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Tag Archives: renewable energy
Fumbling Towards Collapse
Fumbling Towards Collapse In all the smoke and fog emitted by Trump and his adversaries, it must be hard to make out the actual issues dogging this society, and even when you can, to find a coherent position on them. This was nicely illustrated in Paul Krugman’s fatuous column in Monday’s New York Times, “On Economic […]
Intermittent Renewables Can’t Favorably Transform Grid Electricity
Intermittent Renewables Can’t Favorably Transform Grid Electricity Many people are hoping for wind and solar PV to transform grid electricity in a favorable way. Is this really possible? Is it really feasible for intermittent renewables to generate a large share of grid electricity? The answer increasingly looks as if it is, “No, the costs are too […]
Germany About To Make Big Changes To Its Renewables Policy
Germany About To Make Big Changes To Its Renewables Policy On Earth Day, some 171 nations formally signed the Paris climate agreement; it was a mostly symbolic, though meaningful next step. The document now awaits individual ratification and, more specifically, ratification by 55 countries representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. When and from where those […]
The sustainable energy transition: a “back of the envelope” calculation
The sustainable energy transition: a “back of the envelope” calculation Image source. “Back of the Envelope” calculations are a tradition in science and often turn out to be able to provide plenty of useful information, at the same time avoiding the common pitfall of complex models, that of being able to fit anything provided that […]
Is large-scale energy storage dead?
Is large-scale energy storage dead? Many countries have committed to filling large percentages of their future electricity demand with intermittent renewable energy, and to do so they will need long-term energy storage in the terawatt-hours range. But the modules they are now installing store only megawatt-hours of energy. Why are they doing this? This post […]
Changing Everything
Changing Everything Among climate change activists, solutions usually center on a transition to renewable energy. There may be differences over whether this would be best accomplished by a carbon tax, bigger subsidies for wind and solar power, divestment from fossil fuel companies, massive demonstrations, legislative fiat or some other strategy, but the goal is generally […]
Blowout Week 118
Blowout Week 118 This week we focus on solar power in the United States. A report by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has concluded that the country can fill 39% of its electricity needs with rooftop solar PV alone. And that doesn’t include the “immense potential” of ground-mounted PV units. Is an all-solar America […]
Estimating life-time costs for Renewable Energy in Europe
Estimating life-time costs for Renewable Energy in Europe Summary Electricity generation by using gas-fired installations is significantly cheaper than Renewables in terms of both installation capital cost and Operation and Maintenance costs, even when accounting for the cost of fuel. The € 1.1 trillion capital costs already spent on Renewables in Europe would have been sufficient […]
Oregon says yes to coal-free electricity
Oregon says yes to coal-free electricity The Oregon legislature has adopted a first-in-the-nation plan to phase out electricity from coal, a major source of climate-changing greenhouse gases. The state’s environmental community had been gearing up for a ballot initiative this year that would have forced the state’s utilities to abandon coal as a fuel for electricity. But negotiations between […]
100% Renewable Energy: What We Can Do in 10 Years
100% Renewable Energy: What We Can Do in 10 Years It will take at least three decades to completely leave behind fossil fuels. But we can do it. And the first step is to start with the easy stuff. If our transition to renewable energy is successful, we will achieve savings in the ongoing energy […]
Renewables: The Next Fracking?
Renewables: The Next Fracking? I’d meant this week’s Archdruid Report post to return to Retrotopia, my quirky narrative exploration of ways in which going backward might actually be a step forward, and next week’s post to turn a critical eye on a common but dysfunctional habit of thinking that explains an astonishing number of the avoidable disasters […]
Renewables offer quick fix for US emissions
Renewables offer quick fix for US emissions A wind farm sprouts alongside the Interstate 10 road near Whitewater, California Image: Chuck Coker via Flicker Scientists say interstate energy “highways” would allow current wind and solar technologies to deliver electricity where and when it’s needed throughout the US. LONDON, 31 January, 2016 – The US could reduce greenhouse gas […]
Nature Produces Renewable Energy–Let’s Capture It!
NATURE PRODUCES RENEWABLE ENERGY — LET’S CAPTURE IT! Transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy is a hot topic right now. Well, natural processes harvest renewable energy all the time, and release it in excess to be recycled! When the focus is on stacking functions and transforming waste into resources, this becomes apparent–a […]
