Climate Crisis

Solar Panels are the Cheapest Energy in World History, but they Can be Even more Efficient and Inexpensive

By Renate Egan, UNSW Sydney | – The cost of turning sunlight into electricity has fallen more than 90% over the last decade. Solar is now the cheapest form of newly built energy generation. Job done? Not quite. Right now, solar works well at cost-competitive prices and can help us cut emissions significantly. But with […]

China

One City in China Plans More Offshore Wind Capacity by 2030 than the Entire United States

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Shenzhen Daily reports that the city of Chaozhou in China’s southern Guangdong Province is planning the world’s largest offshore wind farm, at 43.3 gigawatts. The United States has almost no offshore wind now, but the Biden Administration has a goal of 30 gigawatts by 2030 and the Interior Department […]

Climate Crisis

On Turning 70 in a Graying, Climate-threatened World where Christians and Muslims must learn to Understand Each Other

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A daily column is inevitably personal, even if the focus is, as with Informed Comment, on current events. Today I’m going to reflect, not so much on my turning 70 as on the world I confront through these old eyes, and how my experiences help me cope with it and […]

Climate Crisis

‘Just Stop Oil’s’ Tomato Juice on van Gogh: Do Radical Protests actually Backfire or do they Raise Consciousness?

The Conversation

By Colin Davis, University of Bristol | – Members of the protest group Just Stop Oil recently threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery in London. The action once again triggered debate about what kinds of protest are most effective. After a quick clean of the glass, the painting was back on […]

Climate Crisis

Tax Cuts for the Rich, Fracking and Harsh Discipline undid UK’s Liz Truss, in Warning to Conservative Parties Everywhere

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment) – The British Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced to step down on Thursday 20th October only after 44 days in office, making her tenure the shortest in British history. It is important to point out that she was elected by only 81,326 Tory members and not by nearly 50 […]

Climate Crisis

California to Power 1.5 Million Homes with Offshore Floating Wind Turbines in March toward Zero Carbon

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Department of the Interior announced this week that on December 6, auctions will be held for offshore wind farms off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean. There are two kinds of offshore wind turbines. If the coastal shelf is shallow, they can be anchored on the ocean […]

Climate Crisis

Turbocharging Green Energy would Allow Ukraine, Europe better to defy Putin’s War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan Sabbagh (in Kyiv) and Patrick Wintour report in The Guardian that recent Russian drone, rocket and missile attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have knocked out nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations. Facing severe battlefield losses and the potential isolation of Crimea with a bombing of the bridge connecting it […]

Climate Crisis

Solar Farms foster Wildlife and Biodiversity. Not a Blight on the Landscape

The Conversation

By Angie Turner, Keele University; Eleanor Harrison, Staffordshire University; and Zoe Robinson, Keele University | – Liz Truss, the new UK prime minister, isn’t a fan of solar farms. In 2014, when she was environment secretary, she described rows of panels arranged in a field to capture energy from the sun as a “blight on […]

Climate Crisis

In Berlin, German Post Office to use Solar-Powered Riverboats on the Spree to deliver Mail

Clean Energy Wire

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – German postal service Deutsche Post DHL is testing emission-free delivery on Berlin’s Spree river with a solar-powered ship. The pilot project in the capital is an addition to the company’s existing CO2-neutral delivery fleet consisting of electric trucks and bicycles, and “shows we are […]