Energy and Climate Change

As sea levels rise, tidal flooding is increasingly disrupting life here and all along the East Coast, a development many climate scientists link to global warming.

Entrepreneurs in New Zealand have developed a "power pad" capable of wirelessly charging an electric vehicle that’s parked on top of it. It could even charge cars on the go.

Both firms believe there are huge opportunities ahead for energy-saving technologies, with the introduction of the so-called smart grid – a next-generation power network that will optimize supply to residential and other properties – likely to accelerate demand for such products.

It has the potential to make this renewable energy indefinitely storable and transportable.

The Obama administration has set a goal of having 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. Kintner-Meyer said that could cause problems for the electrical grid.

Dire or emotionally charged warnings about the consequences of global warming can backfire if presented too negatively, making people less amenable to reducing their carbon footprint.

Energy is the lifeblood of modern societies.

Our changing climate isn’t all about temperatures.

"It could be Armageddon."

For climate scientists, however, among people actually doing work in the field, a lot of the argument and the thinking about the pace of change is going in the opposite direction — global climate is changing faster, bigger, and sooner rather than later.