Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have put out a one-year progress report on Puerto Rico’s green energy transition and grid resilience. As a Caribbean island, Puerto Rico has suffered massive damage in this century from hurricanes, which are becoming more intense and […]

Climate Crisis

Why gas stoves matter to the climate – and the gas industry: Keeping them means homes will use gas for heating too

The Conversation

By Daniel Cohan, Rice University | Gas stoves are a leading source of hazardous indoor air pollution, but they emit only a tiny share of the greenhouse gases that warm the climate. Why, then, have they assumed such a heated role in climate politics? This debate reignited on Jan. 9, 2023, when Richard Trumka Jr., […]

Solar Energy

Solar Plant northwest of Flagstaff expected to Avoid 1 billion pounds of CO2 Emissions each Year

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Sydnee Wilson ( Cronkite News ) – FLAGSTAFF – Salt River Project has partnered with Clenera, a private renewable energy company, to bring Arizona its largest solar plant in 2024. Construction of the CO Bar Solar plant will begin in 2023 on 2,400 acres of private land northwest of Flagstaff in Coconino County. Upon […]

Climate Crisis

Nearly 20% of New Vehicles in California Last Year were Zero-Emission, as Peak Oil nears

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that nearly 1 in 5 of new vehicles purchased in that state in 2022 were zero emission (ZEVs). Nationwide, nearly 6 percent of new vehicle registrations were electric. This statistic of 18.8% ZEVs did not represent business as usual for California. The […]

Featured

In 2023, Biden may have to Choose between Sanctions against Russia’s Ukraine War and Maximum Pressure on Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Does President Joe Biden have a choice of winning his struggle with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, or continuing “maximum pressure” sanctions against Iran? The problem is that if he continues to pursue both, he may end up handing Russia more resources to prosecute its campaign in Ukraine.

Climate Crisis

EU, IEA: Next 10 Years will See Greatest Industrial Transformation of our Times

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Six million workers are employed globally in the $217 billion green energy industry today. But in only 8 years, they will more than double to 14 million. Half of those jobs would be connected to “electric vehicles, solar PV, wind and heat pumps.” And the size of the industry will […]

Climate Crisis

Top 6 Ways 2023 could be a Pivotal Year for Climate Action

The Conversation

By Wesley Morgan, Griffith University | – (The Conversation) – Many people think of the annual UN climate talks as talkfests which achieve only incremental change, at best. Activist Greta Thunberg has described them as “blah blah blah” moments – grossly inadequate and too often hijacked by fossil fuel producers who would like the world […]

Climate Crisis

Past 8 Years have been Hottest on Record, probably Hottest since Time of Christ

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past 8 years are the hottest on record. So concludes The UN’s World Meteorological Organization. In 2022, the average surface temperature of the earth was 1.15 degrees C. [2.07 degrees F.] higher than the average surface temperature of the earth in 1850-1900. So this is the eighth year in […]

Climate Crisis

Just How Big Can Wind Turbines get, as Some already Rival Skyscrapers?

The Conversation

By Simon Hogg, Durham University | – In 2023, some 100 miles off the coast of north-east England, the world’s largest wind turbines will start generating electricity. This first phase of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm development uses General Electric’s Haliade X, a turbine that stands more than a quarter of a kilometre high […]