Given that solar and wind are intermittent, our usual notion of these most common forms of renewable energy is that they create grid instability – perhaps even blackouts – stemming from unpredictable clouds covering the sun or changing patterns in …
Does a High Penetration of Solar and Wind Energy Cause — Or Prevent — Grid Instability? Read More »
I’m always amused when I see articles on subjects within the energy space that show that the author hasn’t the foggiest idea what he’s talking about. I’m reminded of my 6th grade course in meteorology, when one of my bottom-of-the-barrel classmates …
I predict the next half-century will see a great number of reports like this one on islands of renewable energy that are generated and consumed off-grid. This article explains how a region of India has built a large microgrid for …
Solar and Wind Electrifying Parts of Asia and Africa for the First Time Read More »
Here’s an article that wrestles with the confusion surrounding the idea that the entire world’s energy demand could be supplied with PV on 1% of the Earth’s surface. (By my quick calcs, btw, this is true. 1% of the surface …
Addressing the World's Energy Needs — Especially Those That Are Most Pressing Read More »
The UK government is moving, some would say stumbling, towards its legal obligation to have 15% of the UK’s energy produced by renewables by 2020. Every year more sources of renewable energy come on stream, but there are setbacks on …
From Guest Blogger Cass: An Overview of UK Renewable Energy Read More »
A friend of mine sent me an invitation to a webinar called the “Roadmap to a Hydrogen Economy and Review of Alternative Energy Technologies.” I hope he doesn’t regard my response as indelicate or ungracious: Thanks! I’ll try to check …
Here’s an article whose author is attempting to show that the goal of 100% renewables is closer than we think. At the risk of stating the obvious, I jotted down a few notes I wish to share: • We’re a very …
How Much Renewable Energy Does the World Really Need? Read More »
According to the Writer’s Almanac on Monday: It was on this day in 1754 that the word “serendipity” was first coined. It’s defined by Merriam-Webster as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” …. The …
Clean Energy Technologies Could Come from Unexpected Places Read More »
By no means am I able to keep up on every idea within the realm of geo-engineering, i.e., taking active steps at a planetary level to counteract global warming. Here’s one that we hear about often, that apparently isn’t practical: “fertilizing” the …
Geo-engineering — The Grand-Daddy of All Decisions Read More »
There are numerous international projects aimed at facilitating the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy, of which one of the most prominent is the International Renewable Energy Agency, or IRENA. Here’s their “global atlas,” a solid and ever-improving tool …
International Renewable Energy Agency Offers Atlas Charting the World’s Renewable Assets Read More »
