Climate Crisis

Coronavirus Effect: In One Year, Share of Coal in German Public Power Supply Cratered to 16% from 30%

By Freja Eriksen | — ( Clean Energy Wire) – Coal’s share in Germany’s net public power production fell to around 16 percent in April 2020, shows data by Fraunhofer ISE’s Energy Charts. The institute’s Energy Charts project does not include data on the amount of power the generating facilities consume themselves to operate, or […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Social Distancing: As sea levels rise, are we ready to live behind giant walls?

The Conversation

By Hannah Cloke | – Climate change, it’s fair to say, is complicated. And it’s big. One of the main challenges of responding effectively is simply getting your head around the scale of the problem. This is not unique in the study of the physical world, of course. Scientists and economists spend a lot of […]

Climate Crisis

Why it doesn’t make Economic Sense to Ignore Climate Change in our Recovery from the Epidemic

The Conversation

By Anna Skarbek| – It will be tempting for some to overlook the climate change challenge in the rush to restart the economy after the pandemic . . . In the United States, the Trump administration is reportedly contemplating a coronavirus rescue package tailored specifically to oil and natural gas producers, while the Chinese government […]

Climate Crisis

Anti-Immigrant Trump promotes Burning Fossil Fuels that will displace Millions toward US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents findings that shocked the authors themselves. If the world (by which I mean you and me, dear reader) does not swing into prompt action to deal with the climate emergency, some 3.5 billion people are going to […]

Climate Crisis

Oil’s Götterdämmerung: Why Covid-19 could Hasten the end of Fossil Fuels

Sustainability Times

( Sustainability Times) – Last week the oil market took another plunge that saw the price of one barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fall 8 percent to $10.45 on Tuesday.. Last Monday, WTI crashed by 25 percent and rocked the market, yet the decline was relatively minor compared to what happened two weeks ago […]

Climate Crisis

Lowest Solar bid in World History for new Abu Dhabi Facility, as expensive Coal, backed by Trump, declines further

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Abu Dhabi has accepted a historically low bid of 1.35 cents a kilowatt hour for a new giant 1.5 gigawatt solar farm, to be built at al-Dhafra by the largely government-owned French consortium Électricité de France (EDF) and China’s Jinko. The price is 44% less than was paid for the […]

Climate Crisis

The Beginning of the End for Oil? Energy in a Post-Pandemic World

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – Energy analysts have long assumed that, given time, growing international concern over climate change would result in a vast restructuring of the global energy enterprise. The result: a greener, less climate-degrading system. In this future, fossil fuels would be overtaken by renewables, while oil, gas, and coal would be relegated to an […]

Climate Crisis

Skyrocketing Carbon Dioxide is Bad News, and, no, Trees won’t Save Us

The Conversation

By Sebastian Leuzinger | – If carbon dioxide levels were to double, how much increase in plant growth would this cause? How much of the world’s deserts would disappear due to plants’ increased drought tolerance in a high carbon dioxide environment? Compared to pre-industrial levels, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere will […]

Climate Crisis

Even German Conservatives, Corporations make Green New Deal, Climate “Top Priority” after Pandemic

Julian Wettengel

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Top politicians from Germany and more than 60 large companies have warned that the climate crisis must continue to be a top priority, even as the world economies grapple with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Ahead of this week’s digital Petersberg Climate Dialogue, […]