The contribution to the U.S. grid mix from renewable energy last month was 7.3%–not counting hydro-electric dams, which accounted for an additional 7.0%. At this point, I guess it’s fair to say that clean energy in the U.S. is not huge, but it’s most certainly not negligible.
And that fact is not lost on the world of traditional energy. (more…)
The past decade has seen an energy revolution. Everything is becoming more and more efficient, appliances included. That means they take less of your energy bill and are friendly to the environment. But do the savings behind this new efficiency justify the purchase of a new appliance? (more…)
Those who had given up hope that corruption in the U.S. Congress could be eradicated might want to rethink their positions. Check out Mayday, and dig this: Our first Mayday reform candidate, Ruben Gallego, declared victory last night in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. Last night’s win shows that voters care about this issue, no matter what the pundits and people in Washington want to say.
By supporting Ruben Gallego, voters made it clear that they want to fundamentally change the way elections are funded. Our experiment is working. And last night’s victory will be the first of many.
According to the Writer’s Almanac:
It’s the birthday of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (pictured), born in Stuttgart, Germany (1770). He started out studying Christianity, and he was particularly interested in how Christianity is a religion based on opposites: sin and salvation, earth and heaven, church and state, finite and infinite. (more…)
The theme of my new book project (working title is “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose”) is that the economic factors that are making clean energy cheap are heading forward at a rate far faster than most people believe. But could there be a fly in the ointment? If so, it is regulation, and our inability or unwillingness to reregulate our power utilities.
Here’s an excellent article on the subject, which I came across in this morning’s edition of SmartGridNews, edited by our colleague Jesse Berst, who was the subject of our webinar on Smart Cities.
My third book (Renewable Energy—Following the Money) featured an interview with Rajendra Pachauri (pictured), the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The fond respect I had maintained for Dr. Pachauri for the many years before I met him at his office at Yale University deepened even further during the course of our talk on energy policy and climate change. I knew within seconds after I had sat down with him that “Raj” (as he insisted I call him) was a likable, passionate, and intensely intelligent man. Yet it would come over the course of the next hour or so that he would have my sympathy, as well as my respect. (more…)
Here’s a post that won’t take much work; I just copied and pasted it from a laughable press release a reader sent me.
ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) — Five trains in operation at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif., are running on biodiesel created from cooking oil taken from tourist venues, an official says.
Disney Director of Environmental Affairs Frank Dela Vara said the biodiesel fueling five Disneyland Railroad trains was created from oils once used at the California resort’s various hotels and eateries, The Orange County (Calif.) Register said Wednesday.
“The improvement here is that it’s no longer using food for fuel. There are no soybeans grown in the Midwest to fuel our trains, just cooking oil that we’re already generating,” Dela Vara said.
I’ve always loved the Sierra Club for its dedication to the important issues that surround major environmental issues. Their “Beyond Coal” campaign, for instance, has successfully converted tens of millions of Americans who previously couldn’t have cared less about the perils facing the natural environment into wide-eyed skeptics of Big Coal.
And now, they’re really starting to talk the language of the people: beer. We all know we need to drink responsibly. Here’s how the Sierra Club takes that thinking to a whole new level.
And, lest you think this is a laugh, see how the micro-beer industry takes environmentalism and sustainability extremely seriously.
Here’s a report that’s music to my ears; it begins: Investment bank UBS just released a report claiming centralized fossil-fuel power plants could soon be obsolete. The precipitating factors? Solar power, energy storage and electric vehicles.
Looks like I’m not the only one predicting an early victory for renewable energy. I know I’ve mentioned this is the subject of my new book project (working title is “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose”). The theme is that the economic factors that are making clean energy cheap are heading forward at a rate far faster than most people believe.
Glad to see the concept echoed by folks with the stature of UBS.
Buildings harbor our places of work, play, and living. As centers of our social and economic lives, buildings also contribute a significant impact to our environment. The International Energy Agency estimates that 60% of the world’s electricity is consumed in residential and commercial buildings. The United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) also report that buildings globally account for 40% of energy use, 38% of greenhouse gas emissions, 12% of potable water use, and 40% of solid waste streams. Moreover, while the construction industry employs about 111 million people around the world, it also employs along with a tremendous amount of natural resources. (more…)
