Here’s a video that hit me hard. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and let it sink in.
It’s interesting that it’s sponsored by “WaterIsLife.com,” as it’s a reminder that third world’s problems include the sad and inexcusable fact that 1.5 billion people on this planet can’t get a clean glass of water to drink. (more…)
I’m hesitant to write posts that are completely predictable in their content. Does anyone want to read that the sun rose in the east this morning?
OK, since you’re still here, the Trump administration’s EPA, run by career EPA opponent Scott Pruitt will be reversing the course towards lower vehicle emissions that was put into place by the Obama Administration. If you read the article in Auto News linked above tonight before bed, you won’t need that Ambien.
Most of the clean energy “investment opportunities” I turn down are marred by huge technology risk, requirement for additional development capital, lack of “skin in the game” on the part of developers, an exec team clearly comprised of yahoos, or some other obvious flaw. (more…)
Living in America right now is like reading a bad dystopian novel, one in which it’s impossible to get engaged because no one could possibly suspend his disbelief that things could go so wrong.
Here’s a great example. Our Congress is poised to gut the Endangered Species Act, which will almost certainly result in the extinction of animals like the Leatherback Turtle and the Hawaiian Monk Seal (pictured). (more…)
Those of us who see the world primarily through an environmental lens tend to focus our anguish on things like the gutting of the EPA, the construction of new pipelines, the overturn of the Clean Power Plan, the Clean Air Act, and so forth. However, the Washington DC-based non-profit think-tank “Public Citizen” reminds us that one of Trump’s recent executive orders mandates the elimination of existing rules for the purpose of offsetting the costs of new rules — while ignoring the benefits — even if the existing rules are entirely unrelated. They write: (more…)
As the Earth continues to warm and the permafrost melts in Northern Russia, a great number of things are happening: some invisible, like the releasing of enormous amounts of the highly potent greenhouse methane that has been sequestered for thousands of years. On the other hand, some are astonishingly visible, like the “land tsunamis,” in which the pressure caused by the melting phenomena create huge waves of earth. (more…)
The main reason to be “Bullish on Renewable Energy“ (as the saying goes) is that to a large degree, its expansion is independent of politics. According to Reuters, for a brief period last Sunday, the U.S. powered a full 50% of its grid with wind power alone. Five short years ago, grid operators would have said that such a feat was impossible.
Things are changing very quickly in the energy industry, just as they are on the political landscape. What an exciting time to be alive.
Here’s another installment of my colleague Jon LeSage’s Green Auto Digest, which I happily republish–even when his viewpoints diverge from my own.
Here, Jon makes the point that market forces are driving the energy industry increasingly in the direction of renewable energy. (more…)
A frequent commenter wrote a long and eloquent response, refuting one of my posts on the Trump presidency. I respond:
It’s funny; I have a friend on Facebook, my old friend Steve Vachss, who, like you, is a smart guy with a fabulous command of the language, but for some reason sees the need to get into all this pedantic goo. Come on; it’s not rocket science. (more…)
Gary Tulie, who made huge contributions to Bullish on Renewable Energy, points out, “One of the technologies discussed was Spallation Drilling (pictured) – a technique for speeding up drilling through hard rock for use in geothermal projects. The use of hypersonic projectiles is an alternative possibility. If the people from Hypersciences really can drill 10 times faster than conventional drilling, and can deep drill without the cost rising exponentially, their technique could be a game changer.” (more…)
