Tag Archives: Energy

Are mini-nuclear reactors the answer to the climate change crisis?

Posted on by

“Mini nuclear power plants could be trucked into a town near you to provide your hot water, or shipped to any country that wants to plug them into their electricity grid from the dock. That is the aim of those developing “small modular reactors” and, from the US to China to Poland, they want the UK to be at the centre of the nascent industry. The UK government says it is “fully enthused” about the technology.”

“With UN climate change summit in Paris imminent, the question of how to keep the lights on affordably, while cutting emissions, is pressing.”  www.theguardian.com

GR:  Nuclear energy is dangerous and it produces wastes that remain deadly for tens of thousands of years.  This article is propaganda coming from investors interests who want to centralize energy production and keep distributed systems such as “rooftop solar” out of the hands of consumers.  You can’t get wealthy with a resource that is free and unlimited.

Forest Service Revs Up Push to Open Over 170 Million Tons of Coal to Mining From Colorado Roadless Forest

Posted on by

Proposed Loophole Could Cause Millions of Tons of Carbon Pollution, undermine Obama Administration Climate Goals, and Degrade Wildlife Habitat

DENVER— National and local conservation groups today condemned a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to continue pressing to open national forest roadless areas in Colorado to coal mining.
Bulldozer
Photo of bulldozer near Sunset Roadless Area courtesy U.S. Forest Service. Photos are available for media use.

In a notice filed today, the Forest Service announced it would move forward by issuing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposal to pave the way for mining. The proposal would reopen a loophole in the “roadless rule” for national forests in Colorado to enable Arch Coal — the nation’s second largest coal company — to scrape roads and well pads on nearly 20,000 acres of otherwise-protected, publicly owned national forest and wildlife habitat in Colorado’s North Fork Valley.

The loophole was thrown out by the U.S. District Court of Colorado last year because the Forest Service had failed to consider the climate change impacts of mining as much as 350 million tons of coal in the national forest. (Today’s notice reduces the estimated coal available to 173 million tons.) The Forest Service admits that reopening the loophole could result in hundreds of millions of tons of additional carbon pollution from mining and burning the coal. That carbon pollution could cost the global economy and environment billions of dollars, according to today’s notice.  From: www.biologicaldiversity.org

GR:  Apparently, the U. S. Forest Service isn’t satisfied with just clear-cutting the forests; it wants to widen its attack with more roads and more global warming CO2 emissions.  Way-to-go Forest Service!

G20 Spending on Fossil Fuels Dwarfs Renewables

Posted on by

“The G20 countries spend almost four times as much to prop up fossil fuel production as they do to subsidize renewable energy, calling into question their commitment to halting climate change, a think tank said.

“The G20 spent an average $78 billion on national subsidies delivered through direct spending and tax breaks in 2013 and 2014, according to a report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

“View of smokestacks, about 200m (656 feet) high, at a thermal power plant in Inchon, west of Seoul, Feb. 1, 2007.  Credit: Reuters

“A further $286 billion was invested in fossil fuel production by G20 state-owned enterprises. Related public finance was estimated to average a further $88 billion a year.”  From: www.climatecentral.org

GR:  The energy industry control of government policy and spending will make enforcement of any emissions pledges difficult to enforce.  The writing is on the wall, however, and some investors will switch to renewable energy technology and production.  The great energy battle to come will be between the distributed individual power producers and government policies controlled by centralized producers.  The need to limit corporate power has never been greater.

Twenty scientists urge raketeering investigation of climate-change deniers

Posted on by

Two retired University of Washington professors were among a group of 20 scientists that recently urged the Obama administration to launch federal racketeering investigations of “corporations and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change.  (image by Reuters)”

“John M. Wallace and Edward Sarachik, professors emeriti of the UW’s department of atmospheric sciences, signed a letter dated Sept. 1 that asked the administration to use the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to investigate such firms’ funding efforts to deny established science about global warming.

“The letter, signed by leading climate scientists from eight major American universities and two research centers, was addressed to President Obama, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and White House science czar John P. Holdren.  More at: www.seattletimes.com

GR:  The Exxon discovery might add support to this request.  Might we have global reparations suits against the fossil-fuel industry?

 

Six Flags Wants to Go “Eco-Friendly” by Trashing a Forest

Posted on by

It sounds like the park will consider alternatives. Good.

Richard Conniff's avatarstrange behaviors

(Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) (Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

My latest for Takepart:

I have a lot of fond memories of the Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson, NJ. When my kids were small, we made regular trips to visit grandparents at the Jersey Shore, and many summers, we also headed 24 miles inland for a day braving the latest thrill rides (or just the merry-go-round). But those fond memories are fading fast.

