Center for Investigative Reporting

March 22nd, 2012

To feed another 2 billion people, the world will need to produce 70 percent more food, and up to 100 percent more in developing countries.

Just one of the food-and-water facts from the campaign organizers at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

November 4th, 2011

Another California solar company with federal loan reports huge loss

californiawatch:

SunPower Corp., a San Jose-based solar power company that received a last-minute Department of Energy loan in September, announced today that it lost more than $370 million in its fiscal third quarter – more than double its second-quarter loss – and that its chief financial officer would resign.

The company said it also would likely lose money in its fourth quarter and would embark on a “reorganization” that would lead to job cuts.

Read more.

Reblogged from California Watch

November 2nd, 2011

This spring, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that her country would be the first in the world to completely abandon nuclear power. This radical policy change was motivated in part by the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but it also has roots in Germany’s strong anti-nuclear movement.

CIR Producer Marjorie McAfee follows the story of Ursula Sladek, one of Germany’s most famous atomic activists, who overtook her town’s power grid. From her small corner in the Black Forest, Sladek showed her country – and the rest of the world – that it’s possible to replace nuclear power with renewable energy sources.

October 28th, 2011

californiawatch:

The U.S. Department of Energy has moved ahead with $4.5 billion in new loans for clean energy projects in California – despite the recent bankruptcy of Silicon Valley-based Solyndra. The new loans all were approved last month during the final days of a federal program created with stimulus money. Our reporter Dan Goldstein has the story.

Reblogged from California Watch

June 9th, 2011

Zoom

theatlantic:

Nigeria: The Cost of Oil

A view of an illegal oil refinery is seen in Ogoniland outside Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s Delta region March 24, 2011. Crude oil thieves — known locally as “bunkerers” — have been a fact of life for years in Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, puncturing pipelines and costing Nigeria and foreign oil firms millions of dollars in lost revenues each year. [Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye]

See more photographs at In Focus

Reblogged from The Atlantic

May 31st, 2011

Google Earth tool shows proximity of nuclear plants

Nuclear power plants are often located in highly populated areas.

That’s because they were designed to provide electricity for people. And the closer the plants are to those people, the less energy required to get that power there.

So, just how close are these plants to people? And how many people are we talking about?

Those were the questions the journal Nature and Columbia University sought to answer when they created this Google Earth tool.

The researchers and writers found that two-thirds of the world’s 211 power plants each have more than 172,000 people living within a 19-mile radius. That’s more than the population around Fukushima. Read more

Photo via Topato/Flickr

May 27th, 2011

Wind power creates unique job opportunity for . . . rock climbers

April 22nd, 2011

Today is Earth Day! To celebrate, watch a clip from our documentary Dirty Business: “Clean Coal” and the Battle for Our Energy Future. America burns more than a billion tons of coal a year—and coal-fired power plants are the single greatest source of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Dirty Business investigates the true cost of our dependence on coal for electricity in the age of climate change.

Learn more about the film

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At The Center for Investigative Reporting, we believe journalism that moves citizens to action is an essential pillar of democracy. Since 1977, CIR has relentlessly pursued and uncovered injustices that otherwise would be hidden from the public eye. Today, we are upholding this legacy and looking forward, working at the forefront of journalistic innovation to produce important stories that make a difference and engage our audiences across the aisle, coast to coast, and worldwide. What drives our work isn't profit – it's impact. Learn more at http://cironline.org/

Center for Investigative Reporting

Another California solar company with federal loan reports huge loss

Google Earth tool shows proximity of nuclear plants

@CIRonline

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