TPM's Top 10 Senate Races To Watch | TPMDC

Progressives love Russ Feingold more than perhaps any other Senator. And unlike most vulnerable Democrats this year, Feingold voted against bailing out big banks in 2008 -- the political sin that's supposedly (though not actually) at the heart of the conservative uprising. He's running against the deeply conservative businessman Ron Johnson.

Feingold's got plenty to work with -- Johnson claims that global warming is caused by sunspots and that carbon emissions are good for trees -- but he's never faced a challenge like this. So serious is the threat that Feingold has spotlighted the high marks he's received from conservative activists in the past on issues like earmarks and deficits. If Johnson wins it will represent a huge swing to the right for that seat, and, indeed, for the U.S. Senate as a whole. Right now he's up by two.

The TPM Poll Average shows Johnson leading 48.8-46.9.

80% of UK Heat Pumps Performing Badly : TreeHugger

Back in 2008 Lloyd stirred up controversy with his post blowing hot and cold on ground source heat pumps, and his stance was later validated when Green Building Adviser concluded that groundsource heat pumps were not as efficient as claimed, and way too expensive to be a sensible response to climate change. Now a study over in the UK seems to suggest that installation of both ground- and air-source heat pumps leaves an awful lot to be desired—in fact fully 87% of heat pumps studied did not perform as well as they should.

A report over at The Guardian on the under-performance of UK heat pumps brings news of a new study from the Energy Saving Trust which tracked the performance of 83 newly installed heat pump units over a 12 month period. The results were astounding—astoundingly bad that is.