Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Department of Energy has announced that that in 2023, 82% of new additions to electricity generation capacity in the United States will come from wind, solar and battery, and 86% in total will come from non-fossil fuel sources. Of fossil fuels, only fossil gas will provide new capacity, but […]

Climate Crisis

Drilling our way to Climate Doom: The US leads the World in Oil and Gas Production

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The United States is producing record amounts of oil and natural gas, despite the fact that the ongoing use of these fossil fuels poses an existential threat to the planet. Even today, as the planet faces catastrophic warming, leaders in both the Democratic and […]

Climate Crisis

After Maui: Why Sultan al-Jaber both is and isn’t the Right chief for the COP28 Climate Summit

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sultan al-Jaber, the controversial chairman of the COP28 climate conference, is a United Arab Emirates businessman extraordinaire. His role and that of COP28 appear all the more important in the wake of the terrifying wildfires that swept the tropical island (!) of Maui this week and destroyed the ancient capital […]

Climate Crisis

Renewables supplied a record 69.2% of Germany’s Electricity for Homes in July

Julian Wettengel

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Renewable energy supplied a record of 69.2 percent of Germany’s public net electricity generation in July 2023, according to data by research institute Fraunhofer ISE. Due to favourable weather conditions, wind power alone contributed about 29 percent. At about 23 percent, the solar power […]

Climate Crisis

Two-Thirds of Americans Prioritize Wind, Solar, favor Gov’t Incentives, as 54% see Climate Change as Dire Threat

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Pew Research Center has released the results of a new US poll on climate change and green energy. It gives reason for hope, though some of the results are a little discouraging. The poll found that 67% of Americans want to prioritize green energy such as wind and solar. […]

Batteries

With Biden’s IRA Incentives, Companies plan 145 Gigawatts of New Clean Energy in US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new report by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) says that in the second quarter the industry rebounded from the slight dip in new green energy in the first quarter, attributed to supply chain problems and tariff difficulties. Impressive strides were made in the most recent quarter, with over […]

China

Green Jobs take off in China after Beijing’s Carbon Neutrality Pledge

China Dialogue

Jiang Mengnan ( China Dialogue ) – Around the world, tech and finance companies have been laying staff off. In 2022, tech firms’ payrolls fell by 164,000 employees, with a further 166,000 jobs cut in the first quarter of 2023, according to tracking platform Layoffs.fyi. In China, youth unemployment is also rising, hitting 20% this […]

Apartheid

Biden wants Israel and Saudi Arabia to Normalize, but are Riyadh’s Demands for Nuclearization a Deal Breaker?

Middle East Monitor

Dr Adnan Abu Amer AdnanAbuAmer2 ( Middle East Monitor ) – Despite US efforts to get Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalise their relations, the process keeps faltering. Israeli officials speak of a long and important list of demands made by the Kingdom to the Americans. Although a normalisation agreement with Saudi Arabia and […]

Climate Crisis

The New Abnormal: Living on an ever More Extreme Planet

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Hey, who knows? It could be the Gulf Stream collapsing or the planet eternally breaking heat records. But whatever the specifics, we’re living it right now, not in the next century, the next decade, or even next year. You couldn’t miss it — at least so you might think — if […]