialists that convert tax credits into capital to build new windmills and solar farms have all but disappeared After years of fighting for stronger, more consistent state and federal support, the renewable-energy industry couldn’t have asked for a…
Will Demand for Solar Homes Pick Up? | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
Builders find the savings from cheap power is making solar homes more attractive As global financial markets melted down in October, Congress handed a gift to America’s green energy industry: It renewed and broadened a set of tax credits for…
Book review – Hot, Flat, and Crowded By Thomas L. Friedman | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
Enlisting Father Profit to Save Mother Nature — Tom Friedman makes a gripping political, environmental, and economic case for green innovation Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution— and How It Can Renew America. By Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus &…
Cape Wind: The War Over Offshore Wind Is Almost Over | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
It’s no longer if, but when, where, and how many wind farms will go up along the U.S. coast Wind farms are springing up in Midwestern fields, along Appalachian ridgelines, and even in Texas backyards. They’re everywhere, it seems, except…
Past Is Prologue: How Chicago’s Merchandise Mart transformed itself from a relic into a certified energy-efficient marvel | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
With today’s focus on “green” buildings, it’s no wonder that so many of the new towers scraping the Chicago sky are heralded for their benign impact on the environment. But what about the thousands of other high-rises and humbler structures…
Book review – “The World Without Us” By Alan Weisman | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
Save The Planet: Disappear — Weisman presents a curiously refreshing vision of the apocalypse THE WORLD WITHOUT US By Alan Weisman. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press — 324pp — $24.95 The extinction of humankind is a grim topic. Yet in The World…
Who Will Run The Plants? The nuclear industry faces a graying workforce | BusinessWeek
by Adam Aston • • Comments Off
If you walk the halls of Westinghouse or GE Nuclear, the top U.S. builders of atomic power plants, you’ll notice a buzz in the air–the first stirring of excitement since the 1970s. With many experts endorsing nuclear power as a…