Green Energy

By Alan Finkel, The University of Queensland | – (The Conversation) – Just over a year since US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, it’s becoming clear this strangely named piece of legislation could have a powerful impact in spurring the global transition to net zero emissions by 2050. But […]

Climate Crisis

Germany Covers 52 percent of Electricity Consumption with Renewables so Far this Year

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – Renewables covered more than half of Germany’s electricity consumption so far this year, according to calculations by utility association BDEW and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW). Between January and September, the amount of renewables in the electricity mix rose to […]

Climate Crisis

Despite the Welcome Surge of Green Energy, the World is not on Track to keep Heating below 1.5C; We must do More

The Conversation

By Pep Canadell, CSIRO | – It was a rare bit of good news on climate. The International Energy Agency this week released its latest net zero roadmap, showing it was still just possible to hold global heating to 1.5℃. In the last two years, we’ve seen major global investment in clean energy, spurred on […]

Climate Crisis

Macron Pledges to end Coal by 2027, to get to 60% Renewables by 2030, and to Ramp up French EV Production; Is it Enough?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kim Willsher reported this week at the Guardian on French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a “French environmental plan” (l’écologie à la Française). Its centerpieces involved phasing out coal by 2027 and reducing fossil fuels in France’s energy mix from 60% today to 40% in 2030. France doesn’t use much […]

Coal

Our Move to Renewables is only the Latest of Many Energy Transitions; We can do it Again

The Conversation

By Liz Conor, La Trobe University | – In 2022, the burning of fossil fuels provided 82% of the world’s energy. In 2000, it was 87%. Even as renewables have undergone tremendous growth, they’ve been offset by increased demand for energy. That’s why the United Nations earlier this month released a global stocktake – an […]

Batteries

Selling like Hotcakes: 1 mn EVs sold in US during Past Year — which is Why UAW Workers deserve Green New Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A million purely battery-electric vehicles have been sold in the US during the past year, according to David Reichmuth at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Tom Randall at Bloomberg notes that it took 10 years for the first million EVs to be sold in the US, and it took two […]

Climate Crisis

Welcome to the new Green Colonialism: One Last Shot at Reducing Global inequality and Saving the Planet

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In a fit of madness or just plain desperation, you’ve enrolled in a get-rich-quick scheme. All you have to do is sell some products, sign up some friends, make some phone calls. Follow that simple formula and you’ll soon be pulling in tens of thousands of dollars a month — or […]

Climate Crisis

How Recycling could solve the Shortage of Minerals essential to Clean Energy

The Conversation

By Serasu Duran, University of Calgary; Atalay Atasu, INSEAD; and Clara Carrera, INSEAD | – (The Conversation) – What do silver, silicon and gallium have in common? These expensive raw materials are essential components of our various solar energy technologies. What about neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium? These rare earth metals are used to build the […]

Climate Crisis

Solar soars by 13%, Fossil Fuel use Plummets 17% in Europe in first 1/2 of 2023

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – At the energy think tank Ember, Matt Ewen and Sarah Brown have issued a new report showing that the use of fossil fuels in the European Union fell a remarkable 17% in the first two quarters of 2023, year over year. Indeed, hydrocarbons accounted for only a third of energy […]