Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, gave a speech to the Economic Club in Washington last week in which he laid out the case for a revenue-neutral tax on CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Tillerson reminded his audience of the stubborn fact that fossil fuels will continue to supply almost 60% of the of the worlds’ energy through 2030. Tillerson sees free markets and technology as the best means to bring about change in the world’s energy systems.

While there have been many stories about eco-friendly beer over the past few years, this local brewery is apparently using 100% filtered rainwater. The water is captured on-site and creates green beer. Cheers!

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Stewart Brand, the father of the Whole Earth Catalog, promotes nuclear power (especially micro power 10-50 megawatts),  genetically-modified food crops, geo-engineering solutions for climate change like “cloud ships”, and the growth of cities over rural subsistence farm communities.
It’s an interesting (and brief) lecture.

European companies faced with higher costs and taxes for waste disposal and recycling are finding a cheaper alternative; they are shipping more waste overseas to Africa, China, India and Indonesia, the New York Times reports.
While much of this waste is sent to qualified recyclers, some of waste trade is illegal. The great concern is the export of waste to countries where children often dismantle waste containing toxic substances.

IBM is working toward a tenfold improvement in battery storage with its research on a future generation lithium-air battery, the New York Times reports.
Winfried Wilcke, an IBM physicist and program director at the IBM Almaden Research Center, said “I strongly believe that climbing this Mount Everest of ten times better, given resources, time and patience, will happen . . . and it deserves a Manhattan-like effort.,” New York Times
IBM sponsored a conference at its Almaden Research Center in San Jose last month with battery experts to discuss the promises and …

When the Altamonte Pass wind turbine farm was developed over 20 years ago, there was much concern over the wind turbines’ effect on migratory birds, raptors and bats.
The concerns, and at times outcry, of bird experts have continued but those concerns were often questioned as being misplaced or even myths.

Van Jones, the special adviser to President Obama for green jobs, resigned over the weekend after it was revealed that he signed a petition stating that President Bush may have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen as a pretext for war in the Middle East. Additional ammunition used against Jones were his past statements about Republicans.

In a recent New York Times, Kate Murphy profiles Dan Phillips, who about 12 years ago, started building low income housing from materials other people considered trash.
Mr. Phillips is a self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber, who scours the landfills for discarded building materials. He estimates that “80 percent of the materials are salvaged from other construction projects, hauled out of trash heaps or just picked up from the side of the road.”
To ensure that his designs are sound and will meet all local building codes, Mr. Phillips consults with professional …

The National Biodiesel Board reported that two thirds of the U.S. biodiesel production capacity remains unused due to the economic recession and the decline of oil prices over the past year.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) filed an objection with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to a proposal by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator that would dramatically increase the cost of wind farms grid connections, according to a report by James Murray in Business Green