A reader notes: I live in New Zealand where 75% of our electricity is from hydro, geothermal, and wind. We could easily replace every bit of coal with more geothermal and be 100% renewable with political will. Shell in NZ wants to develop methane hydrates on the sea floor and make us a major GAS exporter to Asia!! Beating the oil companies is the world’s biggest problem.
I hear you, pal. (more…)
A fellow wrote to me just now to say that, as a high school student, he had become aware of the force of siphoned water, and came to understand that by “using two ponds, (he) could turn a water turbine nonstop….Please get back to me ASAP; I’m eager to get this project started rolling.” (more…)
The other day I wrote a post suggesting that the timeframe associated with the G7’s decision to phase out fossil fuels by the year 2100, 85 years from now, was “an eternity.” Now, I’m a guy who enjoys good writing (as well as people who agree with me), and so I had to applaud this article that includes:
How old will you be 85 years from now? Oh, right. You’ll be dead. Me too. I doubt 134 will be the new 30 at the turn of the next century. No one writing this accord will get to personally declare the world’s energy matrix fossil-free. Probably none of their children either. (more…)
It’s no secret that the U.S. military has climate change on its radar screen, insofar as the prospect of 200 million climate refugees has grave implications for things like homeland security, not to mention the potential to stabilize regions outside the actual “homeland.” (more…)
Needless to say, there is a huge demographic match-up between devotees of renewable energy and lovers of eclectic music (folk, blue grass, blues, reggae, etc.), plenty of which was on tap at this year’s Live Oak Festival from which I just returned last night. Most of the blissful three-day period was spent listening to music that touches the very soul, but it was hard to miss the fact that these folks, almost to a person, share a deep devotion for making the world a better place, and that clean energy plays a big role in bringing about these improvements. (more…)
Just a few days after unveiling the Powerwall home battery system, which promises to ensure independence from the power grid for homes and businesses, and possibly cause some radical changes in the energy market, Tesla Motors has announced that it has acquired a company that manufactures automotive parts, in a bid to ramp up production. The Detroit Free Press reports that Elon Musk’s company has bought an auto supplier based in Michigan, which is the first acquisition made by the country’s leading all-electric car manufacturer, an important milestone for such a relatively young company. (more…)
The idea of ‘sustainability’ was first introduced by the United Nations in 1987 and it kept developing continuously since.
As recently as 2009, Pepsico famously introduced “Performing with conscience,” an environmentally friendly project which seemed to prove that sustainability was on its way to become a tangible major issue for small companies and big groups alike. (more…)
Frequent commenter Frank Eggers calls our attention to an article on the development of liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs) in China, and points to this excerpt:
“Professor Li, director of the project’s molten salt chemistry and engineering technology division, said the smog crisis had provided huge impetus for their research.
“‘The problem of coal has become clear. If the average energy consumption per person doubles, this country will be choked to death by polluted air,’ he said. ‘Nuclear power provides the only solution for massive coal replacement and thorium carries much hope.’” (more…)
Question: In 2013, there were 10,883 peer-reviewed scientific studies to the effect that global warming is real and caused by humans. In the same year, how many such studies took the opposite position?
(New 2GreenEnergy readers should be aware that “Take a Cool Guess” is a regular feature here; there are many dozens of such “fun quizzes on clean energy” linked above.)
Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.
Relevance: According to this article: (more…)
When remodeling your bathroom, you may be focused on improving the aesthetic look of the space. For example, you may update the tile back splash around the tub and in the shower. Perhaps you will replace the counter top and cabinetry in the bathroom. While these are common remodeling steps to take for a bathroom renovation project, there are some steps that could make your bathroom green and that could make your home more energy efficient. (more…)
