Clean Energy

Shining Light On Energy Equity

August 25, 2024 Ian Carbone, Resilience. Create! Clean Energy, Energy, Equity, Solar

As a faculty member at Allegheny College in Northwestern Pennsylvania, I work with students to design and install solar arrays for churches, housing nonprofits, and other organizations that serve our community. Collaborating on local solar projects has taught me a great deal. But what stands out most from my experience is that vulnerable populations are being left out of the energy transition. As I meet individuals and organizations who are actively pursuing solar installations, it is clear that these stakeholders possess a certain degree of time, knowledge, and/or financial resources that enable them to entertain the idea of a solar investment.

What Would A Real Renewable Energy Transition Look Like?

August 22, 2024 Richard Heinberg, Resilience. Strategize! Clean Energy, climate crisis, Fossil Fuels, Transformation

Humanity’s transition from relying overwhelmingly on fossil fuels to instead using alternative low-carbon energy sources is sometimes said to be unstoppable and exponential. A boosterish attitude on the part of many renewable energy advocates is understandable: overcoming people’s climate despair and sowing confidence could help muster the needed groundswell of motivation to end our collective fossil fuel dependency. But occasionally a reality check is in order. The reality is that energy transitions are a big deal, and they typically take centuries to unfold. Historically, they’ve been transformative for societies—whether we’re speaking of humanity’s taming of fire hundreds of thousands of years ago, the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, or our adoption of fossil fuels starting roughly 200 years ago.

Ensuring Low-Income Communities Get Their Share Of Green Energy

June 30, 2024 Erica Sweeney, Next City. Create! Clean Energy, Environment, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, Low Income

Low-income communities and people of color are more likely to live in areas affected by flooding, poor air quality, and extreme temperatures, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And, these negative effects of climate change are intensifying. To help find solutions, the Justice Climate Fund strives to ensure that the communities that need it most benefit from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a federal program providing billions of dollars from the EPA for clean energy and climate projects. The Justice Climate Fund is an initiative led by the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs and the Community Builders of Color Coalition, a national network of dozens of financial institutions and advocacy groups led by people of color.

Energy Descent: Public Letter

April 26, 2024 Energy Descent Collective, Resilience. Create! Clean Energy, climate crisis, Energy, Fossil Fuels

Energy transition is essential. But it’s not enough. We also need to prepare to live with less energy in the future. It is not enough to adopt clean technology. We also need to prepare to live with less energy. This preparation includes new cultural norms, new institutions, and new infrastructure – not just new technology. And it’s a collective preparation. It’s something we need to do together. We can’t do it alone. Scientists say we have less than two decades to avoid the worst effects of climate change. We therefore must transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

Clean Energy Investments Must Prioritize Climate-Resilient Housing

April 18, 2024 Sara McTarnaghan and Oriya Cohen, Next City. Create! Affordable Housing, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Energy, green housing, Housing

Whether it’s a homeowner wanting to install a heat pump, a restaurant looking to invest in solar panels, or a neighborhood organization hoping to add local green energy capacity, cost and ease of financing pose barriers to improving climate resilience for many people businesses, and organizations nationwide. Too often, traditional banks are skeptical of or have not previously supported climate investments. Filling this gap requires intentional policymaking, which the Biden Administration has prioritized through its new Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a first-of-its-kind $27 billion fund to finance a sustainable climate future for generations to come.

The Hidden Potential Of Bicycles

April 1, 2024 Brian Kaller, Resilience. Create! Bicycles, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Transportation

In perhaps one of the great ironies of human civilisation, mechanical devices to truly magnify human power came along as soon as we didn’t need them. Pedal-powered devices like bicycles only appeared after coal had already begun to transform the landscape, however – mass production was necessary for the standardised metal parts — and around the same time that gasoline was first being introduced as a fuel for automobiles. We tend to forget, then, three important things about the bicycle. First, it remains the most efficient method of using our bodies, allowing us to attain higher machine speeds for longer than we would on muscle power alone – and without using any more fuel or causing any more weather to go haywire.

Climate-Science Deniers Are Plotting Against The Clean Energy Transition

March 17, 2024 Rebecca Burns, DeSmog. Educate! Big Oil, Clean Energy, climate denial, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Green Economy, Oil and Gas

Last July, a small group of rabble-rousers boarded a trio of powerboats, banners and bullhorns in hand. They were headed for the massive floating construction site of an offshore wind farm 35 miles from the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. As the boats motored through the swells, the self-styled activists broke into a chorus of pleas for the wind farm construction to cease—chants likely intended less for the still-faraway workers than for the camera there to capture footage. “Hear this message: We’re here to save the whales!” called out a man in a black polo shirt.

The US Has To Do More To Meet Its Carbon Emissions Reduction Goals

November 18, 2023 Union Of Concerned Scientists. Create! Carbon emissions, Clean Energy, climate crisis, inflation reduct

Our analysis shows that effective implementation of the IRA, the infrastructure act, and state policies would enable the United States to make significant progress toward achieving its near-term climate goals and yield substantial economic and public health benefits at the same time. Taken together, these federal and state initiatives could help cut total US heat-trapping emissions 34 percent below 2005 levels in 2030 and 53 percent by 2035, which would fall short of our 2030 targets but meet them a few years later. The IRA will stimulate most of the near-term private investment in clean energy and related infrastructure to decarbonize the US economy, spurring more than a trillion dollars in capital investments through 2035.

