Since I’m more involved in free speech than the average man-on-the-street, I should note that I was deeply saddened to wake up this morning to learn that nine people, publishers of a satirical magazine in Paris, had been murdered. It’s a dark day for the civilized world.
When U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office in early 2017, he will have left behind him innumerable elements of progress in the direction of a clean energy future. Obviously, all eyes are on the Keystone Pipeline just now, but that shouldn’t prevent our recognizing how far superior this administration has been vis-à-vis environmental issues than the one preceding it. (more…)
I write a great deal about practical matters: the installed cost/Watt of PV, the list of heavy metals we find in coal, what we may want to do with off-peak wind, and so forth. These are measurable things, and, as such, provide the possibility of right and wrong answers. (more…)
Regarding my post in which I advised the nuclear power industry to “move on from the past,” a reader comments:
Craig, it sounds like, “The truth is the best policy.” I have a response from an engineer friend of mine that suggests that all nuclear based electric has problems. It just seems wiser to capture the free energy of the sun, our nuclear plant at a safe distance. Using that energy will meet all our needs and preserve our ability to live here, scientists tell us.
Unfortunately, this is complicated. In the first place, it depends on what you mean by “scientists.” This discussion is meaningless if it excludes people like economists and international relations experts. “Physically possible” and “practically achievable” are two entirely different things. (more…)
“Everything’s coming together, while everything’s falling apart.”
That’s the summary of the 2014 “year in review” from climate justice super-group 350.org.
It’s wonderfully concise, i.e., expressing a great deal in few words. (more…)
It looks like the Keystone XL Pipeline is going to face a tough time on U.S. President Obama’s desk, and an American Petroleum Institute spokesperson says he’s “disappointed” by this countervailing force that appears ready to fight a Republican-led congress. On we go.
There a few energy experts with honest environmental sensibilities who think the pipeline is a reasonable idea, most of whom reason that Canada will very likely exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves regardless of what we do here. Proponents and fence-sitters, however, occupy a slim minority. (more…)
A young reader asks for advice:
My name is Cole, and I’m 15 years old. My future plan is to start a company named Nova. Nova supports renewable energy sources. I want to make a new renewable energy source that will change the world. I hope you will email me re: what you think on this.
Hi, Cole. First, let me say that I think your goal here is terrific. To get started, I would encourage you to take a course in physics while you’re in high school, in which you’ll learn the difference between the possible and the impossible. This might sound like a stupid or condescending remark, but most people, until they’ve studied the subject at least a little bit, don’t fully get this. (more…)
As shown in this conversation (see comments) my esteemed colleague Glenn Doty and I can’t seem to agree that there are circumstances where electric vehicles are good for the environment.
The purpose of this post is not to further the discussion, but to allow me an opportunity to point to an altogether different subject, related only because it seems unresolvable.
Those hoping for campaign finance reform that would reduce the corruptive influence of money on politics took a drubbing in November. Witness the election postmortem of the ambitious MayDay SuperPAC, an attempt to use contributions from grass roots sources to elect candidates who refuse to accept contributions from the huge special interests. MayDay lost every one of the congressional races in which it participated.
So if MayDay is a failure, is there hope for those of us who honestly care about this stuff? (more…)
I wrote a piece earlier in which I lamented that the producers of PBS’s “This Old House” (which I love) will not even mention that better efficiency in the way houses are built, insulated, heated and cooled might have a beneficial effect on the environment. They talk about “lowering the homeowner’s utility bills,” dozens of times in the course of a season, but they are extremely careful not to utter a syllable about any possible interest anyone could have about doing the right thing environmentally. (more…)
