Solar Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Both at COP26 and in the U.S. Congress, a lot of attention is rightly focused on what governments are doing to confront the dire challenges of our climate emergency. Ultimately, governments are the only entities with sufficient reach and power to guarantee an energy transition away from fossil fuels. Nevertheless, […]

Climate Crisis

Top 4 Reasons Sen. Manchin will Fail to Stop the Tsunami of Green Energy and Biden will get Climate Progress

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia may succeed in preventing Congress from legislating the quick demise of coal and gas plants, but once President Biden has Manchin’s signature on his two big legislative packages, there are other ways to move against Big Carbon that Manchin can do nothing about. 1. […]

Batteries

How Sen. Manchin just Positioned Chinese Firms to dominate the Green Energy Markets of the 21st Century, Leaving the US in the Dust

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Coal baron Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has succeeded in blocking the part of President Biden’s Build Back Better bill that would have moved the U.S. electricity grid quickly to green energy. This development is very bad news for the earth, since human beings burning coal, petroleum and natural […]

Climate Crisis

Solar panels on half the world’s roofs could meet its entire electricity demand – new research

The Conversation

By Siddharth Joshi, James Glynn and Shivika Mittal | – Rooftop solar panels are up to 79% cheaper than they were in 2010. These plummeting costs have made rooftop solar photovoltaics even more attractive to households and businesses who want to reduce their reliance on electricity grids while reducing their carbon footprints. But are there […]

Climate Crisis

No, Renewables didn’t cause the Global Energy Crisis; Strangling Iranian Gas and failing to put in Enough Wind and Solar Did

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the world starts back up after the pandemic, the price of energy is spiking, as Pippa Stevens at CNBC explains. The flacks for dirty energy are trying to blame renewables for the jump in energy costs this fall in Europe and China, but frankly that is ridiculous. Demand for […]

Bush

Iraq is seeking 10 Gigawatts of Solar Power; if World had gone Green in ’80s, Would the US have ever invaded Iraq?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a historic irony, Iraq is turning to solar energy, according to Dania Saadi at SPGlobal. Ali Jawad at the Anadolu Agency reports that the Baghdad government is seeking to generate 10 gigawatts of solar power for electricity by 2030, though it already has several projects in train that will […]

Climate Crisis

Britain, once victim of Coal-driven “Great Smog,” vows 100% Green Electricity by 2035

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a goal of getting all electricity from renewables by 2035. The announcement was flawed in various ways, but it was historic. The world’s first coal-fired electric plant opened in London in 1882. It was the Edison Electric Light Station, at 57 Holborn […]

Climate Crisis

Green Energy initiatives in Dem Infrastructure Bill infinitely Cheaper than a gradualist phase-out of Fossil Fuels

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The green energy proposals in the $3.5 trillion Democratic Party infrastructure bill now being heatedly debated have been attacked from the Right and even the center as “costly.” That is wrong, wrong, wrong. The faster we put in solar panels and wind turbines, the more money we will save, to […]

Climate Crisis

Crazy like a Fox: Spreading false meme of “Flamer” birds killed by Solar Plant is Louie Gohmert’s way of Dividing Environmentalists

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mark Twain observed, “All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.” Texas Representative Louie Gohmert isn’t quite ancient enough to have been the object of Twains’ wrath, but he exemplifies the idiocy in public life of […]