Set Up A Power Station; Retrofit A Neighbourhood

November 4, 2022 Chris McCartney, Resilience. Create! Clean Energy, Community organizing, Energy, Energy Cooperatives

Newspapers and social media are awash with top tips for cost cutting, but there’s another way of looking at it. What if, instead of putting the pressure on each person, we explored what communities can do together to get through this and be stronger in future crises? After all, the cost of living crisis has complex and systemic causes – it should not be left to individuals to solve it for themselves. Governments need to act, and many are calling for measures from policy-makers to ensure no one goes cold and hungry in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and to address the root causes of the crises we face, so we are more resilient to future shocks. Warmer this Winter, End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Energy for All and Enough is Enough are among those which have recently sprung up. Meanwhile, we don’t have to sit passively by and wait for solutions to come from above.

99% Of Humans Breathe Unhealthy Air

April 30, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Educate! Air Pollution, Clean Energy, Fossil Fuels, health

Almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. That’s the alarming conclusion from the latest update of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality database, which drew on data from more than 6,000 cities in 117 countries. The organization argued that the figures were another argument in favor of phasing out the use of fossil fuels. “Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner, healthier energy systems,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press release. “High fossil fuel prices, energy security, and the urgency of addressing the twin health challenges of air pollution and climate change, underscore the pressing need to move faster towards a world that is much less dependent on fossil fuels.”

Tribe Is Now An Owner Of The Power Grid

July 14, 2021 Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today. Create! Clean Energy, Energy, Indigenous Rights

A news release includes some almost hidden news. The lede: “Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, has completed its West of Devers transmission lines.” The company said the deal was important because it added more power, renewable and battery energy storage to serve Southern California. And, as Kevin Payne, the utility’s president put it, the new lines will make it easier to distribute “energy resources like rooftop solar and battery energy storage” and “will contribute to decarbonizing our electric infrastructure, large-scale generation and reliable delivery of renewable energy will be vital to achieving California’s ambitious climate goals.” OK so far. Reading further down it’s clear that a tribe is involved with the project.

Is Alternative Energy The Best Solution To Climate Catastrophe?

July 7, 2021 Don Fitz, Popular Resistance. Create! Capitalism, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Energy

The world is threatened with environmental disaster and capitalists hope to make a killing off of it. Fossil fuel (FF) companies claim they are “environmentally friendly.” Other corporations promote nuclear energy, hydro-power (dams), and solar and wind power as the best energy alternatives. Yet environmentalists have known for decades that reduction of useless and harmful energy is the “greenest” form of energy available. Over 50 years ago, the first Earth Day recognized this with the slogan “Reduce; Reuse; Recycle.” Today, corporate “environmentalism” chants “Recycle; Occasionally Reuse; and, Never Utter ‘Reduce.’” Even mentioning the word “reduce” can be met with howls of derision that “Reduction means ‘austerity,’” as if any type of collective self-control would plunge the world into depths of suffering.

Solidarity With Resistance To Extraction

June 14, 2021 Don Fitz and the Gateway Green Alliance, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Clean Energy, Climate Justice, Extraction, Fossil Fuels

People the world over are opposing fossil fuel extraction in an incalculable number of ways. It is now clear that burning fossil fuels threatens millions of Life forms and could be laying the foundation for the extermination of Humanity. But what about “alternative” energy? As progressives stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those rejecting fossil fuels and nuclear power, should we despise, ignore, or commend those who challenge the menace to their homes and their communities from solar, wind and hydro-power (dams)? The Gateway Green Alliance gave its answer with unanimous approval of a version of the statement below in May, 2021. The monumental increase in the use of energy is provoking conflicts across the Earth. We express our solidarity with those struggling against extraction, including these examples.

Together, We Can Choose A Different Future For Appalachian Communities

June 7, 2021 Joanne Kilgour, Pennsylvania Capital Star. Create! Appalachia, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Environment

Over the course of my career, I have been humbled by what the people in the Ohio River Valley have given to me. I recall those community members who kindly served me coffee made with bottled water because their wells had been compromised by the then-new fracking industry; gifts of home-grown fruit that ripened despite the adjacent coal ash disposal area blowing a thick dust over all adjoining properties; and donuts shared with retired mine workers as we stood in the cold demanding the benefits they earned putting their bodies on the line to line the pockets of their corporate bosses. What I know to be true about the region is that the depth of character, work ethic, and commitment to community here is unparalleled, and it is time to give back to a region that has given us all so much.

Brooklyn’s Waterfront: A Just Transition?

May 10, 2021 Nicholas Kusnetz, Inside Climate News. Create! Clean Energy, climate crisis, Just transition, New York City (NYC)

When Aroldo Garcia learned that the operations base for a major offshore wind project was coming to his Brooklyn neighborhood, he thought about the jobs it could provide for his family members and friends who worked as handymen and contractors, and for others who didn’t have work at all. The project promised to bring more than a thousand new jobs to a waterfront site in Sunset Park, a largely immigrant, working-class community where many residents have struggled to keep up with the rising cost of living. It was, he thought, exactly the type of development people had been waiting for. “These are not service type jobs that pay low wages,” Garcia said. “These are going to be technical jobs that pay good wages. And I think the community needs that.”

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