Post Tagged with: "Alternative Energy"

If High Gas Prices Are So Painful, Shouldn’t We Move Away From Fossil Fuels?

If High Gas Prices Are So Painful, Shouldn’t We Move Away From Fossil Fuels?

Not only is it possible to switch to renewables, but it’s also cheaper and would make economies less vulnerable. Yet, bizarrely, politicians and the fossil fuel industry, who are using the war on Ukraine to justify high gas prices, are now calling for more oil to be produced. Long used to cheap gas at the pump, Americans are experiencing serious[Read More…]

by 12/03/2022 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Sustaining the Unsustainable: Why Renewable Energy Companies Are Not Climate Warriors

Sustaining the Unsustainable: Why Renewable Energy Companies Are Not Climate Warriors

In the fight to address climate change, renewable energy companies are often assumed to be Jedi Knights. Valiantly struggling to save the planet, wind and solar interests are thought to be locked in mortal combat with large fossil fuel corporations that continue to mine, drill, and blast through the earth’s fragile ecosystems, dragging us all into a grim and sweaty[Read More…]

by 12/09/2021 Comments are Disabled Resource Crisis
The Gritty Reality of Solar Power

The Gritty Reality of Solar Power

by Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox Time is fast running out. The world’s affluent nations, with their abundant greenhouse emissions, have to finally drag themselves across the starting line and begin phasing out fossil fuels at the accelerated pace that the climate emergency demands. And if they can manage to do that, they clearly will need to quickly build[Read More…]

by 09/09/2021 Comments are Disabled Resource Crisis
Against Overproduction

Against Overproduction

[This is the final part of an exchange between Robert Pollin and Don Fitz carried in Green Social Thought (GST) and ZNet.  The first portion consisted of two articles by Pollin which originally appeared in Truthout on 7/3/21 and 6/10/21.  The second portion was a response by Fitz to Pollin’s articles.  The third portion was a rejoinder by Pollin to[Read More…]

by 09/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Response to Don Fitz

Response to Don Fitz

[This is the third part of an exchange between Robert Pollin and Don Fitz carried in Green Social Thought (GST) and ZNet. The first portion consisted of two articles by Pollin which originally appeared in Truthout on 7/3/21 and 6/10/21. The second portion was a response by Don Fitz which appeared in GST and ZNet.  The final portion will be[Read More…]

by 09/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Be Careful What Energy You Wish For

Be Careful What Energy You Wish For

[This is the second part of an exchange between Robert Pollin and Don Fitz carried in Green Social Thought and ZNet.  The first portion consisted of two articles by Pollin which originally appeared in Truthout here and here.  The third portion will be a short rejoinder by Pollin to this article.  The final portion will be a short closing statement[Read More…]

by 08/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Questions to Richard Heinberg from a 15-Year-Old Student

Questions to Richard Heinberg from a 15-Year-Old Student

Callum Alexander from Scotland recently contacted me with a few queries about renewable energy. I thought they were interesting questions that might occur to others, so I asked his permission to publish our dialog. Callum: If you replace a coal- or gas-fired power plant with a solar and/or wind farm (with a back-up reliable energy source), will you reduce or[Read More…]

by 08/08/2021 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Is AltE Truly the Best Solution to Climate Catastrophe?

Is AltE Truly the Best Solution to Climate Catastrophe?

“Accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets!… Accumulation for the sake of accumulation, production for the sake of production: this was the historical mission of the bourgeoisie in the period of its domination …” Karl Marx, Capital, Vol 1, Ch 25 The world is threatened with environmental disaster and capitalists hope to make a killing off of it. Fossil[Read More…]

by 06/07/2021 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Child Labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Solidarity with Resistance to Extraction

by Don Fitz and the Green Party of St. Louis People the world over are opposing fossil fuel extraction in an incalculable number of ways.  It is now clear that burning fossil fuels threatens millions of Life forms and could be laying the foundation for the extermination of Humanity.  But what about “alternative” energy?  As progressives stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those[Read More…]

by 15/06/2021 Comments are Disabled Resource Crisis
 What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?