Early this year, John Fitzgerald, president of Six Flags Great Adventure, announced a plan to become the world’s first solar-powered amusement park. He touted it as “part of our ongoing commitment to conservation and eco-friendly initiatives,” and said it would also “enhance our role as good stewards of the environment.” The press release went on to boast that Great Adventure, which includes a 350-acre Safari Park, “has cared for more than 70 different species of animals, including some…

View original post 884 more words

THE COMING ERA OF ABUNDANT CLEAN ENERGY #Auspol 

Posted on by

In the 1980s, leading consultants were skeptical about cellular phones. McKinsey & Company noted that the handsets were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, coverage was patchy, and the cost per minute was exorbitant. It predicted that in 20 years the total market size would be about 900,000 units, and advised AT&T to pull out. McKinsey was wrong, of course. There were more than 100 million cellular phones in use in 2000; there are billions now. Costs have fallen so far that even the poor — all over world — can afford a cellular phone.
The experts are saying the same about solar energy now. They note that after decades of development, solar power hardly supplies 1 per cent of the world’s energy needs. They say that solar is inefficient, too expensive to install, and unreliable, and will fail without government subsidies. They too are wrong. Solar will be as ubiquitous as cellular phones are.  Sourced through Scoop.it from: jpratt27.wordpress.com

GR:  Clean energy certainly is a critical goal.  But attaining the goal without reversing human population growth and all of its impacts on nature will only draw out our mass extinction and ecocide of the Earth.

How Cheap Will Solar Get?

Posted on by

If current rates of improvement hold, solar power will be incredibly cheap by the time it’s a substantial fraction of the world’s electricity supply, writes famous author and thinker Ramez Naam. According to Naam, electricity cost is from now on coupled to the ever-decreasing price of technology. That is profoundly deflationary and disruptive.
It’s now fairly common knowledge that the cost of solar modules is dropping exponentially. I helped publicize that fact in a 2011 Scientific American blog post asking “Does Moore’s Law Apply to Solar Cells?” The answer is that something like Moore’s law, an exponential learning curve (albeit slower than in computing) applies. (For those that think Moore’s Law is a terrible analogy, here’s my post on why Moore’s Law is an excellent analogy for solar.  Sourced through Scoop.it from: jpratt27.wordpress.com

Lots of information here.

You Can Switch to 100% Clean Energy Today

Posted on by

Leaving #FossilFuel

Rooftop solar panels are the best source of renewable energy. Apart from their manufacture, the panels are nonpolluting. As important, they remove energy production from the hands of a few wealthy investors and place it in our hands.

There are situations where rooftop solar panels are not practical.  Places with lots of trees, and multifamily apartment buildings both pose challenges. Large trees surround my house.  This keeps my home cool in summer without supplemental cooling, but it makes rooftop solar panels ineffective.  I will eventually create an on-the-ground panel array, but until that becomes possible, there is an alternative.

This morning (July 28, 2015), with one phone call, I switched my four electric utility accounts (two residential, two commercial) to 100% clean energy from renewable sources.  The option to switch was available from my electricity supplier and from several other companies. The renewable energy types are a mix, but wind and solar are the largest.  Beginning August 1, my energy bills will increase by 1.02 cents per kWh.

  • No installation costs,
  • no rooftop collectors
  • no storage batteries 
  • Just 100% clean energy.

How it Works

My utility company will increase its purchases of renewable energy by an amount equaling my monthly usage.

Who Can Switch?

Clean-energy programs are available in the U. S. and Canada.  They might be available in other countries, but I do not have information for those. Any U.S. homeowner, renter, or business that pays for electricity can switch. Utility companies will charge 1 to 2 cents per kWh to switch you to clean energy. An independent company, the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), verifies electricity sources and certifies the providers through the Green-e Program.

  1. Click here to find providers and their charges in your state.
  2. Check the certification of the providers here.

What are the Benefits and Costs of Switching to Clean Electricity?

Benefits:

  1. More money goes into renewable energy production
  2. CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions decline
  3. air quality improves
  4. ocean acidification slows
  5. the rate of global warming slows.

Cost:  The average electricity usage for U. S. homes is 900 kWh per month. This means that when someone switches to renewable electricity sources, their utility bill will increase between $9.00 and $18.00 per month, $108 and $216 per year.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, there are about 123 million households and 31 million businesses (most are quite small and use no more electricity than an average household) in the United States.  If all households and businesses shifted to clean energy, the total increase in their utility bills would be between $17 billion and $33 billion per year.  That’s less than one percent of the $3.8 trillion U. S. budget.  I am not saying that the U. S. Federal Government should pay for the switch, but why not offer an incentive program that rebates the additional cost as a tax credit?  The program wouldn’t have to be permanent.  It would draw attention to the opportunity to switch, and help get the ball rolling.

The Future:  Challenges and Opportunities

Energy from gas and oil is used for most space heating and transportation.  However, the proportion of heating with electricity has increased rapidly due to the increased efficiency of heat pumps. It now amounts to 40% of the total.  Likewise, the proportion of transportation powered by electricity is increasing.  Storage batteries are becoming more efficient and electric automobiles are gaining in popularity.

Switching to renewable electricity sources is a huge opportunity. Only about 2% of electricity generated in the U. S. comes from renewable sources (sunlight and wind).  Now that certified sources are available and making the switch is not difficult, the amount of electricity from renewable sources could rise quickly.

Make the Switch Now

  1. Choose your local clean-energy provider here and see if they are certified here.  It might be the same company as your utility company, but another company authorized for your area might charge less.  Find your chosen company’s phone number.
  2. Find your electric utility account number.
  3. Call your chosen clean-energy provider and ask them to switch your account.  I haven’t checked with all the companies to see what information in addition to your utility account number might be required.  For me, that was all I needed.