An Envirofit cookstove - designed in Colorado.

I am in the process of researching an article about the impossibly complex topic of using carbon credits to finance small-scale energy ventures in the developing world.  The experience reminds me of a religion course I took in college on the Old Testament.  I was confident that my five years of Hebrew school (I graduated when I was 12) would be sufficient to land me a high grade without much effort.  Unfortunately, I found out (too late) that there are, in fact, six five books of the Old Testament and I was familiar with a very small part of one those books (Genesis).  Likewise, trying to learn more about this topic has led me to everything from arcane parts of the Kyoto Protocol to how the global market for carbon has fluctuated in the downturn.  I wish I had chosen an easier topic, but the damage is done and now, hundreds of articles later, I know something about it. Continue reading →