 What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?

The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all forms of energy contributes to the destruction of nature and[Read More…]

by 02/05/2021 1 comment Counter Solutions
Why EROEI Matters: The Role Of Net Energy In The Survival Of Civilization

Why EROEI Matters: The Role Of Net Energy In The Survival Of Civilization

A lively debate is ongoing on what should be the minimum energy return for energy invested (EROEI) in order to sustain a civilization. Clearly, one always wants the best returns for one’s investments. And, of course, investing in something that provides a return smaller than the investment is a bad idea. So, a civilization grows and prosper on the net[Read More…]

by 14/03/2017 1 comment Alternative Energy
Renewables Just Passed Coal As The Largest Source Of New Electricity Worldwide

Renewables Just Passed Coal As The Largest Source Of New Electricity Worldwide

It’s been a long run, coal, but your reign is over. Renewable energy sources have passed coal as the largest new source of electricity in the world, according data released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The transition of the world’s energy sources is critical for avoiding a 2°C rise in global temperatures. Coal, for instance, represented about a[Read More…]

by 27/10/2016 1 comment Alternative Energy
Kite surfing on the IJsselmeer lake, in the Netherlands; a picture that I took a couple of weeks ago. These are not kites for airborne wind energy (AWE) but, for some reason, Holland is the country where the idea of energy kites seems to be most popular; in particular because of the work of the late Wubbo Ockels (1946 – 2014), pioneer of wind energy. The technology is promising, but there is a long way to go before it will become a commercial reality.

An AWEsome Energy Source: Where Do We Stand With Airborne Wind Energy?

I have been following the development of airborne wind energy (AWE) for more than 10 years and I keep following it. This summer, I visited the campus of the Technical University of Delft, in Holland, where I met the people of “Enevate”, the university spinoff dedicated to kite power, a field in which the university of Delft has been active[Read More…]

by 10/10/2016 2 comments Alternative Energy
The Solar Transition

The Solar Transition

Although futurists aren’t supposed to make predictions, the notion that our energy system is switching much more quickly than expected from fossil fuels to renewables, and that solar energy will be at the front of that change, suddenly doesn’t seem so controversial. Of course, the speed of the change still matters, certainly in terms of global warming outcomes. And yet[Read More…]

by 16/08/2016 1 comment Alternative Energy
Clean Energy Revolution In Philadelphia: A Photo Essay

Clean Energy Revolution In Philadelphia: A Photo Essay

On Sunday, July 24, a day before the opening of the Democratic National Convention amid turmoil in Philadelphia, the U.S. climate justice movement seized the moment to convene and march in large numbers for a clean energy revolution. Despite sweltering temperatures exceeding 95 degrees (an uncomfortable irony lost on no one), as many as 10,000 people or more demanded a[Read More…]

by 06/08/2016 1 comment Alternative Energy
Clean Solar Energy, Brings Light To Kenya’s Villages

Clean Solar Energy, Brings Light To Kenya’s Villages

Picture a small village somewhere in rural Kenya. Darkness has fallen and there is no light to even go to the fields to relieve yourself. The only succour are kerosene lanterns, that are proven health hazard for the people living in the home. It was several years ago when UNEP, Nairobi, took us selected journalists from around the world to[Read More…]

 Hooked! The Unyielding Grip Of Fossil Fuels On Global Life

 Hooked! The Unyielding Grip Of Fossil Fuels On Global Life

Here’s the good news: wind power, solar power, and other renewable forms of energy are expanding far more quickly than anyone expected, ensuring that these systems will provide an ever-increasing share of our future energy supply.  According to the most recent projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy, global consumption of wind, solar, hydropower,[Read More…]

by 15/07/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
Lessons Along The Path To 100 Percent Clean Energy

