David Roberts

David Roberts

Energy, politics, and more

David Roberts is a staff writer for Grist. You can subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on Twitter or email him at droberts at grist dot org, if you're into that sort of thing.

Throwing bad money after bad

Rich countries are still wasting billions on subsidies for fossil fuels

The G20 nations pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. Instead they're now spending $88 billion a year just on exploration, not to mention all the other subsidies.

This is the dividend

A proposal to save the middle class … by cutting carbon pollution

Peter Barnes' plan is politically impossible, but isn't everything now? So what the hell, let's check it out.

Climate & Energy

How climate change is like street harassment

It is difficult to convince people that their actions have, knowingly or unknowingly, contributed to substantial aggregate harms. It's true of catcalling women on the street and it's true of climate change.

Politics

When Republicans say crazy sh*t, it ought to matter

Soon-to-be Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst believes in Agenda 21 conspiracy theories and wants to totally shut down the EPA, and the mainstream media thinks that's not worth mentioning.

Politics

Is this House Republican about to lose to a climate hawk?

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) lurched to the right to fend off primary challengers. Now, he may pay the price.

Pssssssss ...

California’s carbon market is leaking

Recent changes to the rules of California's carbon market threaten to allow substantial "leakage," which would merely shuffle emissions, not eliminate them. This is a Bad Thing.

Climate & Energy

What will it take to get electricity to the world’s poor?

What's the most promising way to extend electricity to those who now lack it? Is it top-down, extending the centralized grid and building large power plants? Or is it bottom-up, with distributed energy?

Very carefully

How can we get power to the poor without frying the planet?

Nearly 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity, but bringing them up to a western level of consumption of fossil fuels will fry the planet. What's the ethical path forward?

The sun! It burns!

Rooftop solar is just the beginning; utilities must innovate or go extinct

Fights over rooftop solar generally focus on "net metering," but the challenge to utilities is far greater than that, and if they hope to survive, their response must be more ambitious.

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