wind energy

Wind and Solar are Saving Texas from Brownouts during deadly Heat Dome, but Republicans want to Abolish Them

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristoffer Tigue at Inside Climate News reports that climate change made the brutal heat wave assaulting Texas worse, but that the state’s renewable power sources have helped keep the air conditioners running. Temperatures are predicted to stay over 100°F this week, with a slight break owing to a thunderstorm system. […]

Green Energy

Germany gets 1/3 of its Electricity from Wind, 48% from Renewables in First Quarter

Clean Energy Wire

( Clean Energy Wire ) – Wind power has become Germany’s most important electricity source again in the first quarter of 2023, according to an analysis by the statistical office Destatis. Onshore and offshore turbines supplied nearly one third (32.2%) of the electricity produced between January and March, while total electricity production was 7.8 percent […]

Batteries

Tipping Point? Global Investments in Low-Carbon Energy Outstrip Fossil Fuel Commitments by 1.7 to 1 for First Time in World History

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Globally, investors will sink $1.7 trillion into low-carbon energy this year — for the first time more than will be invested in fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the IEA, said, “For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are […]

Climate Crisis

Offshore wind in the Midwest? Some Great Lakes leaders think so

Michigan Advance

By Alex Brown – ( Michigan Advance ) – Years from now, when Chicagoans stroll the Lake Michigan waterfront, they may see the blades of wind turbines glinting on the horizon. Clevelanders could glimpse wind farms over Lake Erie. And cities like Milwaukee and Buffalo could be vying to attract a burgeoning offshore wind industry on the […]

China

China’s Solar Power Installations Skyrocket by 36.6%, may install 100 Gigs of New Solar this Year

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the first four months of 2023, China’s solar power installations increased by an incredible 36.6 percent year over year, to a total of 440 gigawatts.And no wonder. China’s major power firms’ investments in solar energy skyrocketed by 156.3% over those four months in the previous year, to $10.6 billion. […]

Climate Crisis

For First Time, Wind provided more Power than Fossil Gas for Britain, enough to Power 300 mn. Teslas

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new study commissioned by the UK private electric utility Drax and carried out by professors at Imperial College London has confirmed that in the first quarter of this year, wind turbines in Britain generated more electricity than did fossil gas plants. This is the first time the UK got […]

Climate Crisis

New wind turbine installations in Germany grow almost 50% in early 2023

Benjamin Wehrmann

Clean Energy Wire / Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany installed 128 new wind turbines with a total capacity of 0.6 gigawatts (GW) between January and April 2023, an increase in the growth rate of 46 percent compared to the same period in the year before, according to figures by the […]

Climate Crisis

Long Beach Plans a 400-Acre Facility for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Largest in World

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – City News Service reports that Long Beach is planning a 400-acre facility to manufacture and install offshore floating wind turbines off the coast of California. The port has many advantages in this regard, being a deep water port with a federal sea breaker. Each of the wind towers it plans […]

Climate Crisis

Sir Gawain and the Green King: What can Newly Crowned Charles III do to Combat the Climate Emergency?

Juan Cole

Revised Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We can argue about the character of Charles’s philosophy of nature and whether it is conservative or not. I don’t really care about the origins of his concern for the dangers we face from the climate emergency. I’m just glad he takes this stance, unlike so many of his […]