OpenMarket.org » Archive » Celebrate Coal (or, How I Just Tripled My Carbon Footprint)

For hundreds of millions of the world’s poor, however, coal is cleaner and more energy efficient than the alternative. This is one of the many inconvenient truths that environmentalists ignore in their dogged pursuit of a static global ecosystem.

"Experts" call for end of flushing toilets on World Toilet Day

AS the world celebrates World Toilet Day today, sanitation experts have called for the end of the flushing dunny to save water and provide fertilizer for crops.

Making America's cars pure electric: are we there yet?

The Mini E will soon be the only pure electric car on American roads in any significant numbers. Could it help normalize electric cars, help get drivers used to the idea of a future in which our tiny cars are silent, zippy, and potentially nauseating? It's not going to make any kind of meaningful dent in oil consumption or CO2 emissions, after all. The Mini Es will go to drivers in LA and New York City who endure what Mini boss Jim McDowell describes as an "adoption" process and then pay the $850-a-month lease to score one of the 450 cars. That's not a lot of units. Still, it's far more than any other automaker is likely to have on the road any time soon. Tesla has delivered less than a couple dozen cars so far.