Solar Energy

Replaced by Mega-battery: Massive 3 GW Coal Plant in Australia forced to Close by Cheaper Wind and Solar

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Australian firm Orion Energy in New South Wales is closing its massive, nearly 3 gigawatt Eraring coal plant eight years early. The largest coal plant in the country will be gone by 2025 instead of 2032. This development is good news for the earth, since coal is the single […]

Climate Crisis

Why we must not allow Climate change to create a dangerous state of “collective helplessness” in Liberal Society

Benjamin Wehrmann

( Clean Energy Wire ) – The “increasingly tangible” threat of climate change and other risks at a global scale, such as the coronavirus pandemic or geopolitical tensions in many regions, are spurring a sense of “collective helplessness” in societies around the world, the Munich Security Conference’s (MSC) 2022 report has found. “Liberal democracies appear […]

Climate Crisis

Egypt announces Plan to Get 42% of Electricity from Renewables, become Solar Energy Hub for Europe via Greece

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ghada El-Gendy, the Executive Director of the Arab Renewable Energy Company, said Friday that Egypt has plans to increase the share of renewables in its electricity production to 42 percent by 2035. At the moment, most of Egypt’s power plants run on methane gas or petroleum, and only 12.5 percent […]

Climate Crisis

From War on Terror to War on Climate Change: US Army to seek Green Electricity by 2030

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US military has been worried deeply for over a decade about the impact of the climate emergency on its bases and operational readiness. The Department of the Army has just released its first Climate Strategy for dealing with what Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calls an “existential crisis.” The […]

Climate Crisis

Solarpunk: Visions of a just, nature-positive world

China Dialogue

By Joe Coroneo-Seaman | – ( China Dialogue ) – “It is 2050. In most places in the world, the air is moist and fresh, even in cities. It feels a lot like walking through a forest, and very likely this is exactly what you are doing. The air is cleaner than it has been […]

Climate Crisis

Germany’s Solar PV capacity, at 59 Gigs, overtakes its Onshore Wind, as it aims to triple Both

Clean Energy Wire

By Jessica Bateman and Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The total solar PV capacity in Germany has reached 59 gigawatts (GW) in 2021, overtaking the installed onshore wind power capacity in the country, according to the pv magazine. The cumulative installed wind power capacity reached slightly more than 56 GW […]

Batteries

Climate Hope: Record $920 bn. was invested in Low-Carbon Tech in 2021

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – BloombergNEF reports that in 2021, a record-breaking $920 billion was invested globally in low-carbon technology, just short of $1 trillion. The report says that $755 billion was spent to implement low-carbon technologies, with $366 billion going into renewable energy and $273 billion into electrifying transportation. That $273 billion put into […]

Climate Crisis

Europe is dependent on Russian Gas during Ukraine Crisis because it didn’t Ramp up Renewables Faster

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The growing conflict between the United States and the Russian Federation over the Ukraine has taken an increasingly dark turn, with press reports that US embassy personnel and dependents are being pulled out of Kiev and that President Biden is considering sending US troops to Ukraine’s neighbors. The conflict has […]

Climate Crisis

Biden Still Determined to pass the Blockbuster Green Energy Package in BBB; Here’s how He can Do it

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I argued last December that since Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition had tanked the enormous Build Back Better act, President Biden should hive off the green energy portions and try to get them passed on a bipartisan basis. Carol Davenport and Lisa Friedman writing in the New York Times report that […]