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Tag Archives: fossil fuels
Can Geothermal power make up for declining fossil fuels?
Can Geothermal power make up for declining fossil fuels? Preface. Geothermal power plants are cost justified only in places where volcanic or tectonic activity brings heat close to the surface, mainly in “ring of fire” nations and volcanic hot spots like Hawaii. Even then drilling can only be done where the rocks below are fractured […]
How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly—and Fairly
How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly—and Fairly Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discuss panel orientation and spacing for a project on simultaneously growing crops under PV Arrays while producing electricity from the panels in South Dearfield, Massachusetts. The project is part of the DOE InSPIRE project seeking to improve the environmental compatibility […]
Vatican Asks Catholics to Ditch Fossil Fuel Investments
Vatican Asks Catholics to Ditch Fossil Fuel Investments The Vatican urged Catholics to closely consider where they invest their money and to take a close look at the environmental impact of the companies they may be shareholders in, as Reuters reported. Pope Francis has frequently criticized wanton greed that has led to environmental degradation and a climate crisis that […]
The Recent History of GDP Growth, CO2 Emissions, and Climate Policy Paralysis, All in One Table-Runner
The Recent History of GDP Growth, CO2 Emissions, and Climate Policy Paralysis, All in One Table-Runner Note: I began designing this table-runner just before the COVID-19 pandemic blew up in the United States. In the time I have been embroidering it, rates of death and misery have soared while wealth generation and carbon emissions (the […]
Fossil-fueled industrial heat hard to impossible to replace with renewables
Fossil-fueled industrial heat hard to impossible to replace with renewables Preface. Cement, steel, glass, bricks, ceramics, chemicals, and much more depend on fossil-fueled high heat (up to 3200 F) to make. Except for the electric-arc furnace to recycle existing steel, there aren’t any renewable ways to make cement, other metals, and other high-heat products, and […]
Pandemic Response Requires Post-Growth Economic Thinking
Pandemic Response Requires Post-Growth Economic Thinking The end of growth is painful. We had a foretaste of it in 2008, but the current crisis promises to be much worse. Amid a horrific human tragedy of sickness and death, much of it taking place in hospitals staffed by brave but overworked and under-equipped doctors and nurses, […]
How Does Pandemic Change the Big Picture?
How Does Pandemic Change the Big Picture? As of 2019, the Big Picture for humanity was approximately as follows. Homo sapiens (that’s us), a big-brained bipedal mammal, had spent the Pleistocene epoch (from 2.5 million years ago until 12,000 years ago) developing its ability to control fire, talk, paint pictures, play bone flutes, and make tools and clothes. Language […]
New Study Finds Far Greater Methane Threat from Fossil Fuel Industry
New Study Finds Far Greater Methane Threat from Fossil Fuel Industry The gas plays a powerful role in driving up global temperatures. A new study published in Nature may have ended a long scientific debate about the key source of rising methane levels in the atmosphere. It found that methane emissions from human activities — mainly fossil fuels […]
Can Europe’s Largest Economy Survive Without Coal?
Can Europe’s Largest Economy Survive Without Coal? One of the greatest moral dilemmas that has been creeping into the everyday activities of specialists working with coal, oil and in some cases even gas (despite its being perceived a natural bridge to a low-carbon future) could be phrased in the following way: how do you stop […]
Burning Trees For Heating Won’t Help With Climate Change: UK Think Tank
Burning Trees For Heating Won’t Help With Climate Change: UK Think Tank A suggestion by the UK Committee on Climate Change to burn more wood and plant replacement trees as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels has drawn criticism from think tank Chatham House, which says this is hardly the best approach to reducing emissions. “Expanding forest cover […]
Merkel Inks Deal For Stalled German Coal Exit
Merkel Inks Deal For Stalled German Coal Exit In a move that’s sure to restore a smidgen of Greta Thunberg’s childhood, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has finally hammered out a deal for Germany’s stalled exit from coal-fired power generation, after state leaders agreed to shut down the industry by 2038. We would note that this […]
Surf’s Up!
Surf’s Up! The wave of change is finally here. Are you prepared to ride it? Nothing seems right anymore. In whichever direction we choose to look, things are unraveling at a quickening pace. Welcome to the Fourth Turning; and with it, a profound loss of trust in institutions and government. Such lack of social cohesion is […]
Why UVic Faculty Massively Voted to Divest from Fossil Fuels
Why UVic Faculty Massively Voted to Divest from Fossil Fuels It’s time to walk the talk on reconciliation and the climate crisis. Therefore, we think it is hypocritical for UVic to present itself as a sustainability and reconciliation leader while investing in companies that are primarily responsible for both the climate emergency and Indigenous dispossession. For example, UVic has […]
Boston Globe: the false promise of nuclear power
Boston Globe: the false promise of nuclear power Preface. This article raises many objections to nuclear power. Theoretically it could be cheaper, but the exact opposite has happened, it keeps getting more expensive. For example the only new reactors being built in the U.S. now are at Georgia Power’s Vogtle plant. Costs were initially estimated […]
Big Oil Needs to Pay for the Damage It Caused
Big Oil Needs to Pay for the Damage It Caused Environmental activists rally for accountability for fossil fuel companies outside of New York Supreme Court on October 22, 2019, in New York City. New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, is taking on ExxonMobil in a landmark case that accuses the oil corporation of misleading investors […]