Lessons Along The Path To 100 Percent Clean Energy

In early May of this year, Portugal ran on renewable electricity alone for four consecutive days. And later that same month, on May 15, Germany filled almost all its electricity needs with solar, wind, and hydro power. This is good news: it tells us we’re making progress toward a zero-carbon energy system. But it also helps us see the challenges to a full renewable[Read More…]

by 12/07/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
Renewable Electricity: Falling Costs, Variability, And Scaling Challenges

Renewable Electricity: Falling Costs, Variability, And Scaling Challenges

Costs to utility companies from the introduction of distributed solar PV are somewhat balanced by the fact that added solar capacity helps reduce the strain on electric grids on summer days when demand soars and utilities must buy additional power at high rates. Nevertheless, as more residential and business customers install their own PV systems, revenues to the utility industry are starting to decline.[72] Industry-sponsored studies warn that the trend could eventually lead to a radical transformation of energy markets, on a scale similar to the restructuring of the telecommunications industry following the advent of the Internet and cell phones.

by 27/06/2016 1 comment Alternative Energy
Photo-Voltaics Is Not An Energy Sink In Switzerland

Photo-Voltaics Is Not An Energy Sink In Switzerland

Energy Policy recently published a study conducted on the EROEI of Photo-Voltaics (PV) technologies installed in Switzerland. The end result is a remarkably low figure of 0.8:1, well below any EROEI assessments ever conducted on this energy technology. Such a figure naturally made the delight of those campaigning against renewable energy, who take at face value any hints of negative[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
The Real EROI Of Photovoltaic Systems: Professor Charles Hall Weighs In

The Real EROI Of Photovoltaic Systems: Professor Charles Hall Weighs In

Charles Hall is known for his multiple and important contributions in the field of sustainability, and in particular for having introduced the concept of Energy Return on Energy Investment, EROI or EROEI. He is now emeritus and still active in research; among other things as chief editor of the new Springer journal: “Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, BERQ. Here, he[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
A 100% Renewable World Is Possible? A Poll Among Experts

A 100% Renewable World Is Possible? A Poll Among Experts

I am reporting here the results of a small survey that I carried out last week among the members of a discussion forum; mainly experts in renewable energy (*). It was a very informal poll; not meant to have statistical value. But some 70 people responded out of a total of 167 members; so I think these results have a[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
Why Joe The Plumber Doesn’t Want Renewable Energy

Why Joe The Plumber Doesn’t Want Renewable Energy

Joe the plumber is a real person, but also an abstraction for the troubled American blue collar worker. In a previous post, I argued that a global transition to 100% renewable energy would be very expensive, but possible and that it could also be fast enough to avoid exceeding the emission targets set by the COP21. This opinion triggered the[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
Renewable Energy

Our Renewable Future

Ed. note: This is the introduction to Richard Heinberg’s and David Fridley’s new book, Our Renewable Future, now available from Island Press. Post Carbon Institute’s companion website, ourrenewablefuture.org has also just been launched.The book is available to order and also to read on the website as a complete set of online chapters. By Richard Heinberg & David Fridley The next[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy, Counter Solutions
Tiptoeing Through The Renewable Energy Minefield

Tiptoeing Through The Renewable Energy Minefield

I spent the last year working with co-author David Fridley and Post Carbon Institute staff on a just-published book, Our Renewable Future. The process was a pleasure: everyone involved (including the twenty or so experts we interviewed or consulted) was delightful to work with, and I personally learned an enormous amount along the way. But we also encountered a prickly[Read More…]

by 18/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
But What’s The REAL Energy Return Of Photovoltaic Energy?

But What’s The REAL Energy Return Of Photovoltaic Energy?

Some time ago, a colleague of mine told me the story of when he had been in charge of the installation ofone of the first photovoltaic plants in Italy, in 1984 (shown in the figure, on the right). He told me that, shortly after the installation, a high-ranking politician came to visit the plant. As a demonstration, my colleague connected[Read More…]

by 17/06/2016 Comments are Disabled Alternative Energy
Translate »