The Obama administration called Thursday for hefty tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels and cells, arguing China has been illegally "dumping" under-priced products on the U.S. market.The preliminary ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce seeks tariffs ranging from 31% to 250% on Chinese solar imports. A final decision is expected later this year.FOLLOW: Green House on TwitterThe trade case has divided the U.S. solar industry. Some manufacturers say China's subsidies have made it difficult for them to compete, causing several bankruptcies such as Solyndra's. Other U.S. solar companies say tariffs could hike solar panel prices, inflame trade tensions and stunt the industry's growth.Commerce's ruling "is a bellwether decision," Steve Ostrenga, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Helios Solar Works, said in a statement. "It underscores the ... Continue reading →

So much for reasoned debate! The Heartland Institute, a controversial group known for trying to discredit climate science, has unveiled billboards that compare people concerned about global warming to mass murderers such as Osama Bin Laden.The Chicago-based group said its first billboards featuring Ted Kaczynski-- whose mail bombing campaign spanned nearly 20 years and killed three people -- began appearing Thursday along the the inbound Eisenhower Expressway in Maywood, Ill. It said more will follow.FOLLOW: Green House on Twitter"The most prominent advocates of global warming aren't scientists," said Heartland's president, Joseph Bast, in a news release. "They are Charles Manson, a mass murderer; Fidel Castro, a tyrant; and Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber." He said other "global warming alarmists" who may appear on future billboards include ... Continue reading →

As oil and gas drilling explodes nationwide, the Obama administration today proposed rules requiring the disclosure of chemicals used to extract these deposits on public and Indian lands. Environmentalists say the rules don't go far enough but an industry group says they may stifle job growth with "bureaucratic red tape."The proposed rules require companies to disclose the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but do so after (not before) they finish operations. About 90% of wells drilled on federal and Indian lands use this drilling process, which blasts chemical-laced water and sand deep below ground to release oil and natural gas trapped in rock formations.FOLLOW: Green House on TwitterFracking has dramatically boosted the development of previously uneconomic natural gas and oil deposits, but critics ... Continue reading →

Amid the push to develop clean energy, new research suggests plant-based biofuels could meet 30% of global demand for transportation fuel and slash the greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels.Recent scientific advances raise the possibility that biofuels can be made from non-edible plants engineered to grow on land abandoned for agricultural use and thus not compromise food production, according to an article this week in F1000 Biology Reports."Many of the concerns about the use of food crops for biofuels do not apply to the use of the inedible parts of plants that are the focus of our review", says co-author Chris R. Somerville, professor of alternative energy at the University of California, Berkeley. "New dedicated energy crops are a particularly promising area ... Continue reading →

As the climate warms, many plants are flowering 8.5 times sooner than experiments had predicted, raising questions for the world's future food and water supply, a new international study concludes.Higher carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels can affect how plants produce oxygen, and higher temperatures can alter their behavior. Shifts in natural events such as flowering or leafing, which biologists call "phenology," are obvious responses to climate change. They can impact human water supply, pollination of crops, the onset of spring (and allergy season), the chances of wildfires and the overall health of ecosystems.To better understand this, scientists from 22 institutions in Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States studied 1,634 species of plants across four continents. They compared how plants ... Continue reading →

More than 80% of builders say energy-efficient features are now pervasive in new homes and are making their construction greener than just two years ago, a new report finds.Two-thirds of builders and remodelers say customers request green homes to lower their utility bills -- more than twice as often as any other factor, according to the SmartMarket report by McGraw-Hill Consruction, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies.FOLLOW: Green House on TwitterThe report, which surveyed members of the National Association of Home Builders, was released Tuesday at NAHB's National Green Building Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tenn."In the current residential market, there is an enormous need to differentiate your homes for consumers," McGraw-Hill Construction's Harvey Bernstein said in announcing the findings."When builders are able to offer homes ... Continue reading →

A small scientific study linking Texas wind farms to higher surface temperatures has led to dramatic media headlines about wind farms causing climate change. Yet its lead author doesn't say that nor does earlier research.The study, published online this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, used satellite data to analyze land surface temperatures near a few large wind farms in Texas from 2003 through 2011. It found a night-time warming effect over the farms of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade. It says the turbines act like fans to pull down warmer air from the atmosphere closer to the ground.FOLLOW: Green House on Twitter"The warming effect reported in this study is local and is small compared to the strong background year-to-year land surface ... Continue reading →

Bike sharing programs are taking off in U.S. cities but so, too, is the potential for head injuries. The reason? More than 80% of bike-share riders don't use helmets, a new study finds.Researchers at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center tracked more than 3,000 bicyclists at 43 locations near bike rental kiosks in Washington, D.C., and Boston. They found that helmets weren't used by more than half of all bicyclists and more than four out of five bike share riders."Head injury accounts for about a third of all bicycle injuries and about three-quarters of bicycle related deaths, so these are some pretty shocking numbers," lead author and emergency medicine physician Christopher Fischer said in announcing the findings. The study, published in the April 30 online ... Continue reading →

How easy would it be to leave your car behind or not even have one? A new ranking of U.S. cities Thursday, based on their public transit systems, offers a clue and perhaps some surprises.As might be expected, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. top the list of 25 cities, but Miami comes it at eighth place and Los Angeles at 11th, according to the analysis by Walk Score, a website that scores homes and neighborhoods for walkability. Eco-friendly Austin, Texas, ranks 21st, while the other bottom cities include Raleigh (N.C.), Columbus (Ohio) Las Vegas and Sacramento."Heading to the gas pump this season is about as much fun as getting a root canal," Walk Score CEO, Josh Herst, said in announcing the findings, ... Continue reading →

Yes, after a long and winding road, my green house is now done. Well, not 100% done. A few repairs remain, but my family is settling into our dream home.In today's print version of USA TODAY, I describe the second half of our four-year journey to right-size our life from a 5,000 square-foot suburban home to one half its size in walkable Falls Church, VA. I cite the lessons we learned and provide a guided tour of our new home. I wrote about the first half of our quest two years ago for Earth Day and updated our progress via multiple posts here on Green House, which I'll list at the end of this report.FOLLOW: Green House on TwitterMany readers have been enthusiastic about our ... Continue reading →