Category Archives: Climate Change

Just How Clean Is Natural Gas?

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Chris Zach

I am always intrigued when new life cycle greenhouse gas footprints are published, because the results are often surprising. It is challenging to accurately estimate the life cycle footprint of a product with intuition alone. Examples: bottled water is up … Continue reading →

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Nuclear Power and the “Dread to Risk” Ratio

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Chris Zach

I’m writing this post in light of the recent disaster and its aftermath in Japan. Plus, the issue combines several subjects of my personal interest: energy technology, science, and psychology. Before going on, let me state that this post isn’t … Continue reading →

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Gimme that green, French wine

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Chris Zach

It ain’t easy being green. Apparently we will now need to calculate “green lines” for every buying decision. I wonder where the green line is for microbrew vs. homebrew…? My front porch? Last year, a study of the carbon cost … Continue reading →

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What do CCS and blood have in common?

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Chris Zach

Whenever I start to feel like the challenge of preventing climate change might just be insurmountable — this happens often as I read reports at work on the scale of carbon reduction needed — it’s a welcome news to hear … Continue reading →

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The Importance of Scope

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Chris Zach

As an energy analyst, I often see in my own work the drastic effect of scope on analysis results. For example, take a simple-sounding question like, “How much energy is required to produce a ton of iron?” This is a … Continue reading →

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Cap and Trade for Less

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Chris Zach

Good news for the future of cap and trade — and our climate — from a couple researchers at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) probably won’t cost as much as previously thought, which will keep … Continue reading →

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