Energy

The Economist | (Video News Report) | – – “magine if heating and powering homes became free in the next decade. What would that mean for the world?” How free electricity would change the world | The Economist

Climate Change

Having had Green Electricity for 300 days, Costa Rica Moves to EVs

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Costa Rica, which has among the cleanest electrical grids in the world, has just passed a law promoting electric vehicles. The transportation sector in this Central American country of 5 million is heavily dependent on dirty petroleum and accounts for about half of its emissions of […]

Green Energy

“Solar+Batteries” = the Cheapest Energy, as S. Korea powers past Coal

contributors

By Frank Rijsberman | (Inter Press Service) | – – SEOUL, Dec 13 2017 (IPS) – Renewable energy became the cheapest form of electricity in 58 emerging economies last year. This year, the 11th Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE 11.0) showed that solar and wind energy generation costs (at $46 to $53 per […]

China

Leaving US in Dust, China starts $150 Million Floating Solar Plant Project

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Three Gorges Group project commenced in July of this year and is expected to be completed and fully streamlined by May 2018. On Sunday, Xinhua reported that state-run China’s Three Gorges Group is building the world’s largest floating solar power plant. The renewable energy project, […]

Donald Trump

Navajo Nation to Sue Trump over Shrinking Bears Ears Monument

contributors

TeleSur | – – The Navajo Nation has vowed to sue U.S. President Donald Trump over his decision to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent. Hundreds of people – including native tribe, the Navajo, and others – along with environmentalists gathered in Washington to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s damning decision to […]

Donald Trump

Will Trump/Flynn plot to Nuclearize Saudi Arabia spur Mideast Arms Race?

contributors

By Isaac Arnsdorf | (ProPublica) | – – The Trump administration is holding talks on providing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia — a move that critics say could upend decades of U.S. policy and lead to an arms race in the Middle East. The Saudi government wants nuclear power to free up more oil for […]

Environment

Sanders pushes Marshall Plan, Renewables, for Puerto Rico as Trump tries to Lower own Taxes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump went to Puerto Rico and told the hurricane victims there that they were inconvenient since the disaster that left them without potable water or electricity (nearly half still lack it) had put a crimp in the GOP budget. It later emerged that the GOP budget […]

Donald Trump

‘Trump Talks Too Much’: Iran Shrugs Off Oil Boycott Threat

Juan Cole

TeleSur | – – An Iranian official said Trump sees himself as the chief of a global village: “This comes as he is just the president of the U.S., and a hated one.” Iran has denounced a potential boycott of the country’ss crude oil recently floated by U.S. President Donald Trump, slamming the statements as […]

Climate Change

Trump still wants Expensive Coal but the Market wants Cheap wind & Solar

contributors

By Jonathan Marshall | (Consortiumnews.com) | – – Market trends now favor renewable energy as a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels, but President Trump’s resistance to this good news is doing real damage in the fight against global warming, reports Jonathan Marshall. With petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch paying many of the GOP’s bills […]