The cost of keeping back the sea

As a new normal of extreme weather emerges, we must prepare for it. The question is: At what cost?

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- It took a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Sandy to finally get some high-profile politicians talking about the impact of climate change. In the wake of a heavy death toll and an estimated $50 billion in damage from the storm surge, New York Governor MORE

The driverless revolution rolls on

Autonomous vehicles are coming -- and sooner than you think. How the commute, the shipping industry, and the car itself will never be the same.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- Google has now proved that a self-driving car can travel more than 300,000 miles without a mishap. Well, it did suffer a parking-lot fender-bender -- but a human was at the wheel. Its customized Toyota Priuses use an impressive MORE

The greening of the football stadium

How a New Jersey power company taught NFL owners to love clean energy.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- A new kind of NFL rivalry is forming, not on the gridiron but in the boardroom. Many NFL owners have suddenly gotten religion about the environmental impact of football: installing solar panels in their stadiums, recycling plastic cups, and even composting garbage. Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie wants to make his MORE

The many, many uses for corn

The bulk of all the corn grown rarely becomes food. Here's where it goes.

By Cecilia Paasche, contributor

In a good year the U.S. corn crop comes in at 13 billion bushels, accounts for 55% of the world's corn exports, and is worth about $60 billion. But 2012 is not a good year. As drought ravages the farm belt, production is forecast at 10.8 billion bushels, and corn has hit MORE

An eco-friendly, elegant prefab home

This ain't no cookie-cutter mobile home. LivingHomes makes high-end, affordable prefabs that also get high marks for green tech.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- Steve Glenn, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and former Apple marketing exec, thinks he's found a new twist on the world's second-oldest industry. His Santa Monica construction company, LivingHomes, designs and builds high-quality, modern, superefficient glass-filled abodes that are prefabs -- which makes them extremely MORE

Why China is losing the solar wars

Four years ago, investors placed bets that China would dominate solar energy. Now China's solar industry is just a capital destruction machine, with some of its most prominent companies desperately flailing for lifelines.

By Bill Powell

FORTUNE -- The numbers are so awful that you can hardly believe your eyes. Punch up any of the major China based solar energy companies and take a look (unless of course you've been, God MORE

It's dangerous to depend on natural gas

Today's natural gas market is still vulnerable. We should take advantage of our domestic energy resources, including nuclear energy.

By Christine Todd Whitman

FORTUNE -- The United States needs an "all of the above" energy strategy that focuses on low-carbon electricity sources that will lower energy costs, reduce dependency on foreign fuel sources and promote clean electricity. This is a prudent strategy to help drive American manufacturing and transportation networks of the MORE

Three keys to the next green business boom

Until we see big changes like a price on carbon or an affordable, scalable source of clean energy, it's probably best to focus on small moves that can add up to a big difference.

By Dan Yates

FORTUNE -- The clean-tech world keeps looking for a revolution, but that kind of change requires shifts in technology or policy first. Until we see big changes like a price on carbon or an MORE

8 characteristics of Green Insurgents

Don't be afraid to challenge the status quo -- sometimes it works.

By Seth Goldman

FORTUNE -- Last week I participated in a panel on Green Insurgents at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, California. My fellow panelists were Adam Lowry, co-founder and Greenskeeper of Method and Jason Graham-Nye, dad/co-CEO of gDiapers.

The discussion helped illuminate what it means to be a Green Insurgent, beyond of course the obligatory funky job MORE

Fukushima Daiichi: Inside the debacle

An unprecedented look at the disastrous handling of the accident at TEPCO's nuclear power station explains why Japan still doesn't trust nukes.

By Bill Powell and Hideko Takayama

FORTUNE -- More than a year has passed since a massive earthquake and a series of tsunamis triggered the worst accident at a nuclear power plant since Chernobyl in 1986, but the epic debacle at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station remains front and MORE