Climate Crisis

California’s Great Battery Revolution Allows Closure of Peaker Gas Plants and move to 100% Wind, Solar, Water

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The renewables revolution around the world has depended primarily on wind, hydro, and solar. A fourth factor is now swiftly emerging as essential, that is, mega-battery storage. Batteries store energy when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, to release it when those sources decline. California has so […]

Climate Crisis

In Earth’s Hottest Year on Record, an Unprecedented 28 Billion-dollar Disasters struck US

The Conversation

By Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton | – National weather analysts released their 2023 billion-dollar disasters list on Jan. 9, just as 2024 was getting off to a ferocious start. A blizzard was sweeping across across the Plains and Midwest, and the South and East faced flood risks from extreme downpours. The U.S. set an […]

Climate Crisis

Renewables now Generate more of Britain’s Electricity than Fossil Fuels

The Conversation

By Will de Freitas, The Conversation | – (The Conversation) – At the start of 2016, in an article noting some exciting changes in British energy, The Conversation published the following paragraph: Wind, solar and hydro – the weather-dependent renewables – together generated 14.6% of Great Britain’s electrical energy in 2015, the highest ever annual […]

Climate Crisis

Double Threat: Nukes and Climate Change in 2024

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) — Honestly, what strange creatures we are. Nothing stops us when it comes to destruction, does it? (And I’m not even thinking about the utter, ongoing devastation of Gaza.) I mean, give us credit as the new year begins. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about humanity isn’t our literature, our theater, our […]

Climate Crisis

Renewables cover 52% of Germany’s Electricity Demand for First Time in 2023

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany has generated more than half of the electricity it used this year with renewable energy for the first time, according to preliminary calculations by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and utility association BDEW. “Renewable energies will have covered […]

Climate Crisis

Most Americans are Alarmed by Climate Emergency and Gaza Carnage, But Congress is Full of Denialists

Florida Phoenix

Diane Roberts (Florida Phoenix ) – Humans are stupid, and it’s going to get us all killed. Hang on, you say, we humans have built mighty cities, created great art, invented computers, and cured diseases. We went to the freaking moon! All true. Hooray for us. Nevertheless, we suffer from fatal short-termism. Look at Gaza: […]

Climate Crisis

33 new Gigs of Solar: Top 7 Renewables Good News Stories in the US for 2023

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United States has long been characterized by its “can-do” spirit. With all the alarming news about climate change, it is easy for us to lose sight of the progress we are making. Here are IC’s top 7 renewables good news stories of 2023. 1. The solar industry in the […]

Climate Crisis

Iran’s Climate Migration Crisis Could Turn Into National ‘Disaster’

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari and Mohammad Zarghami | – ( RFE/ RL ) – Record temperatures, prolonged droughts, and the drying up of rivers and lakes are displacing tens of thousands of Iranians each year, experts say. Many of the climate migrants are farmers, laborers, and fishermen who are moving with their families from the countryside […]

Climate Crisis

In Hottest Year on Record, Global Heating Killed a Taylor Swift Fan at Rio Concert

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that 2023 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded, i.e. in the past 174 years. In fact, it likely is hotter than at any time in 125,000 years. Ocean-surface temperatures were also at all time highs throughout the year. Although […]