Environmentalism--Let Your Inner Beauty ShineBeing an environmentalist is one of the greatest things anyone can do with their life. If you love our planet so much that you have incorporated new practices into your daily rhythm, such as reducing your use of plastics, making sure to recycle any materials that go through your household that can be recycled, and being sure to use all items for as long as possible, then you can be proud that you are doing your part. If you truly want to make a difference in the world, then you need to take action in every area of your life. (more…)

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Data Is Playing a Big Role in Driving Clean Energy As we’ve often discussed here, information and communications technology (ICT) is one of the main drivers of the rapid migration to renewable energy.  There are hundreds of different reasons for this, but here’s one that you’ll find the moment you walk into one of the huge events on solar energy, e.g., Intersolar and Solar Power International: an incredible wealth of data on the suitability of each rooftop in the U.S. for solar panels.  This includes information like the (ever changing) height of the trees (and thus potential for shadows) associated with each home in the U.S.

Here’s an article on Google’s website that collects data on solar rooftops, called Project Sunroof.  Since its inception two years ago, it has grown from coverage of just a few states to all 50, i.e., 60 million rooftops across the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bill McKibben and the BioneersThough this portrait might suggest otherwise, Bill McKibben may be the least militaristic person you’ll ever meet.  He’s dedicated his entire adult life to establishing a sustainable way of life for everyone here on Earth, both now and into the future.  But he’s no punk when it comes to estimating what it means to win the war against climate change, with both its technological and, more importantly, political hurdles.

Here’s McKibben, addressing a recent meeting of the Bioneers, a 27-year-old organization dedicated to natural solutions of the problems facing humankind.

 

 

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Solar Roads A colleague asked me for my take on solar roadways, and this article in particular.  I respond:

Well, this is pretty clearly fake news. The solar panels in the entire roadway would have only powered a water fountain? (more…)

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Big Oil and Campaign Finance Reform in the U.S.Chris Hedges is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, professor at Princeton University, author of several New York Times best-sellers, and Presbyterian minister, who’s written extensively on democracy and fascism, and the delicate balance that exists between the two.

Here’s an article in which he (quotes) Alexander Solzhenitsyn in “The Gulag Archipelago” noting that the consolidation of Soviet tyranny “was stretched out over many years because it was of primary importance that it be stealthy and unnoticed.” (more…)

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Trump Presidency: Things Fall ApartI urge everyone, especially all Americans, to check out this incredible eight-minute video, featuring U.S ranking member of the U.S. House Intelligence committee, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA — pictured), laying out the evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia leading up to the 2016 election.  It’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, I promise.  (more…)

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Coal Mines May Have Extended UtilityFrequent commenter Brian McGowan sent me this delightful little article, for those of you who, like me, thought that coal mines could serve no useful purpose in the context of 21st Century energy.

 

 

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Ocean Hydro, Wave energy, Tidal energy, and ocean current energy, extracting the kinetic energy out of moving water, approaches to renewable energy, costs of solar and windHere’s a cool little video that I post largely because it serves as a microcosm of human ingenuity.  How many different ways can you invent to solve the same problem (in this case, extracting the kinetic energy out of moving water)?  The answer: plenty.

The bad news is that, unless I’m mistaken, none of these will ever play an important role in the constellation of approaches to renewable energy, simply because the costs of solar and wind have fallen so sharply.

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Americans' War Against the Koch BrothersIt appears that the opponents of renewable energy, e.g., the Koch Brothers, have won the battle but lost the war.  Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs), the mechanism that many people thought would win the day for solar and wind, have been badly beaten down in the courts, via intense pressure from fossil fuel giants like Koch Industries, and no longer constitute a real driver for the adoption of clean energy.  (more…)

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The Rapid Migration from Fossil Fuels: Check Out IrelandJust another day on an absurd planet.  Ireland is in the process of removing fossil fuels from its country, joining several European/Scandinavian countries that are moving swiftly in the same direction.  Meanwhile, back in the good ol’ U.S., we’re moving hell-bent for leather to build pipelines, rubber-stamp leases of federal land to the oil companies, and remove environmental regulations associated with energy and transportation.

The winners?  Big Oil.  The losers?  The other 7.4 billion of us.

 